Some people are against it for moral or ethical reasons. Some people simply don't partake because of legal ramifications. Others simply have no interest!
But now that pot is become legal across the country, has your outlook on it changed? Now that you won't get arrested and jailed for 10+ years for smoking a blunt, would you do it? Try it? Have you already tried it?
What's your take on the whole marijuana legalization business? Do you agree? Disagree? Why?
DISCLAIMER: Absolutely not flaming or insults. Have at thee when it comes to discussion, even heated discussion. Swearing is okay, but under no circumstances are you to fling personal attacks or insults.
Hell yeah! You mean I can have some fun, relax, lose some inhibitions and have more fun with friends without alcohol?
No more hangovers! No more vomiting! No more terrible balance! No more drunk white girl dancing!
I'm in. Drinking strikes me as a pretty bad trade-off, but THC is a different matter entirely.
Personally, I cannot. I have more than enough lung issues without adding marijuana in to the mix. But I wouldn't be opposed to others who use it as they need it.
Maybe if it was in something tasty like a brownie. D: I don't like to smoke! I'd also do it super rare, like I do with drinking. Cause I dun like getting drunk or hi, I just like to relax a lil bit before bed or something.
No, I don't like the smell of weed at all. I barely tolerate cigarette or incense smoke. I'm also not that comfortable with altered states of mind. Even when I drink, I like to keep control of my faculties, so anything more than just getting drunk is a serious no-go for me.
No, I wouldn't. It's not because of moral reasons - frankly, I don't see anything bad about cannabis - but I can't stand the smell. It nauseates me, which is weird considering I work with really smelly chemicals all the time and they don't bother me.
No. It's not nearly as bad as alcohol or tobacco (neither of which you should do regardless of if it's legal or not imo), but it's still a drug and it's still bad for you. Besides, I prefer to stay away from recreational drugs in general because of what I've seen they can do to people in the long run. And in the short run as well, really.
I'd try it out, but honestly speaking, I don't think I'd be able to stand the smell. I'm barely able to deal with cigarette smoke as it is, I don't want the smell of it clinging to the furniture.
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A lot of people have mentioned that they can't stand the smell, but I'd like to point out that, most of the time, pot is baked into things, like brownies or cookies. Smoking it is actually a major waste, because all of the effect in the smoke is lost. So... smell is a semi-reason.
I'd try it once. I'd probably have tried it once even if it wasn't legal, if my friends had a sample. After that... I'd let my reaction determine the rest. My mom told me that pot just made her sleepy.
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No, because I've known many potheads (I live in BC for christs sake) and it fucks up your memory and learning most noticeably; THC inhibits the parts of the brain that are to do with memory, coordination, learning, and problem-solving, to name a few. The potheads (and it's not really a degrogatory term around here, most potheads I know refer to themselves that way), that I've talked to are irritating to have a conversation with because you have to keep repeating things you've already said, or point out things that are pretty easy to pick up via context and common sense. like, if I said it's my brother's Birthday coming up, so I'm going to buy a baking pan, I'd get asked what I'm going to make (a cake being the obvious guess if you can pick up with the clues of Birthday, Baking, and something you need a Baking Pan for). I don't know if this is something that gets worse with repeated use or is just happening while people are high, but I can smell marijuana like a damn hound, and I get these issues whether the person smells like it or not. Either way I LIKE my short-term memory and learning/problem-solving skills!
Also I swear every other one of 'em is a conspiracy theorist that thinks the Big Bad Government is out to get them. I don't know if the THC does it or if it's just the kind of people who live around here, but I ain't takin no chances!
0 interest. There's a lot of reasons to it, but it's kinda hard to get into them without sounding insulting. I don't care if other people do it, mind you -- I just want it as far away from me as possible.
In my experience, marijuana is a lot like alcohol. People who don't abuse it are never really noticed. Yeah, the potheads that you know are potheads all have bad memories and tend to be paranoid and dumb... but chances are, most of the alcoholics that you know are uncoordinated, angry, and don't remember a lot of things.
You can't judge a substance by the people who abuse it. Prescription drugs help far more people than they harm, but how many people do you know who take Vicodin when they need it/want it and aren't addicts? Chances are you know quite a few. The functional ones, well, you never know about those. They keep it hidden.
Carl Sagan smoked pot. I'd say his memory and ability to learn were top notch. Maybe he's a majority; maybe he's not. Those that waste their lives on pot tend to be the most noticeable but that doesn't mean they are a typical experience. Of the people closet to me who I know 100% smoke, there are...
Shiftless 19 year old with no jobs skills or meaningful relationships, but very bright mind. Can memorize facts and spot patterns easily.
27 y.o. fireman/MMA fighter. High strung semi-jerk when not stoned, mellow and awesome dude when he is.
29 y.o. electrician with a bit too much curiosity, if anything. Shockingly good memory (especially when it comes to food/recipes).
40-odd y.o. international finance systems programmer who specializes in developing programs that automatically convert currency and apply taxes.
40-odd y.o. middle school science teacher. Used to work with in-vitro, #2 lab in the country. Quit after he got cancer and re-evaluated his life choices. Did not quit smoking.
52 y.o. English major college dropout. Licensed plumber. Specialist in Texas Native plants; currently has about 100 endangered trees in her backyard that ag labs across the state cannot cultivate.
53 y.o. ex-"plumber". No job, lazy, exceptionally bright. Leading specialist in tektites with a focus in bediasites with numerous international trips to conduct field studies. Offered cataloging position at the Smithsonian institution, declined.
One of the few trends I've noticed is a lack of ambition. However, there are two factors which means I don't necessarily think of it as a bad thing. First, it's difficult to rise in a career when you have to cheat on every pee test- the lack of ambition could be due to fear of getting fired. And second, a lot of the energy not spent on advancing careers is spent with family and friends or on hobbies. Stoned people don't seem to find inane tasks very boring- washing dishes can become an adventure. Doesn't strike me as a drawback, necessarily.
Did my job as a citizen and cast my vote during the Missouri vote. One can only guess what my stance is.
Let me just say, marijuana or specifically the chemical we call THC, like any other drug can be over consumed and cause many of the negative repercussions the drug has sadly had when its impact has hit our society. Education in such things is majorly important if we want to have something legal and are free to use according to our laws. The same happened for alcohol, the the moral choice for removing the amendment for prohibition wasn't because people wanted to have a few drinks and feel good, while doing so caused no immediate harm, it was that group that over consumed which caused major repercussions not only into society but in business as well. So that may come across as a morally grey area to some.
Its a rather similar issue with marijuana.
But before I begin rambling on and on....
My point is, this has happened before as it is happening now, will we learn from the mistakes of our elders or shall we repeat them as well? Just look at whats happened to alcohol over the past eighty years. If marijuana is legalized, do we want to repeat the same consumption disaster we did before or will it be the same?
I'd like to address people's statements, if I may. Now, keep in mind I am not promoting the use of the drug, nor am I denouncing it. Rather, I am only trying to give information and with that, hopefully when you say no to someone who offers it's a stronger, more knowledgeable no. Or yes, whatever it is you decide.
While I won't disagree with you that marijuana can cause problems, I disagree that they will cause the same ones as alcohol. If it were as bad we would have car crashes, murders, and deaths attributed directly to marijuana. Now, those CAN be contributing factors, and in all honesty with murder it is probably the entire reason, if it is at all, but they are rarely given as the sole cause. I believe I've only read of one death in my entire thirty years and from what I hear, it is a dubious claim at best.
No. It's not nearly as bad as alcohol or tobacco (neither of which you should do regardless of if it's legal or not imo), but it's still a drug and it's still bad for you. Besides, I prefer to stay away from recreational drugs in general because of what I've seen they can do to people in the long run. And in the short run as well, really.
Good on you for staying clean. It's a good, healthy choice and no one should fault you for it and I agree that it isn't as bad as tobacco or alcohol. But is it still bad? A common misconception is that marijuana smoke contains more carcinogens than cigarettes, but has anyone thought of how many of them are cancer causing or if they are as harmful as the ones found in cigarettes? Another thing said about marijuana is that it causes brain damage, but the study that showed these results has long since been debunked many years ago and shown to be not very scientific at all (They forced smoke into poor monkey lungs and deprived them of air. Made them brain damaged due to lack of oxygen). Some also say it is a gateway drug. But consider the atmosphere people find themselves in when they are dealing with marijuana purchases. Typically you have a drug dealer who only cares about his bottom line and not your health. So if you bought pot from him and one day he didn't have it, but he does instead have meth, some may be tempted to try it. All people? Of course not. But some. Enough to make it seem like marijuana does indeed lead to harsher drugs. Essentially you are likening it to water being a gateway drug to milk.
I wouldn't dare demean or undermine your mother's passing. I think you've made a right choice. The psychological benefit you may get from it would be marred by your personal experience. Additionally, I understand that cigarettes AND marijuana in tandem can cause very bad health problems for lungs. Again, I'm sorry for your loss.
A lot of people have mentioned that they can't stand the smell, but I'd like to point out that, most of the time, pot is baked into things, like brownies or cookies. Smoking it is actually a major waste, because all of the effect in the smoke is lost. So... smell is a semi-reason.
I'd try it once. I'd probably have tried it once even if it wasn't legal, if my friends had a sample. After that... I'd let my reaction determine the rest. My mom told me that pot just made her sleepy.
Not entirely a waste of marijuana but I will agree that burning it is less desirable for getting all of the benefit of the plant. While smoke does play a part in getting you high another part of it is that the heat from the top of the pile vaporizes the bottom part and increases the amount of THC and other chemicals that you imbibe. That aside, you are right, big waste in comparison to edibles or vaporizers.
No, because I've known many potheads (I live in BC for christs sake) and it fucks up your memory and learning most noticeably; THC inhibits the parts of the brain that are to do with memory, coordination, learning, and problem-solving, to name a few. The potheads (and it's not really a degrogatory term around here, most potheads I know refer to themselves that way), that I've talked to are irritating to have a conversation with because you have to keep repeating things you've already said, or point out things that are pretty easy to pick up via context and common sense. like, if I said it's my brother's Birthday coming up, so I'm going to buy a baking pan, I'd get asked what I'm going to make (a cake being the obvious guess if you can pick up with the clues of Birthday, Baking, and something you need a Baking Pan for). I don't know if this is something that gets worse with repeated use or is just happening while people are high, but I can smell marijuana like a damn hound, and I get these issues whether the person smells like it or not. Either way I LIKE my short-term memory and learning/problem-solving skills!
Also I swear every other one of 'em is a conspiracy theorist that thinks the Big Bad Government is out to get them. I don't know if the THC does it or if it's just the kind of people who live around here, but I ain't takin no chances!
I won't deny that it alters your short term memory and it can take a toll on your problem solving and learning skills if you let it. And I stress that "if you let it", because it's your will power that fails, then it will get you. The reason I say this is because while a lot of "potheads" think deeply, at some point they stop wanting to learn. I've seen this myself countless times. It isn't that the drug is causing them to be idiots. THEY are causing themselves to be idiots. The are getting lazy, they are letting themselves go and they are deciding to take a path that leads them to ruin their minds. Does this happen to a lot of them? Oh yes. I could rant, literally, about the laziness and exclusionary nature of "pothead" culture but I won't waste your time.
Lastly, I can't say what happens in Canada, but in the U.S. there WAS a conspiracy against the hemp industry, and by extension the marijuana industry, that has caused the illegality it faces now. Paper barons wished to maintain their money flow that was being threatened by hemp.
Did my job as a citizen and cast my vote during the Missouri vote. One can only guess what my stance is.
Let me just say, marijuana or specifically the chemical we call THC, like any other drug can be over consumed and cause many of the negative repercussions the drug has sadly had when its impact has hit our society. Education in such things is majorly important if we want to have something legal and are free to use according to our laws. The same happened for alcohol, the the moral choice for removing the amendment for prohibition wasn't because people wanted to have a few drinks and feel good, while doing so caused no immediate harm, it was that group that over consumed which caused major repercussions not only into society but in business as well. So that may come across as a morally grey area to some.
Its a rather similar issue with marijuana.
But before I begin rambling on and on....
My point is, this has happened before as it is happening now, will we learn from the mistakes of our elders or shall we repeat them as well? Just look at whats happened to alcohol over the past eighty years. If marijuana is legalized, do we want to repeat the same consumption disaster we did before or will it be the same?
While you aren't incorrect in saying that consuming too much THC is bad for you, it is. But too much of literally anything can kill you. Marijuana is self medicating, in that eventually you stop smoking because you're high. It's not like harsher drugs that require more and more to maintain a roughly similar high that you first got. You don't long for the high so badly that you are willing to do anything for it. Now, you do see those things happen, but they are the exception, not the norm.
Finally, I think we should look to our fellow countries that have decided to decriminalize or legalize marijuana, they have shown a decrease in consumption across all age ranges and treat drug abuses as a medical issue instead of a legal one, in some cases. Maybe we can take a hint from that.
In conclusion to all this, I want to reiterate that I am not condoning the imbibing of marijuana in any way at all. I encourage everyone to do as much research in ANYTHING you want to try recreationally and to keep a good support structure around you when you do. Equally, I want to tell you that you are not alone in your decision to NOT do drugs. It's not lame or stupid to say no, it isn't uncool. You are choosing a healthy, safe lifestyle and you should never say sorry for that. And remember, keep as much of an open mind about whatever people enjoy as much as you would like them to keep one about you and your wishes not to partake.
