[bryony]

Oh, I'm not saying it's good for you, only that psychosis seems pretty far fetched in my experience. Big difference between shortening your life and making you insane! If you'd rather believe government studies about this, feel free. I could pull up links that claim it cures cancer, but what's the point?

You can find a study to say just about anything these days, you're much better off using your own experience and common sense. People have been conditioned to believe anyone wearing a labcoat with a title that says "expert". I wouldn't say the results are totally invalid, but neither is the financial backing of big pharma, along with the textile and paper industries, to a lesser extent. Exactly how many prescription drugs have been rushed to market, only to have far more disastrous consequences for people than something found in nature?

Something tells me if they could slap a patent on it, it wouldn't be illegal, and instead of these studies, you'd be having TV ads for it with sick people floating around in the sky to calm music, and a far shorter list of side effects than the drugs they push now. But don't listen to me, I'm a paranoid lunatic, according to research.

Of course, some people that don't smoke will say it makes them paranoid...but that affect seems to fade with a higher tolerance.

I need to worry about quitting smoking tobacco more than weed anyways.

These studies strike me as this century's "official" version of Reefer Madness. Think about it, what two symptoms best describe the behavior of the actors in that piece of propaganda?

Paranoia and Psychosis.

I'm not getting at you - I too have great reservations about big pharma and government control. I also think that government, with a tame, colluding mainstream media constantly stokes up fear, uncertainty and doubt in order to help maintain control, and more importantly, have supporting reasons to tax us.

But to dismiss the increasing evidence supporting the effect on some people from extended cannabis usage mainly because you don't want to believe it, to someone my age, is reminiscent of the days when evidence was accruing that, yes, smoking tobacco is bad for you, will give you (pick one or more) of cancer, congestive heart failure, emphysema, chronic bronchitis etc, and _still_ people would say "oh no, all my friends and their parents smoke and they are perfectly fit and healthy".

For years cannabis users have been arguing for legalisation partly on the basis that it's safer than smoking, so I can see it would kind of rankle when evidence to the contrary crops up.

Anyway-I think the real "reefer madness" is actually Global Warming/Climate Change/Climate Disruption/(another fancy name for weather) no appreciable warming now for 15 years, yet the UK government wants companies to tender for a £1billion contract to find a way to pump CO2 into the ground. This in order to satisfy a legal commitment to make a gesture, a drop in the ocean compared to China and India (with its space program, and whom we still give £00,000s every year for their "development") and we have a deficit of trillions to pay! Madness or what?

But that's a different story/rant ...

B.