So I didn't know exactly where to put this but I guess it'll go here until someone decides it belongs in a more suitable part of the forum. I'm always seeing consistently on the internet "facts on marijuana" with websites like Above the Influence and D.R.U.G.S. Personally, I know the truth. I've been smoking for nearly three years and haven't had any lung issues or mental health problems. So all I'm asking for is your astute opinions, really. Anybody on here think marijuana is bad? Or do we all think it rocks our socks off and isn't as negative as government run websites and other programs tell us it is? Fire away, fellow stoners.
The plant itself is harmless. Yet, most humans consume marijuana with un-healthy techniques. We all know that smoke is bad for your lungs, weed is no different. Personally, I do believe that early smoking of marijuana can lead to social withdrawl/anxiety at an older age. This is all a matter of opinion of course, just my experience. Gate way theory is bunk, and is caused by prohibition not by the plant. Anyone, and everyone should be allowed to use marijuana with the exception of stoned on the job and driving. I'm already paranoid about bad drivers, do you think I will be okay letting some 19 year old with eyes nearly shut doing 65 behind me? I think not
Will have to differ here.. its been shown in Amsterdam, if one can go to a "coffee shop" to buy some bud' and bud happens to be the only "drug" at said coffee shop. Now lets talk about little Johnny goin to see his connect Martinez after school. Well Martinez sold out of bud, but hes got the gnarly little pills called ecstasy, cheap and last for hours.. Now had little Johnny gone to the coffee shop and wasnt introduced to ecstasy would he have bought it? Not gateway in the sense that "oh shit im not gettin high anymore let score some crack" but yes in America with current laws, it is a gateway drug.
I will have to agree some and disagree some with you on this one. The Gateway Theory, I personally believe, has to do with the environment one is raised in. It has to do with the morale values one is taught to follow, and the circumstances a person happens to be in. With the current laws placed in America today, crime has skyrocketed due to marijuana prohibition and other laws that really shouldn't be in place. The Black Market has rather integrated itself within the marijuana market, so if you're young and ignorant, and you don't have weed around, the dealer that young person usually goes to can be a complete ass and offer some other drugs such as ecstasy or LSD. Marijuana itself will not lead someone to get into another drug. Rather, it has more to do with the people a person surrounds himself or herself with. I think I may have reiterated your point, but I just wanted to put all that out there. I apologize for the possible repetition.
LilJ86, like I said the theory is bunk. It wasn't caused by the plant. What you posted was caused by prohibition. If there was a legitimate way to get grass, you wouldn't deal with drug dealers who probably push harder things leading to the availability/wonder of trying w/e else. but yes we see eye to eye, I think
It makes my blood boil that the government calls them "facts". Its outright deceitful lies. Fuck the government.
I disagree. It's not the drug that is the gateway. It's the fact that when you use scare tactics on people, and then they try it for themselves and realize it's not the devils weed (like they had been told), it can give a person the false impression that all drugs are more benign. Hence leading to more experimentation. I can also see things that impair judgement, such as alcohol, being more likely to be a gateway than weed.
[quote name='"walterbishop"'] I disagree. It's not the drug that is the gateway. It's the fact that when you use scare tactics on people, and then they try it for themselves and realize it's not the devils weed (like they had been told), it can give a person the false impression that all drugs are more benign. Hence leading to more experimentation. I can also see things that impair judgement, such as alcohol, being more likely to be a gateway than weed.[/quote] I agree with this.
Im not sayin thats wrong in the least! But i also believe availability of "hard drugs" as well as peer pressure to a point all play a roll.
Hog wash and hot air!! Well which one is it, your opinion or your vast experience.... as what? Are you a doctor, do you or have you done research in the field of marijuana, anxiety or old age? Just what to you base this belief/opinion on? I have been smoking grass since I was 14 years old and am now 56 and believe me I know lots of men and women from all walks of life as old and older than myself that have been smoking for years without social withdrawal or anxiety. My "opinion" is based on the facts of a long life and actual experience with real live people that have jobs, families, bills, hobbies, all the things that make up life.
step 1: allow political influence through money. step 2: introduce a naturally superior and more efficient product potentially rendering a large business' products obsolete. step 3: threatened business creates a propaganda campaign against the superior product and bribes lawmakers to ban the substance. and there you have a war against the sick and innocent. Money speaks louder than morality and the only thing louder than money is fear. There isn't much to be afraid of when you can bribe the government that's supposed to prevent you from harming others for profit. This is exactly how it started, and continues, without debate.
As you say that is total bullshit. I have been smoking since I was 16, that was 1966, and the only ill effect that it has had on me is the paranoia of being caught. I have known people that really got weirded out while smoking and every one of them just quit smoking....
From what I recall, Amsterdam is actually a fine example of why the gateway theory is bunk. Ever since the introduction of the coffee shops, Amsterdam has seen the rates of other hard drug use decline. The rate of cocaine use in Amsterdam is (I think) less than half of what the rate is in the US.
smoke is bad for your lungs, butter is bad for you heart (but yummy), sugar is bad for your teeth (also yummy), junk food will kill you if eaten every day, the particulate matter from public transportation buses ain't so good for you either. Still I prefer to live in a country of free choice (well informed always helps). If you want to smoke grass, eat junk food, smoke cigars (in your own home please) cook with butter and stay up late...just go for it. There is nothing worse than someone else's opinions keeping another adult from doing what they please.
we got speed problems here in the USA also. The truth is that no government busybody no matter how well their intention will stop some people from doing things that harm themselves. The public is not well served by criminalizing personal behavior, one only has to look at the results of decades of dealing with drugs as crimes . Yes the speed freaks and junkies are a problem, but the public health system is a better venue to deal with them than the criminal justice system....oh fuck, the USA has no health system...now that's a fucking crime!
[quote name='"maggo"'] smoke is bad for your lungs, butter is bad for you heart (but yummy), sugar is bad for your teeth (also yummy), junk food will kill you if eaten every day, the particulate matter from public transportation buses ain't so good for you either. Still I prefer to live in a country of free choice (well informed always helps). If you want to smoke grass, eat junk food, smoke cigars (in your own home please) cook with butter and stay up late...just go for it. There is nothing worse than someone else's opinions keeping another adult from doing what they please.[/quote] It has actually been proven that marijuana smoke is not nearly as harmful to your lungs (if at all) as cigarettes obviously are. I think we're all in agreement that marijuana definitely has plenty more positives than negatives, yeah?