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I think it is but it is in no way more of a gateway drug than alcohol is. Both are known to lower inhibitions mind you. Also many people first try marijuana after consuming alcohol.
Cannabis does not lower inhibitions, other than some cannabis could increase the craving for more cannabis. Many sometimes become violent from too much alcohol. Cannabis makes people non-violent if anything does. So, you could say alcohol lowers inhibition to try cannabis, as in your example of first trying cannabis after using alcohol. Alcohol makes many less inhibited to try the good illegal drug after bad legal drug.
A panel of drug experts rated caffeine 3 times more addicting than cannabis. A friend of mine went to a restaurant to drink coffee. I asked if they had free unlimited coffee and he said they made him leave after he vomited. He also likes an even more addicting stimulant, cigarettes. I don't criticize anyone for whatever they choose to try to feel better, but I think a person who says a drug that kills nobody is as bad or worse than drugs that kill millions isn't making sense. Best wishes, all.
"One of the biggest faux pas found with the common misconception of marijuana is how it compares to other drugs. Many people assume that the drug isn’t physically addictive, but in reality it can be incredibly mentally and socially addictive. A person’s mind begins to require it to experience a relaxed state, making it difficult for the body to naturally induce relaxation by itself. In 2009, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration results from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health stated:
'Marijuana is currently the leading cause of substance dependence other than alcohol in the U.S. In 2008, marijuana use accounted for 4.2 million of the 7 million people aged 12 or older classified with dependence on or abuse of an illicit drug. This means that about two thirds of Americans suffering from any substance use disorder are suffering from marijuana abuse or marijuana dependence.'
Dr. Phyllis Boniface, who specializes in psychiatric care, emphasizes how damaging marijuana can be.
'To compare it to alcohol … humans are designed to metabolize alcohol in the liver at a certain rate per hour. The brain is largely fat and this drug is stored in fat. So after the intoxication is long over we have a drug that’s hanging around, exerting an effect on your nervous system for weeks to months.'
As mental health studies become more advanced we are able to see the possible long-term effects of partaking of marijuana with one of the biggest problems being schizophrenia. Dr. Phyllis Boniface, who was quoted earlier, also goes on to discuss how individuals who partake in marijuana at a young age have earlier onsets of psychosis and schizophrenia. Studies are discovering that there may be a gene linked to schizophrenia, that when exposed to marijuana, can become active up to three years earlier than the standard diagnosed age.
When it comes to any sort of bodily health issues, studies show that the chemicals in marijuana can cause the body to kick its production of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC’s) into overdrive. MDSC cells are used to keep the rest of the immune system in check. They make sure that just the right amount of force is used to fight off infection. An increased amount of MDSC’s can cause them to suppress the immune system to the point where it can’t effectively fight off infections."
This was all disproven so long ago. You'll get essentially nothing true about cannabis as the pill companies control the gov't studies and they don't want to lose any of their trillions to competition. A cancer might be thought of as an infection, and the cancer fighting ability of cannabis in oil form has been
proven for many years in multiple studies. 1,000mg/day for 90+ days made many stage 4 cancers vanish.
Rick Simpson cured thousands for free using up $1.3 million life savings. Videos on You Tube.
Cannabis does not cause schizophrenia, as use is up many hundreds of times compared to 50 years ago, without much change in schizophrenia. This was pointed out by Lester Grinspoon, MD Harvard U (retired). Cannabis stored in fat
is inactive metabolites. It's real easy for users to tell if they are still getting an effect, it is only active for a very few hours, and there isn't any hangover.
Cannabis was recommended for all mental health issues in U.S. Dispensatory of 1851-from the book Licit and Illicit Drugs Consumers Union/Consumer Reports. This was a textbook for those planning to work in a pharmacy. Best wishes.
Again, another fine argument for more restrictions and regulation of alcohol rather than an argument for loosening restrictions and regulations on marijuana. If we wanted to, we could do some of the same things that we did to the tobacco industry to the alcohol industry, as well. We don't, because people want to get their alcohol fix. Because we are a rights-obsessed culture rather than a common good/responsibility-obsessed culture, we think primarily in terms of what we want for ourselves rather than the collective good. We get the society we deserve.
I have to disagree because alcohol isn't bad in it of itself. Tobacco you use a few times and you potentially lose some time off your clock. My uncle died of smoking relating lung cancer. To get the same issue by drinking, you would have to drink excessively through your twenties. Drinking one drink a day or even a week isn't a problem. The only reason I brought up alcohol is the gateway drug aspect of it.
Because, my dear friend, I have 47+ years of direct daily experience with the plant, and 25 years of research on it, how it became illegal, and its effects on the humans who consume it.
It's really pretty funny, because if I came on here and said I had 47 years of experience growing roses, 99.9% of the people who respond would say "Hey, I bet you're an expert! Let me ask you a question!". But since the plant is cannabis, not only is my 47 years of experience to be totally disregarded, but in fact it is used against me to say "Hey! You use marijuana! You don't know what you're talking about!"
Do you not see your double standard and your jadedness? It's really pretty obvious to most of us.
What would be even more refreshing would be a frank response from someone like you to the following facts:
I am 62. I have used it almost daily for over 47 years. I could fill you in on my health, my career, my accomplishments, etc., but let's just say during this period I have been quite the entrepreneur, paid my taxes, smiled, opened the door for people, and have never filed a medical insurance claim in my life.
For the last 25 years I have studied more about the plant itself and how it became illegal. So I'm pretty up to speed on that part too.
Currently I build a complex piece of test equipment for a niche market in the electronics industry. I designed the hardware which I build from scratch, and wrote the software. I have been doing that for about 18 years. Before that, I founded and ran a computer networking company in Oklahoma City which is still in business.
I own my own home, and keep my yard up. My health is so good that I have never filed a medical insurance claim in my life. I do not even have a family doctor, just a dentist.
About 28 years ago, I stopped using it completely for 3 years. Looking back, I can say without a doubt those were the least productive 3 years of my career.
Yet, you want to see me in jail or rehab...
So, that is me being "frank about my advocacy". I'm sure you will reply with the normal canned responses I'm so used to with prohibitionists like you. But in formulating your response, please consider answering these questions, if you don't mind:
I want to know why you know better than I about how the plant affects me and my life?
I want to know why some of you would rather have seen me in prison for these last 47 years rather than being a productive member of society?
Also, exactly when will it affect my brain? I mean, at this point I can still type, work, spell, pay taxes, etc. When will I lose these abilities because of my cannabis use?
When are my lungs going to become nothing but a big lump of cancer?
When am I going to be involved in a fatal car crash (my last accident was in 1981)?
When am I going to stop being productive and do nothing but sit on the couch and eat Doritos?
When am I going to have to have the government start taking care of me (I've never taken a government handout in my life)?
When am I going to gateway to something even worse?
First of all, than you for being frank about your advocacy with this post. You want to do what you want to do and no one should be able to interfere with your wants and desires when it comes to which chemicals you wish to use.
One of the most consistent things about users is that they usually claim that their drug of choice does not interfere with their lives and often, in fact, makes them more productive/more aware/happier/et cetera. I mean that line about your three years of abstinence being your least productive is literally the mantra you will get from alcoholics and users all the time when they're in denial. Of course, that's almost never true. Being functional and using harmful chemicals are not mutually exclusive. My father-in-law and mother-in-law are both decades-long alcoholics and he has owned and operated a successful small business for forty years. He probably has more friends than anyone I know. They have all the things you mention that you have, including his health. He too was able to avoid doctors for years, in spite of his alcoholism, because for whatever reasons, his body didn't fall apart as it does for so many. Like you, they can cherry-pick different aspects of their lives to paint a picture that, in their minds, illustrates that their chemical dependency hasn't hurt their lives. But of course it has, most significantly in terms of their relationships with their kids.
Your perception of yourself and your perception of how others see you is undoubtedly at odds with reality. Anyone who is around regular marijuana users knows this very well. Four years ago, I had to have a mini-intervention of sorts with a friend whose behavior became more and more foreign as he used marijuana more and more regularly. I asked him after one night of especially atypical behavior how he perceived his behavior the previous night. His perception, of course, was much different than that of the sober people in the room. If you listen to Phyllis Boniface in the link I had above, she addresses how marijuana affects the prefrontal cortex and thus our ability perceive our own actions. That was something that particularly struck as I then related it back to my friend and all the students I see who are regular users. And not just their distorted images of themselves and how they think they appear to others, but just the changes to their personalities as they become regular users.
Years ago, after Eric Clapton became clean and sober, he commented on the sort of delusional thinking you're demonstrating here. An interviewer asked him something along the lines of his enhanced creativity when he was a user. He dispelled that quickly, noting that although he was indeed a very successful musician during that time, he could have been so much better had he not been a user and addict. If you're making the case that regular marijuana use has made you a better businessman, you're selling that to the wrong customer.
This was all disproven so long ago. You'll get essentially nothing true about cannabis as the pill companies control the gov't studies and they don't want to lose any of their trillions to competition. A cancer might be thought of as an infection, and the cancer fighting ability of cannabis in oil form has been
proven for many years in multiple studies. 1,000mg/day for 90+ days made many stage 4 cancers vanish.
Rick Simpson cured thousands for free using up $1.3 million life savings. Videos on You Tube.
Cannabis does not cause schizophrenia, as use is up many hundreds of times compared to 50 years ago, without much change in schizophrenia. This was pointed out by Lester Grinspoon, MD Harvard U (retired). Cannabis stored in fat
is inactive metabolites. It's real easy for users to tell if they are still getting an effect, it is only active for a very few hours, and there isn't any hangover.
Cannabis was recommended for all mental health issues in U.S. Dispensatory of 1851-from the book Licit and Illicit Drugs Consumers Union/Consumer Reports. This was a textbook for those planning to work in a pharmacy. Best wishes.
Ah yes, another conspiracy theory about how Entity A controls the government studies, therefore we can't trust research coming from the government. And, yes, yes, yes, marijuana cures cancer. Yessir.
I did not argue, nor did any of those sources argue that marijuana "causes" schizophrenia.
Doctors also recommended alcohol and cigarettes at one time for particular conditions, as well. And, by the way, what are the health benefits of inhaling carcinogens into your lungs?
Which is really a parenting issue. The reason I didn’t try any alcohol or marijuana growing up had nothing to do with its legal status and everything to do with my parents.
Did Steve Jobs marijuana use impair his life?
Was he a regular user of mind-altering drugs like marijuana? If so, absolutely. Are you again measuring impairment by bank account, business start-ups and the status of his lawn? That's a remarkably incomplete, shallow assessment tool, yes?
In the little I've seen and read of the man, it's clear he had all sorts of personality defects. Is that something we've seen many times with people who use? Sure. Since you seem to know more than I about Steve Jobs, tell me about his life apart from business and about his drug use.
You do get that often people are successful in spite of foolish or harmful behaviors they choose, right? In other words, "How much more successful might they have been had they not devoted so much time and money to getting high?" Like, for instance, the opportunity costs when it comes to family. How did he do in that department? How have you done in that department?
Cannabis does not lower inhibitions, other than some cannabis could increase the craving for more cannabis. Many sometimes become violent from too much alcohol. Cannabis makes people non-violent if anything does. So, you could say alcohol lowers inhibition to try cannabis, as in your example of first trying cannabis after using alcohol. Alcohol makes many less inhibited to try the good illegal drug after bad legal drug.
Yeah sorry, the "bro science" is all on the prohibition side. Made up by politicians to serve severely racist purposes. Please point to any study that justifies its prohibition, and particularly its schedule 1 status with the likes of heroin. The burden of proof clearly falls on the prohibition side.
As for personally, I've only done it maybe a dozen times via edibles(not a fan of smoking anything) of a Sativa type. This absolutely does not give you that stereotypical high you associate with "stoners". Took too much one time and all it did was make me and my wife giggly on the couch watching a movie together and relieve my back pain. Our dog is being successfully treated with CBD oil as he nears end of life under advice of our vet. And my father uses it(CBD with no THC) to control his senior-onset epilepsy.
Last edited by notnamed; 06-05-2018 at 11:41 PM..
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