Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
Are you sure? I know it's linked, but I wasn't aware that a causative effect was established. That is, there maybe psychological conditions that make people more likely to smoke it, reversing the proposed causality.
The literature is mixed, some studies seeming pretty clear and others questioning a causal link, but I’ve seen enough examples among friends and acquaintances that I’d tend to think it does indeed tip some susceptible people over the edge.
I agree. I know of at least two people tipped into psychosis and schizophrenia by cannabis, and I really wonder if that would have happened without the weed. One of them ended his life in his late 20s - awful. It is a DANGEROUS drug
I remember back in the day when I first tried 'skunk'. Sitting in an armchair and barely able to lift my arm to take another puff, Quite a different experience to the light hearted regular hash/grass I'd tried before.
Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".
And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!
The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).
But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.
The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.
No
Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces
I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)
Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq
psychedelics now being v seriously researched as medical solution to depression.
Trials show ecstasy is effective at relieving PTSD.
Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
Are you sure? I know it's linked, but I wasn't aware that a causative effect was established. That is, there maybe psychological conditions that make people more likely to smoke it, reversing the proposed causality.
The literature is mixed, some studies seeming pretty clear and others questioning a causal link, but I’ve seen enough examples among friends and acquaintances that I’d tend to think it does indeed tip some susceptible people over the edge.
I agree. I know of at least two people tipped into psychosis and schizophrenia by cannabis, and I really wonder if that would have happened without the weed. One of them ended his life in his late 20s - awful. It is a DANGEROUS drug
I remember back in the day when I first tried 'skunk'. Sitting in an armchair and barely able to lift my arm to take another puff, Quite a different experience to the light hearted regular hash/grass I'd tried before.
I'd hate to try to skunk++ that is available now.
I misread 'skunk' as Sunak and was thinking, we haven't much choice.
But alcohol is one of those things we’ve decided for better or worse is a fixture of society despite the harm it causes. Like cars (and skiing - what other pastime would you willingly enter into knowing you have about a 20% chance of breaking a limb or tearing a ligament in a week of activity?).
Alcohol was humanity’s first drug. It’s just about the easiest to make: just get some fruit or sugary water and let it go sour. It’s given us its own literature, art, music, architecture, landscapes (vineyards, orchards), industrial heritage, archaeology. So it’s here to stay.
Moreover, have we not literally evolved enzymes to help us process it? We are adapted to it, metabolically. It is that old and has been part of us for that long
This is not the case with cannabis, ketamine or Tranq
Rather oddly - the alt-right people I happen across are adamant that all the research into tobacco deaths is 'fake news' and are all - at the very least - occasional smokers. And at the same time pop whatever pills/suppliments 'crazybob2013' is shilling on twitter this week.
But alcohol is one of those things we’ve decided for better or worse is a fixture of society despite the harm it causes. Like cars (and skiing - what other pastime would you willingly enter into knowing you have about a 20% chance of breaking a limb or tearing a ligament in a week of activity?).
Alcohol was humanity’s first drug. It’s just about the easiest to make: just get some fruit or sugary water and let it go sour. It’s given us its own literature, art, music, architecture, landscapes (vineyards, orchards), industrial heritage, archaeology. So it’s here to stay.
Of course, and I love it. But I also hate it. It’s a powerful drug, very habit forming, and causes a dreadful comedown when drunk in volume. I wonder if anyone will ever invent alcohol that lacks a hangover? Or something similar?
For complicated reasons, I am watching rugby league on the telly. I've not watched it for a while. It's a peculiar game - as uf someone really, really, really liked the bit in rugby union where a large inside centre - Manu Tuliagi, say - crashes into his opposite numbet and set out to design a game which stripped out everything which wasn't that bit, and ensured that bit happened over and over again. It's not unentertaining. But peculiar. Also compelling is Leigh's choice of imagery. Leigh Leopards, they call themselves. Their shirts are utterly horrible. Basically a massive picture of a leopard. And leopardskin seems very prominent in the clothing of the team's bigwigs and hangers-on. Any glamour this may have is offset by the prominent sponsorship on the kit of Leigh market. Leigh's manager is an unusual looking fella. Adrian Lam - on looking him up, he is of Anglo-Sino-Papuan ancestry. That's a family history which needs some digging in to. His son, Lachlan, is also playing. It's not as good as rugby union. But it is strangely compelling.
League can be great. Although I agree this game wasn’t a classic, you do often get really exciting matches. And there’s much less farting and faffing around with scums like there is in Union.
Scums! I’m going to use that instead of scrums when speaking to my rugger bugger friends!
Ha ha, I later spotted the typo but had run out of editing time! Quite a funny one
Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
Are you sure? I know it's linked, but I wasn't aware that a causative effect was established. That is, there maybe psychological conditions that make people more likely to smoke it, reversing the proposed causality.
The literature is mixed, some studies seeming pretty clear and others questioning a causal link, but I’ve seen enough examples among friends and acquaintances that I’d tend to think it does indeed tip some susceptible people over the edge.
I agree. I know of at least two people tipped into psychosis and schizophrenia by cannabis, and I really wonder if that would have happened without the weed. One of them ended his life in his late 20s - awful. It is a DANGEROUS drug
You're free to wonder, and I don't wish to cheapen the tragedy but anecdotes are a poor substitute solid society-wide evidence.
Any number of behaviours can be linked to suicide and onset of psychosis, but unless you control for confounding variables (here, age is one key driver), then you're guessing. I can guarantee you'll find links between passing your driving test and suicide and psychosis, but I would stay away from causal explanations in that case.
The classic one I was told was that there is a very strong correlation between the level of wine consumption and level of intelligence, education, and salary. This does not necessarily mean that drinking more wine makes you brighter and richer.
Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".
And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!
The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).
But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.
The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.
No
Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces
I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)
Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq
But "high potency skunk" is what I was warned about as a teenager. Most skunk is in the 15-25% THC range, the "high potency" moral panic of 20 years ago was about stuff in the top half of that.
This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.
Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?
So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.
And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?
On smoking: it'll be interesting to see what attitudes to vaping will be like in a few decades time.
Do any 18 year olds smoke actual old-school cigarettes these days anyway?
One thing that all the panic about teenage vaping seems to have missed is that easy & cheap availability of vapes means that no-one is taking up smoking, except as some sort of fetish thing.
How many people still smoke a pipe? Does anyone know anyone that does?
LOL
My uncle smoked a pipe until about 1995, from tobacco grown in his garden. He used to send the leaves off wrapped in brown paper to be processed. The resultant compressed, treated block would then be shredded by careful cuts with a knife as and when needed. He only stopped because the company offering the processing, the last of its kind, closed.
"The Cabinet Secretary has been warned by senior civil servants of a “woke takeover of Whitehall” that risks “improperly” influencing Government policy.
Simon Case was told in a letter signed by 42 staff from 16 departments that ideology on gender promoted by trans activists has become embedded in the Civil Service in a “significant breach of impartiality”.
It says the concept that “everyone has a gender identity which is more important than their sex” is “treated as undisputed fact”."
Is Sunak just thinking - 'i want to be remembered for something'?
Seems to be all over the shop poking into policy with no rhyme or reason. This evening's is smoking.
It just looks desperate , he seems to be spewing out these new policies on a daily basis . No amount of small, alleged voter friendly policies will negate the fact that there’s not a single public service that is any better after 13 years , they’re all worse.
Labour just need to hammer that message from now until the next GE . Cancelling parts of HS2 would be the cherry on the crap cake , another mess under the Tories .
"Usually I would agree, however, there is in Britain a new four party (I include the SNP and Lib Dems) political consensus based around a set of deeply unpopular and economically harmful policies, largely the result of politicians (and administrators) agreeing to things at international symposia.
This is why Starmer hasn't sealed the deal and isn't trusted or liked. Whilst he's hamstrung with these terrible policies (support for ulez, stratospheric green levies, destroying the UK's oil industry, open door immigration), he will always be vulnerable to the first party to espouse a more popular agenda, be it Nigel, or (as they did successfully before) the Tories robbing Nigel's clothes."
There are more of these dividing lines, if Sunak and his team are brave enough to exploit them, and do so with conviction and seriousness. He's sort of done it on green - though the execution hasn't been flawless.
Starmer has now been captured on film stating that he's against any divergence from EU law. As the heir presumptive, if he wasn't already an EU devotee, he's expected to align the UK closely with the EU with a view to joining Macron's new 'outer group' and potentially going all the way back in. Sunak could ban EU supertrawlers from UK waters - a policy that is environmentally-sound and beneficial to the UK fishing industry. Starmer wouldn't be able to follow.
support for ulez, stratospheric green levies, destroying the UK's oil industry, open door immigration
But those policies are what we have right now after 13 years of the Tories?
Is Sunak just thinking - 'i want to be remembered for something'?
Seems to be all over the shop poking into policy with no rhyme or reason. This evening's is smoking.
It just looks desperate , he seems to be spewing out these new policies on a daily basis . No amount of small, alleged voter friendly policies will negate the fact that there’s not a single public service that is any better after 13 years , they’re all worse.
Labour just need to hammer that message from now until the next GE . Cancelling parts of HS2 would be the cherry on the crap cake , another mess under the Tories .
“Nothing works in this country anymore” is now a common refrain.
"The Cabinet Secretary has been warned by senior civil servants of a “woke takeover of Whitehall” that risks “improperly” influencing Government policy.
Simon Case was told in a letter signed by 42 staff from 16 departments that ideology on gender promoted by trans activists has become embedded in the Civil Service in a “significant breach of impartiality”.
It says the concept that “everyone has a gender identity which is more important than their sex” is “treated as undisputed fact”."
Woke takeover ! Good grief is that the best the DT can do . This is absolutely horrific news , I’ll need to start a support group to cope with it all . Does anyone give a fig about this . If the Tories think their hysterical obsession with being anti-woke is going to be a vote winner they’re deluded .
Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".
And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!
The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).
But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.
The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.
No
Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces
I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)
Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq
But "high potency skunk" is what I was warned about as a teenager. Most skunk is in the 15-25% THC range, the "high potency" moral panic of 20 years ago was about stuff in the top half of that.
This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.
Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?
So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.
And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?
Is Sunak just thinking - 'i want to be remembered for something'?
Seems to be all over the shop poking into policy with no rhyme or reason. This evening's is smoking.
It just looks desperate , he seems to be spewing out these new policies on a daily basis . No amount of small, alleged voter friendly policies will negate the fact that there’s not a single public service that is any better after 13 years , they’re all worse.
Labour just need to hammer that message from now until the next GE . Cancelling parts of HS2 would be the cherry on the crap cake , another mess under the Tories .
The answer is yes. The potency of marijuana, indeed, has increased over time. A study that analyzed over 38,000 illicit marijuana samples provided by the DEA from 1995 to 2014 determined that its potency had approximately tripled in that period.
In 1995, the average concentration of THC was about 4%, but in 2014 it was around 12%."
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".
And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!
The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).
But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.
The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.
No
Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces
I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)
Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq
But "high potency skunk" is what I was warned about as a teenager. Most skunk is in the 15-25% THC range, the "high potency" moral panic of 20 years ago was about stuff in the top half of that.
This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.
Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?
So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.
And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?
"The Cabinet Secretary has been warned by senior civil servants of a “woke takeover of Whitehall” that risks “improperly” influencing Government policy.
Simon Case was told in a letter signed by 42 staff from 16 departments that ideology on gender promoted by trans activists has become embedded in the Civil Service in a “significant breach of impartiality”.
It says the concept that “everyone has a gender identity which is more important than their sex” is “treated as undisputed fact”."
Woke takeover ! Good grief is that the best the DT can do . This is absolutely horrific news , I’ll need to start a support group to cope with it all . Does anyone give a fig about this . If the Tories think their hysterical obsession with being anti-woke is going to be a vote winner they’re deluded .
This is now a 'Save the Base' plan now.
Throw almost randomly all the red meat that they can find to cling on to around 100 seats.
Who knows maybe they'll stumble on one that actually reverses Sunak's falling ratings.
What printer is best? That depends on you, and your needs. (This should be obvious, but seems to have been missed by one or two commenters.)
For those who need a printer only occasionally, none is probably the best answer. They can get any printing they need done at a library, or -- in the US, and I would expect, in the UK, at an office supply store.
If they print regularly, then a laser printer is often the best choice. If they print photos regularly, then a photo printer may make sense.
In this area, I have seen ad offers for used HP toner cartridges, I assume because the chips in them get recycled into some of the after-market brands. I haven't seen them for a while, so HP may have figured a way around that.
(Me? I print regularly, and print photos regularly, so I have both an HP M148dv, and an Epson XP-7100. Neither has given me any trouble. (I use a simple USB switch to connect the two printers to two computers.
Somewhat to my surprise, I have found that I use the copier function on the HP even more often than I print with it.)
On smoking: it'll be interesting to see what attitudes to vaping will be like in a few decades time.
Do any 18 year olds smoke actual old-school cigarettes these days anyway?
One thing that all the panic about teenage vaping seems to have missed is that easy & cheap availability of vapes means that no-one is taking up smoking, except as some sort of fetish thing.
How many people still smoke a pipe? Does anyone know anyone that does?
Er, I do! Occasionally. Call it a hipster affectation if you will, but lots of pipe tobaccos are really tasty (particularly Danish-style stuff flavoured with vanilla, whisky, or caramel. Or the incredibly smoky English-style, with heavy Latakia content).
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
Nicotine, as well as being a natural insecticide, has useful psychological properties: "Nicotine-containing products are sometimes used for the performance-enhancing effects of nicotine on cognition.[57] A 2010 meta-analysis of 41 double-blind, placebo-controlled studies concluded that nicotine or smoking had significant positive effects on aspects of fine motor abilities, alerting and orienting attention, and episodic and working memory." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine
A math professor I knew well told me that some of her students smoked only during finals week, because smoking helped them think. They were right. (It may also help those who want to lose weight.)
That said, I tried cigarettes once or twice, didn't like them, and urge everyone not to start smoking, and, if they smoke now, try to give in up.
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
That is quite remarkable. A world away!
Seems.
But what is the secret sauce?
Why can't others deliver this?
I know they have massively embraced telephone appts. You get nothing without a telephone appt first for triage. Only then do you see a GP f2f if necessary.
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
Mrs Foxy went in this AM to have some annual bloods done, and stopped by the reception to book an appointment with the GP on another unrelated issue. Had an appointment 15 min later.
Sometimes things work, albeit nowhere near often enough.
Mostly as production has caught up. A year back used electric vehicles were selling at new prices.
Also means that affordability of used EVs is 25% better.
The SMMT figures show that BEV sales in August were +70% on August 2022, and are +40% year to date, with market share for BEV of new car sales up to 20% in August.
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
That is quite remarkable. A world away!
Seems.
But what is the secret sauce?
Why can't others deliver this?
I know they have massively embraced telephone appts. You get nothing without a telephone appt first for triage. Only then do you see a GP f2f if necessary.
"If you want to learn a language just for fun, start with Swedish. If you want to rack up an impressive number, stay in Europe. But if you really want to impress, bulking up your brain to master Cantonese or Korean is the sign of the true linguistic Ironman." (£)
Nicotine, as well as being a natural insecticide, has useful psychological properties: "Nicotine-containing products are sometimes used for the performance-enhancing effects of nicotine on cognition.[57] A 2010 meta-analysis of 41 double-blind, placebo-controlled studies concluded that nicotine or smoking had significant positive effects on aspects of fine motor abilities, alerting and orienting attention, and episodic and working memory." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine
A math professor I knew well told me that some of her students smoked only during finals week, because smoking helped them think. They were right. (It may also help those who want to lose weight.)
That said, I tried cigarettes once or twice, didn't like them, and urge everyone not to start smoking, and, if they smoke now, try to give in up.
There was some evidence that smoking helped dementia some years ago, and a plausible biochemical reason.
I think though it cured it by patients dying of heart disease and cancer.
Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).
People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".
And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!
The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).
But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.
The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.
No
Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces
I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)
Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq
But "high potency skunk" is what I was warned about as a teenager. Most skunk is in the 15-25% THC range, the "high potency" moral panic of 20 years ago was about stuff in the top half of that.
This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.
Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?
So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.
And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?
Delusional
Go to America, drive around, get back to me
"there's very little regulation"
Eh? Is there any regulation?
I believe that most darknet markets claim to kick out vendors with poor feedback scores. That's your proper full-on "let's move to Somaliland" libertarian level of regulation right there.
"If you want to learn a language just for fun, start with Swedish. If you want to rack up an impressive number, stay in Europe. But if you really want to impress, bulking up your brain to master Cantonese or Korean is the sign of the true linguistic Ironman." (£)
Many East Asians should definitely not drink alcohol: "‘Asian glow’ from alcohol isn’t just a discomfort. It’s a severe warning. The reaction is caused by a genetic mutation that has been linked to diseases, including cancer, in those who consume moderate to large quantities of alcohol" source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/08/15/asian-glow-alcohol-gene-mutation-cancer-risk/
(I suspect American Indians may have similar problems, when I see how much damage alcohol has done to many tribes.)
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
Mrs Foxy went in this AM to have some annual bloods done, and stopped by the reception to book an appointment with the GP on another unrelated issue. Had an appointment 15 min later.
Sometimes things work, albeit nowhere near often enough.
I wonder if the good GP practices are quietly getting on with it whilst all we read about is the bad ones?
I mean if you read the Mail or Telegraph it seems no one in Britain has managed to see a GP in decades.
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
Mrs Foxy went in this AM to have some annual bloods done, and stopped by the reception to book an appointment with the GP on another unrelated issue. Had an appointment 15 min later.
Sometimes things work, albeit nowhere near often enough.
I wonder if the good GP practices are quietly getting on with it whilst all we read about is the bad ones?
I mean if you read the Mail or Telegraph it seems no one in Britain has managed to see a GP in decades.
Could it be a London/urban issue? My doctor was pretty much unaccessible, which was extremely frustrating because when you are a man in early middle age when you think you need a doctor you are overcoming years and years of psychological apathy about your health…
A strange thing about American pronunciation is that they normally say "rout" for "route" but apparently when it comes to "Route 66" they pronounce it the British way.
A strange thing about American pronunciation is that they normally say "rout" for "route" but apparently when it comes to "Route 66" they pronounce it the British way.
@PippaCrerar Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?
Out of touch or what.
It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade isn’t uncommon.
I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
Mrs Foxy went in this AM to have some annual bloods done, and stopped by the reception to book an appointment with the GP on another unrelated issue. Had an appointment 15 min later.
Sometimes things work, albeit nowhere near often enough.
I wonder if the good GP practices are quietly getting on with it whilst all we read about is the bad ones?
I mean if you read the Mail or Telegraph it seems no one in Britain has managed to see a GP in decades.
Could it be a London/urban issue? My doctor was pretty much unaccessible, which was extremely frustrating because when you are a man in early middle age when you think you need a doctor you are overcoming years and years of psychological apathy about your health…
Increasingly I just went private.
I left a GP practice because they wouldn't make appointments at the front desk, only by phone. The new practice, all of a half a mile away had the 8am dance, but would make non-urgent appointments at the front desk, for perhaps 10 days hence. Suffering only from chronic disorders (for now), this suits me fine.
A typically interesting anecdote from Theodore Dalrymple.
"The mother of a close friend of mine, a woman of the most respectable kind, a pillar of local society, used to regulate her life by the alternation of an oral amphetamine and a barbiturate, the classic upper-and-downer regime that was once by no means unusual in respectable circles. I doubt that many of the people who knew her were aware of drug-taking and, at her death at a good age unconnected with her long-term use (or abuse?) of stimulants and soporifics, her son found a pot of amphetamines sufficient, if he sold them on the black market, to pay for a luxurious holiday—or, of course, land him in prison."
But the official launch of the iPhone 15 descended into chaos in Dubai when a 'massive fight' broke out and security guards were forced to intervene.
Shocking footage shows customers shoving each other outside Apple's flagship store in the UAE's Dubai Mall, before several people appear to fall to the ground.
Comments
I'd hate to try to skunk++ that is available now.
This is not the case with cannabis, ketamine or Tranq
Starmer: "Cancelling HS2 and Net Zero will cost 900,000* well paid Green jobs in the north"
Rayner: "A small man with small ideas"
* just make something up
I guess it all fits a rather depressing pattern.
It will be time to bake Christmas cakes before too long and last year I couldn't find cherry brandy anywhere.
something similar?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/09/28/this-alcohol-substitute-could-get-you-drunk-without-the-hangover/
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-enormity-of-the-migrant-crisis-will-upend-european-politics/
Seems to be all over the shop poking into policy with no rhyme or reason. This evening's is smoking.
Consumers lose confidence as they wait for charging infrastructure" (£)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/second-hand-electric-cars-prices-drop-fall-737xlvk3p
This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.
Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?
So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.
And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?
A lot of people seem to be putting their fingers in their ears over this issue.
Pippa Crerar
@PippaCrerar
Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/22/woke-takeover-whitehall-risks-government-policy-simon-case/
https://news.sky.com/story/saturdays-national-newspaper-front-pages-12427754
"The Cabinet Secretary has been warned by senior civil servants of a “woke takeover of Whitehall” that risks “improperly” influencing Government policy.
Simon Case was told in a letter signed by 42 staff from 16 departments that ideology on gender promoted by trans activists has become embedded in the Civil Service in a “significant breach of impartiality”.
It says the concept that “everyone has a gender identity which is more important than their sex” is “treated as undisputed fact”."
Out of touch or what.
Labour just need to hammer that message from now until the next GE . Cancelling parts of HS2 would be the cherry on the crap cake , another mess under the Tories .
My favourite Christmas cake recipe has a connection with Admiral Nelson. Two internet points for anyone who can explain it.
But those policies are what we have right now after 13 years of the Tories?
Go to America, drive around, get back to me
isn’t uncommon.
Eh? Is there any regulation?
Throw almost randomly all the red meat that they can find to cling on to around 100 seats.
Who knows maybe they'll stumble on one that actually reverses Sunak's falling ratings.
For those who need a printer only occasionally, none is probably the best answer. They can get any printing they need done at a library, or -- in the US, and I would expect, in the UK, at an office supply store.
If they print regularly, then a laser printer is often the best choice. If they print photos regularly, then a photo printer may make sense.
In this area, I have seen ad offers for used HP toner cartridges, I assume because the chips in them get recycled into some of the after-market brands. I haven't seen them for a while, so HP may have figured a way around that.
(Me? I print regularly, and print photos regularly, so I have both an HP M148dv, and an Epson XP-7100. Neither has given me any trouble. (I use a simple USB switch to connect the two printers to two computers.
Somewhat to my surprise, I have found that I use the copier function on the HP even more often than I print with it.)
As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.
He phoned me at 9:10.
I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?
Also means that affordability of used EVs is 25% better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine
A math professor I knew well told me that some of her students smoked only during finals week, because smoking helped them think. They were right. (It may also help those who want to lose weight.)
That said, I tried cigarettes once or twice, didn't like them, and urge everyone not to start smoking, and, if they smoke now, try to give in up.
But what is the secret sauce?
Why can't others deliver this?
I know they have massively embraced telephone appts. You get nothing without a telephone appt first for triage. Only then do you see a GP f2f if necessary.
Sometimes things work, albeit nowhere near often enough.
https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-registrations/
"If you want to learn a language just for fun, start with Swedish. If you want to rack up an impressive number, stay in Europe. But if you really want to impress, bulking up your brain to master Cantonese or Korean is the sign of the true linguistic Ironman." (£)
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/09/18/which-languages-take-the-longest-to-learn
I think though it cured it by patients dying of heart disease and cancer.
"‘Asian glow’ from alcohol isn’t just a discomfort. It’s a severe warning.
The reaction is caused by a genetic mutation that has been linked to diseases, including cancer, in those who consume moderate to large quantities of alcohol"
source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/08/15/asian-glow-alcohol-gene-mutation-cancer-risk/
(I suspect American Indians may have similar problems, when I see how much damage alcohol has done to many tribes.)
I mean if you read the Mail or Telegraph it seems no one in Britain has managed to see a GP in decades.
My doctor was pretty much unaccessible, which was extremely frustrating because when you are a man in early middle age when you think you need a doctor you are overcoming years and years of psychological apathy about your health…
Increasingly I just went private.
"The mother of a close friend of mine, a woman of the most respectable kind, a pillar of local society, used to regulate her life by the alternation of an oral amphetamine and a barbiturate, the classic upper-and-downer regime that was once by no means unusual in respectable circles. I doubt that many of the people who knew her were aware of drug-taking and, at her death at a good age unconnected with her long-term use (or abuse?) of stimulants and soporifics, her son found a pot of amphetamines sufficient, if he sold them on the black market, to pay for a luxurious holiday—or, of course, land him in prison."
https://www.newenglishreview.org/articles/trying-to-sleep/