Why Are Stoners Typically Depicted as Stupid?

[Parallel Streaks]

If you do it frequently over long periods of time, weed can make you slow. Not stupid, just slower in general. It takes you longer to think of things you want to say, longer to make decisions, etc. My friend Larry smoked weed nearly every day for a good year, now having a conversation with him feels like trying to dismantle a well built brick-wall. Slow, arduous, and pretty pointless unless you're under very specific circumstances.

 

[johnman]

Because when your high you talk slower and sound stupid, its just the medias protrayal of them, like all rich people are snobs.

Because weed kills your brain cells, which makes you stupid.
Don't even try tell me that's not true, because I know a lot of stoners, and it's very true.

You know a lot of stoners? A lot, being the key word. You don't know EVERY stoner. Stop stereotyping. Some of us are actually intelligent, well meaning members of society.

Ok, I didn't say stoners where stupid. I said weed kills your brain cells, which it does; that is a fact, it's proven. When your brain cells die it can leave you slow; that is not stereotyping.

And alcohol many many more, so why aren't drinkers portrayed as idiots?

 

[sunburst]

Ok, I didn't say stoners where stupid. I said weed kills your brain cells, which it does; that is a fact, it's proven. When your brain cells die it can leave you slow; that is not stereotyping.

The only problem with this is the fact that weed has not been proven to kill brain cells. There was a study conducted by Dr. Robert Heath that "proved" marijuana kills brain cells, but no one could reproduce his results. When he was finally forced to show his testing methods in full, it was found he locked a monkey's head in an air-tight box, pumped in absurd amounts of marijuana smoke and left them there for five minutes. Brain damage is a proven result of asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning, so those results are completely invalid. That doesn't stop people from claiming marijuana has been proven to kill brain cells by science though. Recent, thorough and non-retarded tests have shown absolutely zero evidence that marijuana kills brain cells, though some tests with rats show it does affect brain activity.

 

[reg42]

And alcohol many many more, so why aren't drinkers portrayed as idiots?

It's a stoner caricature. An alcoholic caricature would be a loud mouth who beats people up for no reason. It's just entertainment.

Ok, I didn't say stoners where stupid. I said weed kills your brain cells, which it does; that is a fact, it's proven. When your brain cells die it can leave you slow; that is not stereotyping.

The only problem with this is the fact that weed has not been proven to kill brain cells. There was a study conducted by Dr. Robert Heath that "proved" marijuana kills brain cells, but no one could reproduce his results. When he was finally forced to show his testing methods in full, it was found he locked a monkey's head in an air-tight box, pumped in absurd amounts of marijuana smoke and left them there for five minutes. Brain damage is a proven result of asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning, so those results are completely invalid. That doesn't stop people from claiming marijuana has been proven to kill brain cells by science though. Recent, thorough and non-retarded tests have shown absolutely zero evidence that marijuana kills brain cells, though some tests with rats show it does affect brain activity.

Ok, that's news to me. Um...
>.>

<.<

Nice weather we're having

But seriously, I've seen that weed does affect people over time. Sure, I don't have any hard evidence so it's doubtful I can convince anyone, but I know weed can make you slow, because I've seen it first hand.

 

[holographicman]

BECAUSE DRUGS ARE BAD

said the shadow government

 

[Jet_02]

WHEN your high your stupid, same as being drunk. Thats where the stereotype comes from, and of course most ppl aren't high all the time and don't act like morons, simple as. On a side note I went to Amsterdam for a holiday a couple of years ago and the people there aren't stupid at all, and yes I brought and smoked A LOT OF WEED, lolz good times, good times.

 

[Souplex]

Most of the stoners I know are the type of people who you would think are smart if you met them, but if you were to have a prolonged conversation with them you'd realize they were talking out of their ass.

 

[Mechalemmiwinks]

Hm....I see a trend. We have a glaring contrast between people that only know idiot stoners and people that know "poetic souls that seek an escape from this oppressive and humdrum society".

I don't know any intelligent person who would forcibly inhale smoke. I mean, just by my definitions of an intelligent person, overriding self-preservation for a temporary kick would negate themselves as to how my definition would apply to them. I've actually had some of these "intelligent stoners" try to tell me that the damage from inhaling smoke is just anti-drug propaganda. I have never encountered such stupidity.

 

[BlackStar42]

The only stoner I know is a skiving moron who you cannot lsten to without attempting to punch in the face, so...yeah.

 

[ascorbius]

Well on TV we tend to be portrayed when we are stoned and so we look like idiots but as a frequent 'green appreciator', I'd say that we aren't all stupid, dribbling fools. In fact stoners have to be really ingenuity, making 'toots' (bongs) out of the most amazing things.

Proof that Dennis Leary was right.. Marijuana doesn't lead to other drugs, It leads to frikin carpentry!

 

[Kie]

However, someone in charge of turning people against cannabis realized that if you tell people that not doing something makes them better than someone else, they've got a reason to cling to the idea (for reference, see the "above the influence" campaign where all drug users are painted with the black-and-white morality brush as the "bad guys", and the people that don't are paragons of humanity and an example of heroism to all). If you give people a sense of pride for simply not doing something, you're going to have people all too happy to preach on matters they have no real knowledge of. Hence, the "straight edge" movement, where it's not enough for people to simply decide not to enjoy intoxicating substances, but to make an annoying, overbearing lifestyle out of it, as well.

Wow I just checked out the above the influence campaign and my god you were right. They basically try and make sober people out to be better but the worst part is the reasons why are usually wrong. The best one being: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEvAUvN9aDE

I mean I've met stoned people sober and drunk people sober and this describes my drunk friends much more accurately.

OT: Well stoned people aren't exactly the fastest and brightest people (I would know since I smoke weekly) but I wouldn't exactly call them less intelligent. I'd see it as temporarily putting their skills from other areas, say mathematics, to more creative ones such as art and design, and if you're already creative then it's basically a boost. However people who smoke everyday and look to be high all the time? The people I know who do this aren't exactly the brightest people but then again compared to some other people I know who are sober I wouldn't exactly call them stupid.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

Potheads are depicted as stupid because any psychoactive substances (weed included), when taken too often, kill brain cells. Excessive marijuana use, just like alcohol, does make you stupid. Also, you do dumb things while high, even if you only do it once in a solar year.

 

[silver wolf009]

I know a couple of stoners and there thought process is thus. Break into house. Run away. stop across the street to eat some hotdogs and take mushrooms. They were in jail within 1/2 an hour.

 

[Hazzaslagga]

Because succumbing to the temptation of drugs is a sure sign of a weak mind and will.

And because people aren't exactly in their most clever state when they are high:

Fair enough you can pull out the weak willed card to addicts but many do it just for fun, plus weed is not very addictive. would i be weak willed if i succumbed to a desire i wasn't resisting e.g eating a whole chocolate cake(i'm actually trying to gain weight with my new diet) or watching Black Books.

 

[CastIronWin]

generally the typical stoner is a bit mentally retarded, i know a few and all of them dropped out of sixth form, a few more that i met at uni were properly slack about their work and none of them passed - one didn't even turn up to a presentation that was worth 30% of his overall mark!

we gave him a lot of shit for that! (none of us particularlly liked him)

 

[Jonluw]

Because succumbing to the temptation of drugs is a sure sign of a weak mind and will.

And because people aren't exactly in their most clever state when they are high:

Fair enough you can pull out the weak willed card to addicts but many do it just for fun, plus weed is not very addictive. would i be weak willed if i succumbed to a desire i wasn't resisting e.g eating a whole chocolate cake(i'm actually trying to gain weight with my new diet) or watching Black Books.

If the chocolate cake was illegal, yes.

 

[tehroc]

Hollywood always portrays the stoner as a rookie to the habit. Even in movies like Friday, Ice Cube portrays rookie mentalities when the character/actor is/at one time an avid/experienced smoker.

Let's not forget that our most brilliant scientists of the 60s were avid hardcore drug users. Their drug fueled experiences opened their minds to the opportunities of abstract thought that are the basis of modern day physics and what we know about the universe.

 

[Treblaine]

For me, it's the exact opposite. All the stoners I know are actually extremely intelligent and often times are brilliant in their own ways. So why is it that the general public and the media depict weed smokers as unintelligent and borderline retarded?

Are you high yourself when you see them get high? One thing about getting high is you THINK you and other people are being really witty and smart... but you're not. I mean anything seems HILARIOUS when you are high.

I mean, what "extremely intelligent and often times are brilliant" things have they actually said or done?

I've known stoner who THOUGHT they were god damn geniuses because the concoct some convoluted and ridiculous 9/11 conspiracy with lines like "it ALL makes sense... it ALL fits" as they take leap after leap of circular logic.