The link rat came up with talked about growing hemp for its use in making rope, sales, etc. Not till the latter half of the 1800's did the link identify people using marijuana to get high.
Re:
quote:
George Washington may well have cultivated some cannabis for medicinal and occasional recreational purposes. Both he and Thomas Jefferson (who quite disliked tobacco) are known to have exchanged gifts of smoking mixtures. In the 1790's, Washington also began to cultivate "India Hemp", the resinous variety developed in India. Cannabis at that time had several names, such as "common hemp" (C. sativa, cultivated for fiber and seeds), and "India hemp" (C. indica, grown for fiber and resin).
end quote
That was some writer's opinion. I didn't see anything to support the "may well have cultivated some cannabis for medicinal and occasional recreational purposes" claim. I note the writer, who clearly wanted to impress his pothead readers, nevertheless was careful to qualify his statement as a possibility.
>Just knowing people who use dope over the last 35 years or so.
You'd be better claiming - ah, they'd be FU's anyway.<
So then, this is not a fact but, rather, your impression.
It's my impression based on my experience dealing with people. Saying its only my impression doesn't mean it is or isn't factual. It's certainly factual in terms of the people I've run into over the years.
>the vast majority of people use pot do so once or a few times and drop it.<
You seem to understand my point.
You may be missing mine. Lots of people use pot once or a few times and no more. Counting that group as users gives a misleading impression of users.
10% of people who use pot develop symptoms of addiction.
15% of people who use booze develop symptoms of addiction
35% of people who use tobacco develop symptoms of addiction
Why not be more productive and fight against things that cause more harm than pot?
Arguably pot is less addictive than tobacco. Maybe less addictive than alcohol. Of course, would the statistics be different if pot were as legal and as available as liquor and tobacco? It seems reasonable to think they would.
Would you advocate putting cigarette sellers in jail?
No. Though the question isn't very relevant to anything imo.
>But of the people who become regular long-term users of marijuana, I suspect the percent who go on to other drugs is pretty high<
So then .. your contention is that if someone is addicted to pot they will probably try other drugs with a higher likely hood of becoming addicted.
I think most people "addicted to pot" will likely try plenty of other things too.
my own personal rule: If I have a hard time giving up cigarettes, I'd better not try crack.
Excellent rule!
Most people that are hooked on heroin smoked cigarettes before they tried junk. Doesn't that make tobacco the gateway drug for heroin? And absolutely 100% of them had mothers! Should they be against the law also? I could just see it "Mothers make addicts!"
Don't forget milk. Irrelevant thought.
It might be useful to look at studies done in places where weed is defacto legal. Alaska, maybe? Or ?? |
