Science on marijuana

Have to start with the disclaimer: I haven't smoked anything THC related since some experimental highschool days, and I in no way advocate the use of any illegal substances.

Well now that we got that outta the way.... I've been reading on my newly subscribed New Scientist about the perspective of the scientific community on the world's most widely used illicit drug. No doubt that it is harmful to heavy users, studies have shown that it is actually less harmful than smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol in comparative quantities. Moreover, since its ban Marijuana's potency, that is the rise in volume of THC per unit of marijuana, has risen since the plant is grown under constant beams of artificial lights (while grown inside in attempts to keep it from discovery of the authorities). So now that Marijuana exponentially more potent than it was in the 70’s and 80’s, it really would be in the best interest of the roughly 40% of Americans that admit to at least having tried it for the government to intervene, legalize, impose safety restrictions, and then make money from a new source of taxable profit.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126885.100-radical-alternatives-proposed-for-cannabis-controls.html?full=true

Not necessarily related to this article, but something that always bugs me when I hear about tests run on drugs is the argument that Marijuana is used as a gateway drug. It is a total cop-out! Yes, there are certain types of people that smoke Marijuana. And yes, of those certain types of people there is a higher percentage of types of users that love to test their boundaries and experiment with just how far over the line they can go. This isn't a problem with Marijuana though, this is a problem of society and the types of personalities that use illicit substances as a temporary exit or escape from reality.

As a secondary note on the matter, most of the users that are constantly testing their boundaries, will always do so, with or without permission from the government. I don’t want my opinion to be skewed that the government might take over and legalize all forms of drugs; that’s not the case at all. Legalizing a substance like Marijuana with health restrictions isn’t going to attract the crowd of people that are hell bent on getting off on something new. Its going to attract those who have either tried it before and didn’t find it all that offensive, or those that have always wanted to, but felt it their patriotic duty to obey the law and be a good little boy (or girl).