So I've been on grasscity for over a year now. I've met a lot of great people and a lot of people i'm not so fond of. I've just been reading threads tonight while smoking this j and i've noticed something strange but not that strange when I really think about it. I've noticed a few people i've seen posting here when i first joined. Talking about the first time they did mushrooms, acid or even weed. Few months later I see the same people talking about how they tried opies for the first time, few months later I see the same people talking about how their addicted to drugs and their life is falling apart now. I only log on the city once ever few months. So these things kind of shock me if you know what i'm saying. Really makes me think about this gateway drug thing, you know? It's like...Well last time I was on I saw this person talking about smoking a joint with their friends on the weekend, Now they're talking about dropping out of school or loosing jobs to addiction. It's just shocking and slightly depressing, you know? So when i first joined there were people like there are now who talked about their addictions, some got through it. Some disappeared. I know a few blades have died and that just breaks my heart. I'm just talkin to myself and sittin here thinkin about all this stuff and it's crazy, you know? Just crazy.. Maybe there is something to this gateway thing.. not in the essence that if you do weed you'll go to smack but you know. Once you do weed, shrooms dont seem so bad, once you do shrooms, e doesnt seem so bad, once you do e, oxys doesnt seem so bad, once you do oxys , h doesnt seem so bad. Is anyone in agreement with me on this? I keep it simple with just mushies , acid and weed. rolls once in awhile.. So yeah... This past year has been really fun..but really sad at the same time..I figure i'll be back in a few months and see whats going on again. -Cheers Grasscity, Best of luck to anyone struggling with addiction. -Indi420. Oh this little expression is just some random stuff i've been thinkin about. I'm in no way tellin people to stop doing what they enjoy. I'm just wonderin if anyone else has seen this.
I would have to agree, along with a lot of my buddies, that had they not started with marijuana, they would not have gotten into harder drugs. this is not THC's fault however, it is the fact that Marijuana users are constantly oppressed and persecuted for doing such a harmless thing. If marijuana was legalized, i'm sure that potential drug addicts would take advantage of the fact that marijuana has been rescheduled or even openly available/government regulated, and not go to the corner drug dealer who wants to hook you on crack or heroin. thats just my opinion.
Iv'e been mostly lurking on this forum this past year to "kind-of" comes to the same conclusion. Maybe because im only in the pandora's box, but IMO your right. Except weed, I only consume shrooms and acid as tools of introspection. So yea, it's kinda sad. What we can do...you gotta enjoy the fact that people are actually free of choices here.. SENDING GOOD VIBES YOUR WAY BLADES and +rep to OP for playing the "safe" game !
you make an intresting point. i havta agree with your gateway concept because that was sort of my mentality. i cant say ive ever been addicted to anything (cept weed, coffee, and cigarettes) but im always 'chasing a buzz' as my friend put it. it started with weed about the time i joined the forums (6 years ago) and after that prob 3 years ago was the first time i tried anything but weed. for me it started with klonopins when i got my first perscription and a firend told me that 'they were bomb' so after a little research, i abused them (took more then perscribbed for the buzz). not long after that i had tried a few pharms (percoset, vicoden, xanax). about 2 years ago i tried cocaine. not long after coke, i tried e. now we are to the end of 2009 and i can say i have tried ALOT of drugs but never got hooked on just 1 (well i like coke a bit too much and i had my time with that). on the flip side, any time i get offered an oc, xanny bar, addy, or anything else in the list, i take it and gobble it up. does this make me a fiend? yea kinda just not on any 1 substance. i have a hard time going a day without getting high (talking mainly about weed here) and if there is a streak where i dont have any bud, i end up at the bar getting wasted. il admit i have a problem, im just not sure what my problem is. i was seing a psychiatrist and therapist for a while and i was told that 'consistancy' was the key to addiction. i have no consistancy other then smoking pot. so by deffinition does that make me an addict? no but i still 'require' that feeling of being something other then baseline wow... went a lil more in depth then planning lol
I disagree with you OP for two reasons: 1) Most of the people I know that did any kind of drug were actually exposed to tobacco and alcohol before they smoked weed for the first time. I think, at least in the US, these are usually the first chemicals that people use to alter how they feel. 2) Someone that is willing to alter the way they think or feel would probably do so with whatever is available. I know plenty of people that only smoke weed on a regular basis, but many of these people have tried other drugs at some point in their life. Personally I've never tried heroin, but then again I've never really been exposed to heroin use. LSD was rampant were I went to high school, and there were plenty of people that tried it that had never smoked dank or cigarettes. The crystal meth epidemic in the US is a prime example of everyday people that have never tried any drug before who are now regular addicts. Why? Because it's everywhere...
The last paragraph describes me pretty well too, I hate feeling normal. I just love being in a different state of mind, so I chase highs so to speak. A lot of it is boredom, I tried pharms for the first time because smoking weed all day everyday is pretty easy to get bored with. Now smoking weed is totally normal to me, though I haven't smoked in a few days now but that is because my money has been buying opies lately. I don't think it makes you an addict to anything other than high chasing which can lead down bad paths if you find something that you really like.
good post. there is a gateway of sorts with drugs. whatever drug you try first can play a part. It introduces you to the drug culture, and all drugs are connected. You just gotta choose the right path and be informed before you start down a path. Knowing what to expect from a drug in the short and long term. Personally I've kinda drawn the line at x. Any kind of physical addiction potential isn't where i wanna go so i don't go there. If I had rolls that I knew were clean or some molly I would probably do it. More on topic: I guess my moral is to not let others' stories of negative effects of drugs on their lives get you down. Just let them remind you to always question and educate yourself before experiencing new drugs and to still do so afterwords. You eat the right foods to live well. You pick the right friends to be in good company. So do the right drugs (or lack of) to give yourself the best chance of getting all you can out of life
take it or leave it this is my opinion on the subject. once you start smoking weed, you obtain the "real" information about drugs. Specific drugs, are completely safe to recreationally use and not get addicted, crazy withdrawls and die or anything. Shrooms, E, Weed, Acid are all in this category. For me. I smoked weed. After smoking weed for a while, I realized shrooms weren't really bad for you. I still haven't done shrooms and wont, but I know they're okay for you, same with acid. I took MDMA because I knew it was relatively as safe as going for a horse ride (horse riding kills more people). Now am I going to take Oxy's? No. Oxy's are bad. They're literally heroin. I don't really have plans to do any other drugs. The rest are generally bad, addiction potential etc. You have to use self control. It may be very hard for some people. But not for me. I'm going to continue smoking my herb and rolling on some molly every once in a while. The only drug I could forsee me doing in the future is Acid. Most humans are weak minded though, that's why you notice this trend so pervasively. It's illogical to say "E is ok for you, so let me try Heroin". So if you're a logical individual you wouldn't think like that. "E is okay for you. But Heroin is not okay for you. So I'm not going to do heroin." it's as simple as that.
It seems most people are interpreting my OP as the main focus being a gate way drug theory when really I only meant to just mention it. My post is more of a statement about what it's like to watch the lives of people change drastically over time. It's like watching a movie, thats real. Just felt like discussing it . That said i'm in the growing section a lot and i've seen people who were just starting to grow when I joined and are now masters of the art of growing. My post is mainly about watching the members of Grasscity progress in their lives in a positive or negative way and the effect this forum has had on my own life. Either way, you're all my friends and I'm happy to be apart of this forum. It's been a great year. :
Well, if you mention it on GC, particulary in Pandoras Box... that's what most people are going to hit on. I can't think of many arguments on GrassCity that have been replayed as many times as such, other than the "Bongs are actually bad" argument and its 1 or 2 main threads... It's just a hot button for this forum. I guess you could throw Penis Straws in there, too......
Yes the "real" information about drugs Erowid Oxycodone (Percocet, Oxycontin) Vault Erowid Heroin Vault
Simple answer: There are a lot of addicts on this forum and some that haven't noticed yet but soon will.
I made a concious decision when I started smoking weed that I would leave it at that. I did some research and found mushrooms to be a safe and amazing experience and decided to try them. Then the same with acid. I think the gateway theory needs re-assessed. In my opinion there's 2 gateways. 1. By knowing people who do *** you find some of these people who do ***. You try *** or you do some reading about it, and choose to give it a try. From here you meet more friends who do *** and then find they do ***. From here you do the same. 2. You start doing ***. But you're not satisfied with just *** or you want to explore more, and so you set your sites on ***. From here you move on and on as you find more information about other things related or associated with *** and the cycle continues. Then there's always a haphazzard third option, that the person just wants to do drugs. Some people out there will hear 2 things about a drug, decide they want it and go out and do it. This has nothing to do with a gateway including other drugs except perhaps in relation to 1, however is lacking in the characteristics that I see from moving from weed to shrooms or acid (most people have the inteligence to scope these things out first for sure, not so much seen with opies). The biggest gateway is knowledge. If you can go online and read an amazing experience about drug X, you'll want to get a hold of that stuff. If you read about drug X and find it's safe, perhaps medicinal (talking shrooms and LSD, possibly weed), then you find there's really no reason not to take such a drug. Knowledge is power!! If I had more time I'd elaborate on this more and could probably spit out a paper on it....maybe tonight if I find some weeeeeeeed
i hear ya man. but i smoke weed, and do some psychs, but im not poppin pills or doin meth, its kinda a broad generalization.
What do you have to say to people that popped E before they blazed? Its addictive personalities.Not gateway theories.
I think you have the gateway drug theory confused with plain human curiosity. I agree though, many blades on this forum do have problems, and it saddens me as well :/
Well I myself am an alcoholic/addict so it's not hard for me to see. If pandora's boxes members were to go in for chemical dependency evaluations ~80% would be diagnosed as either abusers or dependant and would be recommended some kind of treatment. I just threw that out there but that's how the system works and it's based on DSM-IV criteria. Pandoras Box is good, hell it's the only forum I atttend anymore on this site, but it also in some fashion, plays with drugs that are more addicting. Don't get me wrong I'm an alcohol cause I'm an alcoholic. But for addicts just seeing threads about drugs could give them anxiety and want to use. Not the best place for recovery that's for sure