marijuana/prostitution

Prodigal Son · Post by **Prodigal Son** » Tue May 31, 2005 6:21 pm

would legalizing marijuana be morally wrong? i think alcohol is far worse and it's legal.

what about prostitution? wouldn't there be numerous benefits to legalizing it?

Prodigal Son · Post by **Prodigal Son** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:08 pm

i think they should both be legalized. am i answering my own question?

LittleShepherd · Post by **LittleShepherd** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:36 pm

Marijuana should be legalized only for certain medicinal purposes. Not in the overly-lenient way it's been issued for everything from headaches to stomach cramps in California. I'm talking legit medical reasons here, such as terminal illness and helping the appetite of cancer patients.

Prostitution should never be legalized. It's morally abhorrent. Just because we allow other morally wrong acts doesn't mean we should legalize others. There is no "benefit" to legalizing prostitution. At least making it illegal keeps its occurrence down some, and keeps its dangers to a minimum. In our failing society, you know the stigma of being "illegal" is the only thing keeping millions of people from participating in it. They claim that it'll be safer and stuff, but with the sudden influx of participants the actual numbers of people becoming diseased and pregnant due to prostitution would remain just as high. Probably much higher.

ochotseat · Post by **ochotseat** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:43 pm

LittleShepherd wrote:Marijuana should be legalized only for certain medicinal purposes. Not in the overly-lenient way it's been issued for everything from headaches to stomach cramps in California. I'm talking legit medical reasons here, such as terminal illness and helping the appetite of cancer patients..

Most Americans oppose legalizing marijuana. The movement to legalize pot is only an excuse to get high without getting in trouble with the law.
Legal drugs are just as effective if not more in numbing pain.

ochotseat · Post by **ochotseat** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:46 pm

Prodigal Son wrote:i think they should both be legalized. am i answering my own question?

That's because you may be an ultraliberal and find little in common with the average God-fearing, law-abiding American with a spouse and one or two kids.

LittleShepherd · Post by **LittleShepherd** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:04 pm

ochotseat wrote:Legal drugs are just as effective if not more in numbing pain.

Yes, but pain isn't the only issue here, as many sufferers of Cancer, AIDS, and certain other diseases can tell you. They don't waste away to practically nothing before they die due to the pain alone -- they lose their appetite, and their body ends up rejecting food.

Marijuana has two benefits over most other pain medicines. Smoking it allows the dose to be more easily controlled. Maximum benefit with the minimum of loopy side effects, if you will. Also, and this is the most important part, it stimulates the appetite. "The munchies" isn't some pothead urban legend -- it's a real effect caused by the marijuana stimulating the appetite while suppressing the gag reflex.

That's why it's so great for cancer(and some other disease) patients. It allows them to eat like a normal person and get adequate nutrition. Good nutrition can help with the healing process, but even if they don't get better at least they're able to live somewhat normal lives. That's something that other pain meds can't promise them.

Also, if you'll note, I said for legitimate life-threatening diseases only. Not for headaches. Not for backaches. Not for footaches. Not for surgery pain. Life-threatening disease pain only, and only when it's accompanied with the inability to keep food down. People who are probably going to die, and who are throwing up everything, probably aren't going to be sharing their medicine with anyone.

ochotseat · Post by **ochotseat** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 8:15 pm

LittleShepherd wrote: Yes, but pain isn't the only issue here, as many sufferers of Cancer, AIDS, and certain other diseases can tell you. They don't waste away to practically nothing before they die due to the pain alone -- they lose their appetite, and their body ends up rejecting food.

Marijuana has two benefits over most other pain medicines. Smoking it allows the dose to be more easily controlled. Maximum benefit with the minimum of loopy side effects, if you will. Also, and this is the most important part, it stimulates the appetite. "The munchies" isn't some pothead urban legend -- it's a real effect caused by the marijuana stimulating the appetite while suppressing the gag reflex.

That's why it's so great for cancer(and some other disease) patients. It allows them to eat like a normal person and get adequate nutrition. Good nutrition can help with the healing process, but even if they don't get better at least they're able to live somewhat normal lives. That's something that other pain meds can't promise them.

Also, if you'll note, I said for legitimate life-threatening diseases only. Not for headaches. Not for backaches. Not for footaches. Not for surgery pain. Life-threatening disease pain only, and only when it's accompanied with the inability to keep food down. People who are probably going to die, and who are throwing up everything, probably aren't going to be sharing their medicine with anyone.

No major medical association has sponsored "medical marijuana." In fact, they warn against marijuana and its harmful effects. Pro-marijuana activists' contention of marijuana helping to cope with terminal pain is plain incorrect.

Prodigal Son · Post by **Prodigal Son** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 8:17 am

marijuana has many medical benefits that remain uneclipsed by available medications.

besides, it's much less dangerous than alcohol, and alcohol is legal.

also, legalizing it would keep so many people out of jail.

sandy_mcd · Post by **sandy_mcd** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 4:28 pm

ochotseat wrote:No major medical association has sponsored "medical marijuana." In fact, they warn against marijuana and its harmful effects. Pro-marijuana activists' contention of marijuana helping to cope with terminal pain is plain incorrect.

Have there been any reputable studies to support or deny LS's claims or these counterclaims ? Obviously it is a politically charged area of research.

sandy

ochotseat · Post by **ochotseat** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 4:33 pm

Prodigal Son wrote:marijuana has many medical benefits that remain uneclipsed by available medications.

besides, it's much less dangerous than alcohol, and alcohol is legal.

also, legalizing it would keep so many people out of jail.

Just because you may want to use it legally doesn't mean others do. You're ignoring medical science for personal reasons.

sandy_mcd wrote:
Have there been any reputable studies to support or deny LS's claims or these counterclaims ? Obviously it is a politically charged area of research.

sandy

The federal government and medical associations have warned against it. What part of that don't you get?

LittleShepherd · Post by **LittleShepherd** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 11:06 pm

ochotseat wrote:No major medical association has sponsored "medical marijuana." In fact, they warn against marijuana and its harmful effects. Pro-marijuana activists' contention of marijuana helping to cope with terminal pain is plain incorrect.

Of course there's harmful effects. Everyone knows that. At the point that you're probably going to die anyway, and are in horrible pain all the time, and can't eat much, and throw up what you do manage to choke down...the potential harmful effects of marijuana are the least of your concerns. You keep forgetting that I said "for life-threatening diseases with food rejection complications only," and not "for any and all kinds of pain."

And while it might not be officially sponsored, it would be stupid to deny the fact that marijuana does stimulate the appetite and suppress the urge to vomit. Tests have shown that yes, it does stimulate the appetite. That marijuana cures cancer = myth! That marijuana has no harmful effects = myth! That marijuana stimulates the appetite and helps you not purge = fact.

kateliz · Post by **kateliz** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 11:57 pm

Sounds like LS has this one in the bag, and PS may have something to confess.

ochotseat · Post by **ochotseat** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:06 am

LittleShepherd wrote: You keep forgetting that I said "for life-threatening diseases with food rejection complications only," and not "for any and all kinds of pain."
.

Those problems can be aided with legal drugs.
You keep forgetting that most Americans don't want it legalized for medical and moral purposes.

Prodigal Son · Post by **Prodigal Son** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 6:37 am

ochoseat:

i have something to confess?! i have something to confess? what, i've used? everyone knows that. oh, yeah, and i've had sex with a prostitute. wow. okay. what about what you have to confess? why don't you worry about yourself?! this isn't about me. it's about marijuana and prostitution.

what's the moral difference between alcohol and marijuana? alcohol is more dangerous. alcohol's a "gateway" drug. what's the difference?

as for prostitution, legalizing it would lessen the spread of disease and increase the safety of prostitutes. it would better their social status, and improve their lives and the lives of their families.

kateliz · Post by **kateliz** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 7:45 am

Prodigal, it was I who suggested you had something to confess.

I'm wondering how seriously you take these sins. "Wow. Okay." Doesn't sound like you fully respect their gravity.

I understand where you're coming from in believing it'd be better for society if we legalize these, and agree on the alchohol thing, (it should be illegal to get drunk, but that would be a silly and useless law.) However I don't believe in legalizing what is morally wrong, and agree with LS on it opening up more people to participating in these sins just by calling them legal. My own mother has told me that she'd smoke pot if it was legal, so there's an example of that right there.

And prostitutes need more help than that. Most of them have been sexually abused, (according to statistics I once heard,) and so it's about more than money and making end's meat. These people need help, and if we legalize it their issues will get overlooked even more. Besides, it'd make it seem less "dirty" to a lot of people, (including the better protection,) and that would only lessen how seriously people take it. I can imagine they'd start to justify it in their minds if they didn't have a strong conviction against it in the first place. I think it'd make our society a whole lot worse, and we don't need that. I passed three strip joints up north this weekend, all apparently owned by the same person or people, and they were all within at most a few miles of each other. I do not want to see prostitution buisnesses pop up like that. Stripping should be illegal too.

And commercials and other ads should be strictly censored. Movie ratings should be reversed in their lax trend as well. So should what's allowed on TV in general. Soft porn is normal for movies and TV and widely accepted nowadays, but nobody calls it that. We need to reverse all of this for the good of society. It gets me so upset!

Pornography should also be illegal.