What's ur take on weed/marijuana/ganja/dagga?

[Buli]

Guys you'll have to pardon me for revisiting a topic that has definitely been tackled before. My post has been inspired by a programme on one of South Africa's TV shows called "3 Talk with Noeleen". This is in response to what I find to be a "not-so-convincing" argument by the so-called "experts" world over when it comes to marijuana.

The said show had 3 "experts" and one ganja user on the panel. The so-called experts' argument did not really hold water - something that seems to be the norm with the so-called scientific research. What I think needs to be tackled in all honesty is "When conducting these researches how far do the "experts" go into establishing that the particpants are strict users of marijuana ON ITS OWN?

They believe marijuana is a "soft drug" - a gateway to "other hard drugs".

Well, the ganja user on the panel (a Rastafari "priest" I have had the pleasure of interviewing) had this to say about the "gateway nonsense": "I have been smoking for the last 16 years and I'm in no gateway to anything". I have to concur with him, "I have been smoking weed for the last seven years and I'm certain I will never (don't give me that never say never bull) experience with "ANY DRUG". "The fact is I'm * * * * scared of drugs - I have seen too many people's lives being wasted".

 

In all honesty until some "expert" convinces me (not that I do not want to be convinced - I'm keeping an open mind) about the dangers of marijuana ON IT OWN - I'll stay away from something that takes control of my life like drugs - and smoke, cook to eat, boil to drink marijuana well aware of its benefits to me.

 

What's your take?

[orgasmictofu]

My opinion on the gateway part of marijuana is that it really depends on the person. I've smoked some pot in my day, would I ever go into harder drugs? Nah. There is just nothing pulling me to it.

 

I am a faily independent, strong willed person. I'm not one to give in to peer pressure. I make up my own mind.

 

Now on the other hand, let's take a look at a 16 year old in high school who hangs out with the "bad crowd". That 16 year old might not necessarily have the life experience to know that the crowd he hangs out with is "bad". One of the kids in his group get ahold of cocaine, brings it to the group and says "let's smoke". That kid, unless he REALLY has guts, will smoke the coke.

 

So again, it really depends on the person.

 

I think too the gateway theory stems from the fact that most, if not all (please anyone correct me if I'm wrong) people who do harder drugs, did start out smoking pot. Marijuana is easy to get ahold of. And someone who is predisposed to do drugs, will start out with the easy stuff first.

[Mrocza]

It's a controversial issue.

 

While some people may argue, marijuana can be a very mind altering drug.

 

Some say it improves their concentration, while others can't concentrate at all.

 

The reaction we have from any drug is usually the body's individual process of using the drug and/or flushing it out of our system. Even when drunk, it is called intoxicated for a reason. It is an overload of a foreign substance and the body, trying to flush it out, uses all of it's resources, thus you get the feeling of being drunk, sometimes accompanied with memory loss, nausea, passing out, etc.

 

Because you're inhaling marijuana, it's difficult to determine if the effects are truley harmful because people have similar side effects but there is nothing linked to death itself.

 

 

 

While not everyone will chose to convert from marijuana to harder drugs, a lot of the people who do choose harder drugs, make the choice based on the initial euphoric or fantastical feeling they experienced in these highs they experienced with marijuana use. Some want to intensify this feeling, so they try ecstasy or cocaine for a "better" high.

 

Not everyone is like this, but it's just stats.

 

Scientific research- what kind of other claims did these guys make??

[AwdreeHpburn]

I agree with Orgasmictofu and fairie on the gateway thing. I too think it depends on the person. When I was a teenager, it WAS the gateway drug for me. But it wasn't for some of my friends.

 

Just for the record - drugs are bad. Even pot.

[Mrocza]

Agreed.

 

I smoked pot for a while too, but after a while I started to realize the toll it was having on my "friends"

 

I know some people who are university students and daily smokers...

 

I know some people who are in their 20s at dead-end jobs and daily smokers...

 

It's easy to say marijuana use will ruin you, make you lazy, stupid, etc. But it depends on the individual.

 

I'm not using it, nor do I feel the "pull" to. Nor did I ever feel like using harder drugs...

 

While some of my "friends" I no longer converse with because they're snorting and popping every weekend. :S

[altosinger314]

I go to a university where the kids are all rich hippies. Thus they all have the money to get pot. If someone wants to do it, that's none of my business. I'd be a little disappointed in my friends that could really do something with their lives but they get stoned all the time, but I can't do anything about it. So I really care anymore.

 

I think they should legalize pot like Europe. Not necessarily condoning it, but definitely tolerating it more. It's pretty much harmless. And if not legalizing it, at least make it legal for medicine. So many cancer patients are dying and in pain, just make it a little more comfortable for them.

 

Gateway drug? Probably. But it mostly depends on the individual and their friends, situation, etc.

 

Personally? I've done it a couple times, but I don't enjoy it. It hurts my lungs and I space out like I don't know where I am.

[boplait]

i've smoked a fair amount of hash in my time and reacently gave it up. 3 months ago... my reasons? it clouds your internal judgement and thinking patterns. my girlfriend recently broke up with me and i thought? is it because i was smoking? (she didn't mind too much) what i mean is has it changed me? i couldn't answer this myself.. so i gave it up to see what i was like without it. and to be honest i feel now that i am better off without it. i'm alot sparkier, more fun and more interested in people.. rather than myself.. i would like to know how many high achievers consistently smoke wacky backy.(i know most people have smoked it at one time or another in their life.) eg ceo's, directors, politicians, i think the bottom line is that it is not good for society as a whole... i've been to cristiania (denmark) nimbin (australia) and amsterdam all tolerent pockets. and i can tell you i wouldn't want to live there.....

[AwdreeHpburn]

Pretty much harmless??

 

Search the web. There have been many, many studies that proves that statement wrong. Pot does do things to the human brain.

 

I'm not judging smokers, honeslty. But marijuana is harmful.

 

If it makes cancer patients feel better, whatever works and I'm glad there are things that do.

 

But I have known WAY too many non-cancer patients who smoke that stuff like cigarettes (which are bad too).

[Mrocza]

I think they should legalize pot like Europe. Not necessarily condoning it, but definitely tolerating it more. It's pretty much harmless. And if not legalizing it, at least make it legal for medicine. So many cancer patients are dying and in pain, just make it a little more comfortable for them.

 

.

 

I'm pretty sure they do have legal medicinal marijuana. It's not as strong as the "Street" stuff, but they do provide it. Government grown drugs lol

 

Atleast here in Canada.

[AwdreeHpburn]

good for you boplait - I'm glad you decided that you're better off without it!

[Mrocza]

Pretty much harmless??

 

Search the web. There have been many, many studies that proves that statement wrong. Pot does do things to the human brain.

 

I'm not judging smokers, honeslty. But marijuana is harmful.

 

If it makes cancer patients feel better, whatever works and I'm glad there are things that do.

 

But I have known WAY too many non-cancer patients who smoke that stuff like cigarettes (which are bad too).

 

Ugh, I totally agree.

 

People will argue it , because there has been no deaths linked to smoking pot, as opposed to alcohol related deaths and cigarette smoking.

 

One joint is the equivalent of 4 cigarettes or something like that. While there is no DIRECT link to death, you have to think about the other life altering effects of it.

[Dako]

I've probably smoked a few bushels of pot, and stopped when it became boring. I tried it recently and felt stupid and bored.

I'd bet the majority of junkies started out on coffee. Is coffee a gateway drug?

A while back the anti-pot folks cited the breakup of chromosomes as proof of weed's risks. This argument held up intil it was found to also happen from such things as coffee, cola and cold medicines.

I smoke a cigar once in a while. It makes me feel good, and carries less risk than my daily commute.

As a libertarian, I think pot, suicide and sex are personal choices we can make for ourselves.

[Shadows Light]

Grin... Did you really Dako.??? aye... I'd probably be bored to tears as well but I"d be solving world hunger issues in my head .. grin .... its been a long long long time.

[Dako]

I was an indoor gardener.

[Shadows Light]

I was a two hit girl. grin... 2 hits and I'm good to go.

 

I was a responsible pot smoker.... never drove my car while high, never got into a car with someone whose smokin. Stayed home and partied. Read books. Wrote my best college term papers. Played cards whatever.

 

Harder drugs never intriqued me nor did I ever inbibe anything. Unless you count my pot of coffee in the morning as a drug

[Dako]

Yeah, I'm a boring old guy these days, just listening to my arteries clog.

I did notice fairie16's new frisky avatar. Hey, you two...get a room!

[Shadows Light]

Dako... I'm sure you are a facinating individual whose just possibly suffering from Seasonal Affects Disorder.. ya need some sunshine babe.

You'll be okkkkkkk.. sweets...

[AwdreeHpburn]

I noticed fairie's avatar too....I liked it.

 

I do agree with most of your post Dako. Coffee prolly is a gateway drug. Or maybe Kool-Aid. I think that's how I got started. Kool-Aid when I was a kid. And I think it wa my own MOM who turned me on to it. Coffee when I was a teen-ager, then it was on! Pot, coke...

 

It is sort of silly when you put it that way.

[Ians Mommy]

As the movie Half Baked says, weeds a gateway to mainly junk food.

 

 

Which is true if I must say so.

[keenan]

coffee, weed, alcohol, all in moderation: yes

anything else: nah

 

most of my friends (mostly well-educated professionals) and many of my colleagues (all academics at various levels, in various places) have this same pattern. i think smoking pot is more common than is ordinarily thought...though perhaps much more in certain areas of the country than others. i've also noticed that it's more heavily stigmatized by younger people i've met (early twenties and younger) than by people of my generation and older.

[novaseeker]

Eh, it really isn't that common among the professional population here in the Washington area, that's for sure.

 

I've never really enjoyed it, smoked it maybe 4-5 times with friends in college and didn't enjoy the sensation really. I liked alcohol fine, but pot ... just didn't do it for me, and I've never been interested in other harder drugs either.

 

I think pot is a mind-altering drug, but so is alcohol, nicotine, etc., and they are both legal. And of course alcohol abuse is very problematic socially, and yet alcohol is not illegal. I think the fact that pot is illegal and alcohol isn't is 100% cultural in that alcohol has been the established "drug of choice" in western culture for thousands of years, whereas pot is a newcomer. I think it should be legalised and regulated, like alcohol, to be honest.

[tyler711]

Never done any kind of drugs. I see it as a sign of individual weakness or naivety. Can't cope with reality, teens and peer pressure from friends, and what have you. Yes, this includes marijuana. Drugs are also a major source of crime in society. No one can tell me that marijuana is just like smoking, or not a "hard" drug. I've seen plenty of violent people that were high and if you get high and get behind the wheel you're going to wreck just as much as if you did some other drug. Plus it's illegal. I hope to never see anything legalized in my life time. It's a nasty drug, a nasty habit, like smoking.

[Dako]

I've smoked pot with lawyers, a city planner, a hospital administrator, corporate executives, an biochemist, teachers, a uniformed city policeman, and a number of others who have pretty good lives.

They don't advertise their habits.

[VibratingRainbow]

Iv tried it once.. I reckon it should be legalised so it can be controlled cause the thing that scares me the most about the thought of smoking pot is that i dont know exactly what else could possibly be in it.. and as long as it is used sensibly at the right time right location, in moderation or whatever it is a relativly safe drug from what credible research iv seen as well as what iv observed myself.. as to weather its a gateway drug or not is debatable but i think it has more to do with the person.. i will probably try other drugs at some point in the future mind you i know what i want to stay away from.. being meth and opiates.. but it hasnt changed my mind having smoked i felt this way even before trying weed.

[xtina]

i sometimes smoke weed, but not too much. I've noticed that it may be what is causing me to be forgetful and have a lazy mind. So i usualy smoke once a week or once in two weeks just to have a high and get a lil relaxed.

 

I don't think this would be a gateway to hard drugs, because ii'm seriosuly not willing to try anything else... cause i've been educated on that.