Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

I’ve been blowing vapor this morning, browsing for pictures on the Internet, you know, getting ready for work, and I see this photograph of a young woman in boxer gloves, who’s head is shaved bald, and suddenly it hits me: why am I so fascinated with girls with shaved heads?

And then I took a big toke and I remembered: oh yeah, when I was seven I have been friends with a girl from my class, who’s head has been shaven due to some illness or something – I never really asked “what’s with your head” cause I thought it wouldn’t be polite. Besides, our 1st grade teacher did really a good job making sure this girl wasn’t bullied, so that played a good part too. This friendship really gave me a boost in acceptance of other people no matter who they are or how unusual their appearance is to me. So now when I see a young woman who’s hair has been shaved clean, I somehow feel comfort in this.

And so I sit here and recollect on this journey into my childhood memories, and I am amazed how deeply I can understand myself with the help of this simple plant. Just imagine how useful this tool would’ve been in therapy, in treating people who, for example, have repressed memories from their childhood and need to recall them in a calm and relaxed way. I mean, think of all the possibilities this has. Truly is a plant worth 1 bil.

Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

I think there are too many variables as to how people react to cannabis for this to be a valid reason to legalize it or to use it in the way you described for helping people to recall repressed memories in a relaxed way.
I say this because for me personally cannabis effects me by making me paranoid,definitely not a good state of my mind if I was trying to recall repressed memories.
I do believe it depends on your state of mind but then again if a person is going for therapy their state of mind is not going to be exactly relaxed.

Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

Dude, this is argument from personal experience, your personal experience is subjected to the same number of variables you’ve mentioned, being one of these probable experiences. Reasons for legalizing cannabis are much more simple and common: the well being of people who chose to use it and common economical sense. Cannabis is just too useful for billions of dollars to be spent on its marginalization, reasons for which were purely ideological to begin with.

The Giggle Blizzard said 9 years, 5 months ago:

Cannabis has proved to be able to treat a lot of symptoms and types of illnesses and I’m all for the legalization of it both for recreational use and medical use.

Yeah it can make you paranoid that’s one of the “risks” of it, I’ve had paranoia on it before and it sucks but it only happens occassionly and even though it might happen more for some people why should it be illegal because of that? One “bad” high isn’t going to mess you up. Every person reacts differently on a drug this is true, but if you think that because of this it should be illegal then I ask you to look into the nature of SSRI’s and other medicine dealing with serotinin and dopamine that are being prescriped by doctors all over the world.

If you have bad experiences with weed, don’t do it. The entire concept that this plant is illegal is illogical and dumb.

ASOT said 9 years, 5 months ago:

Although I’m against this substance being illegal, especially in a world where alcohol and cigarettes are legal, Recent studies show that this is not just a harmless substance;

Rates of recovery from cannabis dependence among those seeking treatment are similar to those for alcohol.

Cannabis doubles the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia, with withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite and depression.

Scans show centers of the brain such as the amygdala (regulate emotions) and nucleus accumbens (decision-making) were reconfigured in casual smokers.

You can look for other research papers online.

Medicinal marijuana has had a tremendous treatment ability especially in neuropathic pain (associated with cancer, diabetes, AIDS, spinal cord injury…) But there is a whole range of side effects which I think calls for control over the drug as is the case for any other prescription drug.

I really don’t think it’s a good idea to use medicinal marijuana in therapy with mental health patients :) especially if they’re trying to perform tasks such as memory recollection.

Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

First of, recent studies have shown that cannabis DOES NOT increase the risk of schizophrenia

http://www.schres-journal.com/article/S0920-9964(13)00610-5/fulltext

So that was one big lie right away.

Second, sure cannabis abuse may have some effects on psyche and body – as any abuse would! But I am not talking about cannabis abuse, I am not advocating it’s abuse, I am talking about singular therapeutic use, so don’t try and pull this strawman argument about ‘marijuana dependence’. This has nothing to do with this topic, you are just making a false link between use and abuse, which is a logical fallacy. Unless you are one of those guys who want to put warning labels about alcohol abuse on alcohol-containing perfumes, this claim of yours has nothing to do with anything whatsoever. This makes your argument into just some general sobriety shpiel we all heard and argued a 1000 times, so get on with it.

Third, what side effects? Name one – I don’t claim there aren’t any, but if you’re pulling this argument, you better have a link to a study, and don’t tell me to google it myself, because if it’s your argument, then the burden of proof is on you and I am not going to back up your arguments for you.

Let’s analyze your argument here: you’ve taken an actual study, the amygdala study, and spliced it with 3 pieces of misinformation: the claim that cannabis increases the risk of psychosis, the claim about unnamed side effects and a really questionable and completely not backed by any evidence claim about so called ‘cannabis dependency’.

That said, your statement is at least 75% misinformed.

This is a classic propaganda move, invented by the godfather of propaganda himself, Joseph Goebbels: tell some truth, and the lies that come with it will be considered truth as well.

The Giggle Blizzard said 9 years, 5 months ago:

I won’t deny that cannabis has effects on your psyche and body but are these good enough reasons to keep the substance illegal?

Time has proven that despite the effort of governments around the world, not least in the US, to throw money on fighting this plant has been ineffective. Legalizing it would make a huge hit on the black market and not only save but earn loads of money that could go to welfare for example.

I don’t wanna sound like a dreaming hippie or anything but the only reason cannabis got such a bad reputation and eventually got illegalized in the 20th century over most of the world is because christian morals and oppression of minorities.

Check this documentary out, it’s a pretty good watch.

ASOT said 9 years, 5 months ago:

I’ll say it again, I’m against marijuana being illegal as I think this is a choice for the individual to make. As a recreational user who have never had any bad side effects, I think it’s my right to make my own decision regarding this matter and I don’t think I should go to jail for it.

@mr-tambourine-man I did not have any intention to upset you by discussing an opinion that is different that yours. If I did, then I’m deeply sorry.

Extract from the link you posted:
“..The current study, however, is not able to address whether cannabis can interact with a genetic predisposition to cause schizophrenia. In order to test this hypothesis, future longitudinal studies examining individuals at high familial risk for schizophrenia who do and do not abuse cannabis are needed. If when essentially controlling for genetic risk, those who use cannabis are significantly more likely to develop a schizophrenia-like illness than those who do not, a gene–cannabis abuse interaction is likely.” (Item 4.Discussion)

You can take a look at these also:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270262.php

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278736.php

I can’t imagine how could you have possibly read my post and evaluate it as propaganda.

Sorry but you seem to me like a kid who just bought his “WEED” backpack and is all worked up about it :)

Cheers

Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

“Y’all mad cuz I disagree with y’all”, yes, great argument, Asot, very mature of you.

But if we stick to facts, you are yet to provide any credible proof supporting your claims, links to actual researches, not to news stories.

Otherwise, I can linkdrop as much as you do

http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/12/10/harvard-marijuana-doesnt-cause-schizophrenia/63148.html

http://www.leafscience.com/2013/12/08/marijuana-cause-schizophrenia-harvard-study-finds/

And you do realize what the phrase ‘further studies needed’ mean, right? Maybe you should’ve read the whole text of the study – you know, numbers, charts, all that sciensy thingy? Instead of one phrase about a possibility of further research, taken out of context? Try it sometime.

If it doesn’t help, I can translate it to you: THEY DONT KNOW IF WEED CAN MAKE YOU CRAZY IF YOUR PARENTS WERE CRAZY TOO. Is that simple enough for you?

The Giggle Blizzard said 9 years, 5 months ago:

“Y’all mad cuz I disagree with y’all”

Perhaps I’m blind but I can’t see how this is an accurate represantation of what @asot said at all.

Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

“I did not have any intention to upset you by discussing an opinion that is different that yours” is just a polite way to say it, but nevertheless, it has as much to do with lack of evidence on Asot’s behalf as his shpiel about cannabis abuse and his little “weed backpack” ad hominems with the subject of the topic. He’s just trying to turn this into a ‘weed is bad vs. weed is good’ debate, and I’m so sick and tired of those.

The Giggle Blizzard said 9 years, 5 months ago:

Alright I guess, not picking any sides here.

Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

It’s not about the sides, man, it’s about cannabis ability to help recall things from the past, at least it was, but Headphones here wants to talk about Dangers of Cannabis Abuse, and its Subtle Influence on Amygdala Maybe In Some Cases, in other words,

The Giggle Blizzard said 9 years, 5 months ago:

I could definitely see the therapeutical value in cannabis, although I’ve never really had that experience of recollection you mentioned in your original post. It certainly affects my thinking patterns and can bring my thoughts to places I normally wouldn’t go so I have no doubts you’re right in that.

If we were to go even further on the subject of using drugs as therapeutic tools then I would like to shine some light on psylocybin mushrooms as something that could be used in therapy aswell, and even LSD or MDMA though I have no personal experience of the latter two. In fact all of these have been used by therapists and psychologists legally and illegally.

It’s such a shame that society has labeled these drugs as inherently bad, something for junkies, hippies and barbarians. There is certainly incredible medicinal value to all of these drugs besides recreational usage which there is no problem with as long as it doesn’t turn into abuse.

Deleted User said 9 years, 5 months ago:

Oh, mushrooms and acid definitely. Haven’t tried MDMA yet though. But they do shatter many illusions about self, that’s for sure. I’ve wrote a post on that stuff recently in this http://blahtherapy.com/user-groups/ayahuascapeyotelsddmtetc-life-changing-experiences/forum/ group, check it out if you like.