Does driving under the influence of marijuana cause people to die in car accidents?

Something to think about! So why not legalize it and make money, and stop terisom.?

• By Smokey, 5-05-06 (marijuana myths courtesy of twotonetony) MARIJUANA, MYTHS ABOUT MARIJUANA, AND OTHER NON-"STONER" REASONS THAT MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED. First of all, this is information on marijuana from a purely factual stand point, so even if you are against marijuana PLEASE READ THIS. there are too many ignorant people against marijuana...you dont have to smoke it to be for it's legalization. MARIJUANA MYTHS 1. Marijuana causes brain damage The most celebrated study that claims to show brain damage is the rhesus monkey study of Dr. Robert Heath, done in the late 1970s. This study was reviewed by a distinguished panel of scientists sponsored by the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Their results were published under the title, Marijuana and Health in 1982. Heath's work was sharply criticized for its insufficient sample size (only four monkeys), its failure to control experimental bias, and the misidentification of normal monkey brain structure as "damaged". Actual studies of human populations of marijuana users have shown no evidence of brain damage. For example, two studies from 1977, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed no evidence of brain damage in heavy users of marijuana. That same year, the American Medical Association (AMA) officially came out in favor of decriminalizing marijuana. That's not the sort of thing you'd expect if the AMA thought marijuana damaged the brain. 2. Marijuana damages the reproductive system This claim is based chiefly on the work of Dr. Gabriel Nahas, who experimented with tissue (cells) isolated in petri dishes, and the work of researchers who dosed animals with near-lethal amounts of cannabinoids (i.e., the intoxicating part of marijuana). Nahas' generalizations from his petri dishes to human beings have been rejected by the scientific community as being invalid. In the case of the animal experiments, the animals that survived their ordeal returned to normal within 30 days of the end of the experiment. Studies of actual human populations have failed to demonstrate that marijuana adversely affects the reproductive system. 3. Marijuana is a "gateway" drug -- it leads to hard drugs This is one of the more persistent myths. A real world example of what happens when marijuana is readily available can be found in Holland. The Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard drug use -- heroin and cocaine -- have DECLINED substantially. If marijuana really were a gateway drug, one would have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up, not down. This apparent "negative gateway" effect has also been observed in the United States. Studies done in the early 1970s showed a negative correlation between use of marijuana and use of alcohol. A 1993 Rand Corporation study that compared drug use in states that had decriminalized marijuana versus those that had not, found that where marijuana was more available -- the states that had decriminalized -- hard drug abuse as measured by emergency room episodes decreased. In short, what science and actual experience tell us is that marijuana tends to substitute for the much more dangerous hard drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and heroin. 4. Marijuana suppresses the immune system Like the studies claiming to show damage to the reproductive system, this myth is based on studies where animals were given extremely high -- in many cases, near-lethal -- doses of cannabinoids. These results have never been duplicated in human beings. Interestingly, two studies done in 1978 and one done in 1988 showed that hashish and marijuana may have actually stimulated the immune system in the people studied. 5. Marijuana is much more dangerous than tobacco Smoked marijuana contains about the same amount of carcinogens as does an equivalent amount of tobacco. It should be remembered, however, that a heavy tobacco smoker consumes much more tobacco than a heavy marijuana smoker consumes marijuana. This is because smoked tobacco, with a 90% addiction rate, is the most addictive of all drugs while marijuana is less addictive than caffeine. Two other factors are important. The first is that paraphernalia laws directed against marijuana users make it difficult to smoke safely. These laws make water pipes and bongs, which filter some of the carcinogens out of the smoke, illegal and, hence, unavailable. The second is that, if marijuana were legal, it would be more economical to have cannabis drinks like bhang (a traditional drink in the Middle East) or tea which are totally non-carcinogenic. This is in stark contrast with "smokeless" tobacco products like snuff which can cause cancer of the mouth and throat. When all ofthese facts are taken together, it can be clearly seen that the reverse is true: marijuana is much SAFER than tobacco. 6. Legal marijuana would cause carnage on the highways Although marijuana, when used to intoxication, does impair performance in a manner similar to alcohol, actual studies of the effect of marijuana on the automobile accident rate suggest that it poses LESS of a hazard than alcohol. When a random sample of fatal accident victims was studied, it was initially found that marijuana was associated with RELATIVELY as many accidents as alcohol. In other words, the number of accident victims intoxicated on marijuana relative to the number of marijuana users in society gave a ratio similar to that for accident victims intoxicated on alcohol relative to the total number of alcohol users. However, a closer examination of the victims revealed that around 85% of the people intoxicated on marijuana WERE ALSO INTOXICATED ON ALCOHOL. For people only intoxicated on marijuana, the rate was much lower than for alcohol alone. This finding has been supported by other research using completely different methods. For example, an economic analysis of the effects of decriminalization on marijuana usage found that states that had reduced penalties for marijuana possession experienced a rise in marijuana use and a decline in alcohol use with the result that fatal highway accidents decreased. This would suggest that, far from causing "carnage", legal marijuana might actually save lives. 7. Marijuana "flattens" human brainwaves This is an out-and-out lie perpetrated by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. A few years ago, they ran a TV ad that purported to show, first, a normal human brainwave, and second, a flat brainwave from a 14-year-old "on marijuana". When researchers called up the TV networks to complain about this commercial, the Partnership had to pull it from the air. It seems that the Partnership faked the flat "marijuana brainwave". In reality, marijuana has the effect of slightly INCREASING alpha wave activity. Alpha waves are associated with meditative and relaxed states which are, in turn, often associated with human creativity. 8. Marijuana is more potent today than in the past This myth is the result of bad data. The researchers who made the claim of increased potency used as their baseline the THC content of marijuana seized by police in the early 1970s. Poor storage of this marijuana in un-air conditioned evidence rooms caused it to deteriorate and decline in potency before any chemical assay was performed. Contemporaneous, independent assays of unseized "street" marijuana from the early 1970s showed a potency equivalent to that of modern "street" marijuana. Actually, the most potent form of this drug that was generally available was sold legally in the 1920s and 1930s by the pharmaceutical company Smith-Klein under the name, "American Cannabis". 9. Marijuana impairs short-term memory This is true but misleading. Any impairment of short-term memory disappears when one is no longer under the influence of marijuana. Often, the short-term memory effect is paired with a reference to Dr. Heath's poor rhesus monkeys to imply that the condition is permanent. 10. Marijuana lingers in the body like DDT This is also true but misleading. Cannabinoids are fat soluble as are innumerable nutrients and, yes, some poisons like DDT. For example, the essential nutrient, Vitamin A, is fat soluble but one never hears people who favor marijuana prohibition making this comparison. 11. There are over a thousand chemicals in marijuana smoke Again, true but misleading. The 31 August 1990 issue of the magazine Science notes that of the over 800 volatile chemicals present in roasted COFFEE, only 21 have actually been tested on animals and 16 of these cause cancer in rodents. Yet, coffee remains legal and is generally considered fairly safe. 12. No one has ever died of a marijuana overdose This is true. It was put in to see if you are paying attention. Animal tests have revealed that extremely high doses of cannabinoids are needed to have lethal effect. This has led scientists to conclude that the ratio of the amount of cannabinoids necessary to get a person intoxicated (i.e., stoned) relative to the amount necessary to kill them is 1 to 40,000. In other words, to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned. In contrast, the ratio for alcohol varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. It is easy to see how upwards of 5000 people die from alcohol overdoses every year and no one EVER dies of marijuana overdoses. This is what the government won't tell to us Americans. They are too stubborn to take back a law that has been in place for 69 years (Marijuana Tax Act of 1937). Along with making marijuana illegal, the government spends billions of dollars each year fighting the drug war to keep marijuana and other drugs out of this country. Now i would like you to think of one person in this country that is unable to obtain marijuana or any other drug. If marijuana was legal, it would be create a market in the USA and there would be no reason for drug smuggling. Because marijuana would then be contained in the USA and smuggling would no longer be a problem, the government could much more easily control the use of the substance. Since everyone would now be buying their marijuana from stores in the USA, there would be a tax on this creating billions more in revenue for the government to add on to the billions no longer being spent on the war against marijuana. A very high % of prisoners are non-violent drug offenders. With marijuana legalized, we wouldnt have to worry about drug dealers as much, which means less people going to prison, which in turn means more tax money to spend on something more important, like the HUGE deficit we have managed to create. Marijuana might be a harmful substance, but so are many other substances that are legal, many of which are much more harmful. Marijuana is actually EASIER to obtain because it is illegal and is costing us billions of dollars to make it easier, why would we want to do that? I hope you feel more informed after this. PLEASE REPOST THIS, whether you are for or against its legalization, people need to know the facts, not just that marijuana gets you high and screws up your life (which for the most part is not true). Also, tell everyone you know about these facts. Marijuana should be legal and the government will not do anything about it unless we stand up and voice the TRUTH

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  In addition to making marijuana legal, All drugs should be made legal. Aside from the lies we have been told, the fact that ever since the war on drugs was started, use and addiction rates have shot through the roof, and the fact that the CIA is largest drug cartel in the world.... It's wrong. Prohibition is wrong. In the words of abraham lincoln: "Prohibition is wrong because it makes a crime of something which is not a crime." The war on drugs costs us so much in terms of money, lives, jail cells, violence and crime.... Most gangs monetary making staple is in dealing illegal drugs. make drugs legal, other people will legally sell drugs, cheaper than any gang ever could and of a higher quality... Boom They lose their money, they lose their funding and they fall apart. We would stop exporting money out of the U.S. into other countries for Cocaine, opium, heroin (Made using morphine, derived from opium.). We would eliminate the danger for children of living in a home with a methlab. Whats the point of making your own meth of terrible quality, when any user can just go to the drug bar and pick up some which is cleaner, thus safer and above all for their concern...cheaper. Drugs would become safer. A major cause of illicit drug deaths is in their impurity and what they are cut with. When someone O'D's on heroin it is often because they are used to getting say 20% pure heroin, then they get a bag of good heroin that happens to be...say 50 % pure...Suddenly their dose has more than doubled...Thats just begging for an overdose. Same deal for cocaine. Aside from all the economic, social and legal benefits of making drugs legal.... It's simply unamerican to tell people they can't get high. It's a violation of the basic idea of...Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Me doing coke does not hurt you. If I smoke mad buds, It doesn't hurt you. If I inject heroin until my heart starts failing... congratulations, none of your business. I don't use coke. I don't use heroin. I don't use meth...In general I don't use any drugs excluding nicotine and caffeine. I just want america to be america again. Im tired of this BOO hooo hooo drugs are bad so no one can have them. By the same logic that drugs are illegal, we should have cars, bars, athletic events (they promote gambling) and hell while were at it anyone outside past 10 pm should be arrested. You could be hurt walking around in the dark...and a lot of crimes happen late at night.