Found an interesting short discussion that was posted on Curtin Psych fb group by one of my classmates.

Has anyone noticed the new anti-cannabis ads around town that have been put out by DrugAware (a government funded group)? There is a huge one in the city that states
“1 in 7 cannabis users report experiencing mental health problems. This risk increases the earlier you start and the more you use.” (“http://www.drugaware.com.au/Drug%20Information/Cannabis.aspx
However the West Australian Government Mental Health Commission (http://www.mentalhealth.wa.gov.au/about_mental/mh_whatis.aspx) tells us this
“One in 5 Australians will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. “

First this is clearly a fail, apparently smoking weed will protect you from mental health problems.

And second, evidence of the danger of drawing causal conclusions from correlational data. To claim that cannabis causes depression ignores the wider social issues that (i think) need to be addressed if we want to prevent mental health problems and drug dependency. The government is being slack by blaming drugs.


And one of the comments stated as below:
There are studies out finding neuroprotective effects in marijuana use. Not to mention its application in cancer patients in encouraging appetite (munchies) and reducing insomnia from nasty chemo. But to legalise is to forgo any chance of seizing dealer assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act. And they seize a lot of assets. Also, drugs are bad, mmkay.


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I say:
Why do we even ban weed/cannabis while tobacco and alcohol are legalized? Let’s compare, cigarette smoking endangers your life and also the lives of others around you. You might even DIE from it due to cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, coronary heart disease and so on. According to stats, 2600 americans die everyday due to cardiovascular diseases, which means about 1 death every 33 secs.  And of course, studies proved that coronary heart disease IS the leading cause of death in the US.
As for alcohol, severe detrimental effects can be caused due to alcohol abusing, increased risk of developing alcoholic liver disease, cancer, damage to both central AND peripheral nervous systems. And if one argues that weed is dangerous because it makes you hallucinate; doesn’t alcohol too? At least you don’t have to spend hundreds of kachings on bottles of Black Labels/Vodka/Spirit and ended up feeling so sick that you have to sleep while having your head stuck in the toilet bowl, puking your insides out. OH! AND waking up the next morning “enjoying” your hangover.
According to Marijuana_Facts on Twitter *they do have interesting facts about weed everyday*, marijuana seeds were found as early as 6000 B.C. in Chinese food. So why ban weed, a part of mother nature – certainly not a man made substance, when tobacco and alcohol which contains thousands of chemicals, are openly legalized?


Updates:
A reply I found from the web and I think it’s worth sharing lol. love it!
its all about the money.
u cant tax marijuana.
cause people would just grow it in their yards.
so the government hates not getting their money.
so if they cant get their money, u dont get any weed


xx,
Ro