Drug info - Why marijuana is a much more dangerous drug than heroin

[cybergenesis]

* Marijuana increases the chances of developing schizophrenia by 700%

* Marijuana is MORE addictive than heroin.

* Marijuana withdrawal is as severe as heroin withdrawal.

* One hit of marijuana leaves you wasted for a month.

* Marijuana is IMPOSSIBLE to dose safely

Sorry I've just been educating myself by reading Australian based drugs websites. Everything they say is true isn't it? Thats only the beginning.

I recently asked the AMCA here is Australia if I was able to host a legalize marijuana/ marijuana harm minimization website in Australia. I was told this is a breach of the code of conduct rules, and that if I was still considering such an idea I would well be advised to get a lawyer.

You see here in Australia, we don't really have freedom of speech. And now they want to implement a giant firewall to block out free speech coming from other countries.

I hate the country I live in. We are never going to have rational drugs based laws, when many of the major groups related to providing drug services in Australia quote facts like the ones I did above.

/END RANT

Reputation Comments on this post:

	rofl, thanks for pointing out the spread of misniformation
	sad that anti-drug rhetoric is as easy to create a any work of fiction read here... the truth will eventually set us al...

[HandyMan81]

1*Repeated and chronic heroin users will begin to experience the long-term effects of the drug, which can include:

• Infection of the heart lining and valves.
• Liver disease.
• Kidney disease.
• Pulmonary complications

Additionally, those who inject heroin can have additional long-term complications, including exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and C and other blood-borne viruses. Approximately 70–80 percent of new Hepatitis C infections in the U.S. each year are the result of injection drug use. Chronic injectors can also experience scarred or collapsed veins, abscesses, pneumonia, and tuberculosis.


2*Question: What Are the Long-Term Effects of Heroin Use?

Answer: One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is addiction itself.

2a*If you are asking which takes the least amount to become physically addictive it is heroin. Heroin makes significant changes to the human body even in small amounts.

3*
Symptoms of Marijuana Withdrawal



Most common symptoms of Marijuana withdrawal are irritability, anxiety, physical tension, decreases in appetite, mood swing, stomach pain, physical tension, restlessness, anorexia, insomnia, increased aggression / anger, and strange dreams.

Symptoms of Heroin Withdrawal

The withdrawal syndrome from heroin may begin within 6 to 24 hours of discontinuation of the drug; however, this time frame can fluctuate with the degree of tolerance as well as the amount of the last consumed dose. Symptoms may include: sweating, malaise, anxiety, depression, priapism, extra sensitivity of the genitals in females, general feeling of heaviness, cramp-like pains in the limbs, excessive yawning or sneezing, tears, rhinorrhea, sleep difficulties (insomnia), cold sweats, chills, severe muscle and bone aches; nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, and fever.

Many users also complain of a painful condition, the so-called "itchy blood", which often results in compulsive scratching that causes bruises and sometimes ruptures the skin, leaving scabs. Abrupt termination of heroin use often causes muscle spasms in the legs (restless leg syndrome, (also known as "kicking the habit")). The intensity of the withdrawal syndrome is variable depending on the dosage of the drug used and the frequency of use.

4* Its just traceable in your blood for a month.

5* What is the lethal dose of marijuana?

According to which US Government authority you want to believe, the lethal dose of marijuana is either about one-third your body weight, or about 1,500 pounds, consumed all at once.

In summary, enormous doses of Delta 9 THC, All THC and concentrated marihuana extract ingested by mouth were unable to produce death or organ pathology in large mammals but did produce fatalities in smaller rodents due to profound central nervous system depression.


The non-fatal consumption of 3000 mg/kg A THC by the dog and monkey would be comparable to a 154-pound human eating approximately 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of 1%-marihuana or 10 pounds of 5% hashish at one time. In addition, 92 mg/kg THC intravenously produced no fatalities in monkeys.



These doses would be comparable to a 154-pound human smoking at one time almost three pounds (1.28 kg) of 1%-marihuana or 250,000 times the usual smoked dose and over a million times the minimal effective dose assuming 50% destruction of the THC by smoking.


Thus, evidence from animal studies and human case reports appears to indicate that the ratio of lethal dose to effective dose is quite large. This ratio is much more favorable than that of many other common psychoactive agents including alcohol and barbiturates

Reputation Comments on this post:

well written, consise, discussing reasons why each point is invalid or exaggerated

[Junkhead23]

Originally Posted by HandyMan81

1*Repeated and chronic heroin users will begin to experience the long-term effects of the drug, which can include:

• Infection of the heart lining and valves.
• Liver disease.
• Kidney disease.
• Pulmonary complications

Additionally, those who inject heroin can have additional long-term complications, including exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and C and other blood-borne viruses. Approximately 70–80 percent of new Hepatitis C infections in the U.S. each year are the result of injection drug use. Chronic injectors can also experience scarred or collapsed veins, abscesses, pneumonia, and tuberculosis.


2*Question: What Are the Long-Term Effects of Heroin Use?

Answer: One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is addiction itself.

2a*If you are asking which takes the least amount to become physically addictive it is heroin. Heroin makes significant changes to the human body even in small amounts.

3*
Symptoms of Marijuana Withdrawal



Most common symptoms of Marijuana withdrawal are irritability, anxiety, physical tension, decreases in appetite, mood swing, stomach pain, physical tension, restlessness, anorexia, insomnia, increased aggression / anger, and strange dreams.

Symptoms of Heroin Withdrawal

The withdrawal syndrome from heroin may begin within 6 to 24 hours of discontinuation of the drug; however, this time frame can fluctuate with the degree of tolerance as well as the amount of the last consumed dose. Symptoms may include: sweating, malaise, anxiety, depression, priapism, extra sensitivity of the genitals in females, general feeling of heaviness, cramp-like pains in the limbs, excessive yawning or sneezing, tears, rhinorrhea, sleep difficulties (insomnia), cold sweats, chills, severe muscle and bone aches; nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, and fever.

Many users also complain of a painful condition, the so-called "itchy blood", which often results in compulsive scratching that causes bruises and sometimes ruptures the skin, leaving scabs. Abrupt termination of heroin use often causes muscle spasms in the legs (restless leg syndrome, (also known as "kicking the habit")). The intensity of the withdrawal syndrome is variable depending on the dosage of the drug used and the frequency of use.

4* Its just traceable in your blood for a month.

5* What is the lethal dose of marijuana?

According to which US Government authority you want to believe, the lethal dose of marijuana is either about one-third your body weight, or about 1,500 pounds, consumed all at once.

In summary, enormous doses of Delta 9 THC, All THC and concentrated marihuana extract ingested by mouth were unable to produce death or organ pathology in large mammals but did produce fatalities in smaller rodents due to profound central nervous system depression.


The non-fatal consumption of 3000 mg/kg A THC by the dog and monkey would be comparable to a 154-pound human eating approximately 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of 1%-marihuana or 10 pounds of 5% hashish at one time. In addition, 92 mg/kg THC intravenously produced no fatalities in monkeys.



These doses would be comparable to a 154-pound human smoking at one time almost three pounds (1.28 kg) of 1%-marihuana or 250,000 times the usual smoked dose and over a million times the minimal effective dose assuming 50% destruction of the THC by smoking.


Thus, evidence from animal studies and human case reports appears to indicate that the ratio of lethal dose to effective dose is quite large. This ratio is much more favorable than that of many other common psychoactive agents including alcohol and barbiturates

SWIY should try and read. He was taking the piss

[guldenat]

Cyber, is this information from actual government websites? And either way, I find those claims so absurd and fantastic, I'd really be grateful if you'd post links to where that 'information' is posted.

[cybergenesis]

Okay I'll try and find them.. but forgive me im a bit drugged out at the moment (but yes they are legit and was worst online as well)

http://www.drugbeat.org/Marijuana.htm

http://www.drugfree.org.au/resources...acts/cannabis/

There was more too but im just too tired.

Do you see the sort of misinformation we have here? But pro discussion of drugs websites are NOT permitted under Australian internet publishing rules.

[Richi]

I caught wind of that giant firewall that (is? may be?) being implemented in Australia, and frankly, I was dumbfounded. Do you have access to wikipedia? How about NORML, and DPA websites? What about marijuana dot com?

It's good to see you can still post on DF. Fight the good fight my friends, speak to a lawyer and see what you can do.

I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to Canada if you so chose to one day make it over to our side of the globe...

[Ilsa]

drugbeat.org? drugfree.org? think about the source of this info. the ".org" denotes an organization, the definition of which is: a group of persons organized for a particular purpose (thefreedictionary.com). so these sources are groups of people that all have a common purpose: to stop drug use. what else could anyone expect them to say? it's scary that groups like these even exist!

in the words of aldous huxley: "Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations."

the facts stated in the OP, by these organizations, completely ignore any truth about marijuana and instead launch an offensive reminiscent of the reefer madness era. it's insane.

[Nature Boy]

Australia tops the global charts when it comes to the War on Drugs in a lot of regards. Their blatant propaganda goes even further than DARE in the United States. Former PM John Howard went to great lengths to try and brainwash the youth of Australia into thinking marijuana is extremely dangerous. I assume current PM Kevin Rudd is continuing in this tradition. So prevalent is this anti-marijuana movement that you can even see it trickle down to their exported TV soap operas. Home & Away (which has been an unprecedented success here in Ireland but apparently isn't very popular down under) brings it to surreal levels with characters regularly having mental breakdowns if exposed to weed.

[Ilsa]

wow. i had no idea it was THAT bad, seriously. i knew laws in australia were more strict but i had no idea how pervasive it is in the media. it's been in the media here to some extent, but one does see both sides at least.

[kukulkan]

Originally Posted by cybergenesis

I hate the country I live in. We are never going to have rational drugs based laws, when many of the major groups related to providing drug services in Australia quote facts like the ones I did above.

/END RANT

really? and there i was thinking MY country, israel, was bad. i always thought about moving to australia (or new zealand) thinking it's a pretty nice place to live

[cybergenesis]

Well there is always some place worst Just because someone breaks their arm they don't complain because they know someone else that has cancer

What I hate most about Australian is the hypocrisy, we act like its a free country, but other day at the train station had police walking up and down sniffing people with ferocious looking drug dogs.

You see so Australia acts like it is all holy but its far from it.

And also you see the behaviour swim chooses to participate in, makes Swim a criminal who could be thrown in prison, even knows Swim causes no harm to anybody else and is otherwise a law abiding citizen.

[SullyGuy]

Originally Posted by kukulkan

really? and there i was thinking MY country, israel, was bad. i always thought about moving to australia (or new zealand) thinking it's a pretty nice place to live

Canada is the place man, BC or Ontario (somewhere near Toronto) if your into drugs.

[Pumpkin]

Wow I thought itd be preety chill down under as well.I went to Canada once, and it was awesome. i was on a high school band trip so i wasnt on any substances, although i did have some cigarettes from up there. Everyone was so laid back, like the rich people on boondocks episode one "The Garden Party" that just laugh at any ridicule u try to give them. They seem as one of the best countrys as far as their drug laws go. Only downside is the cold weather... snow sux..

Pumpkin added 1 Minutes and 34 Seconds later...

lol id much rather be a recovering heroin addict than a... weed addict... and gosh that stuff keeps gettin stronger every day... lmfao

[chinpokomaster]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin

I went to Canada once, and it was awesome. i was on a high school band trip so i wasnt on any substances, although i did have some cigarettes from up there. Everyone was so laid back, like the rich people on boondocks episode one "The Garden Party" that just laugh at any ridicule u try to give them. They seem as one of the best countrys as far as their drug laws go. Only downside is the cold weather... snow sux..

A couple of years ago I went to montreal and there were weed addicts everywhere. I was like shit man I'd better watch my suitcase doesn't get stolen to fund their addiction!!!

[nefarious145]

With out reading ANY of the thread, SWIM seriously wishes people with the nerve to post this kinda bullshit would Fuck Off

[Don't fear the Reaper]

Hahaha, i'm sorry to go slightly off topic, but the second website posted, you've gotta love the facts there!

"
What are the long term effects of using hallucinogens:

Physical dependence:
The user needs to continuously use hallucinogens to physically function from day to day."

Amazing stuff. Truely amazing stuff.

[nate81]

lol, where do the Trolls come from? is there a Troll training facility where people learn to be obnoxious online as well as real life?

[scienceman]

You should've asked them "are you suggesting potential or current marijuana smokers instead take smack, since it has less risk?"

[shekes]

I'd go further and suggest that they treat cannabis addicts with heroin. Assisting cannabis withdrawal with regular injections of heroin it should be easy to fight these horrible symptoms. All you'll have left to do is withdrawing from heroin - piece of cake.

Or, better - inject legal alcohol! Withdrawal symptoms would be really harmless: delirium tremens and death. And the addicts could do it at home by themselves, cheap and legal.

I also wanted to move to Australia once...

[Lady Codone]

From what I've heard, Australia is one of the few places with harsher drug laws than the U.S. It also seems so secluded out there in the ocean, like drugs couldn't get there as easily as they could other places...

[Valseedian]

Originally Posted by Lady Codone

From what I've heard, Australia is one of the few places with harsher drug laws than the U.S. It also seems so secluded out there in the ocean, like drugs couldn't get there as easily as they could other places...

when your entire country is surrounded by water(meaning there are no real boarder crossings, no real checkpoints anywhere..), and there's a direct route of basically un-inhabitted islands between it and the drug manufacturing capitol of the world...

getting drugs into the country isn't so much of a problem, so the laws must be harsher, or so is the mindset.


in anycase, australia's laws probably stem back to the fact that australia is the largest penal colony in the world.. britian shipped a whole plethora of convicts off there and they displaced the aborigionals, and voila~ we have australia.

[trip-hopa-patomus]

I cant believe the Australian Governments censorship/propaganda against the ol' mary jane. Just the risks of using a needle alone outweighs the negative aspects of weed.


I mean I guess the munchies are worse then the gut wrenching feeling of a heroin withdrawal.

[Potter]

wow thanks for the heads up, I always thought that living in the land of pirates and poisons would be all sorts of libertarian fun, how wrong I was.

[Venusia]

Originally Posted by Potter

wow thanks for the heads up, I always thought that living in the land of pirates and poisons would be all sorts of libertarian fun, how wrong I was.

Swiv was under this impression as well. Hmm, she always thought the US was the biggest anti-MJ place. Wow.

[3333]

Swim is aware that he is a sheep in a pack of wolves, but...

Swim thinks heroin is worse than marijuana. Why? Marijuana screws up your mind, whereas heroin screws up your body. Swim thinks that the mind is the most precious thing there is. And don't tell Swim that weed doesn't mess up your mind; Swim has seem enough personality disorders and psychotic like symptoms from weed smokers. Swim is sure that the more marijuana one smokes the more one gets powerful permanent mental distortions/delusions. Heroin is very bad, however Swim believes it is easier to live a fuller life with it than weed.

Now shoot Swim down...