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.