Weed

• Phunkie wrote on 2011-01-05 01:22

  Quote from Devoth;276326:

  Seconded.
  
  @Phunkie
  
  If you're not afraid of getting trashed, then you shouldn't be afraid of smoking pot. I say that in the sense that alcohol is going to cause you more problems. Does your fear stem purely from health concerns? If so, I assume you'd be even MORE afraid of consuming pot versus smoking it.

  
  
  The fear stems mostly from the fact that it's illegal and looked so down upon, and I dunno, it's against my morals. I fear becoming some pot monster or weirdo, which probably won't happen. lmao
  
  I want to try it one day though.
• Cannibal wrote on 2011-01-05 01:23
  I honestly can't see how pot can be addictive to anyone...
• Shirayuki wrote on 2011-01-05 01:23

  Quote from Phunkie;276338:

  The fear stems mostly from the fact that it's illegal and looked so down upon, and I dunno, it's against my morals.

  
  
  Morals? ohohohohoho
  
  Really though, weed shouldn't be looked down upon considering it's the same thing as smoking/drinking, but overall not as damaging to you.
• Devoth wrote on 2011-01-05 01:24

  Quote from Phunkie;276338:

  The fear stems mostly from the fact that it's illegal and I dunno, it's against my morals.

  
  
  Out of curiosity, then, what exactly makes it against your morals? I assume a big one is the fact that it's illegal, but aside from that..? Honestly, what you've said reminds me of how I used to be when I accepted alcohol as a norm but thought that pot was a terrible, terrible thing.
• Phunkie wrote on 2011-01-05 01:24

  Quote from Shirayuki;276340:

  Morals? ohohohohoho
  
  Really though, weed shouldn't be looked down upon considering it's the same thing as smoking/drinking, but overall not as damaging to you.

  
  
  lmao
  
  I HAVE MORALS OKAY?
  
  I think.
• Okami wrote on 2011-01-05 01:30
  No. It's against my morals.
• Phunkie wrote on 2011-01-05 01:39

  Quote from Devoth;276341:

  Out of curiosity, then, what exactly makes it against your morals? I assume a big one is the fact that it's illegal, but aside from that..? Honestly, what you've said reminds me of how I used to be when I accepted alcohol as a norm but thought that pot was a terrible, terrible thing.

  
  
  I guess it's because I tend to equate smoking weed to smoking cigarettes. Smoking's horrible; I abhor it.
  
  I could never see myself as a smoker. I would hate myself I became one. And my family doesn't agree with it. Though they probably don't agree with me getting wasted either.
  
  I dunno. It's complicated. It's mostly because of society and whatnot.
• Devoth wrote on 2011-01-05 01:47

  Quote from Phunkie;276354:

  I guess it's because I tend to equate smoking weed to smoking cigarettes. Smoking's horrible; I abhor it.
  
  I could never see myself as a smoker. I would hate myself I became one. And my family doesn't agree with it. Though they probably don't agree with me getting wasted either.
  
  I dunno. It's complicated. It's mostly because of society and whatnot.

  
  
  As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts on this thread, I also hate smoking (cigarettes, which I assume you are referring to). I also think Wrath mentioned something earlier about pot smoking versus cigarette smoking. Mm, complicated, eh.. Well, you say society and whatnot, so.. Care to elaborate..? Or is it one of those things you can't put into words?
• Intex wrote on 2011-01-05 01:51

  Quote from Phunkie;276354:

  I guess it's because I tend to equate smoking weed to smoking cigarettes. Smoking's horrible; I abhor it.
  
  I could never see myself as a smoker. I would hate myself I became one. And my family doesn't agree with it. Though they probably don't agree with me getting wasted either.
  
  I dunno. It's complicated. It's mostly because of society and whatnot.

  
  
  Can't you just tell yourself that weed is a much "better" drug than alcohol or cigarettes (I'm really wondering)? Your reasoning sounds a lot like the reasoning of people on this site who are uncomfortable with homosexuality, understanding that it's not that bad yet still not liking it due to society/family influence/morals.
  
  Maybe this chart will help?
  

  [Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Rational_scale_to_assess_the_harm_of_drugs_(mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence).svg]

  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_and_soft_drugs#cite_note-0
  Cannabis is a soft drug while alcohol and tobacco are on the borderline.
• gentrone wrote on 2011-01-05 04:22

  Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;276320:

  The cat's talking about cocaine
  but Peruvians like chewing the leaves used to make it.

  
  
  Cat, cocaine is a processed drug, one of its ingredients is of course cocaine leaves, but they alone are harmless. You need to produce a chemical reaction in order to obtain the drug. Like sugar and yeast are just simple ingredients found in a kitchen, but add some water, some heat and a couple of days and you have alcohol. I figured you mentioned the chewing for some reason.
  
  On topic: First time I tried marijuana I didn't feel anything. It was in a party and it seemed just another cigarette. I was afraid of the effects but my reason told me why should I fear what I do not know? I was curious and wanted answers. Didn't do it because someone told me, since I refused in other occasions (marijuana is more common than you expect, lol).
  
  Anyways, second time was in a friend's house, we were having some drinks and we had just met an interchange student so we invited him and he asked if he should bring weed. We said alright. Man, I remember I laughed my ass out that day. I was like "Hey... you look Japanese..." and he was like"Yes, I AM Japanese" and everybody was like bwahahahaha. Good times. It was a wonderful experience.
  
  I haven't tried it again since then (more than 2 years) but I would definitely do it again if the situation calls for it. I don't think it's addictive, really, just like alcohool. It really depends on the person.
  
  I don't have problems with people who smoke or drink occasionally. Well it depends, you need self control over everything and these drugs are no exception.
• Chockeh wrote on 2011-01-05 04:26
  Without reading any of the post yet besides the OP's, I think that weed isn't the worst drug of them all. Legal poisons like alcohol and tobacco can be fare more damaging than weed. But I don't think that legalizing it would be any better, even if it means that it would help the economy and that they can control the amount one can have. To me, it would be like a message that it's okay to smoke weed. Even if weed may be better than alcohol or cigarettes, why add more poison to society? Sorry for my grammatical errors, I'm high.
• Cannibal wrote on 2011-01-05 04:27

  Quote from Chockeh;276750:

  Sorry for my grammatical errors, I'm high.

  
  LOL.
• Navy wrote on 2011-01-05 05:46

  There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug. There is not one reliable study that demonstrates marijuana has any medical value.
  
  Marijuana is an unstable mixture of more than 425 chemicals that convert to thousands when smoked. Many of these chemicals are toxic, psychoactive chemicals which are largely unstudied and appear in uncontrolled strengths.
  
  The harmful consequences of smoking marijuana include, but are not limited to the following: premature cancer, addiction, coordination and perception impairment, a number of mental disorders including depression, hostility and increased aggresiveness, general apathy, memory loss, reproductive disabilities, and impairment to the immune system.
  
  The Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Public Health Service have rejected smoking crude marijuana as a medicine. Medical marijuana has been promoted for "compassionate use" to assist people with cancer, AIDS and glaucoma. Scientific studies show the opposite is true; marijuana is damaging to individuals with these illnesses. In fact, people suffering with AIDS and glaucoma are being used unfairly by groups whose real agenda is to legalize marijuana.
  
  AIDS: Scientific studies indicate marijuana damages the immune system, causing further peril to already weakened immune systems. HIV-positive marijuana smokers progress to full-blown AIDS twice as fast as non-smokers and have an increased incidence of bacterial pneumonia.
  
  Cancer: Marijuana contains many cancer-causing substances, many of which are present in higher concentrations in marijuana than in tobacco.
  
  Glaucoma: Marijuana does not prevent blindness due to glaucoma.
  
  Marijuana is currently up to 25 times more potent than it was in the 1960's, making the drug even more addictive.
  
  Americans take their medicine in pills, solutions, sprays, shots, drops, creams, and sometimes in suppositories, but never by smoking. No medicine prescribed for us today is smoked.
  
  The main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC (Tetra Hydrocannibinol), is already legally available in pharmaceutical capsule form by prescription from medical doctors. This drug, Marinol, is less often prescribed because of the potential adverse effects, and there are more effective new medicines currently available.
  
  While a biomedical or casual relationship between marijuana and the use of hard drugs has not been established, the statistical association is quite convincing. 12 to 17 year-olds who smoke marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than those who do not. 60% of adolescents who use marijuana before age 15 will later use cocaine. These correlations are many times higher than the initial relationships found between smoking and lung cancer.
  
  Major medical and health organizations, as well as the vast majority of nationally recognized expert medical doctors, scientists and researchers, have concluded that smoking marijuana is not a safe and effective medicine. These organizations include: the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, National Sclerosis Association, the American Glaucoma Association, American Academy of Opthalmology, National Eye Institute, and the National Cancer Institute.
  
  In 1994, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that marijuana should remain a Schedule I drug: highly addictive with no medical usefulness. The court noted that the pro-marijuana physicians had relied on non-scientific evidence.
  
  Political Issues: The California and Arizona Ballot Initiatives.
  
  California's Proposition 215, The Compassionate Use Act of 1996, states: "Section 11357 (criminal penalties), relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358 (criminal penalties), relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient's primary caregiver, who possess or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician."
  
  Arizona's Proposition 200, the Drug Medicalization, Prevention, and Control Act of 1996, states: "We must toughen Arizona's laws against violent criminals on drugs. Any person who commits a violent crime while under the influence of illegal drugs should serve 100% of his or her sentence with absolutely no early release." The proposition then goes on to say doctors may be permitted "to prescribe Schedule I controlled substances to treat a disease, or to relieve the pain and suffering of seriously ill and terminally ill patients."
  
  Both of these ballot initiatives passed, with 56% support for Prop. 215 and 65% support for Prop. 200.
  
  The language in these ballot initiatives for California and Arizona are so loosely worded that they basically legalize marijuana for everyone, sick or well, adult or child. Physicians will be able to legally dispense marijuana for migraines, depression or any other ailments.
  
  Legalizing marijuana through the political process bypasses the safeguards established by the Food and Drug Administration to protect the public from dangerous or ineffective drugs. Every other prescribed drug must be tested according to scientifically rigorous protocols to ensure that it is safe and effective before it can be sold.
  
  The California ballot initiative will make marijuana available without a written prescription, bypassing all established medical guidelines for dispensing drugs. The Arizona ballot initiative will legalize all Schedule I drugs for medical use. Schedule I drugs are drugs that have a high potential for abuse and have no currently accepted medical use in treatment. Examples of Schedule I drugs are marijuana, LSD and heroin. Under Arizona's proposition all of these drugs would be essentially legalized for any so-called medical use.
  
  Both of these laws allow for the possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes, however, buying and selling marijuana will remain illegal.
  
  These ballot initiatives were passed through a major disinformation campaign financed by wealthy individuals from outside these states. The billionaire financier George Soros gave over half a million dollars to support these initiatives. Other significant contributors include George Zimmer, president and CEO of the Men's Warehouse clothing store chain, Peter Lewis of The Progressive Corporation Insurance company in Ohio, and John Sperling, CEO of the Apollo Group, a Phoenix holding company for numerous educational institutions.
  
  The true agenda for Prop. 215 and 200 is revealed when you examine the backers of these initiatives. The National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Drug Policy Foundation and the Cannabis Buyers Club in San Francisco have spearheaded the passage of the propositions. The radical legalization agenda of these groups leaves little doubt about their broader goal to legalize marijuana and other drugs. As reported in High Times magazine, the director of NORML expressly stated that the medical use of marijuana is an interal part of the strategy to legalize marijuana. A former director of NORML told an Emory University audience that NORML would be using the issue of medicinal marijuana as a red herring to give marijuana a good name.
  
  Social and Cultural Issues:
  The medical marijuana movement and its million dollar media campaign have helped contribute to the changing attitude among our youth that marijuana use is harmless. This softening in anti-drug attitudes among teens has led to a 140% increase in marijuana use among high school seniors from 94'-95'.
  The pro-legalization organizations behind these ballot initiatives deny that there is a drug problem among our youth. As much as they seek to focus on people suffering with illnesses, we must keep the debate properly centered on the safety of our kids. In a time where drug use among kids has increased 78% in the last four years, this country cannot afford to undermine drug prevention efforts with these pro marijuana ballot initiatives.
  
  The strategy to link marijuana with current legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco is used regularly by the pro-legalization groups. The response to this argument is to state that current use among teens is 50% for alcohol, 34% for tobacco and 19% for marijuana. If we want to see marijuana use among youth equal to alcohol and tobacco, then we should go ahead and legalize marijuana.
  
  Legalizing marijuana would add a third drug that combines some of the most serious risks of alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana offers both the intoxicating effects of alcohol and the long-term lung damage of tobacco.
  
  Tobacco companies similarly advertised cigarettes as medicinal until the Federal Trad Commision put a stop to it in 1955. Medicinal marijuana is the "Joe Camel" of the promarijuana lobby, since it is children, the first time users, who are most impressed by these erroneous health claims.
  
  I'm sure that this will get alot of you all heated up but let's try and keep this on an intelligent level please.
  
  Now convince me i'm wrong!

  
  
  No it should not be legalized, I already hate being around stoners as it is, imagine if I'm around them 24/7 because weed is legal.
  pfft.
• Phunkie wrote on 2011-01-05 16:12

  Quote from Devoth;276374:

  As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts on this thread, I also hate smoking (cigarettes, which I assume you are referring to). I also think Wrath mentioned something earlier about pot smoking versus cigarette smoking. Mm, complicated, eh.. Well, you say society and whatnot, so.. Care to elaborate..? Or is it one of those things you can't put into words?

  
  
  

  Quote from Intex;276380:

  Can't you just tell yourself that weed is a much "better" drug than alcohol or cigarettes (I'm really wondering)? Your reasoning sounds a lot like the reasoning of people on this site who are uncomfortable with homosexuality, understanding that it's not that bad yet still not liking it due to society/family influence/morals.
  
  Maybe this chart will help?
  

  [Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Rational_scale_to_assess_the_harm_of_drugs_(mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence).svg]

  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_and_soft_drugs#cite_note-0
  Cannabis is a soft drug while alcohol and tobacco are on the borderline.

  
  
  Yup, yup. I know that marijuana isn't so bad. I don't care if anyone I know does it, as long as they don't pressure me into doing it.
  
  I'm just so horribly against it that I can't put the reason why into words. I'm just really uncomfortable with it, like Intex said. I dunno why.
• Roy Mustang wrote on 2011-01-05 16:16
  I'm against Weed.
  
  It's an addictive drug that causes harmful effects.
  
  Honestly though, I'm also against Alcohol due to events in my childhood with alcoholic parents.
  
  But anyways, that's just my opinion.