MJ - Your Opinions

[ICULIZARD]

Totally agree Jeff......great point that I think is commonly overlooked by those advocating the use of "recreational" Pot.

Now, if we are just talking about recreational use:

Personally, I like to have all my wits about me. Life is too short to go through it in a daze. I feel like people who do drugs (or drink to get drunk etc) are trying to excape from their problems or who they really are. I hope saying this is not going to offend people, these are just my opinions and may have something to do with getting old!!

I don't look down on people who do it.....everyone has tried it at some point, but I don't choose to be around them. However, I also have lost a few friends in my past because they didn't know where to draw the line (an ex-boyfriend doing it in front of his 15 year old daughter like it was no big deal).

I see what you're saying though David, since alcohol is legal and M is not. Alcohol can be just as dangerous if misused, I've known enough alcoholics to see that. I feel that is you are impaired in any way whether it be by drugs or alcohol you should suffer the concequences. Too many people are hurt or die every year including innocent bystanders.

As I said, JMO.

Megan

[Derrick]

The above also goes for blood test although generally blood cleans out sooner. So some who smokes a lot but is a responsible sober driver could test just as positive as someone who smoked a joint at a party and drove home. Also the affects of marijuanna are varried.

I worked with a guy who was a useless tool if he hadnt smoked his morning joint. His normal was high. He was far more of a hazzard sober.

[Jessica G]

Thegino,
Sorry,,, You right I said that a lttle back wards.. You are correct, It says in you blood longer. Past my bed time.
I like to keep my wits about me as well.. Again not putting anyone down.
My worry would be how to test people when need be .
I think a person drunk is just a dangers. as a person high out side there homes or a safe area,,,
I think you guy know what I'm trying to say.
Smoking is smoking ,, no matter what it is , It's not good for you.
Jess

[thunder]

i feel that marijuana should be legalized, because it is less harmful than alcohol and i feel that it is up to an individual to decide whether or not they wish to endanger their health. i also think that decriminalizing marijuana is a good idea because it eliminates a good portion of crime, and will declog the prison system to a degree. however, i believe that marijuana is psychologically addictive. this is very different from being physically addictive. still, i know many people who have been addicted to marijuana and had an extremely difficult time getting clean. but as i said, since it is only psychological and not physical, it does not come anywhere near to how bad it is to kick another drug, such as alcohol or a benzoid. and as for damage to brain cells, many stoners act stupid while high, but i dont think there is any permanent damage. but i really would have no way of knowing. as far as dangerous drugs, i feel that since there is no risk of overdose, it cannot truly be catagorized as such, because the risk of cancer is not an immediate threat in the same way that damage from harder drugs can be.

[hhw]

It's my opinion that the only reason weed isn't legal is because it's difficult to tax. Since anyone can grow their own, with comparable or often superior quality to what any commercial producer could offer, the amount of taxable revenue would be minimal in comparison to Alcohol or Tobacco.

I feel things are best the way they are right now. Seeds are legal, meaning that the government is pretty much saying it is okay without openly having to admit it and offending more conservative voters. Right now, at least in BC, if you only have weed for your own use, nothing will ever happen to you. If they were to decriminalize like they were proposing in parliament, you'd have to pay fines out your nose everytime you were caught with it in your possession. Or, imagine if they really did legalize it. Most likely it would be much less potent, and there would be much fewer strains available to choose from. Lab strains like Chemo are good, but there is better out there.

I feel sorry for our neighbours to the South, but as far as I'm concerned, things are best the way they are up here. And hey, maybe we'll get some extra tourism dollars.

[Jeff_Favelle]

And hey, maybe we'll get some extra tourism dollars.

For sure!!!

I agree man. If you're growing a couple clones in your house for personal use, no one is going to care and decriminalizing the stuff isn't going to change anything in reference to it. So why bother? Make it illegal for all the low-life dudettes trying to make it rich growing huge amounts of it, (not hard actually, heh heh) and turn the other cheek for simple people using the stuff on their time and own property. Just like it is now. Why complain? Out of principle? Its EASY to get, EASY to grow, and HARD to get caught firing up, so why the rush/need to change the status quo?

[Artemis]

Everythings bad for you. MJ leaves me still mostly coherent and without a hangover, and I get some of my most creative ideas after tokin a jay. But, there is a point of psychological additction with marijuana, even if there is no physiological addicition, as well as the fact that most people smoke it, and lung cancer sucks.

Some people use these vaporizer thingies, maybe someday Ill get to try one, but there is no smoke, only inhaling the vapors with the active properties of whatever you put in them, in the case of pot that would be THC.

Im shocked no one has mentioned the "gateway drug" theory. I personally think Im far more willing to do stupid things and try new things I normally wouldnt when ive been drinking, as opposed to smoking, but I do feel that children and teenagers have no more business with mj than they do with alcohol or other illicit drugs, and that as adults we are capable of making a judgement about whether or not smoking an L is a bad idea. Kids on the other hand, without the life experience to make better decisions, could get themselves into a lot of trouble with MJ, and I do not advocate it as "ok." for everyone.

Bottom line, not for everyone, and not for kids, but it's ok in my book, and if someone passes a doobie my way, you can bet im gonna partake.

And HHW, I happen to agree with you. I feel one of the major reasons marijuana is still illegal is because the government cant think of an effective way to make money off it it, as it is so easy to cultivate. The other reason is what we know of carcinogens. If they had known 50 years ago what they know now about cigarettes, I doubt they would be legal. I dont think that they will legalize a substance which, if no other vices can be found, is a veritable welcome mat for carcinoma and other lung diseases. I don't put much stock in statistics, but I once heard smoking a jay is like smoking 30 filtered cigarettes. Pretty scary, eh.

But fortunately, I am a smoker of cigs, so my lungs are already ****ed. Therefore, I still enjoy a little herbal refreshment from time to time, and given the choice between a quarter and a bottle of booze, it would be MJ all the way for me.

Jeff- the bonuses of having it decriminalized would be that it would be much less expensive, or even free if you grew your own. The sheer illegality of it makes it insanely expensive, unless you buy really crappy pot, called schwag around here. The average stuff (midis) go for about 50 to 80 dollars for a quarter ounce. Thats a lot for a little teeny baggie of an herb. And there are even more expensive options than that. Also- the gov't would make sure people arent adding other things to it, which happens sometimes and adds an unpleasant danger factor to an otherwise relatively "harmless" substance. Id like to go to the 7-11 and buy a pack of jays for like 5 bucks, knowing what I was getting (for a more realistic price, to boot) and having it somewhat regulated.

Cheers-
Artemis

[rwg]

In my opinion, it's not that there's "nothing wrong" with smoking pot...everything has it's pros and cons. But the cons are definitely over-stated and propagandized. Take the gateway drug theory for instance. That theory is that since a high percentage of cocaine and heroin users smoked pot before they started taking hard drugs, it's concluded that pot smoking leads to hard drug usage. It's the fallacy of equating corelation with causality. Do you kow what percentage of crack-heads started off on milk as wee babies? It's pretty much 100%. Think of the children...ban milk!

Anyway, the real point I want to make is that prohibition does WAY more harm than pot ever did or ever will. We learned from alcohol prohibition that we cant control the recreational consumption of drugs in a population, and we also learned that prohibition creates a black-market and creates the conditions necessary to support organized crime. Prohibition is putting thousands of people in jail...for what? burning a plant and breathing in the fumes? It costs billions of dollars in taxes to support prohibition, and meanwhile in both Canada and in the US education and health care are suffering from funding shortages. Prohibition antagonizes race relations. Blacks are jailed at disproportionately higher rates than whites for the same drug crimes. As bad as you might think pot is, think about what prohibition is costing you and your society.

rg

[Samba]

Well, this is an interesting topic! I personally do not use MJ. I drink a little, and smoke ciggarettes, but drugs (hardocre or not) aren't for me.

My fiance, Trevor, is an avid smoker of MJ, and it bothers me. He is good to me in every other sense, but he has memory problems. He doesn't always remember the little things I tell him. He's losing his memory to the extent that he can hardly recall the things we did when we first met. Worst of all, he denies having any problems. He thinks his memory is fine, but it's not.

It hurts when I say to him, "Remember when we.....(fill in the blank)" and he'll say, "No, when did we do that??" Then I get called the 'crazy one'.

I love him dearly as he is, I chose to date him as he was, and I will never ask him to give up something that was in his life long before I was; but I suffer. It's said that the only person a 'drug-user' hurts is himself, and that's just not true.

I am scared someday I'll get in trouble with the law for knowing him, dating him, living with him, and for loving him. That is the main reason I am in favor of legalization... if people can't take life being sober that's their decision, but their friends and families shouldn't be at risk of getting 'caught' (guilty by association).

That's just my opinion on this subject, and I do have much more to say... but I'm supposed to be working! Interesting views, you guys! =)

[heebie_geebies]

I'm on the fence with this one, mainly because I have never tried it, or any other drug for that matter (excluding booze). Not for lack of opportunity, but I have never had the desire. Sure I am curious, but I am curious about a lot of things that I would never volunteer to try. I just don't think I need to do it, so I won't.

One point I haven't noticed in this thread was those who are "perma-fried". A former co-worker, guessing 28 yrs old) is in such a state. He was always slow witted it seemed, never seemed alert, had the "Beavis and Butthead"(sp?) laugh down pat. Just your average, stereotypical burn out. And then when he did get high, he went from a burnt out bump-on-the-log to raging idiot. There wasn't a good side to him. I partied with him twice (just to make sure the first was a one time event) and vowed never to do again. He never thought he smoked too much, so he never had any plans to quit or even tone it down a bit.

Yes, I know most people who smoke MJ are not “burn outs”. I have many friends that fit that description and are quite fun to be around. But, how would you know when you've crossed that line? Who would ever admit to being a burn out? I like that ad on TV with the kid finds his brother wallet in the laundry, talks about how his brother smokes pot and how he doesn't do anything bad. Then at the end he says, "He doesn't really do anything anymore." That was the co-worker. Get up, go to work, go home get high. Repeat. That was his life. I don't think he will recover from that state of mind. It probably came from many years of smoking, but that is a path I choose not to start.

Legalize it? Decriminalize it? Sure go for it, I still won't try it. It doesn’t matter too much to me who does smoke MJ. But I hope the government will figure how to tax the crap out of it, more than they do cigarettes.

Probably not a popular opinion, but that is mine.


**editted for spelling.**

[tHeGiNo]

Take the gateway drug theory for instance. That theory is that since a high percentage of cocaine and heroin users smoked pot before they started taking hard drugs, it's concluded that pot smoking leads to hard drug usage.

I was going to mention the whole gateway thing, but I decided not to. Going through highschool, I have seen many friends put their lives down the drain, from my perspective to be 'cool.' As a statistic, I would say 70% of my friends who started smoking marijuana have gone on to to harder drugs, such as extacy or cocaine. However, the majority of other known pot smokers in my age level that are not as close as friends as these, often stick to MJ alone. It has come to the point where I have lost friends, and prefer not to be around friends because I do not want to be anywhere close to that kind of stuff. Still, I look over each one of these individuals and I am confident that MJ is not a gateway drug. I look over them and see that throughout the eight years I have known this group of people, they have always been the ones to do anything possible to be 'cool.' Its kind of a complicated thing, but we were / are (in some cases) a huge group of friends that have been together from Grade 1 back in St. Joachims Catholic school. It has, unfortunately, been torn apart by something like this. My best friend smokes weed, and he always promised me that he would never try anything else. Just from his personality, I knew this wouldn't hold and it didn't.

Still, like I said I still don't believe it is a gateway drug - people who go onto harder drugs would have gone to that point whether or not marijuana existed. That is my opinion. It all starts with being 'cool' in highschool, which eventually turns into a group of crack heads.

I see what you're saying though David, since alcohol is legal and M is not. Alcohol can be just as dangerous if misused, I've known enough alcoholics to see that.

I have a hard time putting MJ on the same lines as alchohol just from what I have witnessed so far in my life. Just the line 'just as dangerous.' In my opinion, marijuana is definitely not on the same scale as alchohol, it is much lower. Within my entire family (an italian one, so you know it's big) I have had three instances of families being torn apart over alchoholism. Its a rough thing, and I try to stay as far away from the stuff as possible. Now we all know how it is being a teenager, and I wont say I have never had alchohol before, but believe me it is not a common sight in my life. I hate the stuff. I know it is perfectly fine when used in moderation, like 90% of the population does, but knowing what COULD happen, I just do not want to take that risk. Now as far as MJ goes, I know successful veterinarians, successful doctors and a lawyer who still to this day smoke MJ. I think unfortunately, things just get out of hand sometimes...

[tHeGiNo]

One point I haven't noticed in this thread was those who are "perma-fried". A former co-worker, guessing 28 yrs old) is in such a state. He was always slow witted it seemed, never seemed alert, had the "Beavis and Butthead"(sp?) laugh down pat.

I have found these type of people are the ones who get stoned on a daily basis. It's all about being responsible, I have friends' parents who smoke MJ like one drinks beer. You don't drink before work, you don't drink after work. You drink in moderation.

[tHeGiNo]

One point I haven't noticed in this thread was those who are "perma-fried". A former co-worker, guessing 28 yrs old) is in such a state. He was always slow witted it seemed, never seemed alert, had the "Beavis and Butthead"(sp?) laugh down pat.

I have found these type of people are the ones who get stoned on a daily basis. It's all about being responsible, I have friends' parents who smoke MJ like one drinks beer. You don't drink before work, you don't drink after work. You drink in moderation.

Yes, I know most people who smoke MJ are not “burn outs”. I have many friends that fit that description and are quite fun to be around. But, how would you know when you've crossed that line? Who would ever admit to being a burn out? I like that ad on TV with the kid finds his brother wallet in the laundry, talks about how his brother smokes pot and how he doesn't do anything bad. Then at the end he says, "He doesn't really do anything anymore." That was the co-worker. Get up, go to work, go home get high. Repeat. That was his life. I don't think he will recover from that state of mind. It probably came from many years of smoking, but that is a path I choose not to start.

You can find the same thing in alchoholics - they get up, have a beer, go to work, have a few beers at lunch time, go home, get loaded, repeat. I guess the whole point of my thread was wondering why we can accept a substance like alchohol, but there is a good part of the population who shun users of MJ.

[ChokeOnSmoke]

I agree with people being burnt out but it isn't permanent. If they were to quit for a couple of weeks they wouldn't be burnt at all. I'm sure your memories will still be vague but not close to as vague if you go on drinking binge. If someone were to drink for two weeks straight and someone else smoke pot for two weeks straight, the pot smoker would remember much more (my experience/opinion). Not that, that makes it right to abuse either for two weeks...... but I feel someone can be a chronic marijuana smoker and function in society, where as a chronic alcoholic cannot.
I smoke a fair amount of pot on a regular basis. I would have to say the worst side effect and biggest downside I have found, is how unmotivated it makes you.
If it weren't for that I would probably smoke a lot more.

[Samba]

Luckily, my fiance isn't a 'burn-out' there would be no appeal to him. He is witty, funny, hyper, and super fun to be around, even when he is 'high'. I still don't like the memory loss, which is a known side effect and hasn't even been addressed here.

Lyndon, I agree with you... legailize it, then tax the hell out of it!! =)