The feds will still go after it as an illegal drug when presented as recreational and the will keep the stigma going on forever. Furthermore it will keep a lot of talented people out of good job opportunities for smoking a joint after work instead of having a glass of wine.
What blows my mind is how benzos are listed as schedule iv: low risk of abuse or dependence. Except that many, many people abuse and get hooked on them, and along with alcohol, the withdrawal can directly kill you.
Withdrawal can be lethal sure, but you can just overdose on them, like alcohol. They have a very simily mechanism of action to alcohol. It’s also why they’re so dangerous combined. The scheduling system has little relationship to medical reality.
Meanwhile if you smoke too much weed you’ll have a panic attack, see God, fail asleep, and wake up with a terrible hangover. I’ve witnessed it a bunch (and experienced it myself) since the NY market is unregulated so dispensaries push 100mg+ edibles like it’s a normal amount. Hell, I’ve seen drinks with 1250mg/8oz. It’s wildly unpleasant, but way better than death.
Man, I fill with rage whenever I think about how much harm to the American public our “leadership” did with the War on Drugs just so they could have an excuse to be racist and classist
Totally. It’s not impossible to harm yourself with weed/THC, especially if it’s in combination with certain other drugs or medications or interacting with certain health conditions. And some of the doses you can get now in the dispensaries I’ve also noticed are pretty massive. The synthetic cannibinoids are potentially more dangerous, having even more blood vessel constrictive properties than typical cannabinoids (can increase stroke and heart attack risks). But weed doesn’t hold a candle to the dangers and damage of perfectly legal alcohol or tobacco. And there’s plenty of other still illegal without a prescription but more dangerous drugs that are lower on the schedule list than relatively safer ones like marijuana and psychedelics (pretty much all schedule I).
100%
Don’t even get me started on psychedelics. Psylocibin is the only antidepressant that has ever worked for me. 1.5g of shroomies will improve my mood for 2-4 weeks. I’m convinced the only reason they’re still Schedule I is because they work too well.
Psychedelics should absolutely be decriminalized at the very minimum. Anybody that has ever actually taken psychedelics regardless of their stance before dose one can agree with this sentiment.
Honestly, I really think they should be legal for medical purposes and potentially even recreational purposes. Yes, people shouldn’t probably be getting fucked up on acid or mushrooms out in public, but people shouldn’t be on alcohol either. Difference is, I don’t see anyone on psychedelics going and committing crimes while they are high.
My only thing about psychoactive substances is that you should probably still get screened for recreational purposes as they can seriously exacerbate certain mental illnesses if you are not careful, however almost any substance can do this with different disorders.
“People shouldn’t be getting fucked up on acid or mushrooms out in public, but people shouldn’t be on alcohol either.”
I’m on team decriminalization…and I think it’s going to be extra hard in the US because of our car addiction. I have never driven on psychedelics, nor do I ever intend to, but I’m concerned that someone will make a bad judgment call and drive to the convenience store (because that’s the only reasonable way to get places in most of the US) and it could end in tragedy. I see this as an extra hurdle we have to tackle, but it doesn’t change my stance on decriminalization.
We don’t have a lot of police in my area for the amount of people, so I would not count on them to recognize many drunk/drugged drivers. Traffic is largely unpatrolled and I have only been pulled over for anything twice in ~20 years.
I would be fascinated to hear about what driving on psychedelics is like from anyone who is willing to fess up to having done it (or has a story about a “friend”). Sounds like a bad idea, but I’m not an authority on the topic.
It is possible to eat a lethal amount of THC oil but the process of eating it would be so uncomfortable that your stomach would have to be absolutely huge and still be stuffed to the brim.
I don’t see you seeing god on just THC though, that sounds more like psychedelics and a lot of it.
My wife was on benzos after a stint of panic attacks in the emergency room. That shit was fucking awful for her to get off of. Luckily she’s extremely strong-willed. She went from 3 Xanax a day to none in a month. Her psychiatrist laid out a plan to get her off of them. She told her what time she should take each pill and at what doses. She actually went ahead of schedule. There were a few screaming fits from the withdrawal symptoms, but she did it. It took about 3 months for her to return to normal after her last pill. It was very difficult, but she did it.
Benzos are fucking evil, I’m so glad she was able to recover. It must have been hell
I can’t even begin to describe how much of hell it was for her. She literally screamed that her life was a living hell like 5 times a day at one point.
Progress in government is made in steps. Scheduling to 3 allows research. Research that will show it’s no worse than alcohol. Then we push for removal from the schedule.
Research already shows this, there are more countries than america
Maybe. But there aren’t more countries than America that our government would listen to.
Not to mention 38 states have legalized it for medical use. What is there to study with regard to removing the legal penalties federally?
Also, are there any studies supporting it being banned? As I understand it, it was a PR campaign and moral panic that lead to its ban on the first place, not anything rational.
The research at the time said not to ban it because it is reasonably safe for consumption and banning it would cause social unrest and distrust of the government. Check out “A Signal of Misunderstanding: The First Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse”, a report from a commission created by Richard Nixon with the passage of the 1969 Narcotics Act.
I wish I could agree that we need studies to convince our rational leaders in government to make the rational actions based on available evidence, because that’s what drives changes in government.
The best way to remove it from the schedule is to dismantle prison slave labor. Financial incentives for imprisoning people will always lead here and are immoral. However, I offer a false solution, because I don’t have a way to implement it.
It’ll get rescheduled when Big Pharma comes up with a potion that does a better job and that they can sell for $10k per dose. So long as cannabis works better than anything they can monetize, they’ll fight to keep it illegal. And they have very deep pockets.
The only reason cannabis is Schedule I is to “felonize” people who are more likely to vote against Republicans, so their right to vote can be taken away. Pharmceutical companies would frankly love for it to be descheduled, so they can research and develop it for prescription uses.
Yep. That’s the real answer!
A better job at what, getting you high? Pretty sure they already have that, and while it doesn’t net them 10k per dose the Sacklers would have liked that very much no doubt.
A better job at treating a range of physical and mental health issues. Recreation is just a bonus.
It won’t fix anything. Rescheduling has been a stupid focus the entire time.
While true, an inch foreword is better than a mile backwards. And any movement whatsoever from the federal government is a sign that there are finally cracks forming in the dam.
Rescheduling MJ federally would make zero difference. De-scheduling would be the only meaningful change.
the key bit will be whatever federal legislation allows headshops/bodegas to use the banking systems like a normal business would.
The feds have already made it perfectly clear that they’re not going to interfere with legal cannabis sales at the state level - even while it’s Schedule I - as evidenced by ::gestures widely::. As long as there’s no interstate transportation, rescheduling it isn’t going to change anything.
Point is it’s a stroke of a pen to change the priority… One president or one DEA switch away. The supreme court upheld Roe V Wade which was why it wasn’t important to codify it into law… until it was.
The current state of affairs is the justification employers use for continuing to test and discipline folks for usage even in legal or medically legal states. It’s also the justification banks use for not allowing dispensaries to use their services.
Well, moonshine made it.
This question is missing huge key context - What country you’re in.
Without knowing if you’re in Jamaica or France how can we possibly answer?
It’s quite obvious that OP is talking about the US and you’re being obtuse by pretending otherwise.
How is it obvious?
What other government uses the same scheduling system for drugs and has it illegal at this time?
I’m not American, how the fuck would I know what system the USA uses and whether it’s legal? It’s obvious to you because you know the background information. Others don’t.
Then why are you commenting on a topic you know nothing about?
