Why Are Stoners Typically Depicted as Stupid?

[s0denone]

Whether or not a pothead is, in fact, dumb, you look/act like a complete idiot when you're high.

Uh no.
Unless you mean, say, in the same way as being drunk makes you look/act like a complete idiot. You know, except for the violent behaviour and tardiness.

Many people, including myself, actually find weed to stimulate the creative mind. Maybe it's just hearsay that I've transformed into my own special placebo, but still. To me, that's actually a real effect.

Also, I smoke weed. I don't care if it is "in my best interests" to admit, or not. I'm not asking anyone to do it with me, or in any way inciting any form of drug use/abuse. I'm simply stating that you're dealing with a first-hand source here.

I don't consider myself stupid, or "slow" at all(Although I'm sure some escapees wouldn't agree... har har. Idiots.) even if I smoked very regularly(almost daily) a few years ago. Now I only do it once in a while, and have completely stopped using virtually all other drugs that I've experimented with.(Cocaine, LSD, Shrooms, ecstasy, etc. etc.)

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Probably because of Clerks and most other cult classic comedies that pictures drug users as idiots who do stupid things. It doesn't help that there are a good portion of idiotic Stoners in this world and I've seen them for myself.

I have no problem against stoners, but a good portion of the students at my school do smoke pot and a good portion of that number are idiots who literally just talk about getting stoned all day. From what I've seen, I think that this is one stereotype that could be true for the majority.

 

[reg42]

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.

 

[RebelRising]

In the case of Judd Apatow, yes, he is saying drugs are bad. He said as much on Bill Maher some weeks back. He doesn't think drugs are cool, so all the drug users in his movies are losers of some sort or another.

I figured as much considering his characters who smoke weed typically get into bad situations do to their weed smoking.

Look at that movie Pineapple Express. Lots of people I know actually started smoking weed because of that movie (those people are obviously completely retarded) but the message of that movie is pretty anti drugs considering all that shit they got themselves into was because they were smoking weed.

I also find it funny that most people in Judd Apatow movies (Seth Rogen in particular) actually do smoke weed

I thought the message of that movie was that they got into those situations because weed was illegal in the first place. I may be wrong, but they seem to allude pretty strongly to that.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Why?

Because in order to make to decision to use drugs,you either have to stupid all the time, or at least at the time of the decision.

Honestly, I'd prefer that the media use the other,more appropriate description; that drug users are weak-willed, cowardly and lack self-control.

 

[Good morning blues]

If I recall correctly, somewhere around 40-45% of Americans smoke weed a few times a year or more often. I don't think that it's wholly inaccurate to say that the wake-and-bake stoners who go through most of their lives baked are idiots, just because they're going through their lives inebriated, but saying that pot makes people stupid or that only stupid people smoke pot is pretty idiotic.

 

[Baldry]

Its the media, I know some friends who do weed and I myself have and neither I or them are stupid, and my friends that do weed and are stupid, have always been stupid. Also the last time I got high I became much more intelligent.

 

[Julianking93]

Publicly admitting to committing a crime really isn't in your best interests.

Did I say that I smoke weed?

Because I don't, I'm merely asking if anyone here does and it didn't seem like that much of a problem before. I've seen people here admit it.

And yet that doesn't change the fact that it's not a wise move.

No, I can agree that it isn't smart to come out and admit that you do illegal substances but back on that last thing you said something along the lines of "You act stupid when you smoke pot" (excuse my paraphrasing there). This is not always the case.

Some people actually use pot as a creative and intellectual stimulate and if it works for them, it's not hurting anybody, I say let them do it.

 

[RRilef]

Right now I'm trying to think of a stereotypical stoner character in any movie, book, etc... where that character explicitly uses the drug, and I can't. Granted I do have terrible recall, but I think most of the time we just assume a stupid, and goofy character is a stoner. If the character acts normal the whole time, we don't bother even thinking whether or not he smokes weed.

Plus I for one would like to set a distinction between stoner, and recreational user. I know a few people who smoke occasionally, and are fairly reasonable about using it. The people would classify as stoners are the people who are more or less addicted to it (mentally, like a gambling addiction, not physically) and use it multiple times again and again to escape from life. Then again, those that need to use it alot to escape from life in the first place tend not to be the most well off people.

 

[PoliceBox63]

No, I have three stoner friends who are highly intelligent. They're act much the same high as when drunk.
It's all the negativity by the media and parents that makes one's first thought of users being dumb idiots.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Whether or not a pothead is, in fact, dumb, you look/act like a complete idiot when you're high.

Uh no.
Unless you mean, say, in the same way as being drunk makes you look/act like a complete idiot. You know, except for the violent behaviour and tardiness.

Many people, including myself, actually find weed to stimulate the creative mind. Maybe it's just hearsay that I've transformed into my own special placebo, but still. To me, that's actually a real effect.

Also, I smoke weed. I don't care if it is "in my best interests" to admit, or not. I'm not asking anyone to do it with me, or in any way inciting any form of drug use/abuse. I'm simply stating that you're dealing with a first-hand source here.

I don't consider myself stupid, or "slow" at all(Although I'm sure some escapees wouldn't agree... har har. Idiots.) even if I smoked very regularly(almost daily) a few years ago. Now I only do it once in a while, and have completely stopped using virtually all other drugs that I've experimented with.(Cocaine, LSD, Shrooms, ecstasy, etc. etc.)

Yes, as a matter of fact, that is exactly what I mean. I've known people who could be three sheets to the wind and you'd never know it, I've known people who giggled like maniacs after a few sips of champagne. Drugs and alcohol affect people differently, and however weed may affect you personally, it makes many people look and act like idiots. To claim otherwise is simply incorrect.

Your defensiveness is not warranted. If you'll read what I actually wrote, I said that however smart the person in question may or may not be, they look stupid. See also: giggling like mad, trailing off in mid sentence, taking a long time to get thoughts out. That's not to say that they genuinely are stupid (though some undoubtedly are, what with the law of averages and all), merely that they appear to be.

 

[Haydyn]

I can understand why people think that, but all the people I know who smoke pot are nothing like stoners. One is a slutty scene kid with a temper. Another is a cool dad. Two others are girls who don't date that much, but have a bad temper. Hmm, I'm seeing a trend: Is there a link between Weed and Bitchiness in girls?

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Probably because people immediately associate deviant thought patterns (be they from mind-altering drugs or a person's normal mental state) with stupidity. Though frequent recreational use of mind-altering drugs is a fairly stupid thing to do, independent of the intelligence of the person doing so.

 

[TelHybrid]

It's only the ones who make a habit of doing it every day. It's a mind altering substance. Of course it's going to have a negative impact.

Alcohol does exactly the same.

I personally have smoked the stuff, but I don't make a habit of it. Maybe like one night every few months, and it hasn't affected me negatively. I'm currently succeeding at getting towards being put forward for a promotion at my job. I successfully got accepted onto a Psychology course at my local college, and have been reading up on various mental conditions in preparation.

With any substance, you need to do it in moderation if you're going to do it.

I must also add, most people who claim to never take any sort of substance are mostly likely lying. I ask these people, do you drink cola, or coffee, or energy drinks? They have caffeine. That's a substance.

 

[Meggiepants]

In the case of Judd Apatow, yes, he is saying drugs are bad. He said as much on Bill Maher some weeks back. He doesn't think drugs are cool, so all the drug users in his movies are losers of some sort or another.

I figured as much considering his characters who smoke weed typically get into bad situations do to their weed smoking.

Look at that movie Pineapple Express. Lots of people I know actually started smoking weed because of that movie (those people are obviously completely retarded) but the message of that movie is pretty anti drugs considering all that shit they got themselves into was because they were smoking weed.

I also find it funny that most people in Judd Apatow movies (Seth Rogen in particular) actually do smoke weed

Yeah, in the Bill Maher interview Apatow mentioned that. Something about how Rogen isn't really getting the message.

I also find it amusing stoners in general seem to like Apatow movies. So, apparently no one is getting the message. He's not a very good communicator, that Apatow.

 

[plastic_window]

Because they smoke pot. They're idiots.

Great attitude, dude. Way to raise the intellectual tone of the conversation.

In the real world, plenty of different people smoke weed and I personally don't know a single person who does that behaves anything like the stereotypical, dumb stoners you see in movies or on TV.

Stoners like that exist for comedy, or to perpetuate a bad stereotype that encourages people to stay away from marijuana. I'm not sure why people are told to stay away from it, though. In my opinion, alcohol is more potentially detrimental to your health and disposition than pot.

 

[Sir Kemper]

Where are all these funny, smart stoner's you people seem to be meeting? All the stoner's I've met are assholes, moron's, and criminals.


Okay, perhaps that's just the people in my area, and I have played online with at least one guy who surprised me by being fairly smart/cool guy (Despite sounding baked ALL the time)

Personally, I'm just going to go with the stereotype.

 

[internetzealot1]

Because they're doing drugs.

 

[daftalchemist]

All of the stoners I've known weren't exactly geniuses, go-getters, or even happy with their lives. Given my experiences, I'd have to say the stereotype is correct.