What's good for the gooseses....

[The Rabbi]

Rabbi,

Erase the f-word from your posts, please.

No, thank you.

[The Rabbi]

Rabbi,
Someday, when you are capable of polite, rational discussion, maybe we'll talk again.

OK, I'll never be capable of polite rational discussion.  So please dont respond to my posts.

[Perd Hapley]

Rabbi, if you don't want to have actual discussions with people who don't see things your way, then...






don't.

[Strings]

Rabbi, I have to point out: you're sounding VERY snobvbish at the moment...

 Maybe you personally DON'T know all the many people that drink to get intoxicated: if that's the case, I have to say you've lived a sheltered life. Almost EVERYONE I've ever seen drinks alchohol to get intoxicated (to one degree or another)...

 And I don't think anything more needs to be said about profanity...

[Monkeyleg]

What a mess. Only one Son of God, but so many people claiming that mantle.

Whatever happened to the original topic of drugs, and the question of legalization thereof?

The point of Prohibition in the 1920's has been hammered again and again.

I come to this conversation with a differerent persepctive than most, as I've driven, worked, walked, talked (including talking to the police) under the influence of just about every mind-altering substance known to man, with the exception of narcotics.

And, I've described a very personal story about my brother-in-law, as well as about my own brother.

But now the conversation seems to have devolved into "my drug is better than your drug."

I don't care whether alcohol is more socially accepted than marijuana, which is more acceptable than cocaine, which is more acceptable than meth....etc, ect.

Last week, some guy got onto the interstate, southbound in the northbound lane, and plowed head-on into the car driven by a 17 year-old girl who was a neighbor of mine.

She's dead.

I don't give a rat's ass whether he'd been drinking, snorting, or toking.

She's dead.

He's going to prison for homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle. My guess is that he's faced lesser charges before.

And I don't even know if he was drinking. Maybe he'd been snorting too much coke.

Who cares?

Maybe there was a point where this guy was in rehab for a day or two.

What if he could have stayed longer? More to the point: what if he had wanted to, and the funding had actually been there?

Would he have been rehabbed? Statistics would say no. Maybe a 10% chance at best.

But all I'm reading now are these "counting the angels on the head of a pin" opinions.

As I said in a previous post, my BIL is going to back again. Would it be worth it to you, as a member of society, to have him come out of jail and go back to being a productive, tax-paying worker?

What price tag would you put on that? The price of cocaine being sold at pharmacies the same way that codeine and so many other drugs are sold?

It took the better part of yesterday afternoon for me to see my doctor, and then get a prescription filled at the pharmacy.

My BIL can buy cocaine in a matter of minutes.

Yep, that war on drugs is working.

[The Rabbi]

I couldnt buy cocaine in a matter of minutes.  I would have no idea where to start.  Most people who dont use drugs are in the same situation.
It's too bad about the little girl killed.  But instead of 1 guy driving zonked out, how'd you like 20 guys?  30 guys?  How many more people would try and abuse drugs absent the fear of getting caught, etc?
We run up on the same argument with guns: a determined person will always get one.  But the key is the word determined.  THere are plenty of people who are not determined, but if it were in front of them they'd do it.  Those are criminals gun laws do affect.  Drug laws arent much different.

[Perd Hapley]

Well, now I don't have to delete the whole thread, although it's tempting.

[Stand_watie]

I couldnt buy cocaine in a matter of minutes.  I would have no idea where to start.  Most people who dont use drugs are in the same situation.
It's too bad about the little girl killed.  But instead of 1 guy driving zonked out, how'd you like 20 guys?  30 guys?  How many more people would try and abuse drugs absent the fear of getting caught, etc?
We run up on the same argument with guns: a determined person will always get one.  But the key is the word determined.  THere are plenty of people who are not determined, but if it were in front of them they'd do it.  Those are criminals gun laws do affect.  Drug laws arent much different.

I'm glad you at least recognize the similarity in thinking behind gun prohibitionists and drug prohibitionists.

C. S. Lewis

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

[BrokenPaw]

I stand by my statement regarding The Rabbi's retreat into out-of-hand dismissal or outright silence when he cannot refute an argument.  Now I add another observation:  He gets nasty and resorts to ad hominem attacks.  There is no place for that in civil discussion.

Rabbi, you do not do yourself credit.  And if your handle is an actual representation of your status, then you do not do your faith credit, either.  I'm disappointed.

-BP

[280plus]

I couldnt buy cocaine in a matter of minutes.  I would have no idea where to start.

Just go to the Albany Ave. section of Hartford, CT and cruise up and down in the north end till some guy smiles and waves at you like he's your oldest buddy in the world. You'll have WHATEVER you want in a matter of minutes. But try not to get mugged, robbed and maybe even shot while you're at it.

[Perd Hapley]

I couldnt buy cocaine in a matter of minutes.

I guess you have to get a little higher in the WWJC (World Wide Jewish Conspiracy) before they let you know how they control the drugs.  Just kidding.

You guys just now figured out that Rabbi has no patience for those with whom he has a fundamental disagreement?

[BrokenPaw]

You guys just now figured out that Rabbi has no patience for those with whom he has a fundamental disagreement?

Nope, figured it out quite a while back.  But no patience is one thing.  No courtesy, no civility; that's another thing entirely.  I don't have to agree with someone to treat him or her politely.

The Rabbi has, on several occasions now, resorted to rudeness, ad hominem, strawman arguments, and generalized uncivil behavior when people did not bow to his "Proof by Emphatic Assertion" method of debate.

As he himself said on another thread:

If he can't govern himself how can he govern others?

How indeed?

-BP

[The Rabbi]

You guys just now figured out that Rabbi has no patience for those with whom he has a fundamental disagreement?

Nope, figured it out quite a while back.  But no patience is one thing.  No courtesy, no civility; that's another thing entirely.  I don't have to agree with someone to treat him or her politely.

The Rabbi has, on several occasions now, resorted to rudeness, ad hominem, strawman arguments, and generalized uncivil behavior when people did not bow to his "Proof by Emphatic Assertion" method of debate.

As he himself said on another thread:

If he can't govern himself how can he govern others?

How indeed?

-BP

BP, if you'd care to discuss me and my many failings, why don't you start a new thread?

[Perd Hapley]

if you'd care to discuss me and my many failings, why don't you start a new thread?

This has nothing to do with any new thread I just started.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Kum Ba Yah, m'Lord,

Kum Ba Yah...

[charby]

I can't believe this thread is still going...  egads!

[mtnbkr]

Lemme get my whacks in...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15145917/

Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimers

WASHINGTON - Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimers disease.

New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuanas active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimers patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimers, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.

Those afflicted with Alzheimers suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.

Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.

[Perd Hapley]

So, wreck your brain with weed, or let Alzheimers do it later.  

[richyoung]

I think we should punish BEHAVIOR, and not possession and use of substances that MAY cause the behavior.

I also think we should punish BEHAVIOR, and not the thought process that led to the behavior - hence "hate crimes" should not exist.  I don't care if you killed him because he was gay, or black, or a jew, or because the purple ants on Zebulon 5 told you to - any which way, you get to ride Sparky...

[Stand_watie]

So, wreck your brain with weed, or let Alzheimers do it later.  

While I haven't read the study, and I agree that heavy use is bad for your brain (like the legal drug alcohol), I suspect that most medicinal dosages are quite low.