The Truth About Marijuana

[JetteroHeller]

Originally Posted by thisbechuck

I would love to see some completely independant, extensive research studies done in some country where cannabis is legal so I can really learn the truth about the long-term effects (if any) of the consumption of THC.

If you have a look at the data on the anti-drug site I originally mentioned -- not just the data on joints (which I'm sure this particular forum may have an opinion on) but on other things such as crystal meth or kiddie coke, the point is to educate people on drugs that actually do end up ruin peoples' lives if they end up taking them.

It's as cut and dried as educating someone that they shouldn't walk in front of a mac truck, as it's statistically dangerous. Sure, some people will be able to perform some sort of Neo matrix manoever, but others will get flattened.

It's not out of some money-motivated strange thing that people want to band together and educate people on the dangers of drugs -- it's that by and large, if you are a user of hard drugs, you end up less productive and can eventually drop dead. Which, for churches like mine, it's against our general intentions to have people drop dead - we'd rather they live happy, productive lives instead.

[Riddle]

I wrote a paper last semester for my composition class about why I beleive marijuana should be legalized. Throughout my research for the paper, I found out that for every 104 marijuana smokers, only 1 will move on to harder drugs. When less than 1 percent of smokers move on, I find it very difficult to buy into the gate way idea. Plus I beleive that if it were not for the fact that most marijuana smokers have to buy it over a black market, even less of them would ever even be propositioned to try harder drugs.

[primetime21335]

Some day I might try acid or Shrooms... But i'll never try Coc or anything like that. I know I'll become addicted too quickly. Weed gets me screwed up enough, I don't NEED anything else. You know what I mean? Plus getting high is totally different now than it was when I first started. I know so much more.

[thirdworldarmy]

My policy is, if it's a natural growing substance then it's ok ie: weed, shrooms, salvia. But chemical drugs like meth, Ecstasy, Coke, etc. Chemicals into the body= bad, natural substances= good.

[Ake-N-Bake]

Originally Posted by Riddle

I wrote a paper last semester for my composition class about why I beleive marijuana should be legalized. Throughout my research for the paper, I found out that for every 104 marijuana smokers, only 1 will move on to harder drugs. When less than 1 percent of smokers move on, I find it very difficult to buy into the gate way idea. Plus I beleive that if it were not for the fact that most marijuana smokers have to buy it over a black market, even less of them would ever even be propositioned to try harder drugs.

I couldn't agree more. I would say the only reasons any pot smokers really move on to anything like heroin is because pot has been grouped in with those drugs and made illegal, making pot smokers become involved with the black market where everything else is sold as well. I mean if pot were legal people would grow plants in their backyards. Nobody would have to meet scruffy Joe(who also sells coke and heroin) behind a Jack In The Box just to buy some herb.

I think the war on drugs causes more problems than it tries to fix.

p.s: and get real man. that website has more misguided "facts" than anything i've read in a long time.

[InvisibleSmoke]

Originally Posted by JetteroHeller

I just saw a ton of referral traffic from a different pot forum, on a blog post I had posted on marijuana usage leading to other drug usage. I had mentioned the new Foundation for a Drug-Free World site, the nifty animated smoker on the front, and the fact that the site had a message delivering the truth about marijuana. I got back a slew of various comments and such saying that basically that I had no right posting such a thing, as well as some "hee hee hee" posts saying that the site was making them more likely to smoke than not.

Now, I feel quite strongly about the fact that marijuana usage can lead straight into usage of more hard-core drugs, which can have an even more destructive effect on peoples' lives. There are all manner of arguments about the relative seriousness of marijuana (something I'm not totally going to get into here, in a marijuana forum) but I felt that between my blog post, and the site's page itself on marijuana, that this point is made pretty clear -- but I get all manner of different opinions on this.

So, rather than just engage in a flamewar, I'm actually interested in what you think about this -- after reading a site such as this on joints, what that would make one think if one was a youth not yet involved in drugs.

If it's aimed at younger children, maybe it's not too bad. Drugfreeworld seems like it's less propaganda than the other sites preaching drug free-ness. I find it interesting that there is no info booklet for cannabis, just joints. I wish I could have read the whole thing. It seemed to keep it toned down without wild accusations about it.
(I'm talking about the booklets, NOT the real life accounts).

If it helps some kids, well alright then.

Sneaky Scientologists...

[Freeze]

ok, i didnt read the whole thread so forgive if im repeating but marijuana is no gateway drug...

the only way it could possibly be persieved as such is due to the law of our perspective countrys... if weed was legal i would never have even come into contact with any other drugs, as i would get it froom stores/coffee shops... as it happens, the people that sell weed - being criminals - also sell speed, crack, heroin, pills... i hve even been offered free samples of the above - which i never would have been offered from a coffee shop!

if weed was legal, there would be even lesser link between weed and harder drugs.

i would also like to put across the arguement that alcohol is the greatest gateway drug...

it is the first drug most children try (wether a sip of ur dads beer or a pint in the pub) , its effects are more like hard drugs than maryjane - in that it creates an "up" high and pretty much renders users out of control - as does crack cocaine for example - where as weed just puts u on ur ass..

[emrandel]

Haha, the gateway things funny... it was a gateway drug for me. But I'm glad it was, I enjoy harder drugs responsibly and know entirely what the effects of them are on me. There's plenty of people who couldn't do that, which sucks for them. But I can use LSD, ecstasy, herb, coke and mushrooms all the time without it effecting my life or health in the long run. It's all just about being educated, I think it's ok for anybody to do any drug as long as they know exactly what they're doing and how it effects them mentally and physically, in the short term AND the long term.

[sincityusa]

I don't think that pot leads to other drugs unless you are mentaly weak. I am 29 years old and have been smoking on and off for over 12 years and i have never done any drugs that i did not want to. My first drug i tryed was mushrooms then pot, and i quickly drooped the shrooms and picked up the pot. I agree that drugs like coke and meth are very serious drugs and people should stay away from. But to try and use tactics to scare people away from weed is just wrong. They told me in school that pot could lead me down a bad road and i am hear to tell you that is crap.

[Reggin]

How ironic, I just packed a bowl at my computer and got on here after being gone for awhile.

Smoking itself does NOT lead to you to harder drugs, it just makes them more accessible. Once you find a good hook-up. Odds are, he probably slings coke sometime, too ( at least it's that way, too )

Hold on, let me hit this bowl again.

Ah, that was good. And once you find someone who slings coke, his guy that gives him his coke is going to know a LOT more people into harder drugs. Smoking pot just makes harder drugs more accessible. You just have to learn to avoid them. I lost what used to be a good friend to pills, coke, and methadone.. and we started smoking pot together for the first times =\ I know how it goes.

[Radio Flyer]

The way I see this is, everyone starts drinking. Was the first DRUG, and yes I say drug of your not alcohol? It is a drug because it alters your mind when consuming to much. If you did not do alcohol first, yes you probably did smoke some marijuana. Now, are these both not millions of times easier to get ahold of when you first enter the world of drugs than say, acid, shrooms, coke, meth, heroine, speed, X? I beleive they are both easier to get ahold of. If coke was easier to get ahold of then alcohol and marijuana then everyone would start with that.

[Mr.Smiley]

Originally Posted by JetteroHeller

My reply to that would be:
http://www.drugfreeworld.org/real-life/joints.html

Hahaha oooooh yah i'ma add that to favorites next to freevibe for when i need a good laugh.

Ps. After you get done reading that site why not bring up Reefer Maness for some hard facts? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness
I hear those reefers turn you into a rapist or into a black man!

*edit*
The redone color musical of that shit is awesome. That jesus part was crazy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HhIl8GJapq8 youtube direct link to the movie. Make some popcorn

Also op guy. I have a few things to say to you. Firstly, odd place to bring this up. This being a marijuana forum and all. You have stones . Secondly, I've smoked pot on and off for about 5 years now. I've not gone crazy. I'm not retarded. I'm not smoking ice. In fact(long story and weed had nothing to do with this comming about) I ended up with a crack ho and her pimp in my apartment once and they were like "Just try it " "It's free!" ect. I was like.. no. Had good friends try to get me to do X with them. I was like...no. I've had everything under the sun offered to me and i still stick to what i said before i took my first puff. "Only weed and the occasional shroom". To this day and for the rest of my days i will stick to that. I've lost friends to meth. I've had a few od on heroin and die. I've been to ghettos and to Lords houses and many many places some people will never be. Through all of that I just stick to weed.

A few of my friends are "addicted" to World of warcraft. They never leave their computer. They never take a bath. One of them has ended up living back with his mother because he wouldn't stop playing and go to work. I've seen a computer game screw up lives more in a month than weed did over many many years. Hell i wish they would log off long enough to come over and smoke a bowl.

The point is you can get addicted to many many things. You could be a drunk, an ice head, a heroin junky, or a wow head(?). Some people are addicted to sex some to molesting children it goes on and on. Some people just get addicted to shit. If the worst "addiction" someone like this has is weed or wow god has been kind to them or they are lucky.

And lastly. Not a single person i've ever known that ended up doing hard drugs ended up there because of weed. They might of run into the wrong people but that has nothing to do with weed and everything to do with it being illegal and they would of just gone looking for them at some point either way. If it was totally legal people would just go to the store to buy a pack and smoke it. It wouldn't be underground and therefore you wouldn't run into someone that also sold crack. The only reason at all weed could be considerd a "gateway" drug is because it's illegal not because of the weed itself. Since i started smoking i've had to run from the cops in car and on foot. I've had to go to the ghetto a few times or other shady places to find it. I've run into people that did crack or shot up heroin. I admit that if i never started smoking i most likely would not of ended up in these places/situation or run into these people but the only reason these things happend is solely because it's illegal. Has nothing to do with the "drug" Itself. As a matter of fact look into the history of alcohol prohbition.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.html (just an example. I already know what happend and if people are to lazy to look for themselves or need pages and pages of proof and refuse to adjust views because they are to lazy to do the research they demand to be satisfied they deserve to remain ignorant)

Another thought. You have alchohol and cigs at most parties where people are smoking weed and you would run into the exact same people If weed was wiped off the face of the planet and if weed was gone youngins would just go even more crazy over X and oxy. If anything weed is a speed bump on the path to harder drugs because many try it and decide to stay there. Without it All those many many people that have made marijuana their only vice would at best end up drinking instead and at worst would have had nowhere to go but to x or even harder drugs.

[mushroomsatsuji]

Originally Posted by JetteroHeller

If you have a look at the data on the anti-drug site I originally mentioned -- not just the data on joints (which I'm sure this particular forum may have an opinion on) but on other things such as crystal meth or kiddie coke, the point is to educate people on drugs that actually do end up ruin peoples' lives if they end up taking them.

It's as cut and dried as educating someone that they shouldn't walk in front of a mac truck, as it's statistically dangerous. Sure, some people will be able to perform some sort of Neo matrix manoever, but others will get flattened.

It's not out of some money-motivated strange thing that people want to band together and educate people on the dangers of drugs -- it's that by and large, if you are a user of hard drugs, you end up less productive and can eventually drop dead. Which, for churches like mine, it's against our general intentions to have people drop dead - we'd rather they live happy, productive lives instead.

No, because you see, your site is HIGHLY biased

[sensi420]

I always felt that many of those who use cannibis...

-Don't care about what happens to their body
-Think that drugs aren't as bad as everyone says they are
-Are rebellious in nature
-Have emotional, social, mental problems
-Have a family history of drug use

All of these demographics are people who would use harder drugs anyway. The one and only demographic that would chose marijuana and marijuana only are those who...

-Do a signifigant amout of research and find that marijuana is a safe drug

Which is quite rare in the overall drug community (but more common on these boards).

Then people say that marijuana is a gateway drug because all the people in the above demographics start with it and move on to other drugs. Well, they were gonna do other drugs anyway, but they started with pot because it is the weakest and the most logical starting point, the easiest to find, and the most widely accepted.

Legalization would help combat (but not solve) this problem, as taking that first step doesn't mean buying drugs from a drug dealer. Drugs would be a much more underground thing because as it is now, there are many pot dealers that can operate just because so much of the public is accepting of it, but if pot was illegal, drug dealers would have a much harder time gaining clients because they would have to be much more cautious of how they approach people.

[Rabiez]

Cracking post Mr.Smiley, covers almost everything I feel about the matter. The last few paragraphs (particularly about the gateway issue) ring very true, and I'd like to back it up with my experience.

For me, marijuana was a gateway to harder drugs, due purely to it being illegal.

Once I realised that my friends weren't turning into psychotic maniacs, or dropping out of school, or any of the other things that were supposed to happen to them once they'd tried pot, I decided I'd try it.

I liked it.

I quickly realised that I'd been lied to about the dangers of marijuana. In an almost explosive bout of joined-up thinking, I came to the conclusion that if they'd lied to me about this, then they've probably lied to me about all drugs.

I promptly went about seeking out these other drugs, and dived straight in.

I found out the hard way that some of the 'lies' about drugs were actually truths.


Jettero. Your comments about your "church" and it being

"against our general intentions to have people drop dead - we'd rather they live happy, productive lives instead."

I'm sorry man, but that's just the sort of stuff that winds me up. Here's a thought; why not keep your nose out of other peoples lives? If I decide to drop dead, it's really none of your business, now is it? You want me to live a happy life, but what if dropping dead is the only thing that'll make me happy? What if I've been very happy and productive, but am now unable to continue being productive for some reason, which is making me really unhappy? See? Are you getting it yet? You have no idea what makes any individual happy, and to presume to do so makes you and your organisation look foolish.

You'll be glad to know I've excluded a religious diatribe, on the basis of superiority.

My God doesn't mind me smoking marijuana, but he's not too keen on lies and deceit.