Quote:
Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce
Right. Of course. But let's not pretend it is a fact then? Because I feel 10 feet tall after a dozen shots of Jameson doesn't necessarily make it true either. Or do sometimes we have to use evidence based information and at other times just make up facts based on anecdotal experience.
We don't get to play it both ways, unless this you, Mr Harper?
|
It's not making up facts, it's just taking what happens to ourselves and extrapolating it to say that it probably has similar affects for many other people. I'm not claiming anything to be definitive, just using my own experience to guess at reasons why certain people use a substance and what it can help with (because it helps me with those things).
Your analogy about feeling 10 ft tall is a little off, because it obviously doesn't change your physical attributes, both both alcohol and weed are mind-altering substances, so it does change your state of mind. I would say that claiming something like "weed can help expand your creativity" is no different than saying that "booze is a social lubricant". For some ( or maybe most) these things are true. But we know that alcohol can be as much of a depressant as it is a social lubricant. Just like weed can make you burn out just as much as it can give you focus. It all depends on your amount of usage and how your body reacts to it.
In the context of this discussion, a bonus of legalization is that it allows for more research into this. As a banned substance, research into it's benefits is severely inhibited. So by legalizing, you open up all sorts of study opportunities which could possibly lead to definitive answers on these things. It also allows a common person the freedom of exploring it as an option for them not just legally, but morally and health-wise, because you don't have to call a friend of a friend and meet some stranger in a dark parking lot to get it, and the content/quality is controlled.