Phuket Lawyer Takes Death Plunge After ‘Humiliating’ Argument

[tonglen]

Your website quote................

http://www.niaaa.nih...niaaa-directors

"But alcohol also presents a paradox. While heavy drinking substantially raises the risk of heart disease and stroke, studies suggest that moderate drinking appears to reduce them. Thus a major contributor to disease appears to have the potential to improve certain aspects of health."

I do recall coming across that particular line when I was reading that page during my own research of various drugs. I am also aware of the claim of the benefits of drinking red wine in particular.

I do not deny that there may be some health benefits in drinking some alcohol. I also understand that taking anything to excess, especially regularly, including things that would generally be considered to be healthy or harmless, can be harmful to ones' health. However, the few benefits of alcohol far outweigh the negative effects, both short term and long term. The psychological effects of alcohol itself can make someone drink more than they originally intended to, causing more harm. Due to its toxicity, alcohol has a lower safety margin than other drugs. From the article Not All Drugs Are Created Equal:

For alcohol, the safety margin is 10 (330 divided by 33 equals 10). In other words, it takes 10 times as much alcohol to kill you as it does to give you a buzz.

the safety margin of recreational substances as normally used is: 6 for heroin; 10 for alcohol; 15 for cocaine; 16 for MDMA; 20 for codeine; and 1,000 for LSD or marijuana

I myself still drink alcohol as it is the "default" and socially-accepted recreational drug in Thailand, and there isn't really any legal alternative. I used to drink to the point of almost vomiting (and often went over) every week. I have moderated my consumption after only recently learning of the many harmful effects. Now what proportion of people out there drink alcohol yet are still ignorant of the many harmful effects of alcohol? A lot of them are doing harm to themselves (and others) possibly without even being aware of it (until maybe it's too late). It is an extreme misconception that legal drugs are safe and illegal drugs are dangerous, yet many people still hold such beliefs when in actual scientific fact there is very little correlation between legal status and harmfulness. Education using scientific facts is better than unfounded propaganda and law to reduce harm to themselves and society.

I don't see why there's much need to passionately defend alcohol as even though I still consume it due to lack of choice, its effects aren't even enjoyable when compared with MDMA or cannabis. If you haven't tried MDMA or cannabis then you could go try them in Europe (e.g. Netherlands) some time and then let's see if alcohol would still be your most or highly preferred recreational drug.

I agree that there should be a more informed audience concerning cannabis. As of now there are, I believe, 17 states in the USA that have decriminalized/legalized cannabis and at least 2 on the upcoming ballot that are going for COMPLETE legalization. I hope they succeed.

Do you know who one of the primary opponents of NORML (national org for the reformation marijuana laws) and legalization is?

BUDWEISER. They want THEIR drug to be consumed only. Sickening, yes?

There are alternatives to alcohol if you prefer....

Mimosa Tree

DMT in many forms

San Pedro

Kratom

Ayahuasca

Salvia

Khat

The list goes on but we will have to agree to disagree on the malicious, toxic nature of a responsibly consumed glass of wine or beer or whiskey.

Safe journeys.