Do you get small?
So come here.
Please, enlighten us now that I’ve created space for your wisdom.
Houston, we have a problem.
Exactly! Kinda like me telling you how to play a bass guitar or shag a sheep, isn’t it?
But in the interest of getting this thread going:
Do enlighten us…
[quote=“Toe Save”]
But in the interest of getting this thread going:
Do enlighten us…[/quote]
I’ve always found one thing stands out about the pro- and anti-marijuana sides of the argument.
The Anti side have, without exception in my experience, never smoked it. The Pro side have, generally, smoked.
I’ll admit it openly, I used to smoke a lot while I was in university. I still managed to get a second-class honors degree, a couple of awards/grants/scholarships for my performance, and accepted into an Honors Society, so it obviously didn’t do me too much harm as far as motivation and mental acuity go. Granted, there is a definite likelihood I’ve done some permanent damage to my lungs and possibly a bit to the spongy grey stuff, I’ll admit that.
As far as it being a “gateway drug,” that’s arse. Total arse. There’s a problem with recognising the cause in that argument. Marijuana doesn’t lead people to harder drugs - I have not and would not take anything harder. People who do go on aren’t doing it because of the EVIL of marijuana, they’re doing it because of some imbalance in themselves. And the whole thing claiming it’s physically addictive is arse too. Psychological addiction I can see being a possibility, but physical? Bunk. Of the dozen or so of us back home that used to smoke together for a few years, none of us, not one has touched it in at least 6 months. Cold turkey, too.
I’d be interested to see the anti-marijuana arguments though. I’m always up for a bit of lively, if futile (come on, seriously, neither side is going to be swayed. Doesn’t happen.) argument.
I have been an on and off sometimes extremely heavy user of marijuana for thirty five years. Naturally I have been around thousands of people who use marijuana. I suppose this qualifies me to comment with some authority. First of all there are plenty of people who use marijuana occassionally and suffer no observable ill effects. They have a good time and probably become somewhat more open, tolerant people generally. Then there are the ones who binge for a while before realizing that the stuff is getting in the way of more important things and more or less quit smoking so much. When they attempt to quit the psychological withdrawl is often quite severe. Finally there are the ones who started too young probably, before they realized that happiness should come from the application of their skills and inteligence towards whatever it is that holds meaning for them. Marijuana is like every other drug. It is a short cut to happiness that in the end can let you down big time. Tell me there are not millions of people like that and I will tell you that you are out to lunch. In the last five years I have smoked hardly at all (not once in Taiwan) but still crave it occassionally.
Darn, I had a really good answer but now I can’t remember . . . :beatnik:
I like it. I like it a lot.
My clock doesn’t say 4:20, what are you on about ? Have you been smoking something ?
I’ve smoked it just once in my life, at a party in my university days. The girl I was then gaga about was handed a joint, puffed on it, and handed it to me, so of course I puffed on it too. Shortly afterwards, she and I were both violently sick, throwing our guts out something awful. Needless to say, we weren’t inclined to repeat the experience, and always passed the smokes on whenever we were offered them after that.
I’ve no problem at all with other people smoking the weed, but I’ve no wish or need to do so myself. I’m inclined to favour its legalization, particularly for medicinal purposes, and hope I’ll be able to obtain and use it lawfully if I ever need it to alleviate the pain of a terminal illness.
I used to like it, but I get all paranoid and messed-up in a not-good way these days (well the last ten years or so really), if I try it, so basically - I don’t like it, so I don’t do it.
But, I believe it’s not the place of the governement to tell us what to do or not do in relation to drugss, so I’m all for the complete legalisation, regulation and taxation of all drugs (for adults - strict control on access for minors).
Brian
Me too. 
Tried it once, went into a laughing fit, understood why people like it, planed on using it during golden years.
I smoked fairly regularly until 1990 or so. A very good friend of mine has smoked daily since the early 1970s, he says. Daily. He’s eccentric, too, but I’m not sure it’s related to the pot. He’s obviously grown (emotionally, spiritually), but there do seem to be odd bits missing (he can be rude at odd times, for example) which, again, I can’t say are related to smoking.
The biggest thing I notice is the cough. Sometimes he’ll cough and it sounds like an old tire tube has blown up - under water - and air is passing through the holes under very high pressure. It’s an awful sound and it always makes my jaw drop a bit. His lungs can’t be in good shape, although he plays sports (softball and competitive basketball, despite his age - I think he’s 45 or so). He doesn’t smoke cigarettes, either. He’s probably got a lung cancer or two waiting to metastisize. 
The last time I smoked was in 2000, I believe. Normally I have the same problem Bri has in that I get paranoid and tense, and never in a good way. Thing is, during summer 2000 the manager of a brewpub asked me to stay late one night, and she brought out her stash. I must say, US military engineering (or something) is superb, because this was not your father’s marijuana. My mind was crystal clear, no paranoia, nothing but laughs and lots of them.
I remember thinking, damn, I could pick this habit up again pretty damn quickly if this stuff reflects the current, decade-old state of ganja quality. But she paid a shocking amount of money for the stuff she had, too. I can’t remember what it was, but it was an astronomical price, imo, somewhere in the neighborhood of US$2,000+/oz., I believe. (I think she said she paid more than $2k, but I honestly don’t remember very well). Good stuff, no doubt about it though.
But there are too many other things that are, imo, far more interesting than marijuana. No time anymore, it seems.
Omni:
That happened to me the first time I tried chewing tobacco.
I don’t really like to get small. One reason is that it is illegal here. Now that never stopped me in my home country, but I don’t want to be deported over something as dumb as getting high.
I also get paranoid (see reason above).
The other reason I don’t like to do it is that when I do, I get this uncontrollable urge to operate heavy machinery.
That happened to me once after I drank a bunch of alcohol. Can’t believe that stuff is legal!
love it. but not in taiwan. they’re unecessarily illogical about it here. kinda like the americans during prohibition. and i don’t really feel like paying the price for their illogicality. you know, if you can’t do the time…
anyway, i’m looking forward to visiting BC later in the year, mostly for the green. i heard the canucks have decriminalized it…wise move imo. how utterly rational of them. but since 9/11 export to our southern friends has been a headache. so all the nice crystal encrusted purple haired buds have been staying home. Mmmmmm…better’n mom’s apple pie i’d say. been feelin’ kinda homesick lately.
and as all of my green friends will tell you, it’s better than alcohol.
I’m back in BC right now. 
I’m getting the munchies 
[quote=“Bill Hicks”] No, I don’t do drugs anymore, either. But I’ll tell you something about drugs, I used to do drugs, but I’ll tell you something honestly about drugs, honestly, and I know it’s not a very popular idea, you don’t hear it very often anymore, but it is the truth- I had a great time doing drugs. Sorry. Never murdered anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never beat anyone, never lost a job, a car, a house, a wife or kids, laughed my ass off, and went about my day. Sorry.
I just cannot, you know, believe in a war against drugs when they’ve got anti-drug commercials on TV all day long, followed by, “This Bud’s for you.” I got news for you, folks. A-1, alcohol is a drug, and B-2, and here’s the real one, alcohol kills more people than crack, coke and heroin … combined each year.
Pot is a better drug than alcohol - fact, and I’ll prove it. You’re at a ballgame, you’re at a concert, someone’s really violent, aggressive and obnoxious, are they drunk or are they smoking pot? [Audience yells: Drunk!] The one and only correct answer, tell them what they’ve won, Johnny!
Cigarettes - legal - and alcohol - legal - kill more people than all illegal drugs combined times one thousand, they are legal. Marijuana, a drug that kills…um…no one, and let’s put in a time frame… ever, is illegal.
Isn’t it interesting how cigarettes and alcohol, the two drugs that do NOTHING for you, are legal, while pot and mushrooms,two drugs that open your eyes to how you’re being fucked every day, are illegal. Isn’t it interesting? I’m sure they have our best interests at heart… [/quote]
It should be legal. Alcohol and cigarettes are one the downfalls of society- and they are absolutely legal.
There are more injuries from alcohol related activites such as fighting, drink driving, falling over and banging your head on on the pavement, arguing with your wife, putting traffic cones on statues and climbing up lamposts.
It costs the UK 20 Billion GBP a year in hospital, police and welfare costs related to alcohol and alcohol misuse. Cannabis misuse only runs into the millions.
While I don’t necessarily condone the use of cannabis for recreational use, it has, like alcohol, been around for donkeys years. It just seems that alcohol is more socially acceptable, but is the greater of the two evils. I would rather the person sat next to me in this internet cafe was smoking the fabled leafy substance than the tar laden cigarette he is destroying my lungs with.
Tetsuo wrote
It does. But it depends on the person who smokes it and their peers, their upbringing and their environment. It leads people to harder drugs more through curiosity and “peer pressure” than it does through addiction.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my joint.
I think if there was a way to determine how much you toked, such as a “Breathalyzer” for weed, it would have a good chance of being legal. That way they could put it in perspective, where 1 joint would be the legal limit. Wheras ripping bongs for the past 4 hours and getting in the car would be 3x the legal limit…
I went through a phase of smoking bud, or “chiefing buds” as we used to call it, but now it only makes me unsociable. It doesnt make me feel like it used to.
My roomates in university did nothing but watch TV and smoke bongs. Weed was the center of their universe. I would be woken up at 9 in the morning to the sound of bongs bubbling, immediately followed by someone coughing their guts out.
I think it robs you of your ambition. I know it floats alot of people’s boats, but I wouldn’t get anything done, besides sit on my ass and watch TV.
the hash in taiwan is pretty good. i prefer it over green. Green makes me paranoid and introverted. A bit of hash rolled with some tobacco is a nice way to end a long day sometimes.