I'm going to be famous one day for inventing a machine that lets you slap people in the face over the internet.

So would you then consider it natural?

No more unnatural than creating a vanilla extract out of regular vanilla for flavoring food.

Methamphetamine's negative effects include, but are not limited to, the following:

* Hyperactivity
* Irritability
* Visual hallucinations
* Auditory hallucinations (hearing "voices")
* Suicidal tendencies
* Aggression
* Suspiciousness, severe paranoia
* Shortness of breath
* Increased blood pressure
* Cardiac arrhythmia
* Stroke
* Sweating
* Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
* Long periods of sleep ("crashing" for 24-48 hours or more)
* Prolonged sluggishness, severe depression
* Weight loss, malnutrition, anorexia
* Itching (illusion that bugs are crawling on the skin)
* Welts on the skin
* Involuntary body movements
* Paranoid delusions

Heroin's side effects include but are not limited to:

* bacterial infections
* arthritis and other rheumatologic problems
* seizures
* strokes
* death
* physiologically and physical addiction
* collapsed veins
* infection of the heart lining and valves
* abscesses
* liver disease
* pulmonary complications
* various types of pneumonia
* a higher risk for contracting HIV, Hepatitis B and C and other viruses


Marijuana's side effects:

* Dry mouth
* Increased appetite
* Sleepiness
* Altered Time Perception
* Bloodshot eyes
* Compulsive urge to ORDER TACOS.

there's a bunch more:
(some may be repeats from your list)

Typical Marijuana Side Effects:

* Enhanced cancer risk
* Decrease in testosterone levels and lower sperm counts for men
* Increase in testosterone levels for women and increased risk of infertility
* Diminished or extinguished sexual pleasure
* Psychological dependence requiring more of the drug to get the same effect
* Sleepiness
* Difficulty keeping track of time, impaired or reduced short-term memory
* Reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination,
such as driving a car
* Increased heart rate
* Potential cardiac dangers for those with preexisting heart disease
* Bloodshot eyes
* Dry mouth and throat
* Decreased social inhibitions
* Paranoia, hallucinations
* Impaired or reduced short-term memory
* Impaired or reduced comprehension
* Altered motivation and cognition, making the acquisition of new information difficult
* Paranoia
* Psychological dependence
* Impairments in learning and memory, perception, and judgment - difficulty
speaking, listening effectively, thinking, retaining knowledge, problem solving,
and forming concepts
* Intense anxiety or panic attacks


(taken from here:
marijuana side effects)

Cannabis Doesn't Cause Cancer, But It Might Cure It | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

Lots of the "side effects" of marijuana were determined a long time ago. When the war on drugs began. Many of the "tests" they did were very skewed in favor of saying weed is bad. Now newer studies are finding out the opposite, marijuana has good effects.

Also here is a pretty good doc. The Union

Of course both sides are going to use statistics or so called "scientific" testing to get these results to either show it is good or bad. Really it comes down to one thing , personal freedom. If you really want to do something that's harming nobody but yourself why should the government have a right to tell you what to do? The only really bad effects of the drug come from the prohibition and the violence involved with the illegal transportation and sales.

I bet you were high when you double posted too, huh? :mtongue:

I'm glad Japan enforces these laws. I think every country should enforce the same way. That's one thing that I hate about this country; you can get away with it. It doesn't matter where the drug comes from, it's illegal. You can drink one beer and not suffer from the same effects as one joint. I applause Japan on their laws.

Put it down, already. Enjoy life for what it is.

Do you dislike alcohol as well? If it wasnt illegal would you still have a problem with it? or is it only because it is illegal.

I guess because, yes it is illegal and it's potency is much greater than that of alcohol. Like I said, one beer or one cigarette is nothing compared to one joint. I think we would have a greater problem if it were legal in this country. Even though alcohol can cause lots problems for people, I think it's effects are far less than that of marijuana.

To answer your question, if alcohol were illegal then I would certainly have a problem with it. I love me some alcohol now, but when it comes to breaking the law, I just have to step away from it. I can't afford to break the law and certainly try not to.

So I take it that you have never smoked marijuana? How can you make a judgment if you've never done it before whether or not it's stronger than beer or cigarettes? I'd much rather deal with a bunch of pot smokers than a bunch of drunks. I've never seen people smoking pot try to start fights but I have seen plenty of drunks try to.

I have smoked it on several occasions in the past, so I may sound like a hypocrite when I say that I don't like it. I do not use it anymore, however. So, I do know it's powerful stuff and I know it's completely mind altering. The thing with marijuana, I've never seen anyone advance their lives while addicted to marijuana. I'm not saying that nobody ever does, I'm just saying that I have never. They all turn out to be hippie bums begging for another hit. Also, every person I've ever known that has used marijuana on a daily basis has also tried a much stronger drug because they couldn't get high anymore. Cocaine is the more common upgrade from pot.

I would say the thing the difference between alcohol and pot would be that, alcohol can be used responsibly. While yes, you can completely kill a case of beer and get completely hammered, which is moronic, you can also have A single beer with a meal. I certainly know that a draft Samuel Adams Boston lager makes my NY strip taste 10x better. There are several craft beers that I know of that I and others drink one at a time, usually during or after a meal. I've even been known to have a glass of scotch or cognac before a meal. Try complementing your meal with a joint. Was it worth it? *yuck*

I'm sure that there is just as many alcoholics waste their lives drinking. How can you tell an alcoholic to drink responsibly? You probably wouldn't believe how many people smoke marijuana that are successful. I think anything that you do in moderation is okay but excesses lead to problems.

You wouldn't believe how many pot smokers waste their lives smoking weed.

I've seen more people hold a decent job and drink in moderation than I have people with weed.

Thinking of the Army, those guys pissed up 3 night s a week at least, but were still extremly professional.

I dont know, I agree with Belyvis. I know many people who live successful lives and smoke weed. Its all about moderation. Its easy to say you know more people who are successful and drink. Drinking is more common. I know many people who smoke weed regularly and are doing just fine. Plus marijuana has some medical benefits. And hangovers from alcohol suck, you dont get those with weed.

Not where I'm from.

No it doesn't.

You never heard about medical cannabis?

You probably would never know who the successful pot smokers are since they have to hide it as it is illegal. You can always see the screw ups since, well, they are screw ups.
As with anything pleasurable there is a risk of addiction. Getting "pissed" 3 times a week is an alcoholic, professional yes but still as much an alcoholic as a Skid Row bum.

I know several successful pot smokers -- including business owners, legal counselors, journalists, and musicians...

"Research into the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis continued to bolster the case for the medicinal use of marijuana, making the 'patient pot laws' that have passed in 11 states seem less like a social movement than a legitimate medical trend."


TIME magazine wrote in a Dec. 5, 2005 article "The Year in Medicine":

---
"It is a sad commentary on the state of modern medicine -- and US drug policy -- that we still need 'proof' of something that medicine has known for 5,000 years. [...]

Marijuana is effective at relieving nausea and vomiting, spasticity, appetite loss, certain types of pain, and other debilitating symptoms. And it is extraordinarily safe -- safer than most medicines prescribed every day. If marijuana were a new discovery rather than a well-known substance carrying cultural and political baggage, it would be hailed as a wonder drug."

Lester Grinspoon, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School


---
"I believe that a federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane.

It is also hypocritical to forbid physicians to prescribe marijuana while permitting them to use morphine and meperidine to relieve extreme dyspnea and pain. With both these drugs the difference between the dose that relieves symptoms and the dose that hastens death is very narrow; by contrast, there is no risk of death from smoking marijuana. To demand evidence of therapeutic efficacy is equally hypocritical. The noxious sensations that patients experience are extremely difficult to quantify in controlled experiments.

Jerome Kassirer, MD, Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine
---

Cannabis was the first, second, and third most prescribed drug in the world up to its prohibition.

^^^

Very well put good sir. Actually, that was almost perfect. I dont think I can add anymore that you didnt already say. Well done.

@ Barone...

please don't quote a post if it's right above yours. It just takes up space, and makes people have to do more scrolling.

ok fixed it. I didnt think it would be that hard to scroll down. But its fixed non the less my bad.

I know. It's just the post you quoted is so long.
and since your post is under it, it's really not necessary.

anyway...

For those who are Japanese/Speak Japanese, here is a pro-Hemp group from Japan

CANNABIST Internet -


--

We are CANNABIST, a non-profit citizen activist organization located here in Tokyo, calling for decriminalization of personal use of cannabis in Japan. The recent worldwide public debates over the policies related to cannabis has been gaining momentum in support of decriminalization, backed by scientific evidence and viewpoints of human rights. CANNABIST consists of 3000 members unified by a shared desire to bring an end to the widespread general misunderstanding among the Japanese public regarding the risks of personal use of cannabis. This general misunderstanding has retarded rational reconsideration of the current policy that prohibits the personal use of cannabis. The current policy has caused what we consider to be wrongful violations of human rights. There have been over one thousand arrests each year, and those who have been arrested have been subjects to often severely strict punishments completely disproportional, and uncalled for, considering the fact that personal use of cannabis only poses more or less equivalent risks as compared to tobacco and alcohol in terms of personal health and overall safety of the general public.

We have been active since the year 1999, and through our efforts to decriminalize personal use of cannabis, we aim to make our own society freer and better.

CANNABIST
[email protected]
Address: 2-6-19-101 Sakurashinmachi Setagaya-ku Tokyo 154-0015 Japan

---

I don't know if I believe about this group. When I went there to try to organize the THC Ministry too many people were afraid of getting arrested. I don't see why this group would be any different, but I hope they are.

It's the thought that counts, I suppose.

No rebuttle? Anyone?

2,700 year old marijuana found in central Asia
 

Phytochemical and genetic analyses of ancient cannabis from Central Asia -- Russo et al. 59 (15): 4171 -- Journal of Experimental Botany

The Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, China have recently been excavated to reveal the 2700-year-old grave of a Caucasoid shaman whose accoutrements included a large cache of cannabis, superbly preserved by climatic and burial conditions.



Microscopic botanical analysis

Gross examination of the 11 g sample of cannabis provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed loose dry vegetative material. The impression that the vegetative material had been lightly pounded was supported by examination of the wooden bowl, whose internal surface was worn smooth, apparently from use as a mortar. The cannabis retained a surprisingly green colour in its leafy parts and displayed visible glandular trichomes (Fig. 2B), the phytochemical factory of the plant and site of manufacture of cannabinoids and terpenoids (Potter, 2004; McPartland and Russo, 2001; Kim and Mahlberg, 2003).

YouTube - 2009 Tokyo Marijuana March (HD) マリファナ マーチ 日本

YouTube - 麻からはじめる自然生活（５）　麻畑＆紙漉き

YouTube - 1-17_マリファナ音頭

YouTube - 420 Japan 大麻 2.22 Demo HD 日本 marijuana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2oCY...eature=related

hemp used to be legal and japanese farmers planted hemp everywhere in japan before WW2. and hemp has a lot to do with Shinto, and Syugendou. Shinto oracles used to use Oonusa which is written 大麻 (大幣 for present days)　when they say prayers( 祝詞　). Yamabushi burned marijuana when they chant. Japanese even smoked marijuana as medicine of asthma. Japanese parents made crying kids bite marijuana leaves to subside. I want that marijuana culture back. hemp is necessary aspect of our culture.

didn't know there was a topic like this thou i knew Japan was intolerant to drugs.
but i want to ask about different things like snuff and snus. how about those? snuff is nasal tobacco and snuns is small tobacco "pillows" you put behind your lip. both are actually far less harmful than smoking. that is why Sweden where it is legal has 30% less smokers with cancer.
it my country it is legal to import for personal use but it is illegal to distribute. how about Japan?

Snuff and other smokeless tobaccos are almost unknown in Japan. Smoking in Japan is mainly a social activity, and (unlike in many other countries) most smokers begin the habit as adults. At one time it was considered professionally "necessary" by some to smoke, but not so much anymore. The number of smokers in Japan fell below 50% of the population a few years ago, the government is trying to reduce the numbers of smokers by making cigarettes more expensive. Also, more and more restaurants are becoming smoke free. In most places it is now illegal to smoke except in designated areas, smoking while walking on sidewalks or in alleys is prohibited. If you visit places around Tokyo, you'll see signs on the walls and on the sidewalks telling people not to smoke in these places.

I thought most males who smoke started in high school.

I`ve observed that it`s usually in university, not high school. High school just tends to be too involved and observant for many kids to get away with it.