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pot -- who knows what pot does, but it does have some long term neurolgical sequelae that young kids cannot be informed adequately about.
For what it's worth, my girlfriend's father is a neuropsychopharmacologist. (For those who don't know, it's just a fancy way of saying "a doctor whose specialty is the effect of chemicals on the brain.") He says pot is harmless. Like any substance (from alcohol right down to ice cream) it can harm you if you abuse it. But smoking up every so often won't hurt you.
Look back at stats for binge drinking during prohibition as oppose to legal times. Abuse would most likely go down if weed were legal. At the very least, government regulation would provide an age requirement like with alcohol.
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It also makes sherm (pot+formaldehyde) which has produced some of the most messed-up, psychotic, and destroyed kids I have ever seen.
How many substances would you say are safe when mixed with formaldehyde? Should we make any substance which is not safe when mixed with formaldehyde illegal?
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A recent study shows that kids who smoke pot are at much increased risk of moving on to more deadly drugs.
Just as many studies will show you there's no direct causal relationship.
If there's any connection, it's because you can't tell a kid "both pot and heroin (or fill-in-the-drug) are horrible for you. Don't do them or there will be serious health risks," then have the kid try pot, find out you were lying, and still assume you were telling the truth about heroin.
[This message has been edited by Dan Carroll, 07-25-2003]