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  • 3 weeks later...
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Tuesday was a new high for marijuana legalization advocates.

Michigan voted to approve a ballot measure, making it the first state in the Midwest to approve recreational usage for adults, joining nine other states and the District of Columbia. Additionally, Missouri approved medicinal marijuana measures and Utah looked likely, becoming the 32nd and 33rd respective statesto do so. North Dakota’s ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana failed, however.

 

http://time.com/5447176/recreational-marijuana-ballot-measures-results/

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  • 1 month later...

marijuana.jpg?resize=110,85&ssl=1MARIJUANA, MENTAL ILLNESS, AND CRIME

 

I don’t believe I’ve ever written about an article from Mother Jones before, but this one about the effects of marijuana seems well worth considering. It’s based on a book by Alex Berenson, formerly a reporter for the New York Times, called Tell Your Children.

 

According to Mother Jones’ Stephanie Mencimer, Berensen’s book “takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit.” Her discussion fully justifies this statement.

 

I’ve always thought that the ill-effects of long-term marijuana use resided mainly in laziness, low ambition level, and a gradual decline in ability to think analytically. But the evils Berensen alleges are of a different order of magnitude.

The book was seeded one night a few years ago when Berenson’s wife, a psychiatrist who evaluates mentally ill criminal defendants in New York, started talking about a horrific case she was handling. It was “the usual horror story, somebody who’d cut up his grandmother or set fire to his apartment—typical bedtime chat in the Berenson house,” he writes. But then, his wife added, “Of course he was high, been smoking pot his whole life.”. . .

[H]is Harvard-trained wife insisted that all the horrible cases she was seeing involved people who were heavy into weed. She directed him to the science on the subject.

Here is what Berensen found:

Cannabis has been associated with legitimate reports of psychotic behavior and violence dating at least to the 19th century, when a Punjabi lawyer in India noted that 20 to 30 percent of patients in mental hospitals were committed for cannabis-related insanity. The lawyer, like Berenson’s wife, described horrific crimes—including at least one beheading—and attributed far more cases of mental illness to cannabis than to alcohol or opium. The Mexican government reached similar conclusions, banning cannabis sales in 1920—nearly 20 years before the United States did—after years of reports of cannabis-induced madness and violent crime.

Over the past couple of decades, studies around the globe have found that THC—the active compound in cannabis—is strongly linked to psychosis, schizophrenia, and violence. Berenson interviewed far-flung researchers who have quietly but methodically documented the effects of THC on serious mental illness, and he makes a convincing case that a recreational drug marketed as an all-around health product may, in fact, be really dangerous—especially for people with a family history of mental illness and for adolescents with developing brains.

Consider a 2002 study in BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal). It found that people who used cannabis by age 15 were four times more likely to develop schizophrenia or a related syndrome than those who’d never used. Even when the researchers excluded kids who had shown signs of psychosis by age 11, they found that the adolescent users had a threefold higher risk of demonstrating symptoms of schizophrenia later on.

 

Or consider a 2017 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. It concluded that marijuana use is strongly associated with the development of psychosis and schizophrenia. The researchers also noted that there’s decent evidence linking pot consumption to worsening symptoms of bipolar disorder and to a heightened risk of suicide, depression, and social anxiety disorders: “The higher the use, the greater the risk.”

 

Marijuana use is up 50 percent over the past decade, so many people having become “woke” during this period. Does this significant increase in use correspond to a significant increase in psychotic diseases?

 

Yet, it does, according to Berensen. He reports that from 2006 to 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the number of ER visitors co-diagnosed with psychosis and a cannabis use disorder tripled, from 30,000 to 90,000.

 

{snip}....much more here

 

 

With all the money to be made by corporations if the marijuana legalization movement continues to prevail, I’m pretty sure corporations and the wealthy won’t be funding the hard-hitting journalism contained in Mencimer’s piece.

 

 

 

.

 

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On 1/10/2019 at 5:23 PM, B-Man said:

marijuana.jpg?resize=110,85&ssl=1MARIJUANA, MENTAL ILLNESS, AND CRIME

 

I don’t believe I’ve ever written about an article from Mother Jones before, but this one about the effects of marijuana seems well worth considering. It’s based on a book by Alex Berenson, formerly a reporter for the New York Times, called Tell Your Children.

 

According to Mother Jones’ Stephanie Mencimer, Berensen’s book “takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit.” Her discussion fully justifies this statement.

 

I’ve always thought that the ill-effects of long-term marijuana use resided mainly in laziness, low ambition level, and a gradual decline in ability to think analytically. But the evils Berensen alleges are of a different order of magnitude.

The book was seeded one night a few years ago when Berenson’s wife, a psychiatrist who evaluates mentally ill criminal defendants in New York, started talking about a horrific case she was handling. It was “the usual horror story, somebody who’d cut up his grandmother or set fire to his apartment—typical bedtime chat in the Berenson house,” he writes. But then, his wife added, “Of course he was high, been smoking pot his whole life.”. . .

[H]is Harvard-trained wife insisted that all the horrible cases she was seeing involved people who were heavy into weed. She directed him to the science on the subject.

Here is what Berensen found:

Cannabis has been associated with legitimate reports of psychotic behavior and violence dating at least to the 19th century, when a Punjabi lawyer in India noted that 20 to 30 percent of patients in mental hospitals were committed for cannabis-related insanity. The lawyer, like Berenson’s wife, described horrific crimes—including at least one beheading—and attributed far more cases of mental illness to cannabis than to alcohol or opium. The Mexican government reached similar conclusions, banning cannabis sales in 1920—nearly 20 years before the United States did—after years of reports of cannabis-induced madness and violent crime.

Over the past couple of decades, studies around the globe have found that THC—the active compound in cannabis—is strongly linked to psychosis, schizophrenia, and violence. Berenson interviewed far-flung researchers who have quietly but methodically documented the effects of THC on serious mental illness, and he makes a convincing case that a recreational drug marketed as an all-around health product may, in fact, be really dangerous—especially for people with a family history of mental illness and for adolescents with developing brains.

Consider a 2002 study in BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal). It found that people who used cannabis by age 15 were four times more likely to develop schizophrenia or a related syndrome than those who’d never used. Even when the researchers excluded kids who had shown signs of psychosis by age 11, they found that the adolescent users had a threefold higher risk of demonstrating symptoms of schizophrenia later on.

 

Or consider a 2017 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. It concluded that marijuana use is strongly associated with the development of psychosis and schizophrenia. The researchers also noted that there’s decent evidence linking pot consumption to worsening symptoms of bipolar disorder and to a heightened risk of suicide, depression, and social anxiety disorders: “The higher the use, the greater the risk.”

 

Marijuana use is up 50 percent over the past decade, so many people having become “woke” during this period. Does this significant increase in use correspond to a significant increase in psychotic diseases?

 

Yet, it does, according to Berensen. He reports that from 2006 to 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the number of ER visitors co-diagnosed with psychosis and a cannabis use disorder tripled, from 30,000 to 90,000.

 

{snip}....much more here

 

 

With all the money to be made by corporations if the marijuana legalization movement continues to prevail, I’m pretty sure corporations and the wealthy won’t be funding the hard-hitting journalism contained in Mencimer’s piece.

 

 

 

.

 

 

Well that’s a bunch of nonsense. 

 

This is equivalent to “you’ll go blind from playing with it!”

Edited by The_Dude
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  • 1 month later...

Interesting blog related to cannabis treatment for autism

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/cannabis-and-autism-an-informal-update-2019/

 

from the blog

 

Excellent results are attained along the full range of the autistic spectrum. Most studies for some reason favor looking at low-function children with violent outbursts. My experience show that high-functioning children respond extremely well, with an increased sharpness in their listening, presence, precision of language and more appropriate responses to humor. They feel much better as human beings and more secure in social settings. Many of these children are able to recognize the improvement as an improved connectivity between resting and executive brain states that I had suggested in an earlier communication. I have treated several dozen very young children, less than 4 years of age, with results as encouraging as those for the older children.

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On 1/18/2019 at 6:21 AM, The_Dude said:

 

Well that’s a bunch of nonsense. 

 

This is equivalent to “you’ll go blind from playing with it!”

 

you won't go blind, but you will have wasted days of your existence

 

 

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6 hours ago, Bob in Mich said:

Interesting blog related to cannabis treatment for autism

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/cannabis-and-autism-an-informal-update-2019/

 

from the blog

 

Excellent results are attained along the full range of the autistic spectrum. Most studies for some reason favor looking at low-function children with violent outbursts. My experience show that high-functioning children respond extremely well, with an increased sharpness in their listening, presence, precision of language and more appropriate responses to humor. They feel much better as human beings and more secure in social settings. Many of these children are able to recognize the improvement as an improved connectivity between resting and executive brain states that I had suggested in an earlier communication. I have treated several dozen very young children, less than 4 years of age, with results as encouraging as those for the older children.

 

I tried CBD oil.  Nothing happened. 

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On 3/15/2019 at 5:27 PM, bbb said:

 

I tried CBD oil.  Nothing happened. 

 

What were you hoping to treat?  Did you try a full plant extract or something labeled hemp oil or CBD distillate?  For how long did you use the product?  Approximately what was the dosage you used and how was it administered - capsule, tincture, vape, suppository, etc?

 

unfortunately we have so many unknowns in using cannabis due to the research restrictions. That is changing but if you want to try to use it today, one must experiment a bit.  

 

Cannabis should be thought of more as a class of medicine as opposed to a single medicine, similar to anti-biotics.  With thousands of strains and hundreds of cannabinoids and terpenes within a given strain, the number of variations within cannabis is huge.  Often I hear an individual say that they tried a cannabis based product but it didn’t work and therefore medical marijuana doesnt work for them.  I would suggest some personal research on your condition and then perhaps trying another strain-product-dose-delivery method-etc

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On 3/15/2019 at 10:57 AM, Bob in Mich said:

Interesting blog related to cannabis treatment for autism

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/cannabis-and-autism-an-informal-update-2019/

 

from the blog

 

Excellent results are attained along the full range of the autistic spectrum. Most studies for some reason favor looking at low-function children with violent outbursts. My experience show that high-functioning children respond extremely well, with an increased sharpness in their listening, presence, precision of language and more appropriate responses to humor. They feel much better as human beings and more secure in social settings. Many of these children are able to recognize the improvement as an improved connectivity between resting and executive brain states that I had suggested in an earlier communication. I have treated several dozen very young children, less than 4 years of age, with results as encouraging as those for the older children.

1. There is absolutely no medical justification for withholding cannabis treatment for autistic children and requiring that other agents be used first.

2. There is no justification for withholding cannabis treatment from young children.

 

What a ***** quack. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

For many years cannabis users have been prohibited from donating or receiving a transplanted organ.  The assumption in the medical community being that 'drug users' are a bad risk. 

 

This attitude is beginning to turn as more physicians are becoming aware of cannabis as medicine and are actually looking at available data.  It seems to show little difference in outcomes between cannabis users and non-users.  Of course as with most things cannabis, much more research is needed.

 

Sadly one of my favorite cousins passed recently due to liver problems.  He was on the transplant list for many years, getting booted only recently when liver cancer was found.  I found it very frustrating to watch him suffer because I was confident cannabis medicines could have provided some relief to him on a few different fronts.  With the restrictions on cannabis use for transplant patients however, he was unwilling to risk trying cannabis medicines until after he had gotten kicked off the transplant list.  By then his body was pretty well shot and he passed a few months later.

 

https://www.leafly.com/news/health/cannabis-and-organ-transplants

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  • 5 weeks later...
19 hours ago, Bob in Mich said:

NBC did a segment on pregnancy and medical cannabis use. 

 

Before you jump all over me, I am not promoting it, just posting the NBC video.  This video is about 15 minutes long.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkw7LmfNJ6o

 

When the first comment is this, I get annoyed:

 

The marijuana almost certainly better then the ?. Natural.

 

Everything is natural.  Cocaine, opium, alcohol, etc.  I'm sick of that reasoning. 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 9/3/2014 at 11:23 AM, Nanker said:

I have a distant relative that's a heroin addict.

Can marijuana cure her of that?

 

I am a little behind on replying to questions I guess.  Sorry.  I hope she is still with us.

 

For a long time there have been (former) addict testimonials on the ability of cannabis to help a person quit opiates.  Since cannabis can help to treat the withdrawal symptoms of anxiety, pain, and nausea most (including me) have assumed that these were the primary reasons that cannabis seemed to help.  According to this study, we see the reduction of cravings with CBD use may be the biggest factor of all.

 

https://www.leafly.com/news/health/cbd-can-help-with-heroin-addiction-study-finds

 

From the article

The study team found that CBD, in contrast to placebo, significantly reduced both the craving and anxiety induced by drug cues compared with neutral cues in the acute term. CBD also showed significant protracted effects on these measures seven days after the final short-term exposure. In addition, CBD reduced the drug cue-induced physiological measures of heart rate and salivary cortisol levels. There were no significant effects on cognition, and there were no serious adverse events. The capacity of CBD to reduce craving and anxiety one week after the final administration mirrors the results of the original preclinical animal study, suggesting that the effects of CBD are long-lasting, even when the cannabinoid would not be expected to be present in the body.

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On 9/3/2014 at 11:49 AM, Bob in Mich said:

 

If this is a serious question then you could start by looking into the recent research.

 

I would point out that studies sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, until very recently, were designed to show the harm of cannabis rather than its possible medical benefits. Keep that in mind when reviewing the studies.

 

Cannabinoid and opioid interactions: implications for opiate dependence and withdrawal.

 

17 September 2013

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/23624062

 

From the research report

 

Research over the past decade has shed light on the influence of endocannabinoids (ECs) on the opioid system. Evidence from both animal and clinical studies point toward an interaction between these two systems, and suggest that targeting the EC system may provide novel interventions for managing opiate dependence and withdrawal.

 

Actually, jokes aside, I did reply to his question the same day as he asked.  I have always tried to reply and to provide whatever information I could to sincere questions.

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26 minutes ago, Chef Jim said:

It’s interesting the number of people in my “meetings” who have major addiction problems started with weed. ?

 

it's the easiest thing your older siblings and parents can get you started on when you are 11

 

another one died last week, making it well more than a dozen schoolmates dead way too soon that started when they were 11 or so

 

 

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1 hour ago, Chef Jim said:

It’s interesting the number of people in my “meetings” who have major addiction problems started with weed. ?

 

When you say 'started', what does that even mean?  It appears that you are referring to the debunked 'gateway theory' with respect to cannabis and hard drug use.  I believe you know that it has been debunked so one must wonder why you would post that observation.  Care to explain?

 

The only legitimate gateway effect of cannabis, I would offer, is due to the cannabis dealer also being willing to sell his/her cannabis customer other (illicit) substances.  If the dealer wanted to support his own, say coke habit, he would often start dealing coke too, offering it to his regular customers.  Cannabis users were often introduced to harder drugs by the illegal drug salesperson.

 

Budtenders at legitimate, regulated, and licensed dispensaries may push particular products or cannabis strains or brands, but they will not try to upsell you cocaine.  Contrary to your implication of weed=bad, a legal nationwide cannabis market would be socially beneficial in reducing harder drug use/addiction.

 

EDIT:  Even NIDA, a government organization that has historically exaggerated the dangers of marijuana, has come around to debunking the gateway theory.

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/marijuana-gateway-drug

 

From the article

These findings are consistent with the idea of marijuana as a "gateway drug." However, the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, "harder" substances. Also, cross-sensitization is not unique to marijuana. Alcohol and nicotine also prime the brain for a heightened response to other drugs52 and are, like marijuana, also typically used before a person progresses to other, more harmful substances.

It is important to note that other factors besides biological mechanisms, such as a person’s social environment, are also critical in a person’s risk for drug use. An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances such as marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with others who use drugs increases their chances of trying other drugs. Further research is needed to explore this question

Edited by Bob in Mich
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51 minutes ago, Bob in Mich said:

 

Actually, jokes aside, I did reply to his question the same day as he asked.  I have always tried to reply and to provide whatever information I could to sincere questions.

Ah, pot makes you forgetful too. Is there anything pot can't do?

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Ah, you saw my 'best golf shot' post.  That was a fun thread.  I don't golf any longer and I was rarely better than a bogey golfer but can always be pressured into bragging on my hole in one.

 

Would it help you on the pro golf tour?  Not without rules changes to allow legal use.  Just too many eyes to be sneaking tokes on the tour.

 

One of the reasons it helped my game was the same reason beer did I think.  It would allow more complete swings.  My back issues would often take several holes to loosen up.  The additions would speed up that process.

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15 minutes ago, Bob in Mich said:

Ah, you saw my 'best golf shot' post.  That was a fun thread.  I don't golf any longer and I was rarely better than a bogey golfer but can always be pressured into bragging on my hole in one.

 

Would it help you on the pro golf tour?  Not without rules changes to allow legal use.  Just too many eyes to be sneaking tokes on the tour.

 

One of the reasons it helped my game was the same reason beer did I think.  It would allow more complete swings.  My back issues would often take several holes to loosen up.  The additions would speed up that process.

No, I did not see your best golf shot post. Furthermore, I was just busting your balls earlier, glad to see you lighten up. I don't golf anymore either due to back issues that won't let me complete my swing. I used to be pretty good (single digit handicap) but I certainly had to work on my game to play at that level.

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11 minutes ago, 3rdnlng said:

No, I did not see your best golf shot post. Furthermore, I was just busting your balls earlier, glad to see you lighten up. I don't golf anymore either due to back issues that won't let me complete my swing. I used to be pretty good (single digit handicap) but I certainly had to work on my game to play at that level.

 

As I said, i was never very good but had a lot of fun rounds.  When talking golf with my old buddy, he often brings up my round of 96 at a course near Pittsburgh.  Nothing special about the total but the 58/38 breakdown was unusual even for me.   By the back nine I was so loose I shouldn't have been driving the cart but man I was smacking the ball.

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7 hours ago, Bob in Mich said:

 

When you say 'started', what does that even mean?  It appears that you are referring to the debunked 'gateway theory' with respect to cannabis and hard drug use.  I believe you know that it has been debunked so one must wonder why you would post that observation.  Care to explain?

 

The only legitimate gateway effect of cannabis, I would offer, is due to the cannabis dealer also being willing to sell his/her cannabis customer other (illicit) substances.  If the dealer wanted to support his own, say coke habit, he would often start dealing coke too, offering it to his regular customers.  Cannabis users were often introduced to harder drugs by the illegal drug salesperson.

 

Budtenders at legitimate, regulated, and licensed dispensaries may push particular products or cannabis strains or brands, but they will not try to upsell you cocaine.  Contrary to your implication of weed=bad, a legal nationwide cannabis market would be socially beneficial in reducing harder drug use/addiction.

 

EDIT:  Even NIDA, a government organization that has historically exaggerated the dangers of marijuana, has come around to debunking the gateway theory.

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/marijuana-gateway-drug

 

From the article

These findings are consistent with the idea of marijuana as a "gateway drug." However, the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, "harder" substances. Also, cross-sensitization is not unique to marijuana. Alcohol and nicotine also prime the brain for a heightened response to other drugs52 and are, like marijuana, also typically used before a person progresses to other, more harmful substances.

It is important to note that other factors besides biological mechanisms, such as a person’s social environment, are also critical in a person’s risk for drug use. An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances such as marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with others who use drugs increases their chances of trying other drugs. Further research is needed to explore this question

 

Let me ask you a simple question. Had junior never tried pot what are the chances of him being introduced to the coke dealer? 

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17 hours ago, Chef Jim said:

 

Let me ask you a simple question. Had junior never tried pot what are the chances of him being introduced to the coke dealer? 

I don’t quite understand. It seems I answered that question in the post you just quoted. Indeed, buying cannabis from the illegal drug dealer increases the chances a customer will be introduced to other illicit substances.  

 

The point that I was making is that the real gateway problem then is not necessarily the cannabis use itself but instead is that, where it is illegal, we force cannabis users to associate with illegal dealers

Edited by Bob in Mich
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51 minutes ago, Bob in Mich said:

I don’t quite understand. It seems I answered that question in the post you just quoted. Indeed, buying cannabis from the illegal drug dealer increases the chances a customer will be introduced to other illicit substances.  

 

The point that I was making is that the real gateway problem then is not necessarily the cannabis use itself but instead is that, where it is illegal, we force cannabis users to associate with illegal dealers

 

So Cannabis use is the gateway?  ?

 

Oh and BTW the high taxation of cannabis is forcing cannabis users to associate with illegal dealers. Again the government ***** up everything it touches. 

Edited by Chef Jim
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20 hours ago, Chef Jim said:

 

Let me ask you a simple question. Had junior never tried pot what are the chances of him being introduced to the coke dealer? 

 

Basically zero 

Unless he makes a few million $$$ before he’s 25

 

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1 hour ago, row_33 said:

 

Basically zero 

Unless he makes a few million $$$ before he’s 25

 

 

And this is why in my mind it's a gateway.  It's not the use of cannabis that leads to harder drugs it's the environment.  So does keeping pot legal or legalizing it change that at all?  Not a bit.  The only thing that changes most behaviors is education!  

 

Edited by Chef Jim
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I was on a flight to California, from Texas and watched an older woman get hand-cuffed for having CBD oils in her carry-on. I over-heard her saying that they were legally bought in California, where she lives.

 

I never thought about getting arrested for something legal in one state, but illegal in another....

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