Do you smoke Marijuana?

[Jochi1543]

Weed has tar in it? Really? I'm not a smoker so its not like I'm the best source of info for this, but I didn't think there was any tar in a joint. I mean its a plant! Tar is man-made. I thought the burn rate was controlled by the zigzag you used.

 

Tar, actually, does come from a plant - usually pine and the like - and heat is involved. So it's possible that pot contains whatever is tar's precursor and that it turns into tar when smoked, although I don't know if it's a fact or not.

[deeman101]

Ah, OK. I learned something new today! Not from wiki though, I googled it. lol That article looked suspect to me.

[A-Stark]

But pharmacologically speaking I think there's probably not a lot of real adverse effects. And as long as its grown naturally there shouldn't be all the same preservatives and carcinogens as cigarettes.

 

I once took an awesome pharmacology class that was all about drugs and drug abuse and the prof said he didn't feel right talking about the drugs unless he has experienced them so he had a ton of awesome anecdotes about all the drugs he did!

 

Ah, the naturalistic fallacy at work. (And what the heck did he take? Digitalis just for kicks?)

 

Anyway, I've smoked up a few times, but I don't think I've ever really inhaled correctly.

[Jamer]

You don't get high the first few times, really. It's not really known why. People become completely hilarious and are clearly stoned but all they say is "man, I don't feel anything. I'm not high."

[Guest rpuff]

I love getting stoned with noobs.

 

Jamer took my weed virginity IRL. yay.

[deeman101]

OK so if you're not prone to psychological disorders and you can maintain enough self-control over yourself, how about baking weed into cakes! My friend actually did this once. Apparently it was really good (I wasn't there so I didn't try it). Theres probably tar still in it but hey, at least you're not inhaling it and it can pass out of your system.

[Jamer]

Weed baked products are ridiculous. The high lasts so long

[AnonymousR1]

Hi all,

 

Regular poster here, understandably using an anonymous userID for this thread

 

I have partaken of marijuana for many years now, sometimes daily (last year of high school and week-month periods scattered over the years). Having completed several degrees, including med school, I can say that personally, MJ has not "made me lazy." There are many personal factors that play into how someone reacts to being stoned and what impact that has on their life and functioning.

 

Like a previous poster I have used a vaporizer for health reasons but now prefer to just have a toke. When I'm in a smoking phase I will typically have a few puffs and a joint will last me several days. I just enjoy the light buzz and change in state of mind that comes with it. I often use pot to give me another frame of mind for creatively approaching problems or for idea-generation (eg. when initial stages of a study design - I enjoy clinical research).

 

I honestly don't think I would have made it through dreadfully boring undergrad without the herb. I also crammed for the MCAT way back when stoned for the most part. I realize this isn't for everyone but I certainly feel that pot has been an enjoyable part of my life for many years and anecdotally would argue that it is no more harmful than alcohol (my personal feeling is that it causes MUCH less social and individual harm than EtOH).

 

I could wax poetic but will leave it at that. For what it's worth, I'm aware of several top level physician-scientists who also partake. It ain't the devil-weed I'm afraid

 

Make good choices, listen to your body and above all keep an open mind.

cheers,

AnonymousR1

[Dr.Cave]

I love homemade chocolate chip cookies and I was at a party once where someone had made some "special" chocolate chip cookies. Well I have a hard time eating just one cookie and even though I knew what was in them I ate 4 of them - they were delicious. I ended up getting so paranoid I had get a friend to call me a cab (I was unable). I remember getting the cabby to stop a block away from my house (didn;t want him to know where I lived) and I got out and ran (without paying) and hid in a park, I slept in a clump of bushes before sobering up enough to go home. Ah the good old days...

[alnew]

I did, a bit, in high school. Haven't touched in since because I have a very addictive personality and with the pressures of Uni I just had to abstain completely. I don't drink anymore either. But I have much more self-control now so I would partake in the future. A few of my friends smoke weed occasionally and I've found that I just cannot stand the smell anymore...

[medisforme]

I smoke every day. I also have a vaporizer to minimize the negative health effects. Responsible stoner ftw.

 

My GPA has gone up since I regularily started smoking weed. I never show up to class/tests/important things stoned. I'm not worried. The whole laziness argument is stupid. Of course I'm lazy when I'm stoned, but it doesn't magically make me less driven.

 

If I get in this year I hope there's at least a couple other stoners who I can hang out with when the time is right

 

 

While I do believe what you wrote from your personal experience I hardly think that justifies you saying that the whole "laziness argument is stupid." For every pot smoking high achieving student such as yourself, there are dozens and dozens of people who can barely hold/find a job or do anything worthwhile (ie. go for a walk, play sports etc...) because they are so into smoking pot with their friends/or alone.

Most people would agree that outside of a university setting (and probably within it as well) you are not going to find a whole lot of overachieving people who regularly smoke pot. Those that do succeed while smoking pot tend to do so in spite of it, not because of it.

 

ps.

hope no one thinks I am one of these ultra-zealous anti-marijuana activists. I consider myself quite liberal, but I just get super pissed off when I see what marijuana has done to 5-6 of my very good friends - they are not even out of their twenties yet and their life motivation is at 0.

I also work in mental health and can attest to the fact that marijuana is one of the most abused drugs of mental health consumers and plays a large role in individuals failing to fulfill treatment goals, rehabilitation plans etc...

[Retsage]

Medisforme, your entire argument is an absurdity. You do not find a "whole lot of overachieving people" outside of the university setting in the first place. Overachieving people tend to go to university. Marijuana will not turn a motivated, ambitious person into a couch potato. Your entire philosophy in life, social upbringing, environment, and genetics are what will determine whether you want to strive for some major goal, or whether you are happy enough just floating. Marijuana doesn't make people lazy. People who are lazy and smoke marijuana will often blame it on the drug (as will the people around them), but it's not true. A lot of people start smoking around the same age as they become more independent. As the familial pressures and power structures shift and change, many kids realize that they don't want to be superstar athletes/students/musicians. That they're happy just going with the flow and enjoying their lives. Plenty of people are perfectly happy doing a 9-5 that provides them with enough income to cover their weekends. You are not, I imagine, but that's because of the type of person you were raised to be. Those who are, though, do not harm anyone and should not be judged failures. If they are happy with their lives, how could they be considered as such?

 

Can it be abused? You bet. So can World of Warcraft. People are not machines put on the Earth to toil. We need to rest, relax, and enjoy. Some people drink, some people game, some people smoke pot, some people go to Church. But, like most other things in life, people should be allowed to do whatever makes them happy (even if it is just sitting around on the couch all day and working a menial job), and everyone else should stay out of their way.

 

 

I love getting stoned with noobs.

 

Seriously.

 

I remember the first time I smoked up a friend of mine. It was me, him, his girlfriend, and another friend. The three of us had experience before and we were all using my vaporizer (which is so much better than smoking, and this is coming from an athlete who uses his lungs quite a bit). So we're sitting around, puff, puff, pass, all good.

 

My non-noob friend is the first to go. He's high as a kite. Good times. I feel it next. You know that feeling where one second you're starting to feel a little silly but you're not really high, and the next second you've kind of snapped, you're absolutely gone? I got it second. I turn to my noob friend and his girlfriend and I crack up telling them how I've snapped. They look at me funny and I explain poorly. My friend's girlfriend takes another round and SNAP. She looks at me with the most amusing cockeyed smile I've ever seen and nods rapidly, "yes, yes!" I think she must have read On the Road right before or something, because she was Dean Moriarty/Neal Cassady all at once.

 

My noob friend still doesn't know if he's feeling it and he starts whining at us - "What does it feel like? What does it feel like? Telllll me! Tell meeee!" I'm way too giggly to explain it, though I try valiantly a few times before my words get jumbled, I crack up again, and give up. His girlfriend, though, turns to him and goes:

 

"It... It feels... Hmm. *pursed lips* It... it feels like... like... IT FEELS LIKE LEMONS!" I think I broke a rib laughing. We still make fun of her about it to this day.

 

Oh, and we definitely got my noob friend high that night. He was feeling it afterward.

 

Guess how I voted! Though, truthfully, I go through periods. I'm writing a lot lately and I find when I smoke up lightly, it helps me think up new ideas and avenues. So lately, I've been smoking a bit more than usual (maybe once a week versus once every month or two previous). I won't bother much with special brownies or space cookies any more, though I used to love them. Or, rather, I won't go out of my way to have them (will accept if someone offers me one). After dabbling with hallucinogens, I don't care for the muddled high, full of emotional ups and downs, akin to an uncontrollable rollercoaster, that comes with them. Especially since I can have a fully lucid high instead and see the world in a much different light than before, without forgetting the truths I discovered by the next morning. Mushrooms, for example, profoundly changed my entire perspective of the world and I came out of it a much better, much more joyous person. Beautiful, beautiful drug. The Natives were onto something.

[The Law]

I think marijuana needs to be legalized. I don't smoke though.

[Jamer]

While I do believe what you wrote from your personal experience I hardly think that justifies you saying that the whole "laziness argument is stupid." For every pot smoking high achieving student such as yourself, there are dozens and dozens of people who can barely hold/find a job or do anything worthwhile (ie. go for a walk, play sports etc...) because they are so into smoking pot with their friends/or alone.

Most people would agree that outside of a university setting (and probably within it as well) you are not going to find a whole lot of overachieving people who regularly smoke pot. Those that do succeed while smoking pot tend to do so in spite of it, not because of it.

 

ps.

hope no one thinks I am one of these ultra-zealous anti-marijuana activists. I consider myself quite liberal, but I just get super pissed off when I see what marijuana has done to 5-6 of my very good friends - they are not even out of their twenties yet and their life motivation is at 0.

I also work in mental health and can attest to the fact that marijuana is one of the most abused drugs of mental health consumers and plays a large role in individuals failing to fulfill treatment goals, rehabilitation plans etc...

 

Those are great points. I wasn't saying that a good chunk of people who smoke pot aren't useless. There's a lot of stereotypical deadbeat stoners out there. I'm just saying that I think the "I'm afraid of becoming lazy and unmotivated so I'm not going smoke pot" attitude is "stupid." I would bet that almost every single person on this forum, should they start smoking pot regularily, would still achieve their life goals. Marijuana just makes you stop caring temporarily, but if you have a respectable degree of self control, it really shouldn't be an issue.

[Retsage]

Whoa, now. Let's not start calling people useless because they don't aspire to money, fame, and fortune. It presupposes that there is a use in the first place, which is quite the large claim to make. Let people be as long as they are not harming others.

[Dr.Cave]

I would bet that almost every single person on this forum, should they start smoking pot regularily, would still achieve their life goals.

 

I would be absolutely useless. I smoked up maybe a dozen times in my life and it makes me stupid. If I was a stoner I'd probably be living in a friends basement taking care of his grow op.....badly.

[medisforme]

Medisforme, your entire argument is an absurdity. You do not find a "whole lot of overachieving people" outside of the university setting in the first place. Overachieving people tend to go to university. Marijuana will not turn a motivated, ambitious person into a couch potato. Your entire philosophy in life, social upbringing, environment, and genetics are what will determine whether you want to strive for some major goal, or whether you are happy enough just floating. Marijuana doesn't make people lazy. People who are lazy and smoke marijuana will often blame it on the drug (as will the people around them), but it's not true. A lot of people start smoking around the same age as they become more independent. As the familial pressures and power structures shift and change, many kids realize that they don't want to be superstar athletes/students/musicians. That they're happy just going with the flow and enjoying their lives. Plenty of people are perfectly happy doing a 9-5 that provides them with enough income to cover their weekends. You are not, I imagine, but that's because of the type of person you were raised to be. Those who are, though, do not harm anyone and should not be judged failures. If they are happy with their lives, how could they be considered as such?

 

Can it be abused? You bet. So can World of Warcraft. People are not machines put on the Earth to toil. We need to rest, relax, and enjoy. Some people drink, some people game, some people smoke pot, some people go to Church. But, like most other things in life, people should be allowed to do whatever makes them happy (even if it is just sitting around on the couch all day and working a menial job), and everyone else should stay out of their way.

 

Ok, where do I start.

 

"My argument is absurd"

-Well I was basing it on my personal life experience, which is what you are doing as well so I guess your arguments are just as "absurd" as mine.

 

ie. i have a friend who use to be a successful businessman, and while I am not that naive as to think that marijuana was 100% responsible for his downfall it definitely contributed to him quitting his job and he is now just a handyman doing odd jobs, and imo not as happy.

 

What is really absurd is your insinuation that everyone becomes happy from smoking pot. I have no doubt that this is true with you, but some people smoke it to temporarily ease their depression (even though it tends to worsen it in the long run), escape from reality, escape from stress etc... with the end effect that their enjoyment with life isn't increased at all.

 

while I was never a regular marijuana smoker, I spent about a year smoking it quite often on weekends and from my experience it didn't increase my happiness or enjoyment at all. I started doing it to see if it was funner than getting drunk and then I just kept doing it because when I was stoned it felt like a "time out" from life. If i was stoned, i didn't want to go out to a movie with my friends, go out for dinner with my gf, help my buddy with some of his yardwork, I was too lazy.

[Retsage]

That would be an absurd insinuation if I had ever made it, you are correct. Unfortunately, I never did.

 

As for your businessman friend, how exactly did marijuana change him and why exactly didn't it turn you into an underachiever? And I'm not talking about when you're high. The entire point of weed is that it makes the boring fun. But after the high, why didn't you become lazy? Anecdotes do not make convincing arguments and the onus of proof is on you, as you were the one to introduce the notion that marijuana makes otherwise successful people lose all motivation.

[medisforme]

That would be an absurd insinuation if I had ever made it, you are correct. Unfortunately, I never did.

 

"people should be allowed to do whatever makes them happy"

 

I apologize if i misinterpreted this quote - i felt the simplest interpretation of your statement was that people should be allowed to smoke pot (without judgement) if it makes them happy. My rebuttal was that many people who smoke pot don't do it because it makes them happy.

[Laika]

Clinically speaking theres nothing wrong with weed. But from personal experience I wouldn't do it. My friend became schizophrenic after smoking too much. Although he was susceptible to schiz to start with.

 

As the latter half of your post indicates, there might be something wrong, clinically speaking, with smoking weed. Heavy cannabis users are 6 times more likely to develop schizophrenia than non-users. Given that the lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia is about ~1%, is that really a risk with taking? (The original article, for those interested: Andréasson et al., Lancet, Volume 330, Issue 8574, 26 December 1987, Pages 1483-1486)

 

Might as well wait until your late 20s to start smoking after you're past the age of onset for schizophrenia...

[Retsage]

"people should be allowed to do whatever makes them happy"

 

I apologize if i misinterpreted this quote - i felt the simplest interpretation of your statement was that people should be allowed to smoke pot (without judgement) if it makes them happy.

 

That is the correct interpretation. How you take a statement of IF people are made happy by marijuana, THEN they should be allowed to smoke it and decipher it as "everyone becomes happy from smoking pot," I don't know.

 

Laika, until there is a causal link, the statistic is meaningless correlation. It could just as easily be argued that people who have the beginnings of schizophrenia find escape through marijuana usage because it gives them a social context in which everyone is acting as strangely as they usually feel.

[medisforme]

Anecdotes do not make convincing arguments and the onus of proof is on you, as you were the one to introduce the notion that marijuana makes otherwise successful people lose all motivation.

 

Well I am too lazy right now (no, haven't been toking up ) to do a grand search of the effects of marijuana I really do think personal experience should count for something. I have spent nine years working in mental health, six years as a mental health worker and three years as a registered nurse and can say with a lot of confidence that marijuana use makes many mental health consumers lazy. It is amazing the effects I have seen in the motivation of those I work with when they stop doing marijuana. It is not just otherise successful people that MAY BE PRONE to become lazy from marijuana it is a whole range of people.

[medisforme]

That is the correct interpretation. How you take a statement of IF people are made happy by marijuana, THEN they should be allowed to smoke it and take out of it "that everyone becomes happy from smoking pot," I don't know.

 

I think because a lot of people fool themselves into thinking that smoking marijuana makes them happy when they in fact just want to escape from reality, not deal with their current problems etc...

[Retsage]

And I have my own anecdotal evidence to back up the assertion that it does not cause people to become lazy. I am no lazier than I was before I started, nor are my friends who smoke with me (hell, I have a friend who can only do work when he's lightly baked - ADHD, he can't focus otherwise). The people you speak of may have come to an understanding that they wanted to change their lives, so they took everyone's advice and came off the drug. The causal link may be that dropping marijuana made them more productive, or it may be the reverse - deciding to become more productive led them to quitting marijuana because they attributed their lack of success to a societally acceptable external source (the drug). As such, they quit smoking up and became more successful, but the two were not linked to one another in the way you believe. This is why anecdotal evidence is useless. It can be seen in a dozen different perspectives and rebutted with the anecdotal evidence of others.

 

Edit - Yeah, a lot of people do smoke as an escape mechanism from reality. That's tragic, I agree. But, again, people do plenty of things to escape reality, and sometimes somebody really does need a break from thinking and struggling and fighting. Addictions are never good and should be battled, regardless of whether it is an addiction to food, games, porn, pot, alcohol, or meth.

[NewfieMike]

I was having an interesting debate with a masters student about this once (he's heading to a lab for his PhD to do medicinal marijuana research for cancer). He was saying some addiction researchers are developing a vaccine for like say heroin, so that it won't bind to opioid receptors and essentially drug abusers would eventually stop buying it because they won't get any high from it, and how they could use this at rehab clinics.

 

Now the debate was, on one side of things, people are allowed to experiment with their bodies and giving them this vaccine against their own will would be immoral.

 

My debate was that by not giving it to them, we're just running up unneeded heathcare costs that we could be using elsewhere instead of paying for treatment of repeat abusers.

 

what do you guys think?