Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Dude, what just happened?

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  • BenWilson,

    Using drugs, legal and otherwise to deal with that is a route to dependancy at least.

    Could be a dependency that works! Using exercise to deal with stress could be a route to dependency...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Speaking of which, I think I had my first endorphin high today. It's quite a mild effect, but it lasted ages, about 4 hours. Does one develop tolerance? Any other bike users know? Do I need to be careful with this shit?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Gary Chiles,

    Prohibition doesn't make people criminals, prohibition makes people ILLEGAL.


    Dimethyl-tryptamine (DMT) exists in the brain of every living creature with a central nervous system, it is a banned substance.
    Therefore, we have prohibited all mammals, all reptiles, all birds, all fish, and quite a number of plants on this planet.
    To quote the late Bill Hicks, "Isn't that a bit like saying god made a mistake?"


    Which part of this outrageously insane nonsense am I supposed to take seriously?


    Also, I'd be very curious to know how exactly the police think they are going to find detectable evidence of anybody tripping on LSD.
    LSD is only detectable OUTSIDE the body, BEFORE it has been ingested.
    I look forward to the NZ police submitting their amazing new detection technique for full peer review to the relevant scientific publications with baited breath.


    Next they'll expect me to believe that a policeman with absolutely no formal qualifications as a pharmacologist, a toxicologist, or any type of medical training beyond basic first aid, is some kind of "drug expert". - Yeah right.

    Paraparaumu • Since Feb 2010 • 10 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Have they added poppies to the banned list of plants growing yet? They look lovely in the garden.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    It certainly is a week to target smokers

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Justthinking:

    I'm in favour of a broken windows law. Not a euphamism but a law that states that land lords of poor housing and businesses will be prosecuted if they don't act.

    I wasn't referring to Rudy Giuliani's Broken Windows policy, but rather Frederick Bastiat's Broken Window parable.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • alobar,

    Speaking of which, I think I had my first endorphin high today. It's quite a mild effect, but it lasted ages, about 4 hours. Does one develop tolerance? Any other bike users know? Do I need to be careful with this shit?

    yeah , i'm sure one of the grumpiest flatmates i ever had was overdosing on biking (but at least its more fun than sitting around smoking)

    auckland • Since Apr 2010 • 63 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    yeah , i'm sure one of the grumpiest flatmates i ever had was overdosing on biking

    I'll watch out for the grumps then. If I'm feeling grumpy, it's time to either cut back, or blaze those legs up again.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    Does one develop tolerance? Any other bike users know? Do I need to be careful with this shit?

    You'll know you've got an endorphin problem on the one day when you *don't* ride in to work, and you find yourself on the point of falling asleep at half past ten in the morning.

    I'm already having to ride 10km most weekdays for a proper high, so I'm hoping I catch it before I end up buying a road bike and the habit becomes really destructive.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    an endorphin problem

    OK, now I'm back to wanting to shoot heroin in my eyeball.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    10km? Goodness I don't feel anything until at least 20km, and I thought I was super soft. Tolerance sure creeps up fast. I just want to maintain.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen McIntyre,

    Surely. But take into account that they were breaking some serious laws

    I'm sorry ... what? Did you say 'serious laws'?

    Growing a plant?

    Selling baby plants?

    Telling other people how to grow a plant well?

    Selling dried pieces of a plant?

    C'mon man, the laws being broken weren't serious. They're a complete joke!

    Auckland • Since Jan 2010 • 37 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    And from the " while your down how about a good kicking" department...

    The Government has cancelled pumping $430 million into superannuation, tax credits and benefits that would have, in effect, been direct compensation for higher tobacco taxes.
    Herald

    How can they say that would be direct compensation for higher tobacco taxes?
    It is, in fact, direct compensation for inflation, the rise in the CPI.
    To assume all pensioners and beneficiaries are smokers is a crock, a crock of the smellyist shite.

    Superannuitants will be hit less than younger age groups by the rise in tobacco prices because only 11 per cent of people aged 65 to 74, and 4 per cent of those 75 and over, smoke. Herald

    Yeah? hit less? The fact is that they will be hit harder and more of them will feel the pain, the 96% who DON'T smoke.
    This is starting to become fun, how much more crap can this Government pump out before they become a laughing stock, before nobody believes a word they say? It's all very well to play up to the beneficiary bashers but by blatantly lying?
    They must think we are all stupid. How many people said "They won't go for mining on Great Barrier, it's just a ruse to push other agendas"
    Quite a few I reckon. And Crusher Collins getting all "Ain't I just a clever cunt" over the SOG busts and claiming it to be such a major blow to "Organised" crime. Maybe we should keep quiet about all this bollocks and say "Good work National, you're doing just what we wanted" making complete arses of yourselves.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    10km? Goodness I don't feel anything until at least 20km, and I thought I was super soft. Tolerance sure creeps up fast. I just want to maintain.

    I get the endorphin high much in the way I used to get it when I was road running in my teens -- I just keep deciding to go further. The most notable example being a few weekends back when I unexpectedly circumnavigated the entire Auckland ithsmus, a 50km+ ride I really had not intended to do.

    It does linger on for a while after I stop too.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Prince,

    For a moment I though I had logged on to Tumeke. I feel it is only a matter of time before someone starts chanting " the pigs, the pigs" or perhaps they did, I started scrolling about the time someone said "victimless crime". Some of the arguments here make WhaleOil's logic look good.

    I've recently had contact with a young guy who, until he moved to Dunedin, had never smoked pot. He's a poster-child for NORML and loves those 4:20 sessions, lapping up all the knowledge they have introduced him to, including that cannabis will cure his bipolar disorder. Currently, he is still struggling to deal with the small issue that having stolen money from his friends to buy drugs, they now consider him a thief with a drug problem. He finds this label terribly offensive.

    Or, dredging back into my childhood memory I could talk about the growers who, having found a farmer near their patch (on his land), opened every gate in the valley and cut fences, allowing stock to wander onto a state highway where they caused a car crash.

    Of course, these people would all have been law-abiding citizens if they could just have been allowed to grow their own.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 12 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    For a moment I though I had logged on to Tumeke. I feel it is only a matter of time before someone starts chanting " the pigs, the pigs" or perhaps they did, I started scrolling about the time someone said "victimless crime". Some of the arguments here make WhaleOil's logic look good

    Perhaps you could address these flaws in the logic, then. Anecdotes, while instructive, are not the same thing.

    My concerns are:

    - People are still in custody for operating businesses that have traded -- and advertised -- for nearly 20 years.

    - People were arrested and charged as employees of those businesses.

    - The police led the news media to believe they have broken a network of large commercial growers. Yet it's now apparent that at least some of the people arrested have been very small-scale indeed, and include medical marijuana users. Indeed, we've yet to see the news photographs that usually accompany a large commercial bust. I wonder if they didn't quite get what they thought they were going to.

    - The police seem to have devised their own regulations with the production of the new form obliging photo ID, home address, etc. I'm not sure that's legal.

    - The timing of the arrests appears to be very deliberate. This is the week that submissions close on the Misuse of Drugs Act review, and of the annual law reform protest. This looks way too political for my liking.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Currently, he is still struggling to deal with the small issue that having stolen money from his friends to buy drugs, they now consider him a thief with a drug problem.

    Well, quelle surpreeze, as they say in mock France. I suppose you consider theft to be a victimless crime then? apart from the poor thief of course, who has to go through all that inconvenience of people not trusting him.

    Marijuana Use and Bipolar Disorder to be Studied

    Is there a connection? Professor Cecilia Hillard of the Medical College of Wisconsin will be doing a 5-year study investigating one possible link between the chemicals in marijuana and the development of bipolar disorder and psychoses.

    Hardly being touted as a cure.

    Of course, these people would all have been law-abiding citizens if they could just have been allowed to grow their own.

    Astounding logic, if it were not a crime, they would not be criminals. Or are you suggesting that marijuana use forces one to commit other crimes? [citation needed]

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    end up buying a road bike and the habit becomes really destructive.

    It's only destructive if you start getting into carbon fibre, man.

    10km? Goodness I don't feel anything until at least 20km, and I thought I was super soft.

    20k? Just wait until your first brevet.

    Anyone else planning to ride Taupo this year, by the way?

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    The famous Dunedin longitudinal study did find a link between teen use of marijuana (generally before 18 and mostly younger) and bipolar disorder for a substantial proportion of the population (about 15% I think) who have a particular gene.
    The correlation seemed to die away when marijuana use started later, and to be limited to those with the gene.
    There was a great BBC (I think- British anyway) doco on this a few years ago.
    There's a lot more work to be done, but it is very interesting- especially to those of us with the gene.
    Oddly, when I tried googling marijuana and bipolar after watching the doco (and reading something of the Dunedin findings), all I could find were stories of users whose bipolar was, they (and sometimes family, friends and physicians) claimed, made managable by the drug.
    I wouldn't completely discount this, either. But it's fairly clear: using marijuana- especially heavy use- poses some danger to anyone with a tendency to mental illness; and it's risky- if you have this gene, VERY risky- during puberty.

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    The timing of the arrests appears to be very deliberate. This is the week that submissions close on the Misuse of Drugs Act review, and of the annual law reform protest. This looks way too political for my liking.

    It comes across to me as somewhat Wag-the-Doggish. Distract from the issues that really matter by finding a scapegoat.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • jo kerr,

    <quote>Some of the arguments here make WhaleOil's logic look good.<quote>

    You own arguments certainly don't make your own logic look good.
    If using cannabis made users steal, then there would be 585,000 thieves created each year, so that's a load of bollocks.
    And if clandestine growers cutting farmers fences is a problem, then the Switched on Gardener etc offer the perfect solution in encouraging small scale home horticulture.

    Since Apr 2010 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • alobar,

    I read of an interesting study last year suggesting the effects on over 60 s brains is almost opposite to that on teens - its helps prevent some disorders .
    (and also read that gambling has similar benefits - for the oldies)

    auckland • Since Apr 2010 • 63 posts Report Reply

  • alobar,

    from
    http://www.nber.org/papers/w10046 :

    "In the case of violent crime, we find a statistically significant association with arrests but not reported crime, suggesting that marijuana use may just influence the likelihood of getting caught committing these crimes. "

    wonder why :)

    auckland • Since Apr 2010 • 63 posts Report Reply

  • jo kerr,

    @Rob Stowell
    I don't have bipolar disorder, I'm 50ish, I might smoke a joint with some friends on a monthly basis if that. I don't see what prevention or treatment of a genetic disorder has to do with my right to do so.
    Opiates and cannabinoids are rather unique compounds among plants in that they mimic endogenous morphines which are now known as endorphins and endogenous cannabinoids. The law is not going to undo this quirk of biology or un-discover or obscure it. If we don't like it we will have to handle it culturally, not punitively. Its a big ask but the law isn't effective. Countries with much more relaxed laws have lower usage because they have different cultural approaches. If lower usage is what your goal is. It depends also on whether the goal is to lower the population of users or lower their personal dosage. All the politicians seem scared of publicly acknowledging that low dosage use is mostly harmless and that problem use can't be fixed unless you can see it in the open.

    Since Apr 2010 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    @Rob Stowell
    I don't have bipolar disorder, I'm 50ish, I might smoke a joint with some friends on a monthly basis if that. I don't see what prevention or treatment of a genetic disorder has to do with my right to do so.

    I don't think Rob was saying that. But the research he cited is real. There's a genetic risk of cannabis-related psychosis for a minority (15%) of the population, and an age-related risk for anyone under 18, with the risk increasing significantly with earlier onset of use.

    Put the two together and you have ... a greater risk.

    This should inform any sensible approach to policy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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