Is marijuana really that bad?

[MoganFreeman]

The proven medical risks of cannabis consumption are as follows:

If you have a pre-existing heart condition, being high might make it worse.

If you have a pre-existing psychosis, being high might make it worse.


Or, as my father once put it, "Look, the only things wrong with pot is that it's illegal and it saps your motivation. So, as long as you get your shit done and stay out of jail, smoke as much pot as you want."

 

[Gaz6231]

I commend your valiant attempt to keep sanity in this thread, we need more people like you!

SIR THANK YOU SIR
CAN I HAVE A MEDAL SIR

"Look, the only things wrong with pot is that it's illegal and it saps your motivation. So, as long as you get your shit done and stay out of jail, smoke as much pot as you want."

I have never met your father, but I love him already.

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

Look, I've been smoking weed almost every day for about 4 years and on and off for a lot longer...

I've done a lot of other drugs and grown out of them and weed has become my vice, and it's not terrible... I still function and things are fine.

But if you think it will make your life better, you're an idiot.

VICES ONLY MAKE YOUR LIFE WORSE.

Cig smokers get testy when they don't get nicotine; coffee drinkers can't function without coffee, and get hyper and annoying when they drink it.

Pot is a mild psychedelic. You won't notice it at first, but after you do a fuckload of other drugs, you can start to compare it to things like acid and see why it is that. It literally changes your mindset. And like it or not, it changes it for the worse.

Sure, you will become this deep thought machine capable of ideas which no one will ever comprehend, but your attention span will fade into nothingness and you will slowly lose all motivation to do anything other than get high and play video games. And trust me, there is SO much more to life that I've missed because of it.

So sure, it's fun and all to just do it once in a while, but just know... I starting smoking weed just "once in a while", I starting smoking cigarettes just "once in a while", and I started doing E, L, blow, and subutex (don't ask) just "once in a while".

And yeah, i know, weed's not physically addictive... at all.

But if you think a mental addiction is a joke, think about this, my girlfriend smokes, all of my friends smoke, and smoking weed goes hand in hand with 90% of my daily activities...

Not to mention, I enjoy smoking weed. I just would also like to stop.

tl;dr - NO drugs are necessary to have fun, and ALL drugs will make your life worse, but very few people learn that until it's too late. Be one of the smart ones.

EDIT: I have to say something about the gateway drug theory too. Pot is actually kind of a gateway drug. Just not in the way the government would like you to think. Hear me out.

Any sort of legal or illegal drug is a gateway drug. Almost everyone does them, sure. But I feel like "gateway drug" is a very loosely defined term. The "gate" is never obligated to actually show up, but it usually wouldn't be there if you didn't already drink or smoke weed. Er... Let me try and explain that better.

I smoked weed my first time with my sister, and I told my friend I was doing an experiment since we didn't know to much about it. Then, I started doing it a lot (partially because I joined a band). When I started smoking, I immediately got a shit load of new friends, and was accepted into this group, and it felt great. Then, salvia was just starting to get popular where I live, and it is still legal I believe, so back then I had no qualms about doing it. I mean, I already smoked weed.

But thinking back, I would NEVER have smoked salvia if I hadn't already smoked weed... Whatever though, some people would have, especially since its legal. So let's continue.

I slowly learned the possibilities of doing prescription pills and started to do them/ steal them from my family. Once again, this is another situation where I, personally, would never have done them without having already felt the joys of getting fucked up, but other people have.

Then we move on to ecstasy. My sister was selling E at one point (About 200 pills at a time.). And I was curious. By this time, I had smoked weed for about 2 years. I drank quite often. I had done some pills, robo-tripped, and had been addicted to nicotine and coffee for years. I still felt no different. My life was fine. Except that my girl had just dumped me. Regular methods of getting fucked up weren't doing the trick for that bit of sadness, and I felt like doing E once wasn't gonna kill me.

I don't really wanna keep going and describing my whole life for you, because it's a LONG story, but really, ANY DRUGS, LEGAL OR ILLEGAL, WILL MAKE YOU EVEN SLIGHTLY MORE LIKELY TO DO OTHER DRUGS, AND WILL MOST LIKELY MAKE YOUR LIFE SOMEWHAT WORSE IN THE LONG RUN. THE GAIN IN LIFE EXPERIENCE THAT YOU GET IS NOTHING NEAR THE LOSS OF COMMON SENSE THAT COMES WITH IT.

 

[mrF00bar]

I commend your valiant attempt to keep sanity in this thread, we need more people like you!

SIR THANK YOU SIR
CAN I HAVE A MEDAL SIR

YES YOU CAN!
DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED COLOR?

 

[Gaz6231]

I commend your valiant attempt to keep sanity in this thread, we need more people like you!

SIR THANK YOU SIR
CAN I HAVE A MEDAL SIR

YES YOU CAN!
DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED COLOR?

SIR I HEAR THAT PURPLE IS IN THIS SEASON SIR

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

It's not taxable, that's why it's not legal.

 

[Falseprophet]

Who was that comedian who said when white people get high all they do is talk about other times they got high? Funny stuff.

The reason is called state-dependent learning, if you're interested. Events that happened under certain environmental conditions (intoxication, a location, etc.) can often be remembered more clearly when you recreate a similar state or place.

 

[mrF00bar]

I commend your valiant attempt to keep sanity in this thread, we need more people like you!

SIR THANK YOU SIR
CAN I HAVE A MEDAL SIR

YES YOU CAN!
DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED COLOR?

SIR I HEAR THAT PURPLE IS IN THIS SEASON SIR

CONGRATULATIONS!

Spoiler

 

[Serge A. Storms]

I smoke and it's not that big a deal either way.

 

[Skjalg Kreutzer]

I say legalize it. Then ban alcohol. Alcohol causes physical addiction, unlike marijuana.

Then again, maybe we should ban all drugs, including alcohol and cigarettes.

Or we could just leave things the way they are. That works too.

 

[Ham_authority95]

I'm 17...

Well hey, some of us take longer than others. It's nothing to be ashamed of.

Another thing I'd like to point out, just because "it's natural" doesn't mean you have the God-given right to do with it as you please. Do you use posion ivy/oak as a skin care product? haven you ever eaten a Moonseed? how about Yew? because all that stuff is natural too... and posionous. not all of them are posionous as to be fatal, but a number of them are as posionous to be nauseating and cause other side effects.

You have to be fucking kidding me. the old poison ivy number? Really?
You might as well say 'drinking raw sewage will make you seriously ill and that's natural'. But people don't drink raw sewage or 'put poison ivy on their skin as a skin treatment' because they're not fucking retarded.

Jesus christ people are dumb.

Hey, if you don't like this thread, you should PM a mod to get this locked....

OT: I'd like to point out that every pot-smoker I've met that was a dick-head/trouble maker was a dick-head/trouble maker before he/she even started.

 

[WOPR]

*snip*

Well, tobacco is pretty "okay" for you in the same way that pot is good for you.

it's ALL that other CRAP that the government adds to it to make it more addicting.

So really think it over, if it's legalized and government regulated...
is it really going to stay so "healthy"?
or are they going to load it with crap to increase sales and decrease production cost, and kill millions for profit?

Also it does cause paranoia, I forget the chemical but pot does cause paranoia.

...and I don't see what so healthy about it when the people here and freaking out, their eyes are blood shot, they're talking to themselves, and sound like their hacking up a lung.

yes they're pot-heads not speed junkies (although we have both in this area)

 

[DiMono]

The stigma over smoking is because of those constant anti-smoking truth ads that have been bombarding our T.v airwaves for a good 10 years or so.

Since you phrased it the way you did, I have to ask this: are you of the opinion that the anti-smoking ads are sharing incorrect information?

I don't like cigarettes for three main reasons (and some others but I'll skip them here), all of which I consider good ones:

[ol][li]I'm allergic to it[/li][li]Smokers are literally paying money to kill themselves, which says a lot about them[/li][li]By smoking you are directly harming those around you who have nothing to do with it[/li][/ol]

I used to have a friend (lost touch with him) who had just about the worst case of smoker's lung you could imagine, and had never smoked a cigarette. All he did was hang around with people who smoked, and the smoke from their cigarettes ruined his lungs. Now, obviously secondhand pot smoke will also affect those around you, and I don't mean to suggest that it won't; but secondhand pot smoke can't kill you. Secondhand cigarette smoke can. If cigarettes could be consumed in such a way that the only person affected was the smoker, I don't think I'd have a problem with it. But they stink and they harm people who want nothing to do with them purely by proximity, and that's no good.

 

[DiMono]

*snip*

Well, tobacco is pretty "okay" for you in the same way that pot is good for you.

it's ALL that other CRAP that the government adds to it to make it more addicting.

So really think it over, if it's legalized and government regulated...
is it really going to stay so "healthy"?
or are they going to load it with crap to increase sales and decrease production cost, and kill millions for profit?

Close: it's not the government that adds the chemicals, it's the manufacturers. And I can assure you, given how easy it is to grow pot plants, if the commercially available weed had all kinds of additives in it there wouldn't be a market for them, because the people who would have smoked it will go elsewhere for better product. However, since it would be the seeds and leaves being sold rather than the cigarettes themselves, I suspect the point is moot.

 

[Benny Blanco]

It's not that great.

-Smoking anything is not great for your lungs.
-Pot will not magically make you an intelligent or creative person if you are not already.
-If you think you're deep & mystical when stoned, try recording your ramblings on tape or in writing and re-examining when sober again. Good chance you were just talking shite.
-Super Skunk is not the same as the natural varieties grown and there is evidence that the chemical balance present may cause or exacerbate existing mental illness in predisposed individuals, as well as having disastrous effects on developing brains with persistent heavy use.

It amuses me that all your negative points about normal weed are to the tune of "you're not as cool as you think you are when you're stoned" rather than anything directly harmful.

Now what's super skunk, is that the weed laced with cocaine I've heard about a couple times?

Er... I thought I mentioned the slight possibility of mental health problems and lung damage too, no? I supposed I could have mentioned impairment of judgement and reflexes but I don't drive anyway so I don't think about that so much. I just wanted to acknowledge that even though I may have enjoyed the occasional zoot I'm not saying anything as daft as "all cannabis users are visionary geniuses whose creativity has been unlocked through the wonder of the herb!" Put simply, if you're a bell-end before you spark up, don't expect to be Zarathustra afterwards.

Skunk varieties are those selectively bred (originally in Holland) for a massive THC yield. Although the statistics often given about modern weed being "X times stronger" than weed in the 60s or 70s are definitely skewed by the fact that they're based on seizures made by law enforcement, there has been a trend towards breeding stronger varieties (specifically richer in THC) much in the same way that during US alcohol prohibition people drank less beer and more spirits- after all, you might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.

The problem is that THC is only one of up to 60 active chemicals in marijuana and that its interaction with the other chemicals changes the property of the effect on the user. The other most significant chemical is CBD, which makes you more mellow and sleepy, whilst the THC makes you "high". CBD is thought to limit the potentially harmful psychological effects of heavy long-term use (although these risks are not present in all individuals, there seems to be a genetic predisposition and your age when you start using- due to the formation of the brain- is a key factor) but because the selective breeding is changing the balance, there is a worry that breeds such as White Widow are more likely to cause health problems.

I should point out that all this is still speculative, there is a statistical correlation but causality has not been established.

Still, that's what the tobacco industry said for decades and look how that turned out. Experiments done with adolescent rats indicate that the "safe" age for use by humans is probably around 16 but I'm inclined to say it shouldn't be allowed 'til you're 18, same as booze and cigarettes.

Weed that's had other drugs (often cocaine) added to it is referred to as "lace" and is potentially very dangerous- mixing any two drugs is often a bad idea and cocaine is a drug which doesn't mix well with any other. In fact, I'd say cocaine generally is a bad idea but that's another story.

 

[MNRA]

http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/

This one has a lot of truths, and a LOT of falsified information. Anyone reading this should read it with a big pinch of salt.

 

[Mcupobob]

The stigma over smoking is because of those constant anti-smoking truth ads that have been bombarding our T.v airwaves for a good 10 years or so.

Since you phrased it the way you did, I have to ask this: are you of the opinion that the anti-smoking ads are sharing incorrect information?

I don't like cigarettes for three main reasons (and some others but I'll skip them here), all of which I consider good ones:

[ol][li]I'm allergic to it[/li][li]Smokers are literally paying money to kill themselves, which says a lot about them[/li][li]By smoking you are directly harming those around you who have nothing to do with it[/li][/ol]

I used to have a friend (lost touch with him) who had just about the worst case of smoker's lung you could imagine, and had never smoked a cigarette. All he did was hang around with people who smoked, and the smoke from their cigarettes ruined his lungs. Now, obviously secondhand pot smoke will also affect those around you, and I don't mean to suggest that it won't; but secondhand pot smoke can't kill you. Secondhand cigarette smoke can. If cigarettes could be consumed in such a way that the only person affected was the smoker, I don't think I'd have a problem with it. But they stink and they harm people who want nothing to do with them purely by proximity, and that's no good.

I think their greatly over exaggerated but I do take some of them to heart. If your wondering I do smoke and it is often by myself or with another smoker. Back before I smoked I used to hate it when my parents did it near me so I take that into consideration.

Thats what I mean if the world was a little more courteous, smokers don't smoke around non-smokers and non-smokers don't get in a huffy every time they see someone enjoying a cigarette away form everyone else. Second hand smoke isn't going to kill everyone around you or give them lung cancer as soon as they get within a 5 mile radius. It would take a good amount of long time exposer in a closed off in environment.

 

[Stephanos132]

I used to have a friend (lost touch with him) who had just about the worst case of smoker's lung you could imagine, and had never smoked a cigarette. All he did was hang around with people who smoked, and the smoke from their cigarettes ruined his lungs. Now, obviously secondhand pot smoke will also affect those around you, and I don't mean to suggest that it won't; but secondhand pot smoke can't kill you. Secondhand cigarette smoke can. If cigarettes could be consumed in such a way that the only person affected was the smoker, I don't think I'd have a problem with it. But they stink and they harm people who want nothing to do with them purely by proximity, and that's no good.

Should we ban vehicles and industry then? The fumes from those are far more lethal than anything from a cigareete, and yet people drive around in their cars, dirtying the air for all and sundry.

Also, the secondhand smoke scare doesn't really hold water for me, as half-decent ventilation pretty much reduces the risk to near zero, so unless you're in a submarine, you should be fine. Before the ban kicked in, I hung out in smokey places more often than not, and I was fine then, as I am now. Hell, I knew someone who was raised by smokers and she can still go out doing long distance running. Your friend must've been in some airtight rooms with smokers for long periods of time to rot his lungs that way... or he was having crafty fags and told no-one.

Edit: Well, the guy above sort of beat me to the punch. Ah well.