Marijuana - no long term memory effects, and can improve cognitive function!

[blueta2]

My friends who smoke weed are amazingly intellgent; high IQ's, but below average EQ's. I almost smoked the other night after 7 yrs, but thought I would rather not get the munchies since I am trying to keep my girlish figure! ;-)

 

[Lestat]

Hippies running up and down the street don't exactly enhance property value. Plus think about how many crimes are done simply for drug money. I'll pass on having a stoner hangout next door to me.

how many crimes are done for marijuana money? Really, think about it? Now of what you could manage to put together, how many of those would be eliminated if (in most states)producing and obtaining it was not illegal?

I'd prefer to live in a neighborhood without a lot of things I don't find desirable, but just as I want freedom to live my life the way I choose, I extend that to others. I'd prefer to live in a neighborhood with no pets, no cigarette smokers, no fat people, no people with foul body odor, no people who listen to music loud after 12am, no people who are unattractive, the list goes on.

I think we are making progress here though, you are realizing that living in a tightly controlled authoritarian state may be more to your liking (assuming that government was 100% in line with your view). I am sure many people share this view too so don't feel bad about it, just realize that a country that values individual freedom very highly may not always feel great for you. You've got a lot of people to commiserate with, surely all of us can find individual freedoms we don't enjoy and wouldn't mind seeing taken away from others for our own convenience.

 

[mrplunkey]

how many crimes are done for marijuana money? Really, think about it? Now of what you could manage to put together, how many of those would be eliminated if (in most states)producing and obtaining it was not illegal?

I'd prefer to live in a neighborhood without a lot of things I don't find desirable, but just as I want freedom to live my life the way I choose, I extend that to others. I'd prefer to live in a neighborhood with no pets, no cigarette smokers, no fat people, no people with foul body odor, no people who listen to music loud after 12am, no people who are unattractive, the list goes on.

I think we are making progress here though, you are realizing that living in a tightly controlled authoritarian state may be more to your liking (assuming that government was 100% in line with your view). I am sure many people share this view too so don't feel bad about it, just realize that a country that values individual freedom very highly may not always feel great for you. You've got a lot of people to commiserate with, surely all of us can find individual freedoms we don't enjoy and wouldn't mind seeing taken away from others for our own convenience.

No country that values individual freedom would ever confiscate nearly 50% of a person's income. We discarded that concept a long time ago.

I'm 100% fine with a return to true freedom, but until then it is any taxpayer's moral (and legal) right to influence the system in any way they feel serves their interests or deems appropriate. That's why I really can't blame a lobbyist or anyone else pushing an agenda in Washington -- we created those opportunities by making government too large in the first place.

 

[Lestat]

No country that values individual freedom would ever confiscate nearly 50% of a person's income. We discarded that concept a long time ago.

I'm 100% fine with a return to true freedom, but until then it is any taxpayer's moral (and legal) right to influence the system in any way they feel serves their interests or deems appropriate. That's why I really can't blame a lobbyist or anyone else pushing an agenda in Washington -- we created those opportunities by making government too large in the first place.

50% of the country pays no income tax though! Its those who reap the most rewards from such a well equipped country (amazing infrastructure, educated professional worker pool to source from, stability, etc.) who pay proportionally. I don't really see any problem with that. It'd be impossible for someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett to make their fortunes in an isolated desert.

 

[mrplunkey]

50% of the country pays no income tax though! Its those who reap the most rewards from such a well equipped country (amazing infrastructure, educated professional worker pool to source from, stability, etc.) who pay proportionally. I don't really see any problem with that. It'd be impossible for someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett to make their fortunes in an isolated desert.

That's the fundamental difference between you and me.

You think Gates and Buffett happened thanks to the government.

I believe Gates and Buffett happened despite the government.

But my views of the government are evolving over time. The right answer is to make it as absolutely small as possible, otherwise we'll always have ridiculous examples of abuse. A great example is GE's negative tax rate for 2010. While that seems like a bad thing at first, it should be an object lesson regarding the evils of large government. So if people have the lesson in front of them, but refuse to learn it, whose fault is it really?

 

[Lestat]

That's the fundamental difference between you and me.

You think Gates and Buffett happened thanks to the government.

I believe Gates and Buffett happened despite the government.

But my views of the government are evolving over time. The right answer is to make it as absolutely small as possible, otherwise we'll always have ridiculous examples of abuse. A great example is GE's negative tax rate for 2010. While that seems like a bad thing at first, it should be an object lesson regarding the evils of large government. So if people have the lesson in front of them, but refuse to learn it, whose fault is it really?

whoa whoa whoa!

I don't think Gates and Buffett happened thanks to the government.

I think first and foremost they brought innovative ideas (in Gates case particularly) and had the drive and follow through to make some amazing shit happen! I do not believe that had they not been here, someone else, in this country, would have filled those roles. I take nothing away from them as individuals.

I do know, as they both do, that they benefited from many things that this country provides. Ideally none of them would need any sort of government intervention to create, but sadly, and mostly due to man's selfish nature, we do.

As I have said before, I work for a fortune 500, and before working here I was hardcore conservative. I thought we should have no taxes, poor people can survive on charity!

But my company, just like Gates and Buffetts', needs a LOT of ancillary support in order to make things happen. Now that they have billions they can fund and buy a lot of it themselves, but even with their fortunes I don't think they can single handedly fund a higher education system that will churn out engineers and other genius level professionals in the numbers they need to exist.

Those aren't the people I'm most concerned about though, what about all of the less glamorous jobs that are needed? What about the whole infrastructure that makes getting to work possible, building buildings possible, a place for all that trash and shred bin material to go. People to stock store rooms, make coffee, take notes, clean toilets, wipe the asses of babies who have two professional parents gone 80 hours a week a piece. There is a whole shitload of stuff that is REQUIRED.

Now does the government need to get involved? I want to say no, believe me man, I do, but from what I know and see (and granted I am just 34) without some intervention, wages will go DOWN, benefits will go DOWN. Why do you think there are unions? We shouldn't NEED them, but where is the incentive for employers to pay their people more when their profits are up? That incentive is not there.

The analogy I use is that of a prize winning rose. You can take the seed for that rosebush and plant it in the desert and never tend it again, odds are you will never see a rose, never even knew the potential that seed had. OR you can plant it in fertile soil and tend that motherfucker daily, give it water, ensure it has sunshine, protect it from pests, and guess what, you'll get some championship blooms off that thing. And you can do that over and over and over, and you can take the best and combine it with other stand outs and get even better.

Our country is a fertile flowerbed and we have many championship winning roses in it, I want to keep it that way.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

This one is for you mrplunkey. I am sure you are long past changing any of your viewpoints (the more irrational a viewpoint the less likely it is to change) but here can you see that there are some positive cognitive effects as a result of marijuana and many of the things you hold as truth about this sacred herb are simply unfounded.

Does Marijuana Make You Stupid? | Wired Science| Wired.com

It spurs the creative mind, aka musicians, painters, actors, etc. Technical mind is a completely different story. I wouldn't want doctors or nuclear physicists getting baked before they do brain surgery or develop the next Hadron collider.

 

[Lestat]

It spurs the creative mind, aka musicians, painters, actors, etc. Technical mind is a completely different story. I wouldn't want doctors or nuclear physicists getting baked before they do brain surgery or develop the next Hadron collider.

I'm sure you wouldn't want those people drunk either. how about on xanax or ambien? Ok to fire up the hadron collider after taking a double stack of lunesta/ambien?

but what about after having a cup of coffee and an adderol?

 

[mrplunkey]

whoa whoa whoa!

I don't think Gates and Buffett happened thanks to the government.

I think first and foremost they brought innovative ideas (in Gates case particularly) and had the drive and follow through to make some amazing shit happen! I do not believe that had they not been here, someone else, in this country, would have filled those roles. I take nothing away from them as individuals.

I do know, as they both do, that they benefited from many things that this country provides. Ideally none of them would need any sort of government intervention to create, but sadly, and mostly due to man's selfish nature, we do.

As I have said before, I work for a fortune 500, and before working here I was hardcore conservative. I thought we should have no taxes, poor people can survive on charity!

But my company, just like Gates and Buffetts', needs a LOT of ancillary support in order to make things happen. Now that they have billions they can fund and buy a lot of it themselves, but even with their fortunes I don't think they can single handedly fund a higher education system that will churn out engineers and other genius level professionals in the numbers they need to exist.

Those aren't the people I'm most concerned about though, what about all of the less glamorous jobs that are needed? What about the whole infrastructure that makes getting to work possible, building buildings possible, a place for all that trash and shred bin material to go. People to stock store rooms, make coffee, take notes, clean toilets, wipe the asses of babies who have two professional parents gone 80 hours a week a piece. There is a whole shitload of stuff that is REQUIRED.

Now does the government need to get involved? I want to say no, believe me man, I do, but from what I know and see (and granted I am just 34) without some intervention, wages will go DOWN, benefits will go DOWN. Why do you think there are unions? We shouldn't NEED them, but where is the incentive for employers to pay their people more when their profits are up? That incentive is not there.

The analogy I use is that of a prize winning rose. You can take the seed for that rosebush and plant it in the desert and never tend it again, odds are you will never see a rose, never even knew the potential that seed had. OR you can plant it in fertile soil and tend that motherfucker daily, give it water, ensure it has sunshine, protect it from pests, and guess what, you'll get some championship blooms off that thing. And you can do that over and over and over, and you can take the best and combine it with other stand outs and get even better.

Our country is a fertile flowerbed and we have many championship winning roses in it, I want to keep it that way.

You are for a larger government model, but only if that model adheres to your vision. But you don't get it both ways -- a government that can insert itself into wage issues certainly has the power to insert itself into marijuana use.

Being a devout atheist, I don't really click with the bible thumpers. But nothing would please me more to see a Perry/Bauchmann win in 2012. And I'd love to see a cabinet 100% full of the most extreme religious zealots (I have Sarah Palin pegged for Secretary of Health and Human Services). Hopefully they'll use all these wonderful governmental agencies such as Education and Health and Human Service to implement their vision for a proper Christian nation. Know why? Because we might finally get the message to big government types that these social engineering initiatives can swing from liberal to conservative in an instant.

 

[Lestat]

You are for a larger government model, but only if that model adheres to your vision. But you don't get it both ways -- a government that can insert itself into wage issues certainly has the power to insert itself into marijuana use.

Being a devout atheist, I don't really click with the bible thumpers. But nothing would please me more to see a Perry/Bauchmann win in 2012. And I'd love to see a cabinet 100% full of the most extreme religious zealots (I have Sarah Palin pegged for Secretary of Health and Human Services). Hopefully they'll use all these wonderful governmental agencies such as Education and Health and Human Service to implement their vision for a proper Christian nation. Know why? Because we might finally get the message to big government types that these social engineering initiatives can swing from liberal to conservative in an instant.

I see your point, but I disagree with MY vision, I think it should be us as a nation deciding, I know its tough to find a lot we agree on, but that is a good thing, stick to what we agree on (the minority) and the majority of other issues are farmed out to states and local jurisdictions. The end result is smaller government.