The A.G. Sure Is A Horse's Ass!

[dales]

Jeff Sessions says medical marijuana is ‘hyped’ and ‘slightly less awful’ than heroin

By Oscar Pascual on March 15, 2017 at 12:04 PM

Jeff Sessions has made it clear that he’s not a fan of marijuana, medical or otherwise.

The U.S. Attorney General on Wednesday delivered a speech to law enforcement officials in Richmond, VA that included several anti-marijuana comments and a sentiment to ramp up the War on Drugs, reports the Washington Post.

“I am determined that this country will not go backwards,” Sessions said before stating opinions that belong in the 1950s:

“I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use. But too many lives are at stake to worry about being fashionable. I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.”

Sessions further doubled down on his “unfashionable” beliefs by suggesting a return to the failed Drug War policies of the Reagan era by bringing back drug abstinence campaigns and “hammering” drug dealers and offenders.

“We have too much of a tolerance for drug use,” Sessions said. “We need to say, as Nancy Reagan said, ‘Just say no.’ There’s no excuse for this, it’s not recreational. Lives are at stake, and we’re not going to worry about being fashionable.”

The cherry on top of Sessions’ reefer madness was a tidbit given to reporters after his speech, where he asserted that he was “dubious” of the importance of medical cannabis.

“Medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much,” Sessions told reporters.

Meanwhile, in the fashionable land of facts and empirical data, the War on Drugs has been a complete failure, opioid-related overdoses have seen a dramatic reduction in states with legal medical pot, and medical cannabis continues to save the lives of children, athletes, and war veterans.

[Big RR]

then he said, "But I have to leave now, it's happy hour"

What an ass.

[BoSoxGal]

He's a stupid cunt.

Under his 'leadership' the War on Drugs will be reinvigorated, thousands more lives will be destroyed, and meanwhile Big Pharma keeps raking in the billions to addict people to opioids and benzodiazepines while the alcohol industry keeps getting rich killing people with their poison, too.

And still never one documented death due solely to the responsible use of marijuana.

[Econoline]

• The federal government has no idea how to grow marijuana.
  The US grows marijuana for research. But it’s so awful it’s basically useless.
  Updated by German Lopez | @germanrlopez | german.lopez@vox.com | Mar 14, 2017, 4:42pm EDT
  
  The only marijuana researchers can legally obtain for studies looks like something you would scrape off the bottom of your shoe after walking on a grassy field.
  
  This is not an exaggeration. Take a look at this photo, courtesy of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS):
  
  This is the marijuana that researchers were sent for a study looking at whether pot can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
  
  Due to federal prohibition and regulations, all of the marijuana used for US research is provided by one facility at the University of Mississippi through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). But researchers have complained for years that the quality of marijuana that NIDA supplies is terrible — typically far below what you can get from state-legal medical or recreational marijuana markets or even the black market.
  
  The photo above exemplifies this. The marijuana looks like it’s made up more of leaves and stems than the actual bud you’re supposed to smoke. As anyone who’s ever smoked pot can tell you, you’re typically supposed to throw out the leaves and stems — meaning what you see in the photo is basically garbage to the typical user. Usable pot is supposed to look chunkier and laced with crystals that are high in THC (which is what gets you high).
  
  Here’s an example of higher-quality pot, taken before the stems are fully removed:
  
  But as Christopher Ingraham and Tauhid Chappell reported at the Washington Post, the problem is not solely aesthetic. The NIDA-provided marijuana was supposed to have 13 percent THC content, but the MAPS researchers’ own testing found it was closer to 8 percent. (In comparison, state-legal commercial marijuana is typically at 19 percent but can go up to 30 percent or more.) There were also high mold and yeast levels — far beyond what you’d see in state-legal medical marijuana — but ultimately not the kind of mold or yeast that’s harmful to humans.
  
  Yet thanks to the federally enforced monopoly on pot for research, this is the pot that researchers have to work with.
  
  That makes the research questionable. Will it understate pot’s medical benefits, since this pot provided by the government is far weaker than what patients would actually use in the real world? Given that the government can’t get THC levels right, how can researchers be sure that federally provided marijuana won’t fail in other respects, such as the levels of other crucial chemicals like CBD? And since researchers know that the quality of pot they’ll get from the government is bad, how many give up without even trying?
  
  These kinds of hurdles are why, even as marijuana has been with humans in some form of another for thousands of years, we still have little idea of what marijuana’s benefits and harms truly are.
  
  Our lack of knowledge then helps perpetuate prohibition. One reason that pot remains a highly restricted, fully prohibited substance at the federal level is because there are no large-scale clinical trials proving its medical value and safety. But a major reason for the lack of large-scale clinical trials is that federal prohibition limits researchers’ access to good marijuana — by, for example, letting NIDA claim a monopoly on what kind of pot researchers can use. (If pot was legal, researchers could just obtain the drug from a retailer — much like, say, a researcher looking into alcohol or tobacco could.) This is, in other words, a Catch-22.
  
  It’s possible, the Post reported, that this is a particularly bad strain of NIDA’s marijuana. When I asked about this, the agency told me, “The marijuana provided by the University of Mississippi farm supported by NIDA is dried and frozen before being shipped and hence it will look different from the more commonly familiar dried plant sold in dispensaries. However, this does not impact the chemical constituents found within the plant, including THC levels.”
  
  NIDA did tell the Post that “there has been some emerging interest from the research community for a wider variety of marijuana and marijuana products. … NIDA does plan on growing some additional marijuana this year and harvest some high THC material that will likely be above 13 percent THC.”
  
  But as I reported before, NIDA has been hinting at these kinds of steps for years. And as researchers wait, they have to conduct their studies with some pretty crappy weed.

[oldr_n_wsr]

And still never one documented death due solely to the responsible use of marijuana.

The key word is "RESPONSIBLE".

meanwhile Big Pharma keeps raking in the billions to addict people to opioids and benzodiazepines while the alcohol industry keeps getting rich killing people with their poison, too.

I would say that all of these are IRRESPONSIBLE uses of the drugs.

So one does straight-forwardly compare to the other.

And if you think marijuana is not addicive, I have many people in the rooms who tell a different story.

And one sure thing of any herion/opiod addict is they started with either alcohol and/or pot.
(not including those who got opiod addicted via abusing valid pain prescriptions although some of them were already abusing alcohol and/or pot)

[Econoline]

• And one sure thing of any herion/opiod addict is they started with either alcohol and/or pot.

And I'll bet that almost all pot users/abusers started with tobacco. (Which is why I am just about the only person of my generation who never wanted to smoke pot: I already knew that I found smoking tobacco *VERY* unpleasant.)

[Scooter]

Actually, I am sure that 100% of all heroin/opioid addicts started by drinking milk. Perhaps we should label dairy products as gateway drugs.

[Burning Petard]

And 100% of the people on death row in Texas prisons ate Cheerios as children.

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

And 100% of the people on death row in Texas prisons ate Cheerios as children.

snailgate

Don't know about that, but I'm sure that they all, at one time or another, owned and used a toothbrush....
..... so let's ban toothbrushes.
See how easy it is to create fallacious and/or facetious examples?

-"BB"-

[Crackpot]

It's all dihydrogen monoxide people find once they try that they can't live without it.

[BoSoxGal]

Oh for pity's sake there are millions of marijuana users who never use any stronger drugs.

MOST opiod addicts got that way via prescribed use - or using someone else's prescription recreationally - then switching to heroin when pills were too expensive or hard to find.

It takes 2-4 DAYS to become physically addicted to opioids.

Marijuana IS NOT physically addictive. Period!

People who get 'addicted' to marijuana have psychological issues that make them seek out substances or other means - gambling, sex, work, exercise - to avoid dealing with mental shit.

All addicts - whether addicted to the above, or alcohol, or food - need treatment, not incarceration. Drug abuse is a public health issue and should not be a criminal justice issue. We will continue to waste billions every year - while the death toll from opiod use continues to grow to horrific numbers - if we continue on the path Sessions advocates.

Or we could legalize marijuana, save billions, gain billions of tax revenue, and properly fund addiction treatment for the 15% or so of drug users who need it.

It's a no brainer except to those who have no brains or are just puritanical.

[kristina]

Or we could legalize marijuana, save billions, gain billions of tax revenue, and properly fund addiction treatment for the 15% or so of drug users who need it.

I remember my mother saying pretty much the same thing (minus the treatment part) when I was in high school. And that was 45 years ago (I cannot believe it was that long ago... )

[Big RR]

And in all that time, we've come to the "Just say no", reefer madness approach and out current AG. What a country.

[Sue U]

[Burning Petard]

Class One and Class two drugs are what the feds absolutely prohibit. They are defined as useful only for bad results.

I started working with DEA Class I and II substances back in about 1985. I was the name on the federal license for legal possession. I was the guy the federal agents with guns on their hips,came looking for first to see if my employer was following the law. I was the guy who was gonna face the judge first if any thing was wrong.

Way back then, there was lots of solid data from medical sources and law enforcement sources about illegal drug use. The big conclusion was that most addiction and illegal use of drugs was for substances that were NOT on the Class I or II list. "Valley of the Dolls' was not about Barbie collections. Most,[defining 'most' by dollar value, or total weight, or total number of illegal users. It still comes up the same] including illegal sales and distribution, was for prescription drugs.

That has not changed. It is still true. Nobody is making 'hillbilly heroin' in kitchen labs. Politicians continue the smoke and mirrors of talk and spending on things that make them look like they have done something while the real problems continue unchanged.

Thus we have secured the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

snailgate

[rubato]

Not exactly. Only schedule I are forbidden for any use. Schedule II are prescription drugs with a high potential for abuse.



http://medshadow.org/resource/drug-clas ... -iii-iv-v/

Schedule I Controlled Substances

Substances in this schedule have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.

Some examples of substances listed in Schedule I are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), peyote, methaqualone, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“Ecstasy”).

Schedule II/IIN Controlled Substances (2/2N)

Substances in this schedule have a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.\

Examples of Schedule II narcotics include: hydromorphone (Dilaudid), methadone (Dolophine), meperidine (Demerol), oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), and fentanyl (Sublimaze, Duragesic). Other Schedule II narcotics include: morphine, opium, and codeine.

Examples of Schedule IIN stimulants include: amphetamine (Dexedrine, Adderall), methamphetamine (Desoxyn), and methylphenidate (Ritalin).

Other Schedule II substances include: amobarbital, glutethimide, and pentobarbital.

Schedule III/IIIN Controlled Substances (3/3N)

Substances in this schedule have a potential for abuse less than substances in Schedules I or II and abuse may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.

Examples of Schedule III narcotics include: combination products containing less than 15 milligrams of hydrocodone per dosage unit (Vicodin), products containing not more than 90 milligrams of codeine per dosage unit (Tylenol with Codeine), and buprenorphine (Suboxone).

Examples of Schedule IIIN non-narcotics include: benzphetamine (Didrex), phendimetrazine, ketamine, and anabolic steroids such as Depo-Testosterone.

Schedule IV Controlled Substances

Substances in this schedule have a low potential for abuse relative to substances in Schedule III.

Examples of Schedule IV substances include: alprazolam (Xanax), carisoprodol (Soma), clonazepam (Klonopin), clorazepate (Tranxene), diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), midazolam (Versed), temazepam (Restoril), and triazolam (Halcion).

Schedule V Controlled Substances

Substances in this schedule have a low potential for abuse relative to substances listed in Schedule IV and consist primarily of preparations containing limited quantities of certain narcotics.

Examples of Schedule V substances include: cough preparations containing not more than 200 milligrams of codeine per 100 milliliters or per 100 grams (Robitussin AC, Phenergan with Codeine), and ezogabine.

[BoSoxGal]

And it is contrary to both common sense and science that marijuana remains a Schedule I drug.

At some point in the future our progeny will look back on this time as a crime against humanity.


The studies have been done about marijuana, just not here because of the federal prohibition. Read this book and enlightenment will follow:





oldr, I'm not dismissing what you've heard in the rooms but I'm well acquainted with addicts and I know they make a lot of excuses for themselves, even while 'successfully' working the steps. (My true feelings about AA is for another conversation; I recognize it works for some, but overall the success rate is abysmal - but it has become so entrenched in the treatment community that it has served as an obstacle to developing different and perhaps better approaches for the 85% of people it fails.)

On the subject of marijuana I'll say this: I first used at 14, still managed to accomplish a great deal in life, not become an addict and have used on and off for my entire adult life and now whenever I can get marijuana I use it because it relieves many of my MS symptoms, and migraines, without all the shitty side effects of Big Pharma poisons.

For the record, along the way I used a handful of other illegal substances and didn't become an addict, even though I've got an alcoholic father and now 3 alcoholic siblings.

I've known dozens of people throughout my life who smoked marijuana everywhere from a couple times a month to daily - a few hits at the end of a hard day instead of a couple of glasses of wine or a few beers or stiff scotches. What the heck is wrong with that?! MANY of them are teachers, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs - one of my best smoking buddies in grad school was a brilliant engineer who swore by his method of smoking a little mj before studying as the reason he excelled in skool.

Marijuana isn't evil. The prohibition of it has destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives. THAT is evil!

[Long Run]

Is marijuana addictive?

Marijuana use can lead to the development of problem use, known as a marijuana use disorder, which takes the form of addiction in severe cases. Recent data suggest that 30 percent of those who use marijuana may have some degree of marijuana use disorder.18 People who begin using marijuana before the age of 18 are four to seven times more likely to develop a marijuana use disorder than adults.19

Marijuana use disorders are often associated with dependence—in which a person feels withdrawal symptoms when not taking the drug. People who use marijuana frequently often report irritability, mood and sleep difficulties, decreased appetite, cravings, restlessness, and/or various forms of physical discomfort that peak within the first week after quitting and last up to 2 weeks.20,21 Marijuana dependence occurs when the brain adapts to large amounts of the drug by reducing production of and sensitivity to its own endocannabinoid neurotransmitters.22,23

Marijuana use disorder becomes addiction when the person cannot stop using the drug even though it interferes with many aspects of his or her life. Estimates of the number of people addicted to marijuana are controversial, in part because epidemiological studies of substance use often use dependence as a proxy for addiction even though it is possible to be dependent without being addicted. Those studies suggest that 9 percent of people who use marijuana will become dependent on it,24,25 rising to about 17 percent in those who start using in their teens.26,27

In 2015, about 4.0 million people in the United States used or were dependent on marijuana;3 138,000 voluntarily sought treatment for their marijuana use.28
Rising Potency

Marijuana potency, as detected in confiscated samples, has steadily increased over the past few decades.2 In the early 1990s, the average THC content in confiscated marijuana samples was roughly 3.7 percent. In 2014, it was 6.1 percent.29 Also, newly popular methods of smoking or eating THC-rich hash oil extracted from the marijuana plant (a practice called dabbing) may deliver very high levels of THC to the person. The average marijuana extract contains more than 50 percent THC, with some samples exceeding 80 percent. These trends raise concerns that the consequences of marijuana use could be worse than in the past, particularly among those who are new to marijuana use or in young people, whose brains are still developing (see "What are marijuana’s long-term effects on the brain?").

Researchers do not yet know the full extent of the consequences when the body and brain (especially the developing brain) are exposed to high concentrations of THC or whether the recent increases in emergency department visits by people testing positive for marijuana are related to rising potency. The extent to which people adjust for increased potency by using less or by smoking it differently is also unknown. Recent studies suggest that experienced people may adjust the amount they smoke and how much they inhale based on the believed strength of the marijuana they are using, but they are not able to fully compensate for variations in potency.30,31

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/ ... -addictive

[Lord Jim]

And I'll bet that almost all pot users/abusers started with tobacco.

That is different from my experience, and (most of those of my generation or later who I've known personally...maybe that was more of a "60s thing" than a 70s or later thing... )

I smoke a pipe, but I've never smoked cigarettes, and I took up pipe smoking well after I had first smoked pot...(and they were in no way connected)

I know many people who smoked pot who never smoked cigarettes...

Oldr:

And one sure thing of any herion/opiod addict is they started with either alcohol and/or pot.

That may be true, but of course the overwhelming majority of people who drink or smoke pot never become heroin or opiod addicts, so that really doesn't establish a causal relationship...

I have many people in the rooms who tell a different story.

I suspect something else you've heard "in the rooms" is that "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results"...

And regardless of how one feels about the destructive properties of pot or any other drug, that is what Sessions is proposing...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

I'm not one of those Libertarian types who has some sort of objection to criminalizing drug use on philosophical grounds...

If the track record for the War On Drugs had been a stellar success, I might be all for it...

But the objective reality is, when you look at the data, it has been a total, complete, and abject failure...

In fact worse than a failure...

"a failure" would only not have made all the direct and indirect costs of drug abuse any better...

The "War On Drugs" has made all of these direct and indirect costs demonstrably and provably worse...

And now we have an AG, who seems to want to double down on the policy approach that has for nearly 50 years, (going back to the Nixon Administration) proven itself to be a total, complete, and abject failure...

His policy plan is definitely based on doing the same thing that has been done over and over again expecting a different result...

[Gob]

Anyone tried vaping pot?

I've been told you get all the "fun" without inhaling smoke, allegedly.