Are we abusing this drug? *Controversial*

[cowofsteel]

I think 80% of the people abusing it don't think they are, and the other 20% just don't think about it.

It's abuse to me when your smoking everyday and when your not smoking your thinking about it... when you spend all your money on a bag cause you just really wanna get high, or its having a negative effect on your life like someone else said.

I think a lot of people on these boards probably do abuse it, and I bet most of them are under 21... but thats just a guess

[bumtildeath]

before i started smoking mj, i was really hyper and loud, and b/c of that, i didnt do so well in class b/c i would never listen, so, i started making c's and d's, and getting in trouble in school alot, but ever since i started smoking mj, even when im not high, im a lot more calm, and now im in all honors classes making a's and b's.

and up there, cowofsteel, i dont think most of the ppl on this website are abusers, and some of us might spend a lot of money on mj, but its just like spending it on a movie or game or something, for entertainment.

[illsmosisyou]

well, abuse is a term that is really up for interpretation when you try and apply it to something. i think that abuse occurs once there is a physical dependence (doesn't happen w/ weed thank god) or the drug is used to escape emotions, or more correctly to bring on a euphoria to escape said emotions. i can say that im not at that point and if i ever reach it i'd quit in a second. so im not concerned about me at all but i know there are people who are not this way and need herb or else they just get too stressed out. i'd say to those of you who are like this... try and solve your problems instead of temporarily fixing them with herb.

[pot head]

The people that smoke it non stop yes other than them no.

[DancinJERRBEAR]

i put no, however there are some people who do abuse.... sorry if i offend, but i believe people who use once a day and upwards are on the brink of abusing- that is if it becomes a habit as opposed to a special thing to do. However, if a person smokes his bud maybe every other day, a bowl or so, and does it as a special thing as opposed to a stress reliever then hes not abusing... er something...... ok yes ill shut up now.... yes i am high

[n i c K]

i guess im an "abuser".
i have all this ambition to go out and get a job... but then i get a call sayin "LETS BLAAAZE"... and i go get way lit and dont do a damn thing.
but its fun, and i love doing it.
i'll be cutting down here pretty soon once i start workin, but it will still be a daily thing..
after an 8 hour day, nothing would be better than a bowl of some real good kush

[CloseToModern]

I think one's smoking habits could only be consistuted as abuse if they have some kind of significant negative effect on the smoker. I smoke a bowl a day on average and have been for some time and in that time my grades in my classes have actually improved (4.0 GPA most recently) and I feel like I have become a much more insightful and thoughtful person (which may be partially from when I shroomed too.) So... once a day may be abuse for a person who substitutes smoking for taking care of their responsibilities, but for me it doesn't get in the way of anything at all, nor does it cause any problems in my life, so I don't really think its abuse. On that note, I'm gonna go pack a bowl.

[hippie john]

well, i think abuse isn't really how much you smoke, but its what happens to you when you smoke.... like said above; if it starts to negatively effect more than one aspect of your life.... then its riding on abuse.... like say after starting smoking, you dont like plaing sports anymore, and become less athletic... now to me, as long as you dont gain a bunch of weight from it, because your sitting around on the couch all the time, then its not abuse...

but on the other hand, if you smoke once a week and you find yourself not able to keep a job because of it, then yes, your abusing....

now if you work from home, keep up on your bills, are happy most of the time, say hi to the neigbors, and smoke 6oz. a day, then nope, I wouldn't call it abuse....

personally I can wake up, get high, and go to work 2 hours later and still get plenty done, sometimes more than sober... If i started a buisness, I'd make it a requirment that all my employee's be high before arriving for work... and i'd drug test 'em to make sure

[Mr Skinner]

Originally Posted by hippie john

If i started a buisness, I'd make it a requirment that all my employee's be high before arriving for work... and i'd drug test 'em to make sure

You can consider this an unformal application. Tell ma when you've started your business and I'll apply in an instant. And as for the turning up at work stoned...I won't let you down

[Menace]

I personally feel that marijuana will never be legalized in the U.S. *BECAUSE* of the people who abuse it... And that is the sad part... The majority of the people who try to "campaign" for legalization are the ones who are total burnt-out stoners who have it in their mind that they couldn't survive a day in their life without spending it high... Here's a little insight into abuse... I know a guy who smokes pot all day everyday... I have seen him say (and actually go through with it) that he would not go to work if he could not find some pot before he had to work the next morning... I have seen him drive to 3 different counties on a non-stop pot search that would not have ended until he found some... I have seen him take countless number of items to the pawn shop and basically give them away just so that he could get some pot... I have seen him lock himself in a room all day and not interact with anyone because all he wanted to do was sit and get high all day, listening to the radio, and not share with any of his bum friends if they happened to show up... This person is the most extreme case of a worthless abuser that I have ever seen... And to be honest he pretty much disgusts me... I always thought that noone could ever be literally addicted to marijuana, as if it were crack cocaine or something... until I met this guy... and I don't mean "addicted" as in just jonezing or being bummed out because you've had a bad day and really want to just get high and relax... I am talking about life-altering addiction to the point that you no longer even have a life to live... his entire existance revolves around smoking pot... and the ironic part is that he has spent like 20 years of his life high, every minute of every day, and I have listened to him say on numerous occasions that he has to smoke "so much" pot now because it barely even has any effect on him anymore... it is ridiculously pathetic... and makes no sense... this person almost turned me off to smoking pot altogether... I have smoked pot for about 7 or 8 years, and I have stopped and started many times... I have smoked on a daily basis for months at a time, and then just stopped and not smoked at all for months... I have smoked socially just with other people, and only on the weekends... It is no big deal... smoking pot is a "treat"... not a necessity to get through your daily life... if you ever find yourself thinking that you can't do this or that, or even get through your day without getting high... please take a look at yourself and put it on the back burner... stop smoking and let yourself realize what life was like before you started smoking pot... and then make it a "fun treat" again... because it's really not fun, or a treat when you feel like it's a life and death emergency to be high at all times... keep it fun... keep it social... life without pot is possible, and necessary for some people... but life with pot occasionally is better... self control is a beautiful human characteristic...

[Grim Bongmaster]

I think it eventually will be legalized in certain states. Eventually your going to have so many people like me out there, who fucking hate the government, they'll take control of the state legislature (maybe in new hampshire) and just give a finger to the feds, they've really overstepped their bounds, they have no right to tell people what to put in their bodies.

Like many people have already said, negative effects on your life constitutes abuse. Here's the kicker though, I think your abusing your brain if you don't smoke weed every now and again, I think your abusing yourself if you don't read a lot, I think your abusing yourself if you don't try Salvia and shrooms.

Salvia and shrooms really enhanced my perspective on life, one of the main reasons I love weed is the way music sounds when I'm stoned, and the crazy conversation that comes up between friends.

Can you abuse weed? Fuck yah, but you can just as easily be abusing other things, like your brain, by not reading, or doing shrooms , or your body by sitting on your ass all day. I figure we're all abusing something, so whats adding one more to the list eh?

[plumface_2002]

Originally Posted by nosemonster

don't let them brain wash you into beleaving we are doing a bad thing when we toke up. for me its just something that helps me out socially and maybe just to get me through the day

i think if you need weed to help you socially that is a bad thing. Noone should ever depend on any substance to help them in any way in life. Although i have to admit i have used pot as an escape from life. But this is where things start to get hairy, if everytime you smoke your just using it as an escape, in the end things are gonna go bad. Everybody has their bad days, and a bowl will help you through that. Just dont ever let yourself think that the reason you are having a bad is cuz ur not high.

[???Paradox???]

i feel that marijuana itself isn't abused until the user can't control his habit. Like an addiction but not physical, just an overwhelming cry for your cerebral cortex to be bombarded by euphoria at every point of every day. But seriously i use to feel like i smoked way too much.... about three times a day every day for a year or so. I got to the point where i had to smoke any time i saw pot, but then after i did i felt like crap for being high again. Like hooking up with almost any girl you see and after your done you realize she was ugly or fat or dirty...lol. (not that pot is a bad thing just that when it is used a bad times its unwanted after the fact). Marijuana isn't really addictive just habbit forming, but then again so is everything else you do in your life. Anyways my overall feeling is that as long as you can still focus on what your goals are; school ect. smoking no matter how often isn't abuse. Its all up to the user in my opinion. For me three times a day got to be too much, but if you feel fine with once a day than thats good for you.

[Namynam]

i smoke everyday and would consider it abuse, but i dont give a fuck about it because im in fucking high school and probably am going to one of the biggest party schools in new england next year so ill worry about abuse when i get into the real world.

[mooglekexin]

might have been said already, but it IS a lifestyle not jus ta drug...