Your stance on Weed.

[FattyXP]

I have 0 tolerance to weed, and the reason is very obvious.

Also, I personally have seen family members and friends who smoke it and have done nothing with their lives except try to cling onto more financially secure family members/friends and then proceed to steal from them to continue their habbit. Or have proceeded to more hardcore drugs. Also, chances are they work at some Min. Wage Job and have no ambition to advance in life.

In other words, I have seen nothing good with this drug.

I am against it for many reasons.

The first is seeing how weed can effect people. Chances are, most junkies started on weed. I saw this with my brother as well as many of my students (Biology teacher here). All that crap of how it has no long term effects is pure nonsense, it can mess with brain chemistry and cause mood swings, memory loss and loss of concentration.

At least with booze you can get a whacking great hangover to prove it isnt harmless.

The kinds of people you speak of would have gotten into 'Hardcore" drugs had they smoked weed or not. They have an addictive personality, and weed just happens to be the most commonly and cheaply available of any kind of abused drug.

The fact of the matter is, people want to get high. They get high on what they can get. Don't blame weed for being a gateway when the people would be exactly where they are now, regardless of having smoked it or not.

One thing i'd just like to correct the BBC documentary on. 'Skunk' is not a new super breed of Cannabis. Skunk is an old school strain, it has been around for about 30 years now. The strain in itself is no more potent that any other strain there is, the strain doesn't make it potent. The way it is grown is what makes it potent. You can get a super high quality, award-winning strain and grow it badly and it will be very weak. Yet you can get some bag seed of some really poor Cannabis, grow it with top of the range lights, perfect lighting cycles and treat it as if it were your own child and you could believe it was grown from an award winning seed pack.

This is pretty much true, only that strain does have an impact on THC potency. As an example take a look at just about any seedbank, they all list the potential THC contents of every strain they sell, IE like 10-20% usually.

[Trawgdorr]

I don't care what people do with their life as long as it isn't negatively effecting me. So I obviously don't care if people smoke weed or not. Sometimes I smoke weed, or spice, with my friends, but not really that often. I can honestly say that something has changed in my mind since I began smoking. I've been zoning out a lot more than usual, but I don't really mind it because it makes me think about reality (which, I think, is an interesting subject). There are plenty of other things in the world that are way worse than weed.

What makes this game any different from weed except that weed is illegal?
You're most likely addicted to this game, and it's a little more difficult to get a addicted to weed.

EDIT: You know, The people who voted against legalizing marijuana were probably people who sell it illegally.... Juss sayin'.

[Noobske]

My stance on weed eh? Let's see, it's legal over here (Netherlands FTW! :P) so yeah, I smoke weed every day except when I'm at work or have other obligations to fulfill. So yeah I think weed's good :P furthermore I have ADHD and since stopping with the regular medication (ritalin etc) it makes me relax more and helps more then the ritalin. Maybe something to make you guys think about it ; "God made Weed, man made beer. Who do you trust?!"

[Sarcasm]

For those curious as to why alcohol is legal and weed isn't: Money and tradition.

And also because it's something the politicians themselves enjoy, and wouldn't want to lose.

[Proz]

I see a lot of people writing about how weed ruined someones live. This in 99% of all cases is false. some people use weed, alcohol, other drugs and substances as an escape. To run from existing problems and (mental)issues. weed does not tend to cause any of the problems listed here in this thread. (Two pages back, there was a mother with two children. I know this must be painful for you, but really, marijuana does not cause those issues.)

The American government had a war on drugs a few decades back. It created a huge, mostly false, stigma on marijuana. (other drugs too, like MDMA - It's a rather interesting movie, and maybe even a bit of an eye opener if you're interested in the positive effects.)
Which is a shame really, because if you vaporize your weed, there really isn't a downside to it. You can consider it a safer alternative to a mood setter then alcohol is, both in health risk and behavior. I mean when have you heard about stoned people rioting and breaking stuff.

As for weed being a gateway drug. Yes, that holds some merit too it, however only in countries were weed isn't legalized. The reason it's a gateway drug isn't because of the drug, because let me make one thing perfectly clear, weed is -not- addictive, it's no more addictive then liquorish or cheese, it's because of the people who sell it. They earn more from people addicted to actual drugs that are expensive and are physically addictive to everyone. So they try to push that product too.
In countries were marijuana is legal, this isn't the case. A even funnier statistic is that in countries were marijuana is legal, the percentage of full time users is actually lower. Which is quite understandable, because making something illegal, makes it more tempting and fun.

Weed is still a popular scapegoat, luckily this is slowly disappearing. Medical reports on the matter are becoming more and more positive and true, as governments subsidize the research less and less. (Yes, sadly enough, there is a connection to the outcome of research like this, when it's subsidized by certain people or not.)

One important thing I might of forget to mention though is that I do not approve of smoking marijuana. There are healthier ways of consuming it. You have cookbooks which show you how to incorporate into any basic meal, or just vaporize it, which I prefer.

on a side note, just to make it clear for some people. Weed does not make you hallucinate, weed does not make you hear voices or lose control. Smoking weed with tobacco makes you mostly stoned, not high. (yes there is a difference. )

[Lenin]

And also because it's something the politicians themselves enjoy, and wouldn't want to lose.

sir, you win this thread !

[FattyXP]

He could have just, ya know, been stupid. Trust me, I drive on freeways in Southern California all the time and my god there's a lot of morons.

People suck at driving. Period.
People don't pay attention, Period.
Bad Driving + Pedestrians not paying attention = dead pedestrians. The dude just happened to test positive for weed. Bet he wasn't even high when this happened.
Can't confirm details as this appears to have not happened, at least I can't find the news story on google which means it doesn't exist.

[densetsu]

people who are scared of weed are just stupid IMO , you should be scared of people who use it and how they use it. Sure if you smoke 10 blunts a day you are not going to be very productive but it's not like every single person who uses weed does that.
Most people use it after school/work to just take the edge of, it's not any different than lets say a guy cracking open a beer after a day of work.
I live in Holland and as most of you probably know smoking pot is legal here(in the comfort of your own home/coffee shop , not out in the street) and do you know how many major crimes I've heard of been committed by people while they were stoned ? 0
Yet every few weeks(if we are lucky the time in between is longer) there is some news report of some drunken guy smashing some kid into the pavement.
Now I'm not saying everyone who drinks is a alcoholic or anything, it all comes down to my very first sentence: It's all about who uses it and how they use it (it being their soft drug of choice).

So my stance on weed is : Use it how you use everything in life , with moderation

[Aonix]

I'm Dutch so.. Legalize it!

[Demik]

First, I have a low tolerance. I take 3 hits and i'm comfortable. I don't like to be stoned off my ass. Just a little chill. Now for my wall-o-text.

Doing too much of anything is bad for you. Food, wine, drugs, hell...even drinking too much water will kill you. This is only an issue because people don't know how to control themselves. If weed is illegal, alcohol should be too. BUT alcohol is already legal, so we can't do anything about that. We have to look at it as it's own issue, not comparing it to other things that are bad for you. Pot is mostly harmless, but smoking is never good for you. If you do smoke, I recommend a vaporizer or edibles. The THC won't kill you, but smoke in your lungs is terrible for you.

I'm not big on it. I have friends that smoke 10 blunts a day. That's way too much for me, but these people also hold down great jobs and can function. People think of weed and think of the person sitting on the couch all day not moving. I'll light up a bowl after a long work week and chill out at home. I hate being anywhere but at home when I'm smoking. What other people do doesn't have anything to do with me. Use weed responsibly and don't drive. I always tell people "handle your high"....whatever your high is; alcohol, cigarettes, weed, coke, junk food. Don't act stupid or get in my way. Don't drive under the influence of anything.

Everyone says "I drive better high", that's bull. If you drive better under the influence of anything, you don't pay enough attention regularly. A little high, chatting w/ guild and farming...pretty good time.

Unfortunately, laws and policies are based around stupid people. While I'm all for legal marijuana, to be honest...there is no practical reason to change the law. There will be some person that can't handle their high and fall asleep on the highway or vomit and swerve into oncoming traffic. Just like idiots that drink and drive thinking that they're okay.

My aunt smoked medical marijuana while undergoing chemotherapy. It helped deal with the physical pain, as well as bringing her appetite back so that she could eat and keep food down. This needs to be looked into. I admit that a lot of people throw out the medical excuse because they are potheads defending their own habit. But there is some validity to the medical use of weed. In my state, you go to certain doctors, pay a $60 "application fee", say that you have migraines and bam...you have a card to legally (by state law, not federal) buy weed.

If we want to realistically keep medical marijuana alive and have a chance at legalization, we need tighten up. No random healthy 21 year old should be able to get on medical because he says he doesn't feel good. I love weed, but I don't care enough about it to consume it more than once every couple weeks.

As far as I know, there is no way to test how high you are. Is there an easy way for a cop to determine if you're too high to drive. There has to be a scale and a magic number. This would result in the same flaw that the breathalyser has. .08 BAC is two beers, regardless of your tolerance. If you pound an 18-pack every day, .08 isn't even remotely buzzed. The person in the car behind you could be completely wasted at .08.

I'll be happy with legalization, but there are many other factors and things to figure out. I think 25 is a good age, rather than 21 that is always on the ballots. I am much more mature at 25 than I was at 21. Most people start to learn to use better judgement in their early 20. Didn't mean to type all that, I can't sleep. Time to spark up. =P

[Runicblood]

I'm not really for or against it, or the people who smoke it. It has less harmful ramifications than cigarettes though there is a lot more tar build-up for people who hold their weed in for 15 seconds and then exhale, and it also has less intoxication and clouding of judgement than alcohol. There are links between heavy addiction to weed being a risk factor of psychosis. Skunk is the most dangerous though, it contains less of the chemical that suppresses the hallucinogenic qualities of the THC and so it's strongly advised just to smoke standard cannabis.

I don't know, i could someone agree with the first part, but.
The last sentence. LOL. learn what you're talking about before posting, THC does NOT cause/contain any form of hallucinations.

[Rampant Rabbit]

Living in the university dorms I find that weed is simply distasteful.

I don't want to hear about your fap folder, but I don't care that you have one. The same goes for weed. I have a lot of friends who smoke it, but I don't hang around them when they do. It doesn't make them bad people or anything, I just prefer not to hang around them when they are high because suddenly everything becomes funnier to them and they act silly.

As long as people keep it to themselves (or do it around others who are all doing it) I don't have a problem with it.

But God help you the next time you come into my room stoned and try to eat all my food.

I take it you don't/won't do alcohol either then? Cause if you do you would be kind of a hypocrite.

---

I honestly don't see the big fuss about weed. I guess the fact that it's illegal in America makes it sound more dangerous than it really is. Now that might be a naive thing to say as most junkies start off with weed since it's the most accessible drug out there, but there will always be junkies, legal or illegal. The reason for those people becoming junkies would not be the weed itself but their environment (neighborhood, family). They are (generally seen) unhappy and need a way out of this world of shit they are living in, so they find the easiest way out. Which in often cases would be weed or hashish and the most dangerous of all, alcohol.

Fact that the environment is the biggest cause of people becoming who they become is in my eyes unavoidable AND avoidable if the action is taken against these factors causing people to be unhappy. Which is probably the hardest thing to do since you can't suit to everyones needs, but you can make it at least as worthwhile as possible.

I'll be happy with legalization, but there are many other factors and things to figure out. I think 25 is a good age, rather than 21 that is always on the ballots. I am much more mature at 25 than I was at 21. Most people start to learn to use better judgement in their early 20. Didn't mean to type all that, I can't sleep. Time to spark up. =P

Good that you mention the age subject. I think that the reason most Americans feel the way you are thinking right now (more mature at age of 25 than 21) would be the cause of 21 being the age of alcohol finally being legalized. Here in Holland we have soft booze (beer, wine) legalized at the age of 16 and strong booze legalized at the age of 18, which in my eyes is a part of giving us our own responsibilities to handle our own body in good proportions and as a preparation to being a grown-up (16 soft booze, 18 strong booze, 21 officially a grown up). Now I know most of us Dutchies won't be completely grown-ups once we hit the age of 21 as I don't think anyone really is at that age. It's a starting age of being a grown-up and everything else before that was a big warming up for the real deal.

Fact is however that once we hit that age of 21, we don't look at it as a thing that is so special because we can finally legally drink it. We would have a much more sobered (what a befitting term) look at it, and we would have a better start and chance once we hit 21 than most Americans due to this.

[Jeleh]

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealt.../cannabis.aspx

I have mixed experiences of weed, i have seen some people use it regularly and it have little to no effect on them. But i have also seen people so drawn in and destroyed by it, lack of motivation, mental health issues.

In my teenage years i smoked weed for about two years regularly, found it made me paranoid, stopped smoking it. When i was at university the first time around one of my friends who had smoked constantly since she was about 14 ( and by constantly i mean around 3-4 score bags a week) had a complete mental break down, developed paranoid sczhophrenia and attempted to kill herself.

Im not going to and never have bothered attempting to tell or persuade people to not smoke weed, but after seeing the adverse effects it can have I know first hand how horrible this drug can be.

My actual advice if you are going to use weed is not dont do it, more do it in moderation. It can be an enjoyable drug no doubt, however use it too often/regularly and there will more than likely be repercussions.

Theres a clear link between smoking weed in youth and mental health issues later in life, there are lots of studies and scientific data on the matter.

[Fojos]

I'm still impressed that people compare alcohol with cannabis. The two of them shouldn't be compared.
Alcohol is a poison, and cannabis is a drug. You wouldn't compare hydrogen cyanide with cigarettes, would you?

No, alcohol is a legal drug.

[Mythodiir]

I'll just say the only good drug is a controlled drug, the bad drugs are out of control. I can imagine someone living a productive life drinking alcohol with relative control. I do not drink or smoke, and have never taken in a addictive narcotic (I don't think videogame addiction exists, but idiots can play a game too obsessively and screw them selves over in a situation they have control over). You can drink beer at occasions, you can smoke a cigar on occasions, you can get high on occasions, but it's still going to have a minor effect on your life. I imagine sometime 500, or 1,500 years in the future tobacco, and alcohol will be a thing of the past. The days of space travel, and holograms will not have an intoxicated space cadet driving at the head of the cock pit for the a space voyage, it'll be a sober space cadet sending probes out to planet X. Children who have never heard of "beer" unless they where in history class, or a cigar. Raised from birth like cattle and taught to become the ultimate space soldier, to fight for federation in hopes of securing credits, and land on Jupiter's many moon's when they return.

Of course i may just be fantasizing.

[FattyXP]

I'm not really for or against it, or the people who smoke it. It has less harmful ramifications than cigarettes though there is a lot more tar build-up for people who hold their weed in for 15 seconds and then exhale, and it also has less intoxication and clouding of judgement than alcohol. There are links between heavy addiction to weed being a risk factor of psychosis. Skunk is the most dangerous though, it contains less of the chemical that suppresses the hallucinogenic qualities of the THC and so it's strongly advised just to smoke standard cannabis.

There is no more "build up" of tar for holding a hit in longer. There is an exact amount of tar in most smoke (like the .01mg you see listed on cigarettes) and holding it in any more or less isn't going to change that figure.

[Sismofytten]

I smoke weed every time i'm with friends.

[Panoramixe]

I find it rather appalling how judgmental some people are in this thread. Personally I'd never do drugs, doesn't mean I'd even for a second judge someone for doing it. All I can do is decide for myself what kind of person I want to be, same for them. If their lives involve cannabis, I hope they enjoy themselves.
But calling people "weak" for doing it is just plain stupid. Do you consider someone weak for eating something other than the most healthy foods? Either you are a teetotaler and do nothing harmful in your life ever (I'll go further than never using alcohol by adding any food that isn't 100% healthy, drinking anything but the purest water and living anywhere that hasn't 100% clean air), in which case you might be the new Messiah or you have no right to judge anyone.

[RüneRS]

im studying biology... u can very much overdose on weed.. and die...

no you can't, you can get really high, and get run over by a truck. But I have never EVER heared about someone getting seriously ill (with that I mean, when you need to go to the hospital) from weed only. And I know a lot of podheads.
When you mix it with other things it can be dangerous because it will make the feeling you already have even more intense.
You can't have an overdose of weed, simply because no one can handle that much THC without beeing knocked out.

[Voij]

And also because it's something the politicians themselves enjoy, and wouldn't want to lose.

You could've just read the rest of my post and see that it was implied there... Oh well.