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Comment Re:Smoke weed every day (Score 5, Informative) 365

Cannabis smoke contains many of the carcinogens as tobacco smoke and can lead to some of the same afflictions.

Doesn't seem to cause lung cancer:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html

Doesn't cause any of the other pulmonary issues that tobacco does either:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/marijuana-smoking-does-not-harm-lungs-study-finds/

So what exactly are these dreaded "afflictions" that you are trying to blame on pot? The munchies? An appreciation for the music of Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead?

Comment Electronic parts houses.... (Score 1) 314

were never primarily in business to serve hobbyists and DIYers. They were around to sell parts to TV repair shops, industrial maintenance shops, etc.

Once consumer and industrial electronics became uneconomical to troubleshoot and repair at a component level, there was no need for the places that sold the parts. The handful of remaining hobbyists and radio hams weren't enough to pay the bills, so most of the parts houses gave up and closed their doors.

Comment Interesting hypocrisy at play in Nebraska.... (Score 1) 484

So legal weed coming INTO the state constitutes a great threat, but setting up cheap liquor stores just across the state border from the Lakota reservation (with a huge alcoholism rate) is just swell...

Nebraska Complains About Colorado Weed While Enabling South Dakota Alcoholism

http://www.hightimes.com/read/nebraska-complains-about-colorado-weed-while-enabling-south-dakota-alcoholism/

Comment Re:Not sure the FDA would be much better... (Score 1) 484

In the case of pot, the most logical thing would be a division of efforts, such as we currently have for our other (much more harmful and addictive) recreational drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Surgeon general can force warning labels and release reports, but little else.

FTC/FDA/BATFE can police ingredients, labeling/packaging, production facilities, overseas shipping, etc.

Home production/non profit distribution allowed with generous limits and no more oversight than homebrewing beer or amateur winemaking is subject to now.

Comment Not sure the FDA would be much better... (Score 1) 484

If they use the standards that they use for regulating pharmaceuticals, and tried to apply them to recreational drugs.

Their risk/benefit analysis procedures would need a major realignment, as the current methods would disallow essentially ANY substance as having risks that outweigh the benefits (getting high).

Because getting high is not a medical necessity, the amount of potential risk would need to be essentially non-existent for the FDA to allow a substance on the market. Even relatively benign recreational drugs like pot or psychedelics have potential risks that would preclude them from approval according to current FDA standards.

Comment Re:On paper, sure. But in reality the DEA makes la (Score 1) 484

Well, a group of lawyers and businessmen (Congress) is about as poorly equipped as a group of prosecutors and cops (DEA) to render an impartial decision about the potential risks/benefits of various chemicals based on scientific fact, rather than political expedience or ideology.

About the ONLY thing that Congress has over the DEA is that (again, in theory) they are responsible to the will of the people that elect them. Of course, in reality, they are beholden to the needs of the corporations (Pharma, Booze, Tobacco, Corrections) who fund their campaigns, so we end up with more and more substances being made illegal every year, science be damned.

Comment On paper, sure. But in reality the DEA makes law. (Score 5, Informative) 484

Going back at least as far as the 1980s, the DEA has used their "emergency scheduling" powers to ban various substances by fiat.

Drugs like MDMA, GHB, "bath salts", and various synthetic cannabinoids were all summarily placed in Schedule I by unelected DEA bureaucrats. All they have to do is wave their pen, and any substance they want to ban is made illegal.

Yes, such actions are theoretically open to review by congress, but in reality Congress has never denied any DEA action of this nature, and simply rubber stamps whatever the DEA does.

So the DEA has the ability to CREATE drug laws, as well as ENFORCE them.

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