It's just a plant...

[TheMinistered]

You'll think it's just a plant when one day 10 years from now you find yourself wandering down magnoila avenue asking everyone you can find/scamming anyone you can just to get a blast off a crack rock.

[MrRaza]

You probably smoked it wrong or smoked with stupid burn outs that made it boring...

[Invert]

Where is the book that deals with the facts about the damage to your brain and body when smoking marijuana?

[K]

Where is the book that deals with the facts about the damage to your brain and body when smoking marijuana?

Cigarettes and Alcohol both damage your brain and body plenty, but we haven't declared war on either of those yet.

[MyndFyre]

Where is the book that deals with the facts about the damage to your brain and body when smoking marijuana?

Cigarettes and Alcohol both damage your brain and body plenty, but we haven't declared war on either of those yet.

That doesn't mean that we shouldn't have declared war on marijuana.

[Invert]

Where is the book that deals with the facts about the damage to your brain and body when smoking marijuana?

Cigarettes and Alcohol both damage your brain and body plenty, but we haven't declared war on either of those yet.

So maybe we should make crack legal too?

So how many of you are using marijuana for medical purposes and how many of you are abusing it just to get high? The book talks about using it responsibly and not abusing it. The point is that most people would abuse it.

Most people that drink alcohol drink responsibly, most people that smoke understand the damage they are doing to their body. Most people that smoke marijuana abuse it and know very little about its long term effects on their bodies.

[Rule]

So how many of you are using marijuana for medical purposes and how many of you are abusing it just to get high?

Hahaha...  Thanks for the laugh

Marijuana is a plant that people smoke just like tobacco, damn that is a horrible drug.

Are you talking about my blunt? My cousin was rolling that and he packs it down tight when he rolls, it all fit and it all hit. You must not know how to roll.

Looks like you're contradicting yourself.  You draw likeness to how people smoke pot just like they smoke tobacco, yet you later try to differentiate the two.

Most people that drink alcohol drink responsibly?  Where do you get that from?

[Grok]

I fully support decriminilization of marijuana.

[K]

That doesn't mean that we shouldn't have declared war on marijuana.

No, but you can't claim that the government's concern for its citizens' heath is the reason marijuana is illegal.  Call it personal freedom if you're a gun-toting republican, claim that the government shouldn't legislate morality if you're a strung out hippie democrat. Either way, it should fall in with your political dogma. (note: 'your' in general. not you  )


Besides, looks like our current president needs a little more federal revenue.  I bet legalizing and taxing marijuana could help him out.

So maybe we should make crack legal too?

So how many of you are using marijuana for medical purposes and how many of you are abusing it just to get high? The book talks about using it responsibly and not abusing it. The point is that most people would abuse it.

Most people that drink alcohol drink responsibly, most people that smoke understand the damage they are doing to their body. Most people that smoke marijuana abuse it and know very little about its long term effects on their bodies.

I don't use marijuana in either way; in fact, I don't use it at all.

Yes, we should make crack legal, as well as heroin and amphetamines.  That way all the people stupid enough damage their bodies and minds so severly will make a quick exit from the gene pool.

[Rule]

I fully support decriminilization of marijuana.

Hmm, I actually think this is a bad idea.  Although I don't think most marijuana smokers should be seen as criminals, I think possession should remain a criminal act.  It has been decriminalized to an extent in Canada, and I don't think it has really had a positive impact on the community.  Unlike when there was a prohibition on alcohol, there is almost a culture built around pot-smoking.  Marijuana is stored cumulatively in fat cells, and takes a long time (month) to deplete from the body.  Aside from an immediate high, it can alter your state of mind for quite some time, especially if you are smoking on a regular basis.  It follows that the pot smokers stick together much more closely than say alcohol drinkers or cigarette smokers: they have far more to differentiate themselves from others.  There is a lot more to the lifestyle than simply the smoking activity.

I think a lot of people start young without realizing that they will be pretty much shut out of most social circles later in life, and stuck in an unproductive group of people.  These people (perhaps depressed by the state of their life) usually go on to try harder drugs, and hence isolate themselves further -- it can be a viscious circle.  Because pot does not have any immediate or obviously dangerous side effects (e.g. hard to overdose), it can be a very dangerous drug.  It can destroy your life by slowly draining your motivation and separating yourself from ambitious and competitive people.  Since these are not immediate physiological side effects, the drug doesn't get nearly as much credit as it should for producing them.

Having written all that, I think any legal steps towards loosening the slack on
marijuana dealers/users would be seen as a great victory for their culture.  It
would encourage more to use.  I resent that part of Canada's identity comes from its "pot culture," it bothers me when I see "cannabis culture" posters at universities, and it would be horribly embarassing and degrading to be deemed the pot capital of the world -- a title which Amsterdam, a city** where marijuana is completely legal, seems to claim at the moment.

The government should go as far as it can to punish and demonize those who deal (especially), and use marijuana.  Overall it will have a positive effect on
society, and in this case, I think the ends justify the means: as long as the means aren't horribly unethical.


Edit:  **Yes, Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, very good.

[Mephisto]

Mephisto is a pothead? Or just a pot-supporting hippie? :p

I don't smoke weed every day ... but what's wrong with smoking it @ parties or w/ friends?  or at work ... zzz

It's stupid, either way. I've tried it. It's no fun whatsoever. I'd rather drink.

You should try smoking it the right way then.  The first time I tried it I thought it was retarded because it turned out I wasn't smoking the "right way."  Best to start with a pipe, IMO. 

But seriously, I'm a "responsible" pot smoker.  I don't do it everyday, just at parties or with friend get togethers.  It hasn't destroyed my ambitions (see my college posts) and I consider myself to have a successful life so far (friends, sports, part time job, car, future plans, etc.).  Pot is great for just relaxing and easing the stress, which frankly is very welcomed in my busy life (as with other people).

Face it, it doesn't matter what you do about marijuana unless you flat out make it a capital offense and set out on search and destroy missions of the plant, it's going to remain part of America (and other parts of the world).  I know many family members that smoke it occasionally, and a lot of people I know have family members that do (in fact, I got high the first time from my friend's Mom when I was 13 :p), and the majority of them are successful people.  Meh..

[Invert]

So how many of you are using marijuana for medical purposes and how many of you are abusing it just to get high?

Hahaha...  Thanks for the laugh

Marijuana is a plant that people smoke just like tobacco, damn that is a horrible drug.

Are you talking about my blunt? My cousin was rolling that and he packs it down tight when he rolls, it all fit and it all hit. You must not know how to roll.

Looks like you're contradicting yourself.  You draw likeness to how people smoke pot just like they smoke tobacco, yet you later try to differentiate the two.

Most people that drink alcohol drink responsibly?  Where do you get that from?

What's wrong with changing my stance on things?
Also do your own research on alcohol. You will see that I'm right about most people that drink alcohol drink it responsibly.

[CrAz3D]

I think the abusers to nonabusers ratio for alcohol looks better than marijuana.  However, I think that alcohol is more dangerous when abused.

I still support taxation of pot (maybe use the taxes for healthcare?)

[Rule]

What's wrong with changing my stance on things?
Also do your own research on alcohol. You will see that I'm right about most people that drink alcohol drink it responsibly.

There's nothing wrong with changing your stance on things.  It's just funny how your posts so directly contradicted one another, and both seemed to carry that underlying "I'm right, you're wrong" kind of tone.  Maybe they didn't, whatever.

Re: Alcohol.  Are you suggesting you've done some research that I should take seriously?  Because I don't see you referencing any study showing that most people drink alcohol responsibly.  In fact, I've found generally people are more irresponsible with alcohol than they are with pot.  Most college students are purposefully wreckless with alcohol, and I'm sure alcohol is more responsible for
family breakups, etc, than pot is.  There just isn't the same social stigma attached to it, so it's not as though you're going to have a nice joint with your lobster dinner in a 5 star restaurant.  I'm just being speculative though.  You sound as though you are an authority because you have done research on it.  Are you?  Let's see it.

[CrAz3D]

Thirty percent of the alcohol in New Mexico is consumed by underage drinkers, according to Joanne Ferrary, area coordinator of the Doña Ana County DWI Resource Center.

From the Las Cruces Sun-News, today's issue.