Pot Use Among Teens at a 30-Year High: Is It More Dangerous Than Alcohol?

Jack Azz has a point but he is ignorant about what he said about: (hemp makes better paper than wood and better fuel than petroleum).
The hemp plant can be used for making great paper but it does not make better paper relative to how many types of paper exist at present and the various existing formulas used to make paper and all the chemicals and science involved in making various paper(s)
The paper industry has evolved into far more than the hemp plant can supply on its own.
As for the hemp plant compared to the petroleum industry???..... There is a huge difference and the hemp plant could never compete with the petroleum industry.
There is not a threat there at all ( maybe a perceived threat 100 years ago )
The present world wide consumption of petroleum stands at around 85 to 86 milion barrels of oil per day.
The hemp plant could not supply that many barrels per day without having to be cultivated on such a grand scale that it would need unimaginable amounts of land to be cultivated to produce 86 million barrels a day.
The logistics involved to produce 85.5 millions barrels a day of hemp oil for all uses could never compete with the logistics of the petroleum industry.
That and the by products of hemp do not come close to the numerous beneficial by products of the petroleum industry.
Jack Azz has to get over the "spilled milk syndrome" and accept that the hemp plant, although very usefull, it is just one of many choosen substances that can be utilised to make many similar commercial or industrial products.
I also would like to see far more hemp being cultivated and used where it is applicable but nearly one hundred years later there are other man made materials that can do the same job and often cheaper and in much larger supply than hemp and the logistics of hemp cultivation can easily be challenged by the other substances and industries that supply them.

As for the way the government and certain individuals demonised the intoxicating variety of hemp known as marijuana it comes as no surprise how they went about it ...but most people back then did not care at all about marijuana and the amount of consumption per capita was nothing as compared to now.

If you read into that part of history,as many have, you will also learn that the people and government "entities" who were given the task of trying to eliminate its consumption or at least trying to curb its widespread consumption were somewhat over zealous and often driven by political agendas more so than the actual task of formulating some sort of sensible regulations and laws to be applied to the consumption of a drug that many common citizens agreed should not be freely consumed by the public.
This was long before the demonisation and BS government propoganda and it is not rocket science to realise the detrimental effects of the intoxicants that were been consumed back in those days, including marijuana.
They did not know back then what they do now ( Concerning the good aspects of the substance) and many citizens simply backed the laws that restricted and out lawed the intoxicant called marijuana because they felt it was better off to be safe than sorry about a drug that they felt was dangerous.
In some ways they were correct and many ways they were wrong and had the government in the day listened to the opposition to prohibition laws we would at present have a drug being commonly consumed legally by many millions of people and we would still have many of the same consumption issues.
It would be agreed that the drug war on marijauna would not exist as we know it now and that obviously would be a good thing. That prohibition aspect evolving into the major problem we have now could have been avoided and big money government expenditures would have been avoided, obviously and a number of existing present day legal problems would not exist.
However more than likely the marijuana consumption would have been as common as alcohol and cigarette consumption and it is certain there would have been all the more problems caused by way of the 3 substances being commonly combined during legal recreational consumption for the last 70 years.
Some aspects of its legal consumption would be good and many aspects of its legal consumption would be bad.
I doubt it would have developed into more of a good thing for society because all the intoxicants come with liabilities and ramifications and they did understand that aspect of the intoxicants back in the 1920's and 1930' when the increasing consumption of the intoxcants was becoming a public concern.
It was not "just" the government people that were concerned back in the day...there were plenty of citizens who demanded that something be done about all the intoxicants being consumed with no laws or regulations and rules been applied to the consumption of intoxicants that had many people somewhat alarmed and certainly concerned.
So what do you think is going to happen when they legalise marijuana in the next 10 to 20 years.
Good things will happen and bad things will happen.
The good aspects have been delayed for 70 years but many of the bad aspects will continue and unforseen negative ramifications will also evolve.

Part of what you say holds sway and has a degree of truth to it but a lot of it is not so applicable as an argument for the use of the drug. Anyone can educate themselves by way of researching the data and information ( for or against ) and or simply observe how the pot heads and habitual consumers of the "intoxicant" actually conduct themselves publically and socially as a collective lot of drug consuming citizens.
With the growing number of, shall we say, Fools, there are more than plenty of drug consuming people to observe and pass judgement on.
Individual stories and case by case examples of certain individuals success with marijuana consumption does not account for all the negative aspects of its wide spread and liberal consumption.

I like how you use the words: "Natural medicine" to decribe the "intoxicant " that you are so clearly in love with and ready to defend to the bitter end.

Now that everyone has agreed that alcohol is far more detrimental, that fact emboldens the pot heads to step up and preach their know it all hyperbole about the merits of the drug while once again ignoring and or refusing to acknowledge the real world detriments of habitual marijauna consumption.
We all except the merits of the drug but the negative aspects are what concerns the authorities and the government personal and the citizens at large. That and the legions of marijuana consumers that have themselves convinced the drug is perfectly acceptable to consume...because they say so and they know better because they are experienced and qualified master drug consuming members of the brotherhood of drug consumption.
By way of their experiences with drugs they "would" be more qualified to comment on the subject in some aspects but It would not be wise for anyone with common sense to let themselves be persuaded to consume the drugs when a drug addict or habitual consumer of the drug assures you there is nothing wrong with the drug while saying:
" Dont worry, look at me, I have been consuming the drug for years and I am perfectly normal." "The government propoganda is pure BS.......here take a hit on this."

Meantime the public observers beg to differ because the person is a total wreck and sort of creepy and has a bizzare personality from their habitual drug consumption...amongst many other drug induced questionable personality traits and various pot induced idiosyncracies developed over the years of habitually consuming the intoxicant.

Just like HBO retorted to Bill Rind in the previous submission: "And don't tell me it's not true because I've seen it. I've been there, I know others who have been there, and if you don't have experience with alcohol,drugs and pot to draw from, then you are in no position to tell anyone else what one or the the other does or does not do.

After many years of being around the pot heads and pot consumption and observing the pot consumers I would say that I am well qualified to pass judgement on the negative effects caused by the long term, habitual consumption of the "natural " intoxicant known as marijuana....... and all too often..... "it aint pretty."

Ha Ha..funny that you should refer to the "pot head losers" because according to the pot heads no one is a loser if they smoke pot as part of the pot heads arguments that pot is all well and wonderfull.

Well HBO your comments can easily be reversed: as you stated: ..because you know some people who remain succesfull while consuming the intoxicant known as marijuana "does not make you an expert on the subject also".
You seemingly assume that because of your age and the fact that you consume the intoxicant (Or you certainly indicate you do ) that makes you more qualified to educate the opposition and inform them they are all wrong about the drug and its use as a recreational substance that is classified as an "intoxicant" carrying detrimental effects associated with its consumption.
Further more I used to consume the drugs from the time I was 16 to around 26 and I drank up until I was 30 years old so I was way ahead of you in my knowledge and experiences concerning intoxicant consumption and the many types of nefarious characters and personalities who participate and indulge in a wide variety of intoxicating substances.
I smartened up a long time ago and stopped taking the intoxicants and stopped making excuses for the intoxicant consumption for recreational purposes and I also stopped making excuses for all the people who continued to use the intoxicants and or abuse them.
Make your judgement on me but I am more than qualified to speak up on the subject of recreational drug consumption and I will remain vigilant concerning the detriments of wide spread marijuana consumption
Like I said in a previous submission about what I observed, experienced and witnessed and I will say it again about recreational drug consumption including your beloved intoxicant called marijauna:...all to often: "It aint pretty"
I assume you are young and you have what...another 50 years to experience your ongoing drug consumption and observe the drug consumers.
Dont be so quick to defend the virtues of the drug while ignoring its included detriments.

Everyone of your posts focus on the medical aspects of marijuana and you simply "gloss" over the real world statistcis that show 95 percent of the marijuana consumption is for recreational purposes.

We already know about the medicinal values and virtues of marijuana when it is applied for legitimate medicinal reasons.
We agree with you about its valid medical uses and several of the points you made are valid and true so stop your whining that people dont understand the benificial values of the substance.
You are mistaken about the percieved lack of recognition concerning its medicinal uses.

It is the "detrimetal" aspects of its recreational consumption that needs to be exposed and discussed.

Detrimental  [de-truh-men-tl]
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: damaging, disadvantageous
Synonyms: adverse, bad, baleful, deleterious, destructive, disturbing, evil, harmful, hurtful, ill, inimical, injurious, mischievous, negative, nocuous, pernicious, prejudicial, unfavorable

When you said I should go visit a medicinal dispensary and take notice of the many people who use the intoxicant for medical uses it immediately reminded me of the many, many articles I have read over the years about how the majority of the pot heads, using the medical system, are not in legitimate need of the drug rather they just get their supply by way of legal loop holes in the system.
You may want to refute that available information and or make some excuses for the percentage of pot heads that use and abuse the medical system in that manner but still it is all part of the ever evolving negative ramifications of widespread marijuana consumption.
Once again it just adds to the realization that the drug consumers are hardly a trustworthy lot and the non users are well aware of this for a long time.

Now that you have educated me and the rest of the world with your need to inform the world about all the wonderfull virtues of the intoxicant known as marijuana let us know exactly when you are "prepared" to discuss the real world, sad but true "detriments" of drug consumption including your beloved drug called marijuana.
Lets us now seriously focus on the detrimental aspects of the supposedly all wonderfull intoxicant known as marijuana that you are so eager to support.