Legalization of Medical and Recreational Cannabis

OB1Shinobi wrote: from my view point addictions are things which kill you when you stop taking them

I disagree. I think an addiction is anything that you do that has more power and control over you than you do it.

steamboat28 wrote:

OB1Shinobi wrote: from my view point addictions are things which kill you when you stop taking them

I disagree. I think an addiction is anything that you do that has more power and control over you than you do it.

Agree here with Steamboat...

As I say about everything...

"It is the excess we [jedi] should watch out for..."

eveything else is habbit and habbit forming

Everything (ok, if Gisteron reads this, I am taking a poetic license here with the word 'everything', :lol:) can be addicting...

Too much: masturbation, soup, salad, breadsticks, sunshine, love, work, play, blueberries, driving, exercising, vacation, laughter, totjo, philosophy, pot, alcohol, pizza, writing, skiing, martial arts (although I wouldnt mind trying to overdue this one, lol), reddit, Tumblr, breath mints, teeth brushing, walking, jogging, rock climbing, bird watching, sewing, suduko...

I could keep going, but, thats enough, lol...

A habit in itself isnt bad, it is perhaps an 'unchecked' habit...

what theheck does freedom meanto you if not that we should be trusted to make our own decisions?

Freedom is funny...

Do you want the freedom to choose, or the freedom from responsibility?

Most want both, and I just dont see how that is possible...

A Jedi wants the freedom to choose and accepts the consequences.... Most of the world wants to choose, but have no consequences...

I want to own the house, but not pay to fix the furnace when it breaks... :lol:...

I posted something I found on the internet a while back here: http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/Philosophy/104184-caged-or-free

And its subsequent discussion...

The thing that I find the most curious in this is that we don't even need cannabis ; the THC works on the same neural receptors that we have naturally for one of our own endorphins, ' anandamine ', that we don't have to pay for or go to jail for possessing (although, one could conjecture that one might go to jail for selling it, as that would essentially imply a murder ).

Various forms of sophrology (such as psychosomatic relaxation) and/or yoga practice can promote increased levels of this endorphin, as well as modest consumption of such exotic stuff as chocolate, which is not as of yet contraband.

Anyway ... I find that interesting, but that's just me.

Got my vote. DUI can be tested for with swabs with 8-12 hr lifespan. Less harmful than many prescriptions that are not tested for. Smoking should be discouraged though, counterproductive to have the method of consumption work against the potential health benefits.

as alex pointed out we do have cannabinoid receptors...they are a natural part of our body...most people have no need for an external source...but as we all know not everyone's body works the way it's supposed to....perhaps this is why the universe saw fit provide an alternate source...

about the receptors:
http://www.news-medical.net/health/Cannabinoid-Receptors.aspx

about the useful benefits on appetite (for those with medical conditions that prevent them from being hungry and eating)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/marijuana-flips-appetite-switch-in-brain/

personally i'd rather use something natural than something chemically created in a lab to make pharmaceutical companies money, and has worse side effects than what it treats...(here take this appetite control pill, oh by the way it may make you 5#1t out your spleen, have uncontrolled diarrhea, or die)...

@ Steamboat
"the harder we fight for our limitations the longer we get to keep them"

im comfortable with others having different ideas from.me so the first thing i would say is cool - if its working for you then keep doing it; the reason i like defining addiction in these terms is because i belive that how we use our words is even more important than the specific words we use; i have come to accept the view that our language is not only the expression of the internal reality but that our talk, especially our self talk, is also something like a blueprint or a guide for the internal reality we experience

we quite literally talk ourselves into and out of pretty much every single choice that we make

and as a rule i do my best to use my language in a way that allows me as much freedom as possible so that if i find myself in new territory i dont have to limit my experience to fit within the patterns preset by the nature of my internal talk

also, like the song says; my mind is not for rent

the definitions and ideas that i choose to adopt are my own responsibility

i am the one who has to live with my definitions

when i enter into a system i understand that it has its own terminology and culture

as a general rule i dont lecture germans on the use of zeitgeist

but the system that i call my mind

the collection of thoughts and ideas and evaluations amd definitions is my responsibility

it may be prudent to use the systems terminology in order to navigate the system but the greater system of my internal reality is up to me and i regulate it deliberately to the greatext extent that i am capable

that requires defining the context of my belifes for myself

whats a drug addict supposed to do if he finds himself all of a sudden a hundred miles from his old life with no strong desire to keep the old ways but his definition of addiction doesnt want to let him go? change his definition! ha! we can change our definitions at will so long as we follow the rule that the new definition has to include the potential for the old definition to still apply

its much more functional to contextualize our definitions to suit our personal lives than to accept the impersonal interpretations of others for words whose meanings directly affect us

there is no greater expert than you for the contextual relativity of your definitions

you have the right to determine the rules by which you relate to the world
the reality of it is that we've already determined these rules and whether weve done a functionally effective job of it is as easily determined as asking ourselves what we wish were different about our lives and what we are doing to make that happen

also i reject on principle the resignation of helplessness or powerlessness

the aa and na groupd have accepting our powerlessness as a requisite for recovery but the very fact that they can choose the new behavior of working the steps and achieving results is testament to all of our inherent ability to influence our own lives and behaviors

and if we shift the emphasis away from the idea of CONTROLING things and towards the idea of INFLUENCING things, then we get eventually to the sense that even the gods understand parlay

so i use my language with the deliberate consideration of how my words and their definitions will influence my perspective

its the responsible thing to do, imo

@ Jestor
to me responsibility is nothing more or less than adherence to the principle of being deliberately thoughtful about the implications of ones behavior

we are responsible to the degree that we understand the implications of our decisions and we act in a way that reflects this understanding - that we act in full knowledge (to the greatest extent we are able) of the implications of what we do and we choose to contextualize our actions with the results of these implications in mind

the individual elements of peoples value systems will determine the specific behavior which happens as a result of this thoughtfulness of the implications of their actions
but it is the commitment to this thoughtfulness (or mindfulness if you prefer) which results in people taking responsibility for themselves

i would never burn my countries flag
i see it as a spirtually corrupt thing for me to do
likely i will never burn any countries flag if for no other reason than that there is nothing accomplished by this which is not better accomplished by something else

and which is worth accomplishing in the public domain
unless war itself is the goal there is no point in public flag burning
and again even if war is the goal there are better ways

but i am in full support of the freedom to burn a flag - any flag - and to do it publically and flagrantly

to me the very fact that an american can burn an american flag and post it on youtube or facebook or whatever and do so knowing that they dont have to worry about a van with tinted windows and a side door is evidence of the awesomeness of our freedom

now, there are implications to every act, and i would caution the flag burner to understand that what they are about to do may have ramifications beyond what they desire

but if they choose to exercise their freedom to burn that flag then they also choose to deal with those implications

@ Alexandre Orion
in another thread someone asked "what do you think about psychedelic drugs for meditation and trance?

my first response was "learn the self induced methods first"

ive done a lot of drugs in my life
except for pills (which ive done some of the most common ones but i never liked pills in general) for the most part if you can name a drug chances are ive donenit and if it can be done in more than one way chances are ive tried most of the ways it can be done (i never put anything in the rear door, my answer to those who say its better was that if i need it to be better ill do just more)

but i am drug alcohol and even tobacco free and having the experience of both i can say i prefer my mind now over anything its ever been when i was a habbitual drug user

i would he open to one more psilocyben or a first time dmt experience if the situation was properly contextualized because i understand the value of that kind of experience, but as a rule for my life i see "expanding my mind" to be less about substances and more about experiences

scuba diving is a good way to expand ones mind
so is learning to play the violin and training in a martial art or teaching english as a second language - especially to students overseas

all this being said
there was a time when marijuana was an important part of my psychological development

theres no way of knowing what the difference in me would have been if i had not been such a huge pot smoker
for all i know stephen hawkin might have felt compelled to read a couple of my books!

but what i can say for sure is that the overall flavor of my experiences with marijuana enriched my life and my spiritual perspective in many many positive ways

and that i belive it is by and large a healthy experience, though it does carry implications which ought to be understood honestly and im speaking more of those which are physiological than legal

i also belive that it should be entirely left to each of us to decide to what - if any - degree we have that experience

Jestor wrote: As I say about everything...

"It is the excess we [jedi] should watch out for..."

"Everything in moderation, including moderation." -- Oscar Wilde

Alexandre Orion wrote: The thing that I find the most curious in this is that we don't even need cannabis ; the THC works on the same neural receptors that we have naturally for one of our own endorphins, ' anandamine ', that we don't have to pay for or go to jail for possessing (although, one could conjecture that one might go to jail for selling it, as that would essentially imply a murder ).

Various forms of sophrology (such as psychosomatic relaxation) and/or yoga practice can promote increased levels of this endorphin, as well as modest consumption of such exotic stuff as chocolate, which is not as of yet contraband.

One could argue that since we produce similar chemical compounds naturally, that should further support the case for legalization. I, in fact, might.

All things should be free. Now that is balance by the level or the state of consciousness around the freedom in question.

Along with legalizing drugs or anything, there should be increased education, access to alternative and access to "rehab". I find that when something is liberated, there is an explosion of dabblers who want to check it out. Dabblers can get hurt and hurt the reasons behind the emancipation.

I feel that the human consciousness is "low" right now. That is demonstrated by people's lack of personal responsibility, respect and discipline.

I did not mine "smoking" because it was illegal. People were "forced" to do it in private and only with fellow smokers. Now I smell it everywhere. Now I am exposed to it when I do not want to be exposed.

I feel that second hand smoke is comparable to me walking around the bar spilling my beer on everyone and saying, "hey man its a free country. I can do what I want. If you don't like it, leave the bar, dude." Smokers have said similar things to me when I asked them to move or to not blow their smoke in my face.

i agree that we are adults. We should be responsible to choose what we do to ourselves, but how many people take into consideration the surround, others and the earth?

@Baru I agree. You shouldn't be smoking it in peoples faces. Theres nothing wrong coming home from a long days work and unwinding in the privacy of your own home right? Thats where I stand. It should be done in private unless it is in a food product such as edibles or drinks.

We debate smoking it and getting high all the while......................................







Brain scan of 8 month old Cannabis patient. Oil on pacifier twice daily = cured inoperable cancerous tumor, returned brain to normal.