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Comment by ocdtrekkie | Hacker News Reader

The fact that we have one terrible substance that is legal isn't a justification to legalize another.

you're right. however, pot is less terrible than alcohol in basically every way.

except that alcohol currently and historically has generated huge tax revenue. if i were the alcohol lobby, i would make damn sure than no other drugs become legal and taxed.

That's why we should follow the Dana Carvey plan for marijuana: "Legalize it, tax the shit out of it."

(I believe Carvey originally made this statement about prostitution, but I'm not sure.)

Pot isn't a terrible substance. Especially not when compared to alcohol.

Frosted Flakes though man, not even once

That's always a question of proportion. It's all in the mix. It's sure carcinogenic and surely beats the lung up in a lot of ways. It also does statistically, by my own observation, lead to a significant lack of all kinds of activities.

For example, it frequently leads to a lack of believe in - or even just consideration for - how terrible substance consumption is, over all if not for the sake of nutrition.

Also if you are prone to developing a psychotic disorder (prevalence of psychotic disorders is ~3%), pot consumption before the age of 20 increases the chances of it happening.

Which is probably just a consequence of other complications.

This is a fairly neutral review of the literature:

http://cannabisandpsychosis.ca/more-information/what-do-we-k...

there is not a single source given, just wiki links

There are plenty of sources and the original papers are easily found, but there isn't a proper bibliography with links which I agree is frustrating. For example the first one says the last name of the author and the year: Andreasson and 1987. So I googled "Andreasson 1987 cannabis" and found the article:

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67...

Hope this helps.

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