Weed Campaign

[PsillyBean]

This drug campaign caught my eye the other day. Made me wonder what the figures are for the general public. Turns out the figures look a little different to what you would expect.

http://www.drugaware.com.au/Drug%20Information/Cannabis/~/media/DrugAware/POLL%20%20%20press%20%20%20Mental%20health.ashx (1 in 7 users report experiencing mental health problems.)

http://www.mindframe-media.info/site/index.cfm?display=83683 (Almost 20% of Australians or 1 in 5 people will experience a mental illness in any 12-month period.)

Now I may just be looking at this from the wrong perspective and figures/stats are always prone to being tweaked, but this says to me that people who smoke weed experience less mental health issues.

Pot stirred....

[qwertyuiop]

this says to me that people who smoke weed experience less mental health issues.

 

..Or that people who experience higher levels of mental health issues stay away from weed

..Or that people who experience less mental health issues are more likely to try/use weed

It really is subjective on how you look at it. Sorry for being the devils advocate...But just pointing out it can be interpreted these ways too. Its a pet peeve of mine when 'research' or opinions are made to have conclusions that are clearly made to support their given point. Then again, there are many cases where weed is used to combat mental illness side effects or helps in dealing with its symptoms.

[PsillyBean]

..Or that people who experience higher levels of mental health issues stay away from weed

..Or that people who experience less mental health issues are more likely to try/use weed

It really is subjective on how you look at it. Sorry for being the devils advocate...But just pointing out it can be interpreted these ways too. Its a pet peeve of mine when 'research' or opinions are made to have conclusions that are clearly made to support their given point. Then again, there are many cases where weed is used to combat mental illness side effects or helps in dealing with its symptoms.

 

Completely agree with you LUWA and I love the Devils advocate, kinda confirms the point of how stats can be twisted as required. I was just trying to illustrate a 180 to the campaign and the perspectives you gave disarm the campaign even further

[qualia]

anyone else notice a lack of citations for these majic numbers?

1/1 western australian anti-drug propaganda websites make shit up on the spot.

[tipz]

plants higher in CBD and other cannabinoids and lower in THC have been shown to have proven anti-psychotic properties.

There is much more of a science to this.

Medically, CBD has been shown to relieve differing forms of anxiety, among MANY other meicinal benefits.

Recent studies have shown cannabidiol to be as effective as atypical antipsychotics in treating schizophrenia. Studies have also shown that it may relieve symptoms of dystonia.

[ThunderIdeal]

i imagine that many skizophrenics have lucked upon some high cbd bud, convinced themselves it can help them (because it did) only to end up with high thc bud for the rest of their life which is maybe only making things worse for them.

[chnt]

my aim in this post was to find some stats on alcohol to draw a juxtaposition between our good friend alcohol and that evil weed you criminals/junkies smoke.

i got bored of not finding anything suitable so i stopped looking, but i did find this little thing here:

International comparison

The report found that nearly 40% of Australians have used illicit drugs at some stage in their lives. This figure is a bit lower than in the United Kingdom but still well up there.

taken from here

so does that mean that 2/5 australians deserve to have criminal records?

does that mean that almost half of everyone living in australia is a menace to our society and possibly deserve to be in jail for a given length of time?

this makes me wonder how many "drug" hypocrites there are out there.

i decided to have more of a look and found a couple of things:

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

Persons were classified to a health risk level (low risk, risky, or high risk) based on their estimated average daily consumption of alcohol during the previous week. Of those males and females who drank alcohol in the previous week (59% of the total population), 21% did so at a risky or high risk level.

 

from here

and

HEALTH SYSTEM COSTS

 

• In the seven years from 1998-99 to 2004-05, the overall number of hospital separations with principal diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol increased from 23,490 to 35,152; the number per 1,000 population increased by 39% for all ages during that time period (by 41% for those under 20 years) (AIHW 2006).
• According to a study by Ridolfo and Stevenson (2001), the largest number of alcohol-related hospital separations among both men and women in 1998 was due to alcoholism and alcoholic liver cirrhosis. The second-largest number was due to road injuries for men and cancer for women.
• It has been estimated that 31,132 Australians died from alcohol-caused disease and injury between 1992 and 2001; of these 75% were male and 25% female. From 1993-94 to 2000-01, there were over half a million hospitalisations due to risky and high-risk drinking in Australia (Chikritzhs et.al. 2003).
• At the community level, the estimated economic cost of alcohol misuse to the Australian community in 1998-99 totalled $7.6 billion, and this estimate includes associated factors such as crime and violence, treatment costs, loss of productivity and premature death (Collins and Lapsley, 2002).

 

the 1st one basically says that 59% of australians consume alcohol on a weekly basis, correct me if i'm wrong.

that's 3/5 australians, and of those 3/5, 1/5 drink alcohol at a risky or high level.

and as a result of our alcohol consumption among other things it costs $7.6 billion plus a year, since 03, i wonder what it cost in 2010.

i kind of lost what i was trying to say from this point on, apologies for thread hijacking...

ALCOHOL, drink up.

[PsillyBean]

my aim in this post was to find some stats on alcohol to draw a juxtaposition between our good friend alcohol and that evil weed you criminals/junkies smoke.

i got bored of not finding anything suitable so i stopped looking, but i did find this little thing here:

taken from here

so does that mean that 2/5 australians deserve to have criminal records?

does that mean that almost half of everyone living in australia is a menace to our society and possibly deserve to be in jail for a given length of time?

this makes me wonder how many "drug" hypocrites there are out there.

i decided to have more of a look and found a couple of things:

from here

and

the 1st one basically says that 59% of australians consume alcohol on a weekly basis, correct me if i'm wrong.

that's 3/5 australians, and of those 3/5, 1/5 drink alcohol at a risky or high level.

and as a result of our alcohol consumption among other things it costs $7.6 billion plus a year, since 03, i wonder what it cost in 2010.

i kind of lost what i was trying to say from this point on, apologies for thread hijacking...

ALCOHOL, drink up.

 

Wow, the internets..bless it! Love your work. But lets not forget, Alchol is not a problem drug in the eyes of our leaders. Otherwise they would have started banning liquor shops from displaying their product like the humble cigy. Ooh yeh, thats another gripe...but for another day me thinks.

For what its worth, my thoughts regarding substances and their use is this - it comes down to education, no substance is inherently evil, all things are poison, being quantity determines toxicity. The old saying, "Too much of a good thing" is actually on the money.

Preachy shit over :D

Peace!

[klip247]

"but this says to me that people who smoke weed experience less mental health issues"

How about the temporary paranoia that alot of people get from weed? Just stirring the pot

[qwertyuiop]

haha, temporary paranoia BECAUSE its illegal and has that bullshit stigma attached to it.. Just adding some herbs and spices to the pot.

[Slybacon]

^^^^ No mental Paranoia from you Brains Inhabition capabilities being directly effected. Even if it was legal, you would see a high percentage of Paranoid smokers. Its brain chemistry