Should I Smoke Dope? - BBC Documentary

[wormcode]

(I remember this being discussed here a bit when it premiered, but it was a couple of years ago.)

Some thoughts below.



Youtube 6 part mirror:

[wormcode]

Watched this as it was recommended by someone who is anti-cannabis, and bases their views almost entirely on this video (and the DEA).


It's been airing on TV lately. Anyone watch it or remember it?

At times it seems like it was made by opponents to cannabis, other times it has good info (particularly the bits about Amsterdam's policies). Seemed a bit sensational at times as well. Example:
(About being high) "That was the worst day in my WHOLE my life."
(About injecting "THC & Cannabinoid" [and they spelled it wrong]) "It's like being at a funeral." Wut. Try not being so grim, you'll get more positive vibes.

The little tests they did, like her smoking then driving, are useless IMO as she is not a regular cannabis user. Of course someone not used to being high will do much worse. I'm not suggesting smoking and driving is ever a good idea, but obviously people do it fine all day. I'm sure we all know some.
Her panic attack seemed really self induced, she seems like a bit of a worrier to say the least. 25 puffs in 10 minutes of high grade cannabis from a coffee shop? Enough to fuck even the most experienced smoker. That's heavy smoking IMO, not regular use, especially for someone with no experience. It just said 1/10th cannabis, but didn't show any precise measuring to verify if it was pure or 50/50 or 60/40 tobacco/cannabis mix or what, which is also really important.

Also not buying the "cannabis is stronger than ever" media hype, there's always been extremely potent weed, it's just more common now. The old gran who bakes her medicine was sweet though, I hope she's not been having more touble from the local gov for her medicating in her own home.

The film didn't seem to take itself too seriously when dealing with serious subject matter. The end message was basically "alcohol is safer than cannabis."
Kind of like "Super High Me", more dumb than useful.

I think this would have been more useful if they had at least 2 people, her and an experienced smoker doing the same things.

Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7314812.stm
"She also became psychotic after an injection of an active ingredient of cannabis." Hahaha.

Anyway I said all this to the person who recommended but they basically just said I don't know what I'm talking about because I smoke.

[3za]

The more recent programs about weed on the BBC, have been more fair, and insightful, but still a little shit.

[wormcode]

Yeah, and that's the big "selling point" for them in using this, because it's from the BBC so it seems more professional or believable. The guy who recommended it said he actually hands it out with his group to scare people along with some of those MTV ones and the cold war era government PSA stuff.

[Rekah]

i dont know why they dont use regular users to do tests on, the readings would be a lot more accurate

[dreamizm]

Kind of like "Super High Me"

Is there a 'Super High Me' doc??

[cityzen]

I watched this when it was first on and didn't think it was toooo bad although, yeah, it was a tad slanted. It just made me think about what it'd be like if my mum got lean....
I've seen a lot worse though - they showed us an anti-drug video in secondary school where this woman was claiming she went blind from one hit of some guys spliff

[psychedelicatessen]

I can see how an inexperienced user might panic. One time a friend of mine told me about how they were smoking with this one kid, and after the first bowl the kid panicked and kept saying he needed to go to the emergency room, so he called 911. I'm really glad I wasn't there...
The thing is, it'll probably be a long time before they give marijuana a fair chance in studies that reach the mainstream media.

[therzbm]

number of people killed overdosing on alcohol: hundreds of thousands if not millions
number of people killed overdosing on weed: zero?

what really does more damage to society as a whole?

[wormcode]

number of people killed overdosing on alcohol: hundreds of thousands if not millions
number of people killed overdosing on weed: zero?

what really does more damage to society as a whole?

Don't forget pharmaceuticals...

[wormcode]

Kind of like "Super High Me"

Is there a 'Super High Me' doc??

Yeah there is a Super High Me from comedian Doug Benson. It's more of a comedy than anything. It's not bad, it's funny but pretty useless as a real argument IMO.

[ruckus49]

i always end up getting addicted to weed. i've tried for years to be an occasional smoker, it always ends up with me smoking at least once a day.

[NRHc]

i always end up getting addicted to weed. i've tried for years to be an occasional smoker, it always ends up with me smoking at least once a day.

Been smoking at least once a day for the past 5 years,and wouldn't say it has been a problem,exept for money of course but I view it as buying alcohol..And since I don't really buy alcohol it's ok,if I would be buying alcohol plus weed then it would cost a lot lol

[wolf89]

number of people killed overdosing on alcohol: hundreds of thousands if not millions
number of people killed overdosing on weed: zero?

what really does more damage to society as a whole?

OOOOOH LOOK AT YOU. YOUR SO CLEVER!

[firky]

number of people killed overdosing on alcohol: hundreds of thousands if not millions
number of people killed overdosing on weed: zero?

what really does more damage to society as a whole?

Actually out of the 30,000+ people per year which end up in casualty as a result of alcohol only a handful actually die from "alcohol overdose". IIRC the per capita is about 1 in 2,000 people will die from drinking too much. Not quite your millions, eh?

A more salient question to make would be alcohol damage, both on a person and the cost to society. Otherwise talking about overdoses simply makes you look like another idiot

i always end up getting addicted to weed. i've tried for years to be an occasional smoker, it always ends up with me smoking at least once a day.

Smoked for well over a decade now, I don't smoke as much as I did because of work and what not. I stopped smoking for about 18 months a few years ago when I was in a bad way, weed just heightened the problems. Now I treat it with a little more respect than I used.

Still occasionally take a break for two or three months from smoking, drinking and eating crap food. A sort of detox

[test_recordings]

Fact: UK drug policy isn't based on logic...

...as you can tell by the Conservatives managing, or at least trying very hard to, remove all the evidence-based policy making (e.g. appointing a 'Christian scientist' to head policy formulation but who's overtly biased against drugs that aren't alcohol or tobacco) as there's some very inconvenient truths.

From what I can tell there's massive downgrade of anti-drug measures in Europe, and it's working. Spain has effectively legalised not-for-profit cannabis clubs, all drug use is decriminalised in Portugal (and drug use has fallen since that happened as the money spent on prohibition has been used more effectively elsewhere), we all probably know what Holland is like (there is evidence that decriminilisation of cannabis has nullified its 'gateway' effect) and many other countries have successful 'harm-reduction measures' (e.g. in Switzerland heroin is available on prescription, now addicts can hold down jobs and lead a normal life while coming off the drug so they're not left without anything when they can return to normal and can still contribute to society).

[AxeD]

The more recent programs about weed on the BBC, have been more fair, and insightful, but still a little shit.

Does the BBC frequently air programs about weed?

[wormcode]

The more recent programs about weed on the BBC, have been more fair, and insightful, but still a little shit.

Does the BBC frequently air programs about weed?

I've seen a few from BBC. Off the top of my head, besides this one, I recall "Cannabis - What's the harm?" and "Britains Secret Farms". No doubt there's more.

[2manynoobs]

moral: if you fuck with nature, you fuck with your mind

[MCRD+]

number of people killed overdosing on alcohol: hundreds of thousands if not millions
number of people killed overdosing on weed: zero?

what really does more damage to society as a whole?

The streets-the irony of it all