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US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

(apnews.com)
662 points JacobHenner | 1 comments | 30 Apr 24 17:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.211s | source
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qwerty456127 ◴[01 May 24 01:52 UTC] No.40218673[source]▶
Great news. A very sound move. Indeed, marijuana is much less dangerous of a drug yet considerably harmful in cases of chronic use in unreasonably high doses therefore should be controlled some way. What seems problematic nowadays is teenagers smoking too much. Also the idea of stoned people driving cars sounds scary. To me it seems it should be as available and legal as alcohol and cigarettes are, no less, no more.

What I'm curious about is how marijuana availability links to consumption of other drugs including hard drugs, alcohol, tobacco, tranquilizers and antidepressants. I hypothesize it may decrease these.

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psalminen ◴[01 May 24 03:41 UTC] No.40219272[source]▶
Coming from a longtime marijuana friendly state, I've noticed that it has also lowered the stigma of other "hard" drugs. Since weed is no longer the socially-acceptable illegal drug, others like cocaine has taken is place.

I've long wondered if this will be a trend across the country.

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1. yurishimo ◴[01 May 24 08:42 UTC] No.40220918[source]▶
This makes sense when compared to other legal drugs. Alcohol is only seen as a problem if you get shitfaced in public. Cigarettes were/are the more acceptable form of smoking when compared to cannabis. Now that the line for cannabis is moving, it makes sense that something else will come take it's place.

The real question though is, will more or less people who try cannabis now that it's legal, know when to stop experimenting when offered harder drugs? The fact that we don't see 15 year olds making bathtub moonshine leads me to believe that there is a limit somewhere for most people. Cannabis has not been difficult to get in the US for decades if you have even a modicum of self-determination. If everyone who has abstained until now suddenly gets the urge to try cannabis, I doubt that will totally destroy that self control after a few hits. Just like many people can go to a bar and know when to stop drinking even though there are likely somewhat inhibited by the drinks they have already consumed.