Comments on Political Science

This is why I will NEVER smoke pot.

Uh. It's a rather spurious link between the UK and New Zealand. NZ may be a commonwealth country, but it certainly has its own laws and social mores. That and I seriously doubt the Brits giving a flying f*ck what the colonials are doing...

the rate at which scientists are releasing these reports has not changed. the rate at which the media hypes them has.

@1 *snort*

Dom's right in that there have been a spate of British stories claiming pot is bad over the past 6 months or so, and it does seem to coincide with the political wrangling over how illegal to make pot posession. I think you know what the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs thinks.

USE DOES NOT EQUAL ABUSE/MISUSE.

The relevant question when assessing criminal penalties for possession should always be "are the health effects of incarceration more severe than the health effects of the proscribed substance?"

In just about every instance the answer is "yes."

If you really want to rot your gums, you gotta take up chewing tobacco. Skoal!

Yeah, the Commonwealth is a voluntary association based on historic ties to Britain, not a form of government. Many (not all) members, e.g. Canada, Australia, NZ, have kept Queen Elizabeth as head of state, but this is voluntary and pretty much entirely ceremonial.

unless you also study pot smokers who do not smoke tobacco (of which i was one), there is no way to attribute the gum disease to pot.

fuck this study.

It's not the smoking. Stoners are just more likely to fail at flossing their teeth nightly.