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So you would turn down a line of coke or a gram of shrooms? How about pharms? Designer drugs? Or are you a weed purist?
If so, then good for you.
I do believe and understand that there may be social/moderate/occasional pot smokers. Are they the norm? Not statistically and not what I've seen in them.
In my circle of people now, I don't even see or smell or hear about the stuff. I like it this way.
I only smoke pot. Been smoking for 45 years now and I learned a long time ago (as a teenager) that the chemicals were the bad stuff. Made that decision when I was 16 years old and anybody with half a brain does. I smoke pot & I like it a lot, I like red wine, and a few beers will occasionally make their way past my lips & down into my gullet as well.
That being said, everybody that I know who smokes pot, only smokes pot and does not partake of any chemicals for a high. They are professionals, executives, well paid responsible people who simply prefer the pleasure of cannabis over alcohol and intoxicants that are realistically much more damaging to your body & mind. For every lowlife toker you see on the street there are untold numbers of people who smoke that you never know about. Those same professionals and business executives mentioned above who have too much at risk to ever let anybody else know that they partake. I did that for most of my 45 years. However, now that I'm retired, I have no need to maintain that charade. I speak freely about my enjoyment of cannabis and have watched those around me over the years become more & more accepting of this (relatively) benign substance. Our own government as now estimated that close to 50M people smoke pot regularly in the use. That's approximately 15% of the population.
BTW, my background? I have been married for 37 years with 3 kids (aged from 28-36), had a long successful career in technology (I'm an electrical engineering grad.... smoked all through college), raised and educated all three of those kids, worked and saved long & hard for retirement, and now get to enjoy the fruits of my labor by buying land in Durango and building a beautiful Timber Frame home to enjoy the southwest. I was able to save and invest wisely and my retirement savings are substantial. I can guarantee that there are many more like me on CD and you see many of their comments in this thread.
Many people believe that there are no social, moderate, or occasional smokers. That's because they only see what's on the surface, the lowlifes & idiots who have no discretion in most things they do so pot is no different to them. Unless & until they actually spend years with a person and know them well, they will never understand how that person could actually be a pot smoker. That my friend is the piece of information that you lack which leads you to an inaccurate opinion about the profile of tokers in the country.
If you put yourself in my shoes and come to the conclusion that I'm wrong... as if there's a wrong here, then bite down hard, build a bridge and get over it.
This is where I stand.
If you don't want what I have, then don't do what I do.
If you want what I have, then get your ass up here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by proveick
As for drinking, in Germany many employers have beer vending machines. Is that wrong?
Don't you recall seeing me mention something about "If you want to drink, that's your business"?
I'm not a reformer nor a temperance person in any way. This is where I stand. Weed is illegal. I agree that it shouldn't be schedule 1. But don't drink or pill in such a way that you put me at risk.
Go find your favorite recreational pot smoker right now. When they burn through that 1/4 oz, where are they going to get that next one? Answer me that? From the corrupt cop down the street right?
Ol' SoButt just made the case against legalization. What he basically said in the above post was that work, family, and legal considerations at least moderated his pot use (but he still did it, despite the legal and other risks), but now that those restraints are lifted, he can use as much as he wants as often as he wants. That says two things:
1. That such prohibitions are least somewhat a deterrence to use.
2. That pot is an addiction, whether psychological or physical, that he does not want to or can not control. When people are willing to sneak around and engage in activities that are illegal, could wreck their career, could raise havoc with their family, then they have an addiction or substance abuse problem. And just because they got away with it doesn't change that.
I also don't buy the professional success crap. Two of my favorite jazz performers were Billy Holiday and Chet Baker. Both, by any estimation, were masters at their craft and professional successes. And both were heroin addicts. Notwithstanding their professional success, substance abuse wrecked their personal lives and caused them to die prematurely. No, pot ain't heroin, and legal alcohol abuse is as much or more destructive than pot abuse. Still, I don't see a reason to add more stuff to the list of what people can legally abuse and become addicted to.
Oh, for the person who keeps asking where smokers get their supply, I have a close relative who gets it from his brother who lives in the country and grows it himself. This is in a state where it doesn't stand a chance in heck of becoming legal in any way, any time soon.
Not everyone is funding the cartels.
Of course if it became legal, then no one would be funding the cartels.
No, pot ain't heroin, and legal alcohol abuse is as much or more destructive than pot abuse. Still, I don't see a reason to add more stuff to the list of what people can legally abuse and become addicted to.
Its already out there and easy to get the only difference is now it will be regulated. That is why I voted for the measure. Personally I think its a matter of "when" not "if" its legal across the nation.
I only smoke pot. Been smoking for 45 years now and I learned a long time ago (as a teenager) that the chemicals were the bad stuff. Made that decision when I was 16 years old and anybody with half a brain does. I smoke pot & I like it a lot, I like red wine, and a few beers will occasionally make their way past my lips & down into my gullet as well.
That being said, everybody that I know who smokes pot, only smokes pot and does not partake of any chemicals for a high. They are professionals, executives, well paid responsible people who simply prefer the pleasure of cannabis over alcohol and intoxicants that are realistically much more damaging to your body & mind. For every lowlife toker you see on the street there are untold numbers of people who smoke that you never know about. Those same professionals and business executives mentioned above who have too much at risk to ever let anybody else know that they partake. I did that for most of my 45 years. However, now that I'm retired, I have no need to maintain that charade. I speak freely about my enjoyment of cannabis and have watched those around me over the years become more & more accepting of this (relatively) benign substance. Our own government as now estimated that close to 50M people smoke pot regularly in the use. That's approximately 15% of the population.
BTW, my background? I have been married for 37 years with 3 kids (aged from 28-36), had a long successful career in technology (I'm an electrical engineering grad.... smoked all through college), raised and educated all three of those kids, worked and saved long & hard for retirement, and now get to enjoy the fruits of my labor by buying land in Durango and building a beautiful Timber Frame home to enjoy the southwest. I was able to save and invest wisely and my retirement savings are substantial. I can guarantee that there are many more like me on CD and you see many of their comments in this thread.
Many people believe that there are no social, moderate, or occasional smokers. That's because they only see what's on the surface, the lowlifes & idiots who have no discretion in most things they do so pot is no different to them. Unless & until they actually spend years with a person and know them well, they will never understand how that person could actually be a pot smoker. That my friend is the piece of information that you lack which leads you to an inaccurate opinion about the profile of tokers in the country.
I only smoke pot. Been smoking for 45 years now and I learned a long time ago (as a teenager) that the chemicals were the bad stuff. Made that decision when I was 16 years old and anybody with half a brain does. I smoke pot & I like it a lot, I like red wine, and a few beers will occasionally make their way past my lips & down into my gullet as well.
That being said, everybody that I know who smokes pot, only smokes pot and does not partake of any chemicals for a high. They are professionals, executives, well paid responsible people who simply prefer the pleasure of cannabis over alcohol and intoxicants that are realistically much more damaging to your body & mind. For every lowlife toker you see on the street there are untold numbers of people who smoke that you never know about. Those same professionals and business executives mentioned above who have too much at risk to ever let anybody else know that they partake. I did that for most of my 45 years. However, now that I'm retired, I have no need to maintain that charade. I speak freely about my enjoyment of cannabis and have watched those around me over the years become more & more accepting of this (relatively) benign substance. Our own government as now estimated that close to 50M people smoke pot regularly in the use. That's approximately 15% of the population.
BTW, my background? I have been married for 37 years with 3 kids (aged from 28-36), had a long successful career in technology (I'm an electrical engineering grad.... smoked all through college), raised and educated all three of those kids, worked and saved long & hard for retirement, and now get to enjoy the fruits of my labor by buying land in Durango and building a beautiful Timber Frame home to enjoy the southwest. I was able to save and invest wisely and my retirement savings are substantial. I can guarantee that there are many more like me on CD and you see many of their comments in this thread.
Many people believe that there are no social, moderate, or occasional smokers. That's because they only see what's on the surface, the lowlifes & idiots who have no discretion in most things they do so pot is no different to them. Unless & until they actually spend years with a person and know them well, they will never understand how that person could actually be a pot smoker. That my friend is the piece of information that you lack which leads you to an inaccurate opinion about the profile of tokers in the country.
My father is like you. He actually didn't really smoke the stuff for most of his professional years. Only recently, with MMJ has he started smoking again. He finds that is allows his back spasms to relax and he doesn't have to take prescription pills for it. He's very successful, has a great reputation, and is not someone I would describe as a pothead! I know of several other people in my community who are very successful and enjoy the occasional toke.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover
Ol' SoButt just made the case against legalization. What he basically said in the above post was that work, family, and legal considerations at least moderated his pot use (but he still did it, despite the legal and other risks), but now that those restraints are lifted, he can use as much as he wants as often as he wants. That says two things:
1. That such prohibitions are least somewhat a deterrence to use.
2. That pot is an addiction, whether psychological or physical, that he does not want to or can not control. When people are willing to sneak around and engage in activities that are illegal, could wreck their career, could raise havoc with their family, then they have an addiction or substance abuse problem. And just because they got away with it doesn't change that.
I also don't buy the professional success crap. Two of my favorite jazz performers were Billy Holiday and Chet Baker. Both, by any estimation, were masters at their craft and professional successes. And both were heroin addicts. Notwithstanding their professional success, substance abuse wrecked their personal lives and caused them to die prematurely. No, pot ain't heroin, and legal alcohol abuse is as much or more destructive than pot abuse. Still, I don't see a reason to add more stuff to the list of what people can legally abuse and become addicted to.
Jazz, I respect your opinion about many things in regards to Colorado, even though I don't agree. This however, really doesn't sit well with me. You have no right to tell someone they are dependent on a substance simply because they enjoy it. That's ludicrous! Yes, there are plenty of lowlife potheads, just like drunks, and prescription pill junkies. My own brother-in-law died of an overdose of pills at the young age of 26. Yes, there is potential for abuse for anything in life! However, I know many more successful people who drink socially, smoke socially, but otherwise are outstanding citizens. The old line you keep throwing out there that it's illegal at the federal level, therefore you shouldn't do it, it just plain old.
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