Study Shows Marijuana Does Not Impair Lung Function

[mustavaris]

That is right, although I have to add that in terms of addiction nicotine is one of the worst drugs out there, and in terms of (smoking) lethality it is definately a slow acting hard drug as it kills/helps to the grave half+ of the users and most of the active recreational users become hooked on it.

The real hard drugs must be under constant attack, but Portuguese example demonstrates that decriminalization of use does help while smugglers and sellers must be attacked hard

I agree, treat it like alcohol, in the past there was concern about not beng able to prove someone was under the influence - this is history - it is easily proven now.
For adults, we don't need to be a nanny state - putting someone in prison for using marijauna - that is just wrong. Instead we should tax them when they buy it, arrest them for driving under the influence or providing it to minors. I don't see chemicals like meth, coke or heroin in the same light - there are plenty of bodies to demonstrate how dangerous that stuff is (and not from accidents while under the influence - but from direct overdose). Coffee and tobacco are just as addictive, adults need to be responsible for their actions - including the use of marijauna. We don't need them in our prisons for having a bag of plant material.

[mustavaris]

Around a decade ago Finland had not criminalized drug use, but even then they were banned from certain professions. I guess that sensitive fields of work with testing problems would (should?) ban their use on their own. Up here they have introduced a lot of testing during the last few years.

OK, I learned something new today. I had no idea urine metabolites were proportional to effects. The only problem I see then is time. Doing a pee test is going to cause the flight to be grossly delayed or cancelled, based upon a nervous passenger's suspicions.

I think what would actually happen is the industry (FAA et al) would simply say "MJ is legal now? Oh, OK, but part 121 pilots may not partake, ever." They already do this for 98% of legally prescribed pharmaceuticals out there.

[mustavaris]

Dave; IMHO the people must be allowed to do stupid things and as long as their action do not harm others or limit their freedom, it should be ok. Weed is relatively harmless, but I do know too many pot heads to call it harmless. Filling prisons or burdening justice system with these folks is just harmful, inefficient use of public resources and does not help to reduce the problems caused by the substance use.

Many states are walking away from jail time now unless its distribution weight or packaged for distribution. A friend of mine was saying that his roommate was stopped and found to have 3 joints on him the trooper took the weed crushed them into the pavement and gave him a desk ticket for 400$. I laughed.

But then again I laugh at idiots who snap their arms off skateboarding on handrails, people who get rode rash when their "endo" goes south and they get dragged by their own bike or the car that was behind them, or idiots who climb out of their 40,000$ pick-up truck and ride the roof until they hit a bump, fall off and they truck hits a pole and folds it into tinfoil....

[lemontree]

Smoking weed maybe safe for the lungs but screws up your brain, liver, sleep and increase in testicular cancer.

[Red Team]

Smoking weed maybe safe for the lungs but screws up your brain, liver, sleep and increase in testicular cancer.

Same is true for cigarettes and other tobacco products, all a matter of picking your poison. I'm in no way condoning for everyone to start smoking weed, personally I hate smoking in general, but it becomes increasingly absurd to me that one plant product which is filled with known carcinogens and addictive drugs can be legal and another plant with really a relatively small amount of chemicals isn't.

[mustavaris]

Right on target.

Same is true for cigarettes and other tobacco products, all a matter of picking your poison. I'm in no way condoning for everyone to start smoking weed, personally I hate smoking in general, but it becomes increasingly absurd to me that one plant product which is filled with known carcinogens and addictive drugs can be legal and another plant with really a relatively small amount of chemicals isn't.

[USSWisconsin]

People will abuse just about anything. I remember hearing about kids dying from huffing "glass chiller" sprays, and spray paint. It seems like marijauna is less dangerous than most of the legal things that people want to get high on. You can't legislate against foolishness, it doesn't work. As a medicine, marijauna is very comforting to people with cancer. It is often better tolerated and can be used during bouts of severe nausea (since it doesn't need to be swallowed). Treating it a schedule one drug seems rediculous to me. Of course it has risks, few things don't. We've seen people campaigning to ban water - its dangerous don't you know - people can drown in it, and its addictive - everyone on earth is permenently "hooked" on it. Marijuana is one of the few consumeable things we know of that hasn't caused any deaths directly, well maybe someone was crushed by a bunch of bails of it falling on them.

[mustavaris]

A decade ago I got serious joint infection that was some kind of immune system malfunction (not regular arthritis/rheuma) and it pretty much crippled my left hand for long period of time, forcing me to quit playing bass. Since that, I have had few rounds of that pleasure once in two-three years, sometimes lasting a couple of months and twice affecting the spine. No sleep, no sports, everything painful and generally effed up if it goes to that, as the big muscles start to cramp big time. From the regular painkillers I need tramal and strong relaxants or something comparable to overcome it, and those have serious setbacks. On the other hand, the weed takes the pain away and relaxes the muscles around the spine... almost instant help and pretty much kills the cramping too. Crappy enough, that is nowadays out of question for me: working at school so using illegal substances is a big no no... So gotta take my red and white pills if I need, and then I feel like a drunkard.. kicks harder than half a bottle of vodka, and they say I can work then:D

I bet Chogy can tell in what conditions some pilots are forced to fly due to effed up regulation system.

People will abuse just about anything. I remember hearing about kids dying from huffing "glass chiller" sprays, and spray paint. It seems like marijauna is less dangerous than most of the legal things that people want to get high on. You can't legislate against foolishness, it doesn't work. As a medicine, marijauna is very comforting to people with cancer. It is often better tolerated and can be used during bouts of severe nausea (since it doesn't need to be swallowed). Treating it a schedule one drug seems rediculous to me. Of course it has risks, few things don't. We've seen people campaigning to ban water - its dangerous don't you know - people can drown in it. Marijuana is one of the few consumeable things we know of that hasn't caused any deaths directly, well maybe someone was crushed by a bunch of bails of it falling on them.

[Chogy]

I see this as quite reasonable. If you want to be a pilot, you can't do this.

Oh I don't disagree, but I will go to my grave claiming the FAA has taken the prohibitions list to a ridiculous extreme. I guarantee there are thousands of pilots flying right now with treatable depression, in some cases, severe. There are a large number of treatable medical issues we are not allowed to correct, and the logic is baffling; "The medication may reduce your abilities to operate the aircraft." Fine, but what about the symptoms, or the underlying problems? Are they not also distracting, often far more so than the medication?

I bet Chogy can tell in what conditions some pilots are forced to fly due to effed up regulation system.

You bet, the problem is, they are forced to fly untreated.

I've seen guys in pain, flying aircraft, so much pain that beads of sweat pop off their foreheads. They are perfectly legal to do this... their bodies are "unpolluted", they'd pee clean. Yet if they took a flexiril tablet, they'd be performing an illegal act. Which is more debilitating to performance, the pain, or a couple mg of medication?

My point - we are people too. They don't make surgeons pee in a cup randomly, and they allow them to cut on you while taking Prozac.

Sorry for the OT post, but this is a hot button topic for me.

[Chogy]

I have one last comment on the ridiculous war on drugs that has imprisoned millions and cost trillions of dollars...

One hundred forty years ago, there was no such thing as a prescription, and no such thing as an illegal drug.

Whatever you wanted was freely available over the counter. Weed grew wild. You could buy a quart of laudanum or a brick of raw opium at any apothecary shop.

Were there societal problems as a result? Morphine addicts? Of course. Was the problem worse then than it is today? I'd argue no. Somehow, the United States and other nations not only survived, they thrived and grew with absolutely zero restrictions on what substances one could ingest.

[USSWisconsin]

Oh I don't disagree, but I will go to my grave claiming the FAA has taken the prohibitions list to a ridiculous extreme. I guarantee there are thousands of pilots flying right now with treatable depression, in some cases, severe. There are a large number of treatable medical issues we are not allowed to correct, and the logic is baffling; "The medication may reduce your abilities to operate the aircraft." Fine, but what about the symptoms, or the underlying problems? Are they not also distracting, often far more so than the medication?



You bet, the problem is, they are forced to fly untreated.

I've seen guys in pain, flying aircraft, so much pain that beads of sweat pop off their foreheads. They are perfectly legal to do this... their bodies are "unpolluted", they'd pee clean. Yet if they took a flexiril tablet, they'd be performing an illegal act. Which is more debilitating to performance, the pain, or a couple mg of medication?

My point - we are people too. They don't make surgeons pee in a cup randomly, and they allow them to cut on you while taking Prozac.

Sorry for the OT post, but this is a hot button topic for me.

My late brother in law was a heart surgeon - he was also an alcoholic - I heard stories about him operating under the influence and loosing patients. He once accidentally poked a hole in a replacement heart and had to ice down the patient while he attempted to repair the damage he had caused. He was fired, and died from his disease. I suppose only a few sick people were affected as compared to a jumbo jet full of passengers, but it is puzzling how someone who needs medication can fly and someone who is being treated without any significant side effects can't. People don't want to give up their livelihood I know, but some kind of disability leave sounds like a better solution to me. It seems to me that someone who is impared, whether is by medicine or illness - does not belong at the controls of a vehicle. I have operated a vehicle while sick with cancer, in hindsight - a drunk driver would not be more dangerous - but it was legal for me to do this, I was very lucky.

[Chogy]

I suppose only a few sick people were affected as compared to a jumbo jet full of passengers, but it is puzzling how someone who needs medication can fly and someone who is being treated without any significant side effects can't. People don't want to give up their livelihood I know, but some kind of disability leave sounds like a better solution to me.

I believe the answer to your brother in law, and to pilots, is to self-police, or police as a team. Unlike doctors, there are two of us in a jet, and the odds that BOTH of them would be incapacitated or impaired is extraordinarily low.

Disability - easier said than done. 90% of the airlines are bankrupt and already operating on a razor-thin margin, and it's fly, or don't eat. The pressure to NOT be sick is enormous. Airlines mission-hack every bit as much as the military, and it can be very dangerous.

I don't know what the answer is, but the problem is not going away. People cannot be expected to behave like robots all their lives. There are medical and emotional issues, and few mechanisms in place to correctly deal with them.

[Doktor]

weed = sympathy+fiction sympathy+fiction = loose belief (what you are) no belief = to be hypnotized by every one to be hypnotized by every one with awareness = to own everyone to own everyone without a life = crime

You can put just about anything in a formula. However it doesn't mean it is true.
One of the most known formulas:

For Girls you need time and money
Girls = Time x Money

Time is money
Time = Money
=
Girls = Money x Money = Money^2

Money is root of all evil
Money = √Evil
=
Girls = (√Evil)^2
=
Girls = Evil

[bigross86]

[USSWisconsin]

You can put just about anything in a formula. However it doesn't mean it is true.
One of the most known formulas:

For Girls you need time and money
Girls = Time x Money

Time is money
Time = Money
=
Girls = Money x Money = Money^2

Money is root of all evil
Money = √Evil
=
Girls = (√Evil)^2
=
Girls = Evil

funny how that perspective changes when the girl is your daughter ;)
(no offense taken)