East Lancashire's towns drowning in alcohol (From Lancashire Telegraph)

What the... Burnley are beating us?
Come on you lazy bunch of slackers, get to the supermarket and get some in!
It's statistics like this that really gall me and have no business being researched or even published. It's enough to drive a man to drink...

woolywords wrote:
What the... Burnley are beating us?
Come on you lazy bunch of slackers, get to the supermarket and get some in!
It's statistics like this that really gall me and have no business being researched or even published. It's enough to drive a man to drink...

Yeah, *hic*, take that Blackburn, *hic* 'kin thnk they are all that *gulp* but we've learned them *gulp gulp*

I love you *hic*

Of a study will be done, costing thousands..

Can I have just half the money if I can explain why people become alcoholics in the first place?

When they are in work their employers treat them as automatons, reducing their sense of self-worth and thus contribute to work related stress. This stress is mainly felt in the portion of the brain known as the amygdala which in turn affects behaviour causing depression. This feeling of depression can be, in the short term, be relieved by alcohol or drugs. This only affects 10% of the population to a chronic degree.
Deep in the brain is an area that produces an hormone called dopamine, this is the pleasure drug, that makes thrill seekers do extraordinary things to themselves. Drinking and drug taking produces high levels of dopamine in the brain.

So now you know that, can I have half the money that is going to be squandered on research, safe in the knowledge that I will go to the pub, buy rounds of drinks for all and sundry rather than see it be wasted.

Of course, you can get the same dopamine effects from eating chocolate chip ice cream..

And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh!

Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis.

Hospital admissions compared:

Alcohol - 1,000,000+
Cannabis - 750

Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year!

Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution.

The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh! Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis. Hospital admissions compared: Alcohol - 1,000,000+ Cannabis - 750 Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year! Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution. The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Although if everybody started doing cannabis instead of alcohol those cannabis admission figures would rise for the simple reason that more people are doing it, therefore not leading to a drop in hospital admissions of "about a million"

The thing is Blackburn's hospital will soon be full and admissions will be stopped. You can't have a revolving door policy, if you can't get the revolving door to work in the first place.

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh!

Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis.

Hospital admissions compared:

Alcohol - 1,000,000+
Cannabis - 750

Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year!

Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution.

The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

All the spent needles alone would be a logistical nightmare.
Was only the other day the Telegraph was advertising some beer tent in Darren with loads of locally brewed beers for all the beer bores. What stance does the telegraph have then? Or is beer with twigs in okay? If beer with twigs in is okay why do people who supp it have a face like a thread veined rhesus monkey and a really big gut? If you filter out all the colour and twigs just leaving the alcohol in it seems that that isn't too bad.
I've never seen anyone who supps white lightning with a big purple thread veined face and a big gut. So, is it the twigs that causes this amazing side effect?

RUinsane wrote:

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh!

Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis.

Hospital admissions compared:

Alcohol - 1,000,000+
Cannabis - 750

Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year!

Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution.

The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

All the spent needles alone would be a logistical nightmare.
Was only the other day the Telegraph was advertising some beer tent in Darren with loads of locally brewed beers for all the beer bores. What stance does the telegraph have then? Or is beer with twigs in okay? If beer with twigs in is okay why do people who supp it have a face like a thread veined rhesus monkey and a really big gut? If you filter out all the colour and twigs just leaving the alcohol in it seems that that isn't too bad.
I've never seen anyone who supps white lightning with a big purple thread veined face and a big gut. So, is it the twigs that causes this amazing side effect?

It's the weevils in the twigs that cause the threadlines. They burrow around under your skin following ingestion.
There are a particularly virulent form who attach themselves to the glass thread under a whiskey bottle-top. Drinking whiskey directly from the bottle will result in a face like Alex Ferguson/Steve Kean. This can be circumvented by using a prophylactic device.

Roverholic wrote:

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh! Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis. Hospital admissions compared: Alcohol - 1,000,000+ Cannabis - 750 Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year! Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution. The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Although if everybody started doing cannabis instead of alcohol those cannabis admission figures would rise for the simple reason that more people are doing it, therefore not leading to a drop in hospital admissions of "about a million"

The current difference in usage is already factored in.

There are currently already millions of cannabis users, but hospital admissions are tiny compared to usage. Unlike alcohol.

The figures for cannabis would definitely go up with increased usage, but even scaled up they still wouldn't get anywhere near reaching the 47,000+ people already admitted to hospital each year for mental health issues alone from alcohol.

Scaled up it would be around 15,000 admissions for cannabis rather than 750 (and even then that's unfair to cannabis from the statistics).

Over and above the mental health admissions from alcohol, there are still over a 1,000,000 admissions for other reasons for alcohol too, reasons cannabis just doesn't have - liver failure, etc.

If cannabis were legalised, and everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, you would see around 1,000,000 less people admitted to hospital. That's a scientific fact - even scaled up for far far far increased usage of cannabis.

Alcohol is just very very bad for society. Cannabis just doesn't have the downsides of alcohol.

Will sit well alongside the Blackburn with Darwen best run council awards.

New Labour - Leading the way!

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh! Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis. Hospital admissions compared: Alcohol - 1,000,000+ Cannabis - 750 Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year! Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution. The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Can i please have a pint of what you have been having

No excuse whatsoever for excessive drinking.
Such a blight on English culture and makes us look like Neanderthals to the rest of the world.

Have a beer or glass of wine with your meal if you absolutely MUST have alcohol, but why take it to extremes and get bladdered to the point of losing control of your functions/manners?

Always makes me sad when I think of driving home from work on Xmas Eve the other year - drove past a pub and saw a couple of middle-aged men, stood there drinking at 3/4pm in the afternoon. On Xmas Eve.
So sad that getting drunk in a pub is what they have been reduced to at any time of the year, nevermind at Xmas.

Jack Herer wrote:

Roverholic wrote:

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh! Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis. Hospital admissions compared: Alcohol - 1,000,000+ Cannabis - 750 Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year! Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution. The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Although if everybody started doing cannabis instead of alcohol those cannabis admission figures would rise for the simple reason that more people are doing it, therefore not leading to a drop in hospital admissions of "about a million"

The current difference in usage is already factored in.

There are currently already millions of cannabis users, but hospital admissions are tiny compared to usage. Unlike alcohol.

The figures for cannabis would definitely go up with increased usage, but even scaled up they still wouldn't get anywhere near reaching the 47,000+ people already admitted to hospital each year for mental health issues alone from alcohol.

Scaled up it would be around 15,000 admissions for cannabis rather than 750 (and even then that's unfair to cannabis from the statistics).

Over and above the mental health admissions from alcohol, there are still over a 1,000,000 admissions for other reasons for alcohol too, reasons cannabis just doesn't have - liver failure, etc.

If cannabis were legalised, and everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, you would see around 1,000,000 less people admitted to hospital. That's a scientific fact - even scaled up for far far far increased usage of cannabis.

Alcohol is just very very bad for society. Cannabis just doesn't have the downsides of alcohol.

And how many face eaters would have to be shot? There would have to be warning labels like on fag packets. If you mix cannabis and plant food you may start to eat faces, with a nice half digested one on the front of the packet.

Not everyone who goes to the pub goes to get bladdered and make a complete idiot of themselves only a very small percentage at which point any self respecting landlord would stop serving you, so ineffect it is controlled.
It's most likely people who drink to excess on cheap supermarket booze at home and then go nuts that needs addressing.
Of course there's allways the argument that they have paid a heavy tax on their booze that funds the NHS so they do have a right to treatment as they have allready paid for it.
Lastly under no circumstances is there an argument to say rule out booze and bring in cannabis whatsoever, and do you really think that this or any government would actually do this? if you think the answer is yes then you have allready had to much and it's not even 2pm.
Give me real ale with free toothpicks anyday.

shytalk wrote:

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh! Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis. Hospital admissions compared: Alcohol - 1,000,000+ Cannabis - 750 Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year! Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution. The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Can i please have a pint of what you have been having

I refer you to the Licensing Act 1916, where it states:-
No person shall either by himself or by any servant or agent sell or supply any intoxicating liquor to any person in any licensed premises or in any club for consumption on the premises unless the same is ordered or paid for by the person so supplied; nor shall any person order or pay for or lend or advance any money to pay for any intoxicating liquor wherewith any other person has been or is to be supplied for consumption on the premises; nor shall any person consume in any licensed premises or club any intoxicating liquor which any other person has ordered or paid for or lent or advanced money to pay for..

In other words, get your own drink in and stop pestering others to buy you a drink..

shytalk wrote:

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh! Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis. Hospital admissions compared: Alcohol - 1,000,000+ Cannabis - 750 Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year! Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution. The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Can i please have a pint of what you have been having

That'll be a pint of scientific endorsement with a large side shot of reasoned logic then.

Although I'm guessing you have no reasoned argument against mine, and hence your daft comment instead.

Is it any wonder society is in such a mess when science and reason is completely ignored, and ignorance holds sway instead?

shytalk wrote:

Jack Herer wrote:
And still the alcohol companies are allowed to advertise on telly with utopian visions of booze filled brilliance eh. If Carlsberg only did hospital admissions eh! Want to save money and make society a much happier, healthier place to live? Then we have to legalise cannabis. Hospital admissions compared: Alcohol - 1,000,000+ Cannabis - 750 Alcohol is far worse than cannabis for mental health issues alone. If everyone stopped drinking and smoked cannabis instead, hospital admissions would drop by about a million people every year! Then there are all the antisocial problems with alcohol - violence, wife beating, child abuse - all of them regularly fuelled by booze. Alcohol promotes recklessness and selfishness, whereas cannabis promotes consideration and caution. The sooner alcohol gets some much needed healthy competition, the sooner we'll see society saving billions on health costs alone. Let alone it just being a far nicer place to be with less drunken idiots causing mayhem.

Can i please have a pint of what you have been having

That'll be a pint of scientific endorsement with a large side shot of reasoned logic then.

Although I'm guessing you have no reasoned argument against mine, and hence your daft comment instead.

Is it any wonder society is in such a mess when science and reason is completely ignored, and ignorance holds sway instead?

Your ferret stinks wrote:
Not everyone who goes to the pub goes to get bladdered and make a complete idiot of themselves only a very small percentage at which point any self respecting landlord would stop serving you, so ineffect it is controlled.
It's most likely people who drink to excess on cheap supermarket booze at home and then go nuts that needs addressing.
Of course there's allways the argument that they have paid a heavy tax on their booze that funds the NHS so they do have a right to treatment as they have allready paid for it.
Lastly under no circumstances is there an argument to say rule out booze and bring in cannabis whatsoever, and do you really think that this or any government would actually do this? if you think the answer is yes then you have allready had to much and it's not even 2pm.
Give me real ale with free toothpicks anyday.

Very good, but alcohol still costs society a fortune. Far more than it ever brings in in tax.

The cost of booze damage to Chorley, just little Chorley, was £43 million last year, as reported in this very paper. That's over £1200 for every man, woman and child in Chorley. No way does alcohol bring that much in in tax. More importantly those costs - liver damage, reckless antisocial behaviour, wife beating, child abuse - they don't exist for cannabis.

Uruguay has recently put forward a motion to legalise cannabis. Part of the proposal is that the profits will go towards rehabilitating addicts. Not addicts of cannabis, but of heroin and cocaine.

The alcohol companies can't even pay for their own mess, it would bankrupt them to make them pay, yet cannabis is so safe it's profits can easily pay for the rehabilitation for other drugs. That sounds like one healthy mo fo of a drug to me. Certainly when compared to alcohol.

No-one is suggesting making alcohol illegal, only to bring it some healthy competition. And that's because the scientific fact, beyond doubt, is that if everyone who drank switched to cannabis then society would be healthier, happier and more considerate place. By far. There is no credible science to counter that fact. If you think there is then be my guest and present it.

Don't you think that it's weird that we follow science and reason for all other areas of our lives but completely ignore it when it comes to cannabis? Government scientific advisers get sacked for telling the truth about cannabis. That would be supremely strange for any other area of our lives. Why not with cannabis?

Why do you think we should keep the status quo when it is costing society, not just financially, for which it is crippling us, but morally too with the clearly reckless behaviour it induces?

A sad fact is that the guards at Auschwitz kept themselves constantly half cut. If they had got stoned, the guilt would have made them blow their brains out. But they got deliberately drunk instead, because it dulls the guilt. Just like it does with people who rape kids. Most child abuse happens when the abuser is drunk. Alcohol is a big dehumaniser. Wife beaters are the same with it. And violent thugs.

Tell me again though why booze is so good and cannabis is so bad, because I forget?

I've run out of places to Inject Cannabis now all my veins are trashed, I have now resorted to anally bonging it up into my clapped out body.