OPINION

Booze vs pot

Re: "House votes down bill on cannabis and hemp", (BP, Sept 14).

The Bangkok Post article quotes some Thai politicians saying: "there are reports of people who used cannabis becoming mentally ill and violent". If you want to point a finger at a drug which causes the most harm and deaths of any other drug, look no farther than fermented sugar, or alcoholic drinks.

The question I ask of any serious topic is: "does it cause harm?" In this context, how much harm is visited upon the person ingesting the substance, or to other people, or other species .... or to the environment? I would argue that a subdivision of houses, which destroy the natural environment (and exacerbate downstream flood damage due to less soil/plants being able to soak up rain) ... is more harmful than a roomful of pot smokers. Studies have shown that alcoholic drinks and pharmaceutical drugs, individually, cause more harm and deaths than all illegal drugs combined.

National Geographic mentioned, in one of their articles, that white sugar is harmful and addictive. Oh boy, that enlarges the topic, doesn't it?

Re: "On the road to equality", (Life, Sept 13).

Well, I certainly agreed with MP Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat when he stated, "by the middle of next year, we will know whether marriage equality [in Thailand] will happen or not". Sadly, however, I think I know what the answer will be from our current government:

I have resided in Thailand for nearly a decade now and the process has always been the same. First there is a proposal. Then a bunch of meetings happen which result in just enough progress to make the news. Then, for reasons I cannot explain, supporters cautiously get their hopes up yet again, and finally, one way or another, the bill gets shot down and goes nowhere.

Sadly, the majority of Thailand's leadership hails from an era which no longer really exists anywhere but inside their own minds. And to be blunt, unlike legalising cannabis products, there's probably not a lot of revenue to be gained which is also almost always on Thai politicians' minds (young or old alike). So, as a supporter of civil unions, I certainly hope I am wrong, but with a government so far behind the times and a lack of overwhelming support from the public, well I, for one, will not get my hopes up.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Re: "The big 3's opinions", (PostBag, Sept 14).

Tarquin Chufflebottom wants the Post to print the following, "Editor's note: There is no verifiable evidence that ivermectin is an effective and safe treatment for covid-19" because, according to Chufflebottom, "this is a proven fact".

However, one of the most comprehensive sites on the internet, ivmmeta.com, summarises as follows: "Ivermectin is an effective treatment for Covid-19. There are 57 studies from 52 independent teams in 22 different countries which show treatment with ivermectin provides statistically significant improvements for mortality, ventilation, ICU admission, hospitalisation, recovery, cases, and viral clearance in individuals infected with Covid-19. They also include very positive results from a real-time meta-analysis of 91 studies, which study number far exceeds the meagre pre-authorisation documentation of vaccine effectiveness provided by Pfizer and Moderna.