Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Smoking is smoking, whether or not you want to admit it--and those blowin' grass stink, too... but that's another story. Educate yourself about "driving drugged; it's happening more and more, with dire consequences for not only users, themselves, but those unlucky enough to encounter them on the road. I'll spare you the number of pets, ever-increasing, BTW, seen by vets for marijuana poisoning--ingesting pot edibles, eating weed, or inhaling it. Oops. Too late.
I couldn't care less what people choose to use for their illnesses. But anyone who thinks the majority aren't simply recreational users, is a fool. And so is anyone who thinks that users of any mind-altering drug, despite any therapeutic properties, aren't often irresponsible--and that it doesn't negatively affect them or others.
Again please explain how alcohol is ok while pot isn’t in your mind. I don’t have any problem with people using pot recreationally. Just as I have no problem with you ordering a Rum Runner when you’re out with your friends. What’s the difference??
Of course driving high is wrong, thats why it’ll always be illegal.
My point above was to an early poster who lumped pot in with drugs that have a physical dependency such as heroin, for which crimes are often committed because they need that drug to function due to that physical dependence. Pot simply is not in that category.
For me, it allays much of the anxiety and depression that I have struggled with throughout my life. It just gives me a feeling that I don't need to worry so much. It reminds me that everything is going to be fine. God (or whatever you call it) wants us to be happy and has provided us with an abundance of supplies and resources to help us through life.
Physical activity also helps. Long walks and runs have been extremely beneficial. I even completed a marathon in 2010 and have done several shorter races before that and since. Weed and walking/running work great together.
It doesn't make me feel creative, necessarily. Incidentally, I was the front woman in a touring band for 13 years and recorded 6 CDs. None of my bandmates smoked pot. They wrote the songs. I sold them. I think that productivity is just as important as creativity. Fun fact 1: I couldn't get high before shows because it would cause me to forget lyrics. Fun fact 2: I didn't drink alcohol during 5 of the 13 years that the band was active.
I'm currently abstaining. The last time I consumed cannabis was on December 31. I decided to take a couple of months off, for perspective. I'm also abstaining from alcohol during the month of February. I may stay off the alcohol for good, but I will always come back to cannabis. Incidentally, I quit smoking cigarettes two years ago, and weed helped me immensely with the transition.
As far as the notion of gateway drug is concerned, that has not been my experience at all. I have no interest in taking it to the next level. I'm surprised that prohibitionists have avoided putting forth that tired old theory in this thread. Hopefully it has taken its last breath.
For the record, I want to add that I know cannabis users who are far more successful than me. They are doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, pastors, professors, politicians, and athletes. They are everywhere. To make the assumption that someone who consumes cannabis would be more successful/ambitious/productive or be a better person if they'd just put down the pipe is not necessarily true. There are millions of people who have never touched the stuff and are not successful, ambitious, or all that productive. And that's fine. You don't have to be the best. Just be a nice person and don't be a leech on society.
Thanks for the dialog.
Jo
.
I once saw an interview with Quentin Tarantino where he stated he gives marijuana a lot of the credit for his movies. He wrote them all while under the influence.
Youâ€re misinterpreting my post. I’m not suggesting he smoke at all. Just offering a reason why he was probably drawn into alcohol and drugs despute the warnings.
I'm just continuing the discussion. Weed has been and continues to be very detrimental to him. I agree that, being seriously mentally ill, lots of illegal substances, including but not limited to weed, make him temporarily feel better, even though they degrade the effectiveness of his legitimate meds.
For me, it allays much of the anxiety and depression that I have struggled with throughout my life. It just gives me a feeling that I don't need to worry so much. It reminds me that everything is going to be fine. God (or whatever you call it) wants us to be happy and has provided us with an abundance of supplies and resources to help us through life.
Physical activity also helps. Long walks and runs have been extremely beneficial. I even completed a marathon in 2010 and have done several shorter races before that and since. Weed and walking/running work great together.
It doesn't make me feel creative, necessarily. Incidentally, I was the front woman in a touring band for 13 years and recorded 6 CDs. None of my bandmates smoked pot. They wrote the songs. I sold them. I think that productivity is just as important as creativity. Fun fact 1: I couldn't get high before shows because it would cause me to forget lyrics. Fun fact 2: I didn't drink alcohol during 5 of the 13 years that the band was active.
I'm currently abstaining. The last time I consumed cannabis was on December 31. I decided to take a couple of months off, for perspective. I'm also abstaining from alcohol during the month of February. I may stay off the alcohol for good, but I will always come back to cannabis. Incidentally, I quit smoking cigarettes two years ago, and weed helped me immensely with the transition.
As far as the notion of gateway drug is concerned, that has not been my experience at all. I have no interest in taking it to the next level. I'm surprised that prohibitionists have avoided putting forth that tired old theory in this thread. Hopefully it has taken its last breath.
For the record, I want to add that I know cannabis users who are far more successful than me. They are doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, pastors, professors, politicians, and athletes. They are everywhere. To make the assumption that someone who consumes cannabis would be more successful/ambitious/productive or be a better person if they'd just put down the pipe is not necessarily true. There are millions of people who have never touched the stuff and are not successful, ambitious, or all that productive. And that's fine. You don't have to be the best. Just be a nice person and don't be a leech on society.
Thanks for the dialog.
Jo
.
Thank you! Very interesting and insightful. Cannabis is actually a very subtle yet complex drug/medicine ect. and without a doubt has its place and should be completely legal. There are downsides to every medicine and I think its good to have honest conversations about both sides...good and bad.
Look, all I know is that it allows me to feel human when I'm slammed by one of my sinus headaches. Sinus migraine is probably a better term as it has many things in common with a migraine. But there is no obvious medical reason for my headaches and my doctors have always been conservative in prescribing effective drugs. It could have something to do with female pain not being taken seriously, but I suspect that it has more to do with the fact that the type of headaches I get are not well understood at all. An edible or two at least makes things bearable and allows me to sleep.
Excessive use of anything can cause... well, anything really. But how many people use marijuana that much?
Michigan just passed it, Illinois is seriously looking at it, Minnesota is seriously looking at it, and several counties in Wisconsin just recently had advisory referendums on the ballot during the midterms that all received overwhelming support, so it won't be long.
I remain optimistic.
. . . and now this:
Governor Evers Calls for Decriminalization of Recreational Marijuana Use
I’m going to guess he was self-medicating in an attempt (subconscious) of trying to “normalize” a brain that feels “off”. I say that as someone with family issues including ADD (me), OCD (my mom and brother and me to some degree) and generalized anxiety issues (all of us) who also has a lifetime of self-medicating with everything from nicotine to caffeine to food to drugs when I was a teen to very early 20’s. People with any of these issues have a propensity to seek out the chemicals they don’t have enough of in our brains.
I tried Straterra for my ADD which is the only non-stimulant one, and it didn’t help. I know from my own past experiences stimulants are addictive for me so I won’t try them again. Pot has been by far the most helpful thing so far in breaking me past paralysis when I feel overwhelmed.
I didn't know that my secret "weirdness" was OCD until I was in my 40s and started seeing a therapist after my marriage ended. I went to see a pdoc for an anti-depressant, and in 15 minutes he picked up on a few things I said and nailed it.
Back in my therapist's office, we talked about the OCD and how/when it began when I was a child, and I said I used to be able to dissociate to relieve the constant anxiety and fear of death, to sort of set myself apart from myself in order to function and appear normal.
Then I thought about it for a minute and said, "Maybe that's why I liked smoking weed. It gave me similar relief" and he said, "HELL-OOOOOOOO".
Look, all I know is that it allows me to feel human when I'm slammed by one of my sinus headaches. Sinus migraine is probably a better term as it has many things in common with a migraine. But there is no obvious medical reason for my headaches and my doctors have always been conservative in prescribing effective drugs. It could have something to do with female pain not being taken seriously, but I suspect that it has more to do with the fact that the type of headaches I get are not well understood at all. An edible or two at least makes things bearable and allows me to sleep.
Excessive use of anything can cause... well, anything really. But how many people use marijuana that much?
"Excessive use" is a relative term. What's excessive or harmful to one person may or may not be to the next. That's the problem with weed - it's unpredictable and it's effects are all over the map. For some people it's a "gateway drug" and for others it's not. For some people, it interacts poorly with or negates the effects of other necessary medications, and for some people it doesn't interfere at all, or can in fact replace some meds apparently.
For some people ANY use is excessive. And the effects are not always predictable either, because weed is not regulated or quality controlled in many cases, and in those cases you really don't know what you're getting.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
