Willie Nelson Busted

[Jeff]

Is Pot Good For you ? Well, no. Time magazine article.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 70,00.html

So the Redhead brings this article home from work yesterday.

It's an old article, somehow it seems reasonable to share some of the highlights:

Fatal dose of Marijuana for 160 lb human: 900 joints in a sitting. (I would have thought 400 or 500 would do the trick.)

Only legal pot farm in America is run by the Govt in Mississippi.

Unversities are having a goodly bit of trouble getting permission & funding to obtain or grow "Research Grade" marijuana. (Imagine that !!).

Does it make you stupid: Well, yes, but then, there was no proper control group, so maybe it is just the particular pot smokers studied were stupid before they started smoking pot.

Does it have medicinal benefits: Seems like maybe, can't really say clinically because Research facilities can't get enough Research Grade weed to complete the necesasry studies. (Jeez, funny no one thought of posting a couple flyers on Dorm Bulletin boards .)

Sorry fella's , I don't go looking for the stuff I post up, It all comes to me with no effort & little inconvenience.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

One puff, and I was as dumb as Tiny Tim. And about as talented. I'm glad I inhaled, though, because otherwise I might have married Hillary.

Weed did only one good thing for me. Since it made me so dumb and incapable, I never tried anything else stronger.

A lot of my fellow (fallow) baby boomers think we're the greatest generation (because we brought such progress as reverse discrimination, etc.) I say that my generation's biggest effect was making America drug dependent. Think of all the misery caused by drugs. I can't think of one musician, writer, etc., who is glad he used chemicals. I'll bet the $ lost because of drugs could have bought us an alternative energy economy, and the oil-rich countries could go take a flying leap through a rolling doughnut.

And then we could do something about New Zealand. Regime change, or something. King Coastie--that has a ring to it. Harness that one source of wind and hot air, and we could power the world's amplifiers.

 

[john_kidder]

I'll bet the $ lost because of drugs could have bought us an alternative energy economy, and the oil-rich countries could go take a flying leap through a rolling doughnut

The only modification to make to that statement is "the $ lost because some drugs re illegal could have . . .".

Every economist on the planet has argued for years that if the non-illegal drugs (different in every country) were legalized, then 1) quality could be regulated to reuce deaths from the various adulterants added by bAd dealers 2) government tax revenues would rise 3) the absurd waste of money and resources in the "war on drugs" would be eliminated and 4) the massive effort spent to figght drugs might be used to fit poverty, malnutrition, joblessness, homelessness, etc.

Got to get into a meeting now - this may spark discussion - I'll be back.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

John,

Legalization might, indeed, be the lesser of two evils, now that we're a junkie civilization. But it would be better if we hadn't become so messed up to begin with, and it's my generation that brought us a problem so big that something as bad as legalization might be an improvement.

 

[john_kidder]

No kidding, Darryl. But it's not just our generation at all - we have the marijuana issue, but western society at large has had the alcohol issue for centuries, tobacco for a couple of centuries, the Brits created the whole opium thing in China to get at the tea trade, the Muslims hate alcohol and bitch about it while they sit around smoking kif, laudanum used to be standard for "women's troubles" (and was probably pretty good), etc. It's the differential application of "moral" standards to some drugs and not to other that raises the inequities, and that fuels the billions of dollars spent everywhere trying to stamp out the use of a particular society's least-favoured drugs, while others, illegal in some places, are smoked/eaten/drunk freely and openly elsewhere.

For example, Canadian and US soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan right now. They're being killed by Taliban professionals, but mainly by the recruits of the Taliban from among the young and poor men in local areas around Kandahar and along the Pakistani border. The US soldiers are spending most of their effort trying to wipe out the poppy crop - something like 80% of the world's heroin now comes from Afghanistan. Every time they successfully trash a poppy field, they remove any source of income for that particular farmer, who is then naturally pre-disposed to pick up a gun, provided by the Taliban, eat some food, provided by the Taliban, and go out against anyone wearing a uniform - Canadian, US, matters not. And where does the Taliban get the money to fund the weapons and food and even day wages? From heroin users in the US and Canada and Europe, of course - we have the money, after all. ANd the product is very valuable because, and only because, it's illegal - any business with a vey high risk commands a very high return, the illegality creates the seller's risk and profit.

Now, at the same time, almost no-one in the poor world has access to morphine for pain relief. Why not? Well, because we rich folks in North America and Europe buy all that too - the poppies grown for pharmaceutical uses are the same poppies, the exudate is treated differently to make morphine/heroin/opium but it's the same plant. And the Afghanis could grow it just as well, and cheaper, than the French and the others who grow it "legally". And there are a whole pile of good people, Nobel laureates and many others, who have been agitating for a couple of years to bring the Afghani farmers over the bright side, pay them the same amount they get from the Taliban and the warlords, and use the product to provide pharmaceutical morphine to the billions of poor people in the world.

And who stands against this idea? 1) The US government, because heroin is bad and they can't differentiate morally between what hits the streets on New York and what might relieve pain in Mumbai, 2) the Taliban, because if the crop were legal they'd have no leverage over the farmers 3) the warlords and their Pakistani backers because they make a hell of a lot of money. Now there's an alliance for you. And it's all because of the illegality. Remove that, remove the moral strictures, and the whole situation could turn around in a very few years.

Anyway, I'll quit. This is a guitar forum, not a political blog, and I've taken up too much space already. I beg the pardon of those who are bored with or offended by this, and I promise to stick only to Guild guitars from here on out. Just had to vent.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

John,

I didn't mean to imply there was no significant chem dep problem in the world before the 60's. I meant to say that drug use in America got very much worse then and has stayed that way.

I don't think you're venting, and I wouldn't mind even if you did. This is a small forum, not some huge bandwidth burning behemoth.(How about that? "bandwidth burning behemoth.") You know a whole lot more about this than I do, and I didn't realize all of the problems. And like I say, legalization might be the way to go. I just don't have an opinion on that because I don't have the knowledge.

Drug problems aren't irrelevant to a discussion of music (unfortunately).

 

[Graham]

Anyway, I'll quit. This is a guitar forum, not a political blog, and I've taken up too much space already. I beg the pardon of those who are bored with or offended by this, and I promise to stick only to Guild guitars from here on out. Just had to vent.

No appologies or pardons need begging John, it was interesting reading, and it doesn't always have to be about guitars, we're all real people as well.

G

 

[Jeff]

western society at large has had the alcohol issue for centuries, tobacco for a couple of centuries,

Western society has no monopoly on alcohol consumption. Asians have been making spirits & wine out of rice for eons. Myself, I prefer western spirits but's that's another issue.

Prohibition did little to curb the use & abuse of alcohol, ponly served to bring in organized crime to provide the product.

After prohibiton was repealed, the gangsters went on to other crimilnal activities, drugs, gambling & prostitution. They're still doing quite well.

I Wish at least the Govt could tax the illegal trades, might go a long way towards making Social Security solvent.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Honey (Graham. Get it? Sorry.)

Yeah, that's what I mean. Chem dep is a major part of the music scene, and I've shoveled all kinds of my money to musicians who sent my money to the Columbian coke cartel. And then I pay taxes for all of society's drug connected problems. So I don't like buying CDs with songs like "Cocaine" on them. Likewise, I resent all of this gangsta rap, but that really doesn't have anything to do with music. It's just noise for the morally retarded.

 

[Graham]

Honey (Graham. Get it? Sorry.)

You're a real cracker Darryl

I resent all of this gangsta rap, but that really doesn't have anything to do with music. It's just noise for the morally retarded.

This part could really go on a tangent. Up here, in the frozen North, it's just hilarious to first hear the thundering bass coming at you from three blocks back. As it nears you can make out the faint silhouette of a Dodge Neon, eewwwww, and as the crackly speakers pass your window and the "gangsta crap" is at it's most foul, lo and behold a skinny little white kid with his ball cap locked on sideways. Always brings a smile to my lips.

Nothing like myself, of course in the late '70's blaring Bob Seger out of the Pioneer stereo in my '73 Vega GT, now that was kewl! :lol:

Hey wait a minute, I didn't write anything else!

Carry on

Graham

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Yes, but not a gram cracker.

Bob Seger isn't nearly as bad as gangsta rap. No matter what kind of stereo you had back then, it wasn't the kind of brain cell basher they have now.

 

[Graham]

Still, eh?

Graham

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Complete with the plastic housing for the windshield wiper motor?

 

[Graham]

Complete with the plastic housing for the windshield wiper motor?

You're bringing a tear to my eye.

Graham

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Your tears would clean the windshield better than the standard equipment on those. Did you ever notice that when Vega cars came out, Vega banjo sales tanked?

Then there was my mom's Corvair with two on the dash. Slower than a VW with the mileage of a hemi.

Or my '63 Valiant with three on the dash. I traded it to a guy for a pair of used boots re-soled with tire tread. Much better mileage, and more reliable.

Topped only by my Renault with 4 on the dash. French cars just aren't as good as French snails. Except in speed.

 

[Graham]

Topped only by my Renault with 4 on the dash. French cars just aren't as good as French snails. Except in speed.

Sounds like sauer grapes Darryl.

Actually my brother bought a Renault in the early '80's, what a piece of $%&@, I think he just finished paying it off though.

Then his Gremlin, followed by his Rambler Wagon, the Vega station Wagon, repleat with shag carpetting, and a Pacer Wagon.

I just stuck with the Vega GT

Graham

 

[Guildmark]

Today's gangsta rap sound systems might probably disintegrate most of the older cars. And I gotta tell ya, Graham - it may be novel enough still in the Great White North, but if that rumble pulled up beside you a couple dozen times a day, you might not remain smiling.

I've become convinced car owners who play rap thru megasound systems like that are all constipated. They're hoping the bass will shift their bowels.

What a thread!
I mean, uh... 8) like, wow,Dude! What a spacious drift, Man! 8)

 

[Guildmark]

Oh, yeah. and I was thinking what Darryl's speed might be in a Corvair, Valiant, or Renault.

I figure about a Hat-an-hour.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Wow! I fogot my Rambler with the aluminum block, and my mom's Pacer. Who can doubt that progress exists when the system flushes AMC into the cess pool.

Interesting that the new basses elicit digestion analogies. They sound to me like deepwater emissions from a frantically migrating school of dyspeptic orcas.

 

[Graham]

Oh, yeah. and I was thinking what Darryl's speed might be in a Corvair, Valiant, or Renault.

I figure about a Hat-an-hour.

Ba-dump-bump

I'm here all week folks, try the veal, it's veally gute, or maybe it's really goat.

Graham