# Marijiuana IS addictive.....to some.



## Cee Paul

All those reports over the years about smoking pot is NOT addictive is all a bunch of crap, and I know this first hand from back in my late teens to mid 20's when I was completely HOOKED on it and had to have it just like any other addictive drug. Because if I had $20 in my pocket back then at least $10 of it would be spent on weed(a dime bag), and the other $10 would go to cheetos(munchies) - mountain dew - and a pack of cigarettes. And I knew of many many others like this who would spend their last dollar to get high back then, so if that is not addictive then I don't know what is.

Now today at 46 I have proudly been sober and clean for 17 years now, after literally ruining parts of my younger life for weed. And in a very IRONIC twist I now work as a lab tech for a drug screening company - & we're drug tested twice a year.


----------



## Almostrecovered

collecting glass figurines can be addictive too


but it is not physical dependence 

that is the difference between weed and heroin

you can be addicted to either drug
but you won't get physical dependent on weed like you will with heroin or cigarettes


----------



## Cee Paul

Almostrecovered said:


> collecting glass figurines can be addictive too
> 
> 
> but it is not physical dependence
> 
> that is the difference between weed and heroin
> 
> you can be addicted to either drug
> but you won't get physical dependent on weed like you will with heroin or cigarettes


Not true in some cases, because my body actually CRAVED it when I woke up everyday much like it did with nicotine as well. And if you tell me that cigarettes are not addictive I can give about 100 examples of people who were willing to DIE rather than give up smoking, and that's how I was with weed back then.


----------



## Almostrecovered

craving is part of addiction, anxiety of withdraw is addiction

that's not physical dependence

and I already admitted nicotine is physically dependent

Heroin Addiction Effects: Physical Dependence and Tolerance Development


> When the heroin has lost its effect the withdrawal symptoms show up: the user feels sick, sweaty and cold, has goose bumps, a running nose, stomach ache, and pain in arms and legs. Possible symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms disappear as soon as heroin is used again. That is how the user easily ends up in a vicious circle. Mental dependence means that the user anxiously wants to use the substance and doesn't feel comfortable without it anymore.


----------



## Cee Paul

Almostrecovered said:


> craving is part of addiction, anxiety of withdraw is addiction
> 
> that's not physical dependence
> 
> and I already admitted nicotine is physically dependent
> 
> Heroin Addiction Effects: Physical Dependence and Tolerance Development


So if you're saying those are "ADDICTIVE" traits then what does the title of this thread say, that weed is *ADDICTIVE* to some. It's just like with alchohol which is very very addictive and ruins lives; I can have a few drinks with friends and not touch another drop for 3-4 months no problem, but to those "addicted" to it they have to get drunk repeatedly to feel normal and that's how me and many others I knew were with........weed(if we weren't high we didn't feel normal).

*Don't forget this is what I now do for a living as well as someone who has experience with weed, cocaine, and qualudes back in my younger days*


----------



## Almostrecovered

You are failing to recognize the nuance here

you can get addicted to most anything that increases your dopamine/serotonin levels

gambling
shopping
affairs
etc

but there are certain chemicals that when you do them you get a physical dependence almost immediately and when you stop doing them it will cause you to get physically sick

heroin
nicotine
meth
morphine
cocaine/crack


weed/THC is not one of those chemicals

I am not saying that people can't develop a serious problem with smoking weed, I'm saying that the likelihood of addiction is significantly less than other drugs including alcohol due to the lack of physical dependence


----------



## Cee Paul

Almostrecovered said:


> You are failing to recognize the nuance here
> 
> you can get addicted to most anything that increases your dopamine/serotonin levels
> 
> gambling
> shopping
> affairs
> etc
> 
> but there are certain chemicals that when you do them you get a physical dependence almost immediately and when you stop doing them it will cause you to get physically sick
> 
> heroin
> nicotine
> meth
> morphine
> cocaine/crack
> 
> 
> weed/THC is not one of those chemicals
> 
> I am not saying that people can't develop a serious problem with smoking weed, I'm saying that the likelihood of addiction is significantly less than other drugs including alcohol due to the lack of physical dependence



Heroin is thee very very worst bottom dwelling drug when you have hit ROCK BOTTOM, so yes of course it is a lot worse than weed. Buuuuut in the end wether it's a physical or mental addiction to something, it's ALL still very bad and very destructive and can destroy someone's life just the same like it was doing to mine & others around me.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> Not true in some cases, because my body actually CRAVED it when I woke up everyday much like it did with nicotine as well. And if you tell me that cigarettes are not addictive I can give about 100 examples of people who were willing to DIE rather than give up smoking, and that's how I was with weed back then.


I think this is one of those things where there simply isn't enough real, true studies on to determine the age old question "is marijuana physically addictive?". And there are studies contradicting each side of the argument. Each MJ user can answer the question for themselves and how they perceive being physically dependent on something. 

I am a recovering alcoholic. I wasn't physically dependent on it, yet, and I drank for 20 years. Others who drink for 10 years or less can physically become addicted, others never do or in my case, quit before that happens. For me, weed is psychological and if I'm having a stressful day, it certainly takes the edge off for a few hours and enough for me to wind down to the point where I'm good for the rest of the night, high or not, when that high wears off I do not need to smoke another bowl just to make it through the rest of the night, in fact I seldom recognize when the high is gone as I've decompressed pretty good before that happens and I finally develop a freaking appetite for that day (continuous battle for me). Alcohol, holy crap... give me as much as you got and I will drink it all night long til I pass out, and I purposely would not eat so as to not affect my buzz!

I'm just sharing my experience. And certainly to each their own as well as each person experiences different reactions to different things.

ETA: H is a recovering crack addict, he would steal you blind to get his next high... I wouldn't do that with alcohol, we won't do that for pot... every addict has their DOC (drug of choice) that can control them more than any other thing in their life, if they allow it to. I can't just drink one drink, my H can't just smoke one crack rock, but both of us can just smoke one joint.


----------



## Hope1964

I smoked a lot of pot when I was young and never had a problem NOT smoking it.

Cigarettes however.............that's another story. 

Cee Paul I am glad you have things together today and aren't experiencing the troubles you did in your youth any more. Congratulations on pulling your self out of it! And you are only a year younger than me


----------



## firebelly

I've decided that it doesn't matter. You can call it addiction or you can call it "abuse." The effects on your psyche and relationships are the same. My stbxh would rather smoke pot than do just about anything else. He lied about it, he justified and rationalized it; it was his mistress and in the end I could not compete with it.


----------



## that_girl

Almostrecovered said:


> collecting glass figurines can be addictive too
> 
> 
> but it is not physical dependence
> 
> that is the difference between weed and heroin
> 
> you can be addicted to either drug
> but you won't get physical dependent on weed like you will with heroin or cigarettes


Yea. I was going to say this, but now I don't need to! thanks!

I studied drugs and alcohol in college and i smoked some. lollll Quit pot the day I graduated, never went back. No big deal. Now, cigarettes on the other hand....yea...


----------



## Going Mental

> when you stop doing them it will cause you to get physically sick


If that's the case, then how come my H had physical symptoms just like he was quitting nicotine??? I think a new study is due since the level of THC has skyrocketed with the development of hydroponics. In the good ol' days i don't think it was, but it is now.

At the end of the day, the addiction is the problem that needs to be fixed for a relationship to work. Physical dependence adds another level without doubt, but the root cause is the need for escape/coping with emotions etc.


----------



## Going Mental

firebelly said:


> I've decided that it doesn't matter. You can call it addiction or you can call it "abuse." The effects on your psyche and relationships are the same. My stbxh would rather smoke pot than do just about anything else. He lied about it, he justified and rationalized it; it was his mistress and in the end I could not compete with it.


And my H wonders why I struggle constantly with putting our marriage back together now that he has quit!! 21 years is a long time to have the green mistress!


----------



## Cee Paul

See I could say the same thing about alchohol that it's not addictive or not a problem...........but that would be a big lie, because I have seen it destroy many many lives and continues to do so. But with me I have never become attached to it and can go out and have a few drinks socially or at a ball game, and then not touch it or crave it again for months. Now if it was weed that is a whole other story and the effect it has on me is one of a very addictive nature.


----------



## Trojan John

As someone has already pointed out, there is a difference between psychological and physical (chemical) addiction. Marijuana falls into the former, not the latter. I forget the author, but there is a very informative academic book on pharmacology and addiction that you can read through google books. I know that mj has been demonised in the US, so we should all refrain from spreading misinformation based on anecdotal evidence.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cee Paul

Trojan John said:


> As someone has already pointed out, there is a difference between psychological and physical (chemical) addiction. Marijuana falls into the former, not the latter. I forget the author, but there is a very informative academic book on pharmacology and addiction that you can read through google books. I know that mj has been demonised in the US, so we should all refrain from spreading misinformation based on anecdotal evidence.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I do drug testing for a living John so I am well aware of all the facts and figures involved, and if you could see all the people that come through our lab that throw away good jobs or a chance at a good job for WEED - you would be shocked! This indicates to me that they can't or won't stop smoking weed no matter what opportunities it costs them, and that is the same behavior patterns shown by those who are addicts and/or alchoholics.


----------



## firebelly

Why is it that I think all the pot heads are the ones that INSIST that it's not physically addictive, and use words like "demonise?" (although I like the cool English spelling.) I'm all for legalizing MJ in the U.S. 'cause it's stupid to treat addictions or the use of recreational drugs as a crime, but addicts defend their drug, and having lived with an addict, it's tiresome.


----------



## Trojan John

Cee Paul said:


> I do drug testing for a living John so I am well aware of all the facts and figures involved, and if you could see all the people that come through our lab that throw away good jobs or a chance at a good job for WEED - you would be shocked! This indicates to me that they can't or won't stop smoking weed no matter what opportunities it costs them, and that is the same behavior patterns shown by those who are addicts and/or alchoholics.


Again, research psychological vs. physical addiction. I'm sure that everything that you are seeing is a consequence of abuse, no questions. However, that does not place marijuana on the same level of addiction as other drugs.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Trojan John

firebelly said:


> Why is it that I think all the pot heads are the ones that INSIST that it's not physically addictive, and use words like "demonise?" (although I like the cool English spelling.) I'm all for legalizing MJ in the U.S. 'cause it's stupid to treat addictions or the use of recreational drugs as a crime, but addicts defend their drug, and having lived with an addict, it's tiresome.


Ad hominem attacks are more tiresome. Once again, more facts and less conjecture. If I find the book link then I will post it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cherry

firebelly said:


> Why is it that I think all the pot heads are the ones that INSIST that it's not physically addictive, and use words like "demonise?" (although I like the cool English spelling.) I'm all for legalizing MJ in the U.S. 'cause it's stupid to treat addictions or the use of recreational drugs as a crime, but addicts defend their drug, and having lived with an addict, it's tiresome.


Casual users also defend their drug too. I'm of the belief that pot can be used just like a social drinker drinks a beer. I can't be a social drinker, I can't just have one drink, my H can, my brother can, my friends can, why is that? What's wrong with me? On the flip side, I have known people who will sit there and smoke a joint every hour, why is that? I'd be useless myself if I did that.

Certainly a person CAN abuse pot (just like a person can abuse alcohol), but the occasional, recreational user should not be labeled an addict. Just like the occasional after dinner drink, or the occasional happy hour... Are all those people drunks? Of course not. So the same can be said for someone who smokes a joint to unwind. 

I'm still out on whether it is physically addicting... I just haven't seen any concrete studies proving that, and it has not been my experience at all. Most often I see studies indicating "beliefs" that pot can be physically addicting, but nothing concrete... Like this one from WebMD... 

Marijuana - Marijuana Use and Effects of Marijuana


----------



## arbitrator

Trojan John said:


> As someone has already pointed out, there is a difference between psychological and physical (chemical) addiction. Marijuana falls into the former, not the latter. I forget the author, but there is a very informative academic book on pharmacology and addiction that you can read through google books. I know that mj has been demonised in the US, so we should all refrain from spreading misinformation based on anecdotal evidence.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Having worked in the federal government for a large sector of my life, I can attest to the fact that we had numerous bulletins from FDA, FBI, DOT, et. al. distributed to all federal employees exposing the great potential for addictiveness to weed as well as the other drugs. I can't say that any of us were never cognizant of the potential for being individually tested. The potential was always there!

We underwent random drug tests. No prior notice~ no nothing!
If you went in for an annual or bi-annual physical, then you were tested. If the agency chose to bring in a testing lab on site and you got tapped on the shoulder, you were tested.

And several times there were employees that summarily tested "positive" for marijuana in their system and were shortly thereafter escorted from the premises. Marijuana was just one of the many substances that were being looked for. Even if a trace element showed up, they were escorted out, but had the right to agency appeal prior to dismissal. Dismissal and firing, with extremely rare exception, was the norm. Appeal to the Federal Court System was almost useless, as they, as a matter of law, respected the agency's right to keep a safe workplace and it's image intact as opposed to the individuals right to smoke, enjoy and wait patiently for the refractory period of the drug to get out of their systems.

Another area where they would get you would be on your employment application when they would ask you if you ever used those substances. If a "no" answer was given, then a post employment investigation revealed countering information from other sources, then they were summarily fired for having lied on the employment application.

Until the laws change, I would strongly advocate that it's best to just leave the stuff alone, or at least seek employment in a sector that is byfar more sympathetic to it's usage!


----------



## Cee Paul

Again saying pot isn't addictive is like saying that alchohol and cigarettes aren't either; because like I stated before it all depends on the USER of any of these things because alchohol has NO addictive forces over me and I can take it or leave it, but yet others with a different brain chemistry can't go anywhere near it or it will ruin their lives. I have met pot users back in my day who could smoke a joint or a couple bong hits - and then not touch it for 3 months, but I was one that had to have it everyday or I did not feel right and this went on for about 5-6 years in my case.


----------



## DaKarmaTrain!

Cherry said:


> Casual users also defend their drug too. I'm of the belief that pot can be used just like a social drinker drinks a beer. I can't be a social drinker, I can't just have one drink, my H can, my brother can, my friends can, why is that? What's wrong with me? On the flip side, I have known people who will sit there and smoke a joint every hour, why is that? I'd be useless myself if I did that.
> 
> Certainly a person CAN abuse pot (just like a person can abuse alcohol), but the occasional, recreational user should not be labeled an addict. Just like the occasional after dinner drink, or the occasional happy hour... Are all those people drunks? Of course not. So the same can be said for someone who smokes a joint to unwind.
> 
> I'm still out on whether it is physically addicting... I just haven't seen any concrete studies proving that, and it has not been my experience at all. Most often I see studies indicating "beliefs" that pot can be physically addicting, but nothing concrete... Like this one from WebMD...
> 
> Marijuana - Marijuana Use and Effects of Marijuana


Yup, there is use and then there is abuse. Some people can take it or leave (weed) like me. My ex was thoroughly addicted, and it was another contributing factor in the breakdown of my marriage (she'd say, oh, I can quit when I am ready but I just need it right now...load of crap).


----------



## Almostrecovered

you keep saying that people are saying that pot can't be addictive, I haven't seen anyone make that claim in this thread


----------



## Cee Paul

Almostrecovered said:


> you keep saying that people are saying that pot can't be addictive, I haven't seen anyone make that claim in this thread


People(like you)keep trying to establish different types of addictions which is fine, but to me they're ALL bad and ALL have the potential to ruin people's lives & usually do.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> People(like you)keep trying to establish different types of addictions which is fine, but to me they're ALL bad and ALL have the potential to ruin people's lives & usually do.


FYI, my H would be a prime candidate for medical MJ in a legal state. And quite frankly so would I. Would not have a problem getting a card.

That said, I'm wondering if you think everyone who is issued a medical MJ card in a legal state is headed for a life of addiction? Do you believe that? Or do you believe someone can smoke pot without ever getting addicted?


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> FYI, my H would be a prime candidate for medical MJ in a legal state. And quite frankly so would I. Would not have a problem getting a card.
> 
> That said, I'm wondering if you think everyone who is issued a medical MJ card in a legal state is headed for a life of addiction? Do you believe that? Or do you believe someone can smoke pot without ever getting addicted?


I've already stated a few times previously that I have come across some that can take a few hits here and there - and walk away, while others like myself craved it everyday and had to have it or we didn't feel normal. So wether it's medical or not there are always going to be those two scenarios walking around, much like alchohol is harmless to someone like me as far as addiction goes but with many others - it ruins their lives.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> I've already stated a few times previously that I have come across some that can take a few hits here and there - and walk away, while others like myself craved it everyday and had to have it or we didn't feel normal. So wether it's medical or not there are always going to be those two scenarios walking around, much like alchohol is harmless to someone like me as far as addiction goes but with many others - it ruins their lives.


Yes, and I pointed that out with my own alcoholism, and I didn't see anyone dispute the fact that it affects people differently. 

I am curious what your physical withdrawal symptoms were and how long they lasted. Do you consider it as severe as say heroin or oxycontin? I was in rehab with a lot of pill heads. Their physical withdrawals were horrendous. My physical withdrawal was nothing more than aggravation (after drinking more than 20 years, averaging 6 beers a night). I imagine physical weed withdrawal could be similar to coffee withdrawal? I don't know though, that's why I'm asking what your experience was.. I do think your withdrawal was much more psychological, mental.. like mine. 

On a side note... I believe if something has control over someone (pot, alcohol, shopping, crack, gambling, exercising even, etc), it is unhealthy and needs to be addressed. 

But you started this thread specific to pot being physically addicting and that is not something that has been proven either way at this point. Pot is a fairly new drug, as it relates to regulations and studies. It was squashed and made illegal before it ever had a chance to be fully studied. Many of the studies I have read about (and I've read a ton geared towards both sides of the argument) indicate it has potential, however the biases and regulations make it difficult to determine its full potential. Pot has been known to shrink cancerous tumors, pot has been known to alleviate fatal withdrawal symptoms for other drugs, pot is a natural pain reliever, an appetite stimulant, etc.. the list of potentials for this natural herb is endless. Of course, and with everything, it affects people differently.


----------



## Trojan John

Many Americans who come here end up buying or growing and smoking marijuana. It's only (for the most part) illegal, and rightfully so, when trafficking. Interestingly, if one were to look at Portugal's decriminalisation of personal drug use one would find a marked decrease in the amount of new users, an increase in the amount of people quitting and a an increase in those seeking help for addiction. The stigma and novelty are gone, and traffickers are being put out of business. They've done this over ten years ago and I'm sure that it hasn't been reported by any major news network in the US.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cherry

Trojan John said:


> Many Americans who come here end up buying or growing and smoking marijuana. It's only (for the most part) illegal, and rightfully so, when trafficking. Interestingly, if one were to look at Portugal's decriminalisation of personal drug use one would find a marked decrease in the amount of new users, an increase in the amount of people quitting and a an increase in those seeking help for addiction. The stigma and novelty are gone, and traffickers are being put out of business. They've done this over ten years ago and I'm sure that it hasn't been reported by any major news network in the US.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Really? So you're saying that if it is decriminalized, eventually more people seek help for addiction to it? I wonder why that is. I advocate for medicinal purposes.. I struggle with outright legalizing. I also think there needs to be a higher age limit than there is for alcohol. I do not think it is healthy for younger, less emotionally mature individual. I also think someone has to have a strong motivated outlook on life, and be grounded in life, if they're going to be proscribed MJ for something... Maybe its one of those legal scripts that should have psych authorization too. I've read it can have horrible effects on schizophrenia patients, but positive affects on bipolar (something like that). I just wish they would do more studies on pot, related to medical, there just seems to be a whole list of pros related to health, and very few cons... And facing what might be cervical cancer myself, I have been studying pot closely. It certainly is more promising and less painful than radiation or chemo!!


----------



## Cherry

Here's one article on pot and cervical cancer. It's unfortunate they can't use more human studies because of political BS. It could potentially save lives... Or help someone's quality of life if they are ill.

http://inventorspot.com/articles/can_pot_cure_cancer_9721


----------



## Cherry

Here's the Portugal study, it should be noted that they also decriminalized cocaine and heroine. The results state it has largely been a success.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/drug-decriminalization-portugal


----------



## Cherry

Sorry got carried away with the posting, but here is my observation:

For you, pot is addicting. It takes a hold over you. It has negative consequences. You have decided to not smoke it. Your struggle is mentally overcoming the addiction, with a slight physical discomfort. Same with me and alcohol. 

For my H, who has gone through crack withdrawal, experienced physical withdrawals that made it difficult to stop as well as mental withdrawal... The primary reason he got hooked on crack to begin with. 

The struggle for the crack addict to stop would be somewhat double (technically) at first. 

None of this diminishes an individual addicts own struggle with their sobriety. I think we are saying the same things, just in different ways 

Sorry for the quadrupole post.


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> Yes, and I pointed that out with my own alcoholism, and I didn't see anyone dispute the fact that it affects people differently.
> 
> I am curious what your physical withdrawal symptoms were and how long they lasted. Do you consider it as severe as say heroin or oxycontin? I was in rehab with a lot of pill heads. Their physical withdrawals were horrendous. My physical withdrawal was nothing more than aggravation (after drinking more than 20 years, averaging 6 beers a night). I imagine physical weed withdrawal could be similar to coffee withdrawal? I don't know though, that's why I'm asking what your experience was.. I do think your withdrawal was much more psychological, mental.. like mine.
> 
> On a side note... I believe if something has control over someone (pot, alcohol, shopping, crack, gambling, exercising even, etc), it is unhealthy and needs to be addressed.
> 
> But you started this thread specific to pot being physically addicting and that is not something that has been proven either way at this point. Pot is a fairly new drug, as it relates to regulations and studies. It was squashed and made illegal before it ever had a chance to be fully studied. Many of the studies I have read about (and I've read a ton geared towards both sides of the argument) indicate it has potential, however the biases and regulations make it difficult to determine its full potential. Pot has been known to shrink cancerous tumors, pot has been known to alleviate fatal withdrawal symptoms for other drugs, pot is a natural pain reliever, an appetite stimulant, etc.. the list of potentials for this natural herb is endless. Of course, and with everything, it affects people differently.


The following were physical effects that I experienced for about a year after I quit cold turkey as an everyday pot smoker, that did cause me to eventually seek medical attention:

- Could not sleep very much for the first month.

- Started experiencing extreme anxiety and panic attacks that I never had before, that were very very frightening for me!

- Paranoid; thought people everywhere were out to get me!

- Confusion and increased A.D.D. symptoms.

- I nearly doubled my cigarette smoking.


----------



## Caribbean Man

Hi everyone,
I have been reading these posts on TAM for a while ,and I found this " Marijuana thread " this morning to be quite " addictive."
[LOL ].
I live in the Caribbean where Marijuana use is quite " normal " in all socio-economic sectors of societies throughout the Caribbean. In fact some people look at it as " sacred" [ Rastafari religion ] and hence it is part of their worship rituals...Yes it is illegal , but usually most offenders get is a slap on the wrist from or pay a small fine for possession.
I have never smoked Marijuana,and I have never seen a Marijuana 
" addict" selling his / her body for a " joint." I have never heard of a fatal vehicular accident blamed on Marijuana, but I have seen the deadly result of drinking and driving. [ LOL.] We, in my country probably have the highest per capita drunk driving mortality rate in the world! Yet Alcohol is legal.

My point is a person can be addicted to anything,I love fine wines,and spend a lot of money it, but I am not addicted to it.I love the wine tasting parties,wine & cheese ,man sometimes [DW ] likes me to pour wine on " the small of her [ DW's ] back" during foreplay...
However,I know many [especially women] who are addicted to strong drink,making a mess of their lives.
I don't think Marijuana is the culprit that it is made out to be,Tobacco is far worse in effect than Marijuana. Like everything else,it can be abused.

BTW ,Although I don't smoke Marijuana....
I absolutely love the taste of Marijuana wine!!


----------



## Cee Paul

Caribbean Man said:


> Hi everyone,
> I have been reading these posts on TAM for a while ,and I found this " Marijuana thread " this morning to be quite " addictive."
> [LOL ].
> I live in the Caribbean where Marijuana use is quite " normal " in all socio-economic sectors of society throughout the Caribbean. Yes it is illegal , but usually most offenders get is a slap on the wrist from or pay a small fine for possession.
> I have never smoked Marijuana,and I have never seen a Marijuana
> " addict" selling his / her body for a " joint." I have never heard of a fatal vehicular accident blamed on Marijuana, but I have seen the deadly result of drinking and driving. [ LOL.] We, in my country probably have the highest per capita drunk driving mortality rate in the world! Yet Alcohol is legal.
> 
> My point is a person can be addicted to anything,I love fine wines,and spend a lot of money it, but I am not addicted to it.I love the wine tasting parties,wine & cheese ,man sometimes [DW ] likes to pour wine on " the small of her [ DW's ] back" during foreplay...
> However,I know many [especially women] who are addicted to strong drink,making a mess of their lives.
> I don't think Marijuana is the culprit that it is made out to be,Tobacco is far worse in effect than Marijuana. Like everything else,it can be abused.
> 
> BTW ,Although I don't smoke Marijuana....
> I absolutely love the taste of Marijuana wine!!


That's all I am saying Carribean Man is that something that is harmless to some - can be POISON to others, and weed should not just be casually passed off as being cute and harmless. I have a 19 year old nephew that all he does is smoke weed all night, sleeps until 2:00pm in the afternoon, and wakes up and eats crappy food(cereal, cheetos, etc)and has no desire to look for a job because he's too strung out on..........WEED. Had he not been doing that I am quite sure that his living habits would be a lot different, and I blame my sister for _allowing_ most of this behavior to go on.

I was kind of doing this too at that age but my parents FORBID us not to be working or we were thrown out of the house, because you either had to always have a full time job or attend school full time to live there no matter what you were doing out late at night.


----------



## Blue Moon

Cee Paul said:


> That's all I am saying Carribean Man is that something that is harmless to some - can be POISON to others, and weed should not just be casually passed off as being cute and harmless.


No one has disagreed with that.

They're just saying that it doesn't have the same physically addictive properties as other drugs, so that while it can become a problem, it shouldn't be lumped in with those groups. That's why people are mentioning things like gambling, shopping, etc. that can be VERY addictive, but the cause is more psychological than physiological. That's all anyone is saying.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> The following were physical effects that I experienced for about a year after I quit cold turkey as an everyday pot smoker, that did cause me to eventually seek medical attention:
> 
> - Could not sleep very much for the first month.
> 
> - Started experiencing extreme anxiety and panic attacks that I never had before, that were very very frightening for me!
> 
> - Paranoid; thought people everywhere were out to get me!
> 
> - Confusion and increased A.D.D. symptoms.
> 
> - I nearly doubled my cigarette smoking.


What you experienced was not the norm, and that's why more studies need to be done. Like with alcohol, they can link it genetically on some levels.. as well as guestimate how it may affect an individual differently, based on family history. It's got a long way to go. I just wish they would legalize it here for medicinal purposes now. Put the political fight aside and realize there may be some strong medical uses for this naturally grown weed/herb. But then on the flip side, there are groups of people that keep resisting it because they know someone who doesn't know how to responsibly use MJ.


----------



## Cee Paul

Blue Moon said:


> No one has disagreed with that.
> 
> They're just saying that it doesn't have the same physically addictive properties as other drugs, so that while it can become a problem, it shouldn't be lumped in with those groups. That's why people are mentioning things like gambling, shopping, etc. that can be VERY addictive, but the cause is more psychological than physiological. That's all anyone is saying.


I understand all of that; but it's just sad when you have to stamp "FAIL" on sooooo many drug tests for testing positive for THC(weed), especially when it means that person is either not getting a good job or is losing their current one because of it in this very tough economy. To me that is just as destructive and ruins families as much as does cocaine, alchohol, and heroin.

And anytime you introduce ANY chemical into your body and brain cells and continue putting it there for years.........and then try and STOP, there's going to be physical and mental backlashes from your body on that decision.


----------



## johnnycomelately

Cee Paul said:


> Not true in some cases, because my body actually CRAVED it


My body craves Scarlett Johansson, does that mean I am addicted to her?


----------



## Blue Moon

Cee Paul said:


> I understand all of that; but it's just sad when you have to stamp "FAIL" on sooooo many drug tests for testing positive for THC(weed), especially when it means that person is either not getting a good job or is losing their current one because of it in this very tough economy. To me that is just as destructive and ruins families as much as does cocaine, alchohol, and heroin.
> 
> And anytime you introduce ANY chemical into your body and brain cells and continue putting it there for years.........and then try and STOP, there's going to be physical and mental backlashes from your body on that decision.


The drug testing thing is another argument in itself. THC is really the only substance one can legitimately test for since it stays in your system so long while others don't. While I agree, if you're on the job hunt and need to get a job and can't because you smoke weed, that's your fault.

But it's also a case of the rules around the substance ruining families rather than the substance itself. If coffee was made illegal and people couldn't get jobs because they kept failing their coffee drug tests, I wouldn't necessarily call coffee a family ruiner, to me it's be a circumstance of the law being what it is. Outside of getting in trouble for doing it, I don't see it being the bonafied destructive family ruiner that crack, heroin, meth or even alcohol can be.


----------



## arbitrator

But as long as it is, in anyway illegal, why would a person be so inclined to take a chance? And if it's not addicting in any way, why do it's user's seem to want to keep going back to it?

I'm sorry, but I greatly feel that, like alcohol, it's definitely providing something to the addictive nature of its users!


----------



## Caribbean Man

"........I have a 19 year old nephew that all he does is smoke weed all night, sleeps until 2:00pm in the afternoon, and wakes up and eats crappy food(cereal, cheetos, etc)and has no desire to look for a job because he's too strung out on..........WEED. Had he not been doing that I am quite sure that his living habits would be a lot different, and I blame my sister for allowing most of this behavior to go on........"

Cee Paul,
Sorry about your nephew's condition,but it is my belief that Marijuana addiction is mostly psychological. 
When I was 15 yrs old I thought I was addicted to porn. I was hooked on Hustler and Penthouse magazines ,until a lady 10 yrs my senior whom I had met two days before, took my virginity. Then came my "sex addiction ". During my university years , girls were easy,and I never had long relationships because $ex was my only objective.Even after graduating , I never thought I would get married,but then came my wife [ present ] and everything changed!
Life has different " phases." Sometimes people need just the right 
" encouragement" to move from one stage to another.I have friends who smoked weed and wasted their time doing absolutely nothing, And I have friends who still smoke weed and are very successful businessmen / businesswomen. I have friends who have gambled away their businesses and destroyed their families by their gambling addiction.The new craze/ addiction down here is the " X BOX 360, Call of Duty ,Black Ops ." Some families / relationships are suffering because the husbands spend the entire night gaming.But that does not make XBox bad. Many married men & women " hook up" on Facebook , and infidelity is rampant. But that does not make Facebook bad.
Addiction to Marijuana, Alcohol ,Tobacco , Porn , $ex ,gambling , Facebook or anything is bad. But it does not necessarily make a person violent , dangerous or even lazy.[ EG; " Pothead "]
Addiction to heroin, cocaine and other such hallucinogenic drug is downright dangerous to the user and the rest of society.


----------



## Caribbean Man

Cee Paul said:


> That's all I am saying Carribean Man is that something that is harmless to some - can be POISON to others, and weed should not just be casually passed off as being cute and harmless. I have a 19 year old nephew that all he does is smoke weed all night, sleeps until 2:00pm in the afternoon, and wakes up and eats crappy food(cereal, cheetos, etc)and has no desire to look for a job because he's too strung out on..........WEED. Had he not been doing that I am quite sure that his living habits would be a lot different, and I blame my sister for _allowing_ most of this behavior to go on.
> 
> I was kind of doing this too at that age but my parents FORBID us not to be working or we were thrown out of the house, because you either had to always have a full time job or attend school full time to live there no matter what you were doing out late at night.


----------



## Blue Moon

arbitrator said:


> But as long as it is, in anyway illegal, why would a person be so inclined to take a chance? And if it's not addicting in any way, why do it's user's seem to want to keep going back to it?
> 
> I'm sorry, but I greatly feel that, like alcohol, it's definitely providing something to the addictive nature of its users!


Yeah that's why I said it's the person's fault for getting caught or even using it if they have job hunting to do. I just think the system is disingenuous in its intent to have it be illegal, but that's another argument.


----------



## Blue Moon

Caribbean Man said:


> "........I have a 19 year old nephew that all he does is smoke weed all night, sleeps until 2:00pm in the afternoon, and wakes up and eats crappy food(cereal, cheetos, etc)and has no desire to look for a job because he's too strung out on..........WEED. Had he not been doing that I am quite sure that his living habits would be a lot different, and I blame my sister for allowing most of this behavior to go on........"
> 
> Cee Paul,
> Sorry about your nephew's condition,but it is my belief that Marijuana addiction is mostly psychological.
> When I was 15 yrs old I thought I was addicted to porn. I was hooked on Hustler and Penthouse magazines ,until a lady 10 yrs my senior whom I had met two days before, took my virginity. Then came my "sex addiction ". During my university years , girls were easy,and I never had long relationships because $ex was my only objective.Even after graduating , I never thought I would get married,but then came my wife [ present ] and everything changed!
> Life has different " phases." Sometimes people need just the right
> " encouragement" to move from one stage to another.I have friends who smoked weed and wasted their time doing absolutely nothing, And I have friends who still smoke weed and are very successful businessmen / businesswomen. I have friends who have gambled away their businesses and destroyed their families by their gambling addiction.The new craze/ addiction down here is the " X BOX 360, Call of Duty ,Black Ops ." Some families / relationships are suffering because the husbands spend the entire night gaming.But that does not make XBox bad. Many married men & women " hook up" on Facebook , and infidelity is rampant. But that does not make Facebook bad.
> Addiction to Marijuana, Alcohol ,Tobacco , Porn , $ex ,gambling , Facebook or anything is bad. But it does not necessarily make a person violent , dangerous or even lazy.[ EG; " Pothead "]
> Addiction to heroin, cocaine and other such hallucinogenic drug is downright dangerous to the user and the rest of society.


I guess my belief is that if a person's going to be an @sshole, they're going to be an @sshole. Weed was just their substance of choice. Just like I wouldn't blame alcohol if my kid went off to college, partied and missed all their classes in the name of being drunk. If it wasn't the alcohol it would have been video games, girls, gambling or something else.


----------



## Cherry

arbitrator said:


> But as long as it is, in anyway illegal, why would a person be so inclined to take a chance? And if it's not addicting in any way, why do it's user's seem to want to keep going back to it?
> 
> I'm sorry, but I greatly feel that, like alcohol, it's definitely providing something to the addictive nature of its users!


Sometimes the benefit outweighs the risk. Health can become more important than failing a drug test, for some who truly believe in the medicinal benefits.

http://coedmagazine.com/2010/09/02/10-major-health-benefits-of-marijuana/


----------



## Cee Paul

Back when I smoked weed and we got really really stoned nobody felt like doing..........anything, because it's no secret that it sloooooooows things down significantly as does heroin or hash, which is why I blame a lot of my nephew's laziness & lack of motivation on that because it's one of the traits of smoking it. Now if he was smoking crack or snorting lines of coke he would probably not sleep much at all, and would probably be working TWO jobs............on his way to a heart attack. I was a very very hyper person before my weed days - then it sloooooowed it all down for me - and now 17 years later I am back to being and feeling very very hyper again.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> Back when I smoked weed and we got really really stoned nobody felt like doing..........anything, because it's no secret that it sloooooooows things down significantly as does heroin or hash, which is why I blame a lot of my nephew's laziness & lack of motivation on that because it's one of the traits of smoking it. Now if he was smoking crack or snorting lines of coke he would probably not sleep much at all, and would probably be working TWO jobs............on his way to a heart attack. I was a very very hyper person before my weed days - then it sloooooowed it all down for me - and now 17 years later I am back to being and feeling very very hyper again.


My H is superman when high.. I can't remember the last time either of us got stoned and just sat on our a$$. When he smoked crack, he was too busy stealing, conniving, lying, cheating, etc... to work or give a damn about anyone but himself. 

ETA.. crack addicts seem to have a manual and no where in it is working for anything other than that next high and car insurance.


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> My H is superman when high.. I can't remember the last time either of us got stoned and just sat on our a$$. When he smoked crack, he was too busy stealing, conniving, lying, cheating, etc... to work or give a damn about anyone but himself.
> 
> ETA.. crack addicts seem to have a manual and no where in it is working for anything other than that next high and car insurance.


That's odd; because if you think about it Cheech and Chong were never known as very "lively" fellows and they were the poster children for pot smoking, and back in my day I knew many many Cheech and Chong type people who were REAL which includes myself. This is why there is usually very little violence associated with the drug because everything moves at a much slooower - happier pace, to ever wanna do many violent acts that require a lot of energy. It has always been on the list with other _downer_ drugs and still is according to the chart on the wall in our lab.


----------



## arbitrator

Cee Paul said:


> That's odd; because if you think about it Cheech and Chong were never known as very "lively" fellows and they were the poster children for pot smoking, and back in my day I knew many many Cheech and Chong type people who were REAL which includes myself. This is why there is usually very little violence associated with the drug because everything moves at a much slooower - happier pace, to ever wanna do many violent acts that require a lot of energy. It has always been on the list with other _downer_ drugs and still is according to the chart on the wall in our lab.


With all due respect to Cheech and Chong(Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong), I remember seeing an interview of Cheech Marin's once where he said it was not their aim to promote drug usage, but to get people to laugh at it and to deride it.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> That's odd; because if you think about it Cheech and Chong were never known as very "lively" fellows and they were the poster children for pot smoking, and back in my day I knew many many Cheech and Chong type people who were REAL which includes myself. This is why there is usually very little violence associated with the drug because everything moves at a much slooower - happier pace, to ever wanna do many violent acts that require a lot of energy. It has always been on the list with other _downer_ drugs and still is according to the chart on the wall in our lab.


I grew up with That 70's Show pot heads  But I know it can have the lazy effects too.. it is all dependent on the individual user. IMHO.


----------



## FirstYearDown

Caribbean Man said:


> Hi everyone,
> I have been reading these posts on TAM for a while ,and I found this " Marijuana thread " this morning to be quite " addictive."
> [LOL ].
> I live *in the Caribbean where Marijuana use is quite " normal " in all socio-economic sectors of societies throughout the Caribbean. In fact some people look at it as " sacred" [ Rastafari religion ] and hence it is part of their worship rituals...Yes it is illegal , but usually most offenders get is a slap on the wrist from or pay a small fine for possession.*
> I have never smoked Marijuana,and I have never seen a Marijuana
> " addict" selling his / her body for a " joint." I have never heard of a fatal vehicular accident blamed on Marijuana, but I have seen the deadly result of drinking and driving. [ LOL.] We, in my country probably have the highest per capita drunk driving mortality rate in the world! Yet Alcohol is legal.
> 
> My point is a person can be addicted to anything,I love fine wines,and spend a lot of money it, but I am not addicted to it.I love the wine tasting parties,wine & cheese ,man sometimes [DW ] likes me to pour wine on " the small of her [ DW's ] back" during foreplay...
> However,I know many [especially women] who are addicted to strong drink,making a mess of their lives.
> I don't think Marijuana is the culprit that it is made out to be,Tobacco is far worse in effect than Marijuana. Like everything else,it can be abused.
> 
> BTW ,Although I don't smoke Marijuana....
> I absolutely love the taste of Marijuana wine!!


:iagree::iagree: Rastafari! :smthumbup:
My background is also Caribbean. My parents are from a generation where Rastafarians and smoking ganja was a disgrace. The younger generation in my family are pretty relaxed about weed. Canada has legalized small amounts of pot.

I believe that social context dictate how we view drug use. For Carribean Man and myself, we come from a culture where ganja is accepted and celebrated by many people. I grew up in a country where small amounts of marijuana are allowed. Those with certain diseases can go to a Compassion Club and buy marijuana with a government card. 

I realize that most people are American on this board. It is interesting to see the sharp contrast in opinions about smoking dope just south of the border.

I believe that marijuana withdrawal can be very difficult, but certainly not fatal. It can include weeping spells, sweating and insomnia.


----------



## Almostrecovered

Cee Paul said:


> People(like you)keep trying to establish different types of addictions which is fine, but to me they're ALL bad and ALL have the potential to ruin people's lives & usually do.


Ok, so what's the point of this thread then? What's your desire here, take away anything that can be addictive? 

Let's also outlaw coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, sex, video games, and porn


----------



## Almostrecovered

arbitrator said:


> With all due respect to Cheech and Chong(Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong), I remember seeing an interview of Cheech Marin's once where he said it was not their aim to promote drug usage, but to get people to laugh at it and to deride it.


He must've been so high when he said that


----------



## arbitrator

Almostrecovered said:


> Ok, so what's the point of this thread then? What's your desire here, take away anything that can be addictive?
> 
> Let's also outlaw coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, sex, video games, and porn


You've only got one of two options:

1. Get the Fed or an accumulation of a majority of states to simply pass legislation for recreational marijuana usage. *Unlikely*~ too strong of a lobby against that. Now one good thing is that if it did pass, it would totally wreak havoc with the Mexican drug cartels

2. Get the Fed or the states to ban coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco, gambling, video games, porn and sex. *Highly unlikely *since they all seem to have very active lobbies both in Washington and the states they are most prevalent in!


----------



## Cee Paul

arbitrator said:


> With all due respect to Cheech and Chong(Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong), I remember seeing an interview of Cheech Marin's once where he said it was not their aim to promote drug usage, but to get people to laugh at it and to deride it.


I've also seen recent interviews where they said they both enjoyed getting high and especially back then, and that a lot of times they were high during the movies they made.


----------



## Cee Paul

Almostrecovered said:


> Ok, so what's the point of this thread then? What's your desire here, take away anything that can be addictive?
> 
> Let's also outlaw coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, sex, video games, and porn


Getting the feeling that you are this website's _resident pain in the ass troublemaker_ and I know every site has one, so maybe I need to start ignoring you like most people on here already do.


----------



## Almostrecovered

It's an honest question, you haven't made this clear. We all agree that weed can be addictive, so what is it that you want to do here? Awareness? Fight to keep it illegal? What? 

Having those opinions is fine and dandy I don't dislike you for it but it's a discussion board and I have just as much right to state my own opinion as you. I believe drugs that don't create a physical dependence should be legal. I don't go around pushing people to smoke it, I don't smoke it myself anymore either. 

My wife has MS and it has worked better than any drug she has been prescribed for nerve pain. She tokes maybe 3 times a week after the kids are in bed. I would love to see it be legal for her to do that, but right now she is a criminal and I believe that to be an infringement upon her rights.


----------



## Almostrecovered

And I'm a board troublemaker?!?! You are the one who seems rather stubborn in your position and would rather not present fact but anecdotal evidence instead. 


You seriously don't know me nor my rep on this board. I have helped many people to date and having a side political discussion or a silly social thread is not the reason I'm here, but it's a part of the board and I have the right (as per the mods and owner) to participate in it just as much as you.


----------



## joe kidd

Let it go AR.


----------



## Almostrecovered

joe kidd said:


> Let it go AR.


No problem


----------



## Cee Paul

Almostrecovered said:


> And I'm a board troublemaker?!?! You are the one who seems rather stubborn in your position and would rather not present fact but anecdotal evidence instead.
> 
> 
> You seriously don't know me nor my rep on this board. I have helped many people to date and having a side political discussion or a silly social thread is not the reason I'm here, but it's a part of the board and I have the right (as per the mods and owner) to participate in it just as much as you.


If I've misjudged or mistaken you then my apologies, but it just seems like you feel the need to poke and prod me about everything & anything instead of just going with the flow like everyone else does.


----------



## johnnycomelately

Cee Paul said:


> That's all I am saying Carribean Man is that something that is harmless to some - can be POISON to others, and weed should not just be casually passed off as being cute and harmless.


_Joycelyn Elders, MD, former US Surgeon General, wrote in a Mar. 26, 2004 editorial published in the Providence Journal:

"Unlike many of the drugs we prescribe every day, marijuana has never been proven to cause a fatal overdose."_

If it is poison why can't you overdose on it?


----------



## johnnycomelately

As for addictiveness check this out:










*Source: 
Jack E. Henningfield, PhD for NIDA, Reported by Philip J. Hilts, New York Times*


----------



## Caribbean Man

My opinion is that there is just too much hypocrisy and misunderstanding about Marijuana. 
My wife is Indian I am a different race. I remember once, many years talking to her great grandmother
[ deceased ] whose ancestors came to the Caribbean as indentured labourers from India,to work on sugarcane plantations. She told me that Marijuana was brought here from India, and it was used for medicine [ tea] and for relaxation,after working the sugarcane fields . The village men would gather together, smike Marijuana, and talk. It was a sort f social activity where they would discuss their problems ,religion, dreams and remember their homeland. Indentureship was extremely hard. It was a type of trickery and slavery.
I have never smoked weed ,because I don't like its pungent odor , neither do I smoke cigarettes.
But I have not seen any proof that Marijuana is as " dangerous " as it is made out to be.


----------



## johnnycomelately

My feeling is that we shouldn't exagerate the dangers of marijuana, because if we do we lose credibility, with young people, about other drugs.

This 'Reefer Madness' type scare-mongering is ridiculous and damaging to the fight against genuinely dangerous drugs.


----------



## Cherry

johnnycomelately said:


> My feeling is that we shouldn't exagerate the dangers of marijuana, because if we do we lose credibility, with young people, about other drugs.
> 
> This 'Reefer Madness' type scare-mongering is ridiculous and damaging to the fight against genuinely dangerous drugs.


Great point. I'm just curious when the lawmakers will listen to the majority of the population, which has surpassed over 50% of the American population in favor of legalizing MJ.

Record-High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use

"A Gallup survey last year found that 70% favored making it legal for doctors to prescribe marijuana in order to reduce pain and suffering. Americans have consistently been more likely to favor the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes than to favor its legalization generally."


----------



## Cee Paul

johnnycomelately said:


> _Joycelyn Elders, MD, former US Surgeon General, wrote in a Mar. 26, 2004 editorial published in the Providence Journal:
> 
> "Unlike many of the drugs we prescribe every day, marijuana has never been proven to cause a fatal overdose."_
> 
> If it is poison why can't you overdose on it?


Not an overdose persay, but several times we used to smoke until we passed out or could hardly breathe and to the point where our hearts were beating 1,000 times a second. Fact: just like smoke of any kind it does clog lungs and arteries with black tar, which is not instantly fatal but is not good for you either in the long run.

It sounds like a lot of you are smoking some very weak stuff or very watered down, because the "Colombian Gold" or "Black Gonja" we used to smoke back in the day would.........knock you on your ass!


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> Not an overdose persay, but several times we used to smoke until we passed out or could hardly breathe and to the point where our hearts were beating 1,000 times a second. Fact: just like smoke of any kind it does clog lungs and arteries with black tar, which is not instantly fatal but is not good for you either in the long run.
> 
> It sounds like a lot of you are smoking some very weak stuff or very watered down, because the "Colombian Gold" or "Black Gonja" we used to smoke back in the day would.........knock you on your ass!


Yeah, they do have the more potent stuff around.... We don't touch that. The idea is not to smoke it to get fvcked up... Contrary to popular belief, it does not always get you high, it can get you to a relaxed, less anxious feeling.. but not high as in fvcked up high. 

It can be grown differently for different potency, and it's a lot like the difference between beer and hard liquor, or prescription meds... Different milligrams if you will.


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> Yeah, they do have the more potent stuff around.... We don't touch that. The idea is not to smoke it to get fvcked up... Contrary to popular belief, it does not always get you high, it can get you to a relaxed, less anxious feeling.. but not high as in fvcked up high.
> 
> It can be grown differently for different potency, and it's a lot like the difference between beer and hard liquor, or prescription meds... Different milligrams if you will.


I can remember back in the day when we would get ahold of some pot that was very weak or barely got you high and we always called it "bunk weed" for some reason, and we'd always be pissed off that it wasn't knocking us on our butts after forking out either $10 for a dime bag or $25 for a quarter bag.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> I can remember back in the day when we would get ahold of some pot that was very weak or barely got you high and we always called it "bunk weed" for some reason, and we'd always be pissed off that it wasn't knocking us on our butts after forking out either $10 for a dime bag or $25 for a quarter bag.


It's still the same way, never know what you're gonna get  But you can specifically buy the higher potency stuff for a little more (so I've heard).


----------



## Cee Paul

I know one thing I don't miss those pot smoking days at all; because looking back it was all fun and games then but now it would never fit into my lifestyle especially with the job I do, and the more I think about it I wasted sooooo much time and money on drugs back then which put me waaaaay back in the race.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> I know one thing I don't miss those pot smoking days at all; because looking back it was all fun and games then but now it would never fit into my lifestyle especially with the job I do, and the more I think about it I wasted sooooo much time and money on drugs back then which put me waaaaay back in the race.


I know what you mean, I feel the same way towards alcohol  I wasted so much time and energy being drunk. Anything that has that big of grip on someone's life, in a negative way, needs to be addressed. I would literally drink from the time I got home from work, til I went to bed and then on the weekends I would typically start at 10 am and go until I went to sleep Sunday night. I started out trying to moderate my drinking, but I would always creep back up to getting sloshed, over just relaxing with a drink or two. I can't touch the stuff anymore, my kids and my H deserve more from me. It is strange how different substances can affect different people in such different ways.


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> I know what you mean, I feel the same way towards alcohol  I wasted so much time and energy being drunk. Anything that has that big of grip on someone's life, in a negative way, needs to be addressed. I would literally drink from the time I got home from work, til I went to bed and then on the weekends I would typically start at 10 am and go until I went to sleep Sunday night. I started out trying to moderate my drinking, but I would always creep back up to getting sloshed, over just relaxing with a drink or two. I can't touch the stuff anymore, my kids and my H deserve more from me. It is strange how different substances can affect different people in such different ways.


It is weird because alchohol has very little appeal to me and is only something I enjoy socially out with friends, but once I began smoking weed at age 18 I could not stop to the point it was an everyday thing and I would panic when I ran out. I also snorted cocaine on several occasions and even though I liked it in the beginning, I started getting tired of it really quick and discovered very quickly that it was a "rich man's high"(powder form)and not for me.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> It is weird because alchohol has very little appeal to me and is only something I enjoy socially out with friends, but once I began smoking weed at age 18 I could not stop to the point it was an everyday thing and I would panic when I ran out. I also snorted cocaine on several occasions and even though I liked it in the beginning, I started getting tired of it really quick and discovered very quickly that it was a "rich man's high"(powder form)and not for me.


I'll be honest with you, I was against pot (and any other drug) for the greater part of my life (35 years, I'm 38 now), wouldn't touch the stuff, wouldn't associate with people who did. I thought it was evil, in part from what I've always "heard" and I lumped the crack heads and meth heads with the pot smokers. But then my H suggested I read up on it, because he is ADHD and probably bipolar... We would have many of fights about him going to talk to someone, get on something -- Ritalin? He was adamant about not taking any scripts -- Ritalin did him in as a child and a teen, it was a horrible experience for him and he just wasn't interested in scripts. 

Fast forward to now, I did my homework, I read the pro's and con's, I researched as much info as I could on it. And the effects of pot on my H is one that brings him down to a normal operating level. Instead of hyper, ahead of himself, quick to anger, horrible attention span, always seeking attention, etc... he comes down to a calmer level... One where we can discuss things rationally... He also works on these things within himself... He doesn't just smoke it and hope that it cures all... He also works at controlling his ADHD the best he can, such as at work, without any substance help. So it's kind of like a dual treatment for his ADHD. 

And low and behold in the midst of me finding out more about it for him, I found out that it could also benefit my appetite (or lack thereof) and my female issues. I have something that can turn into cervical cancer, so I did more research on pot... And sure enough, there are studies indicating that THC can shrink certain cancer tumors, cervical being one of them. 

I think it's important to recognize the benefits of cannabis.. Not just the negative that's floating around. Of course like any prescribed drug, there are certain people it can negatively affect, such as yourself. Along the same lines, my H can't take penicillin... And I know there are more that can have deadly reactions to penicillin, does that mean it should be removed as a source of treatment for certain things? Or pain meds? There are many prescription meds that people abuse, does that mean those that can use it responsibly shouldn't have the choice? Just an observation. 

There is just such a negative connotation with pot, it's unfortunate. 

Good luck to you in your continued sobriety!


----------



## Tr1qu3tra

Weed is not chemically addictive, only habitually addictive; which anything on the planet can be with daily use. Turn your guns on alcohol, Xanax, Prozac, (the "legal" drugs) etc before batting an eye at weed. Weed was essential in healing my PTSD after going to war. It cured my insomnia, stopped my nightmares, made me able to laugh, and forced me to eat. After a year of using it every day, I stopped. I missed it, but I didn't crave it. Now I am grateful for it.


----------



## tina2244

All this weed chatter makes me want to spark up.... I will wait until this evening after dinner. 

Been smoking it for 15 years.. Maybe habitually addicted, maybe not. Love it and don't care what anyone thinks!! All I know is that my house is cleaner and love working out after smoking up.


----------



## FirstYearDown

Tr1qu3tra said:


> Weed is not chemically addictive, only habitually addictive; which anything on the planet can be with daily use. Turn your guns on alcohol, Xanax, Prozac, (the "legal" drugs) etc before batting an eye at weed. Weed was essential in healing my PTSD after going to war. It cured my insomnia, stopped my nightmares, made me able to laugh, and forced me to eat. After a year of using it every day, I stopped. I missed it, but I didn't crave it. Now I am grateful for it.


:iagree::iagree::iagree:

I smoke weed for PTSD too. Therapy and mood drugs do not keep the flashbacks and nightmares away.

Since I am aware that there is a time and place for everything, I never smoke around my parents, in-laws or nieces. I do not smoke before class or when I am studying. My grades are wonderful, our place is clean and I am not constantly high.

It has been easy for me to smoke and still live a productive life.:smthumbup: That is why I laugh when I read the stereotypical comments made by some on TAM.


----------



## johnnycomelately

tina2244 said:


> All this weed chatter makes me want to spark up.... I will wait until this evening after dinner.


Well, where I am it _is_ evening, and dinner is just settling, so...


----------



## Cee Paul

I made soooooo many dumb mistakes back when I was getting high that I didn't even know I was making because I was oblivious to my surroundings, and now that I have stopped and been away from it for so long I can still usually tell those who are high on weed simply by their behavior and mannerisms. And it's quite sad when I see some of the people I used to hang with & get high with back in my late teens to mid 20's, who are now in their mid to late 40's and are STILL getting high, being irresponsible, out of work, and one is back living with his mom at 47 years old. I have a pretty strong feeling that would've been me as well if I didn't decide to straighten my ass up.


----------



## johnnycomelately

Cee Paul said:


> s, who are now in their mid to late 40's and are STILL getting high, being irresponsible, out of work, and one is back living with his mom at 47 years old. I have a pretty strong feeling that would've been me as well if I didn't decide to straighten my ass up.


Yes, we are all failures, like John F Kennedy, Michael Phelps and Mick Jagger (Sir Mick Jagger). All achieved nothing and living at home with mom. Tragic.


----------



## Caribbean Man

johnnycomelately said:


> Yes, we are all failures, like John F Kennedy, Michael Phelps and Mick Jagger (Sir Mick Jagger). All achieved nothing and living at home with mom. Tragic.


:iagree:

You forgot Robert Nestor " Bob " Marley...:smthumbup:


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> I made soooooo many dumb mistakes back when I was getting high that I didn't even know I was making because I was oblivious to my surroundings, and now that I have stopped and been away from it for so long I can still usually tell those who are high on weed simply by their behavior and mannerisms. And it's quite sad when I see some of the people I used to hang with & get high with back in my late teens to mid 20's, who are now in their mid to late 40's and are STILL getting high, being irresponsible, out of work, and one is back living with his mom at 47 years old. I have a pretty strong feeling that would've been me as well if I didn't decide to straighten my ass up.


I think it's good that you recognized you had a problem with weed. But what you describe can be attributed to a myriad of issues, no? Someone who's living with their parents at 47, I'm not sure who's fault that would be. Did they force their way into their parent's home? I hear that a lot when someone tries to point out how bad weed is... I hear that a lot! What you are pointing out is the product of personal choices and those who enable a user to continue making poor life choices.. If my oldest child came crawling back at any age now that she is an adult, always high on pot, never working, or seldom working, etc... I'll be damned if I'd let her crash anywhere near my property. I would not stand for it. I would let her know that I love her, etc.., but I will not enable that kind of behavior and lack of motivation. 

I've watched my MIL put up with her grown adult children (ranging from 30 yrs old to 40 yrs old) continuing to milk her for every dime she has, she let's them walk all over her, it is the most depressing thing I've ever seen in my life. One of them is a bonafide active crack addict, and he smokes weed, another one is a bonafide alcoholic and the other one, I'm not sure what his problem is, but he doesn't smoke dope at all, he just takes and takes and takes. She is forever continuing to give them money, she even pawns things to give them money. And then she turns around and gripes about it all to us. Who's at fault here? The loser crack addict, the alcoholic, or the other son who just takes whatever she's willing to give OR the most obvious answer -- the mother who doesn't say ENOUGH is ENOUGH?

ETA: My parents would never in a million years let me camp out in their basement, smoking weed, drinking, etc... In fact, they wouldn't let me live with them if I were actively drinking... Boundaries can be a life saver.


----------



## Cee Paul

johnnycomelately said:


> Yes, we are all failures, like John F Kennedy, Michael Phelps and Mick Jagger (Sir Mick Jagger). All achieved nothing and living at home with mom. Tragic.


Ummmm JFK was pretty much already the PRESIDENT at age 47 & holding other offices before that, Michael Phelps is still only in his late 20's and is a gold medalist and a millionaire, and Mick Jagger joined the Rolling Stones in his 20's and was also a millionaire at a very young age.

I think you are confusing dudes who have freakin made it big at something and..........moved their moms IN, with dudes who are in their late 40's who sit around getting high all day living WITH mom and who contribute _nothing_ to their living situations pretty much. *Not very good examples - lol*


----------



## CLucas976

I really think the whole weed debate is old.

Seriously, I watch just as many people waste their life on lotto scratch offs and welfare as I do smoking weed.

The difference? I have seen MORE people with severe health issues and nerve problems HELPED by smoking weed than seen families helped by the welfare system.

anything and everything, including food, can be addicting. whatever you satiate your compulsion, emptiness or whatever with, can become an addiction. 

So what was the point here? 

I had a phase of smoking weed all the time, I felt weird being sober instead of high, I've had a stage of complete sobriety, I've had drinking stages. I've even had what I thought was just weed put before me and my value as a person.

Bottom line, you can't blame weed for your behavior. Weed is not why my value as a person and wife was at the bottom of my ex's "totem pole" so to speak, he wasn't addicted to it, he was and still is compensating.

And when he tries to quit smoking weed, he has the same symptoms you went through OP. I would have the same symptoms if I stopped drinking coffee, I have the same issues if I lower my cigarettes, If I don't get dressed in the proper order, shut the car off the "right" way, I will lose sleep over not getting everything on my mental check list at work done, and it will be as stupid as not filling one sugar shaker.

Anxiety, loss of sleep, loss of apetite, nerves acting up etc. Because my brain has to have things done that way, or have x-things done, or it doesn't work.

The ONLY horrible addictive side effect I have seen is the lack of mental and emotional growth in users who started smoking at an extremely early age. Because they used it to cope, instead of dealing with things head on. There is a big difference in the people I know who didn't start smoking until their 20's and the people who started smoking in their early teens pre-teen years.

I have never seen anyone go through what I've seen heroin and crack addicts go through as far as withdrawls because of weed. Those people truly suffered something I would never wish on anyone, I don't care what smoker I was around, how long they'd been smoking, and how often, they never went through that.

which is the difference, between physical and mental addictions.


----------



## johnnycomelately

Cee Paul said:


> Ummmm JFK was pretty much already the PRESIDENT at age 47 & holding other offices before that, Michael Phelps is still only in his late 20's and is a gold medalist and a millionaire, and Mick Jagger joined the Rolling Stones in his 20's and was also a millionaire at a very young age.
> 
> I think you are confusing dudes who have freakin made it big at something and..........moved their moms IN, with dudes who are in their late 40's who sit around getting high all day living WITH mom and who contribute _nothing_ to their living situations pretty much. *Not very good examples - lol*


Ok, sorry. I thought they were good examples. It must be all the weed that has me confused.


----------



## Cee Paul

Again the whole point of this thread was "marijuana is addictive....*to some*", and those that don't think so are wrong and you may as well say that neither is alchohol because to those like me and others who don't have drinking problems - it's not. So I'm not saying at all that I am against weed and maybe it should even be legalized, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's just a harmless & cute thing that people do because in my line of work(lab testing)I see people ruin their lives over it everyday.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> Again the whole point of this thread was "marijuana is addictive....*to some*", and those that don't think so are wrong and you may as well say that neither is alchohol because to those like me and others who don't have drinking problems - it's not. So I'm not saying at all that I am against weed and maybe it should even be legalized, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's just a harmless & cute thing that people do because in my line of work(lab testing)I see people ruin their lives over it everyday.


I haven't seen anyone posting that weed is "harmless and cute".. Everyone who has been supportive of cannabis on here has pointed out what ailments they have, or know someone to have, and that is their point behind the backing of it. Everyone seems to also acknowledge that it can create problems for certain people.

Your line of work is a totally different argument all together (which has also been pointed out a few times) and drug testing is what it is.... It is red tape.

From what I see happening with the laws, it is only a matter of time before every state will have medical cannabis anyway and drug testing for MJ will be a thing of the past, eventually.


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> I haven't seen anyone posting that weed is "harmless and cute".. Everyone who has been supportive of cannabis on here has pointed out what ailments they have, or know someone to have, and that is their point behind the backing of it. Everyone seems to also acknowledge that it can create problems for certain people.
> 
> Your line of work is a totally different argument all together (which has also been pointed out a few times) and drug testing is what it is.... It is red tape.
> 
> From what I see happening with the laws, it is only a matter of time before every state will have medical cannabis anyway and drug testing for MJ will be a thing of the past, eventually.


Yeah I can see that happening eventually where it's legalized, and then just like you can't drink on the job or drive drunk it needs to be regulated in the same manner(to be done on your free time only and not behind the wheel either).

And we had a local pro athlete here who was an admitted weed smoker and had already been suspended for it, and according to public records he was making a salary of $1.4 million a season. Well even though he was sternly warned to stop and would be drug tested for it he STILL continued smoking it, and as a result he was then suspended again for a year WITHOUT PAY for testing positive again! To me this is an example of someone who got addicted to it so badly, that he was willing to forfeit a million dollar salary for a year so he could continue getting high even after being warned repeatedly not to. And even though there is red tape and politics involved in all of that, would you not stop smoking it if the billionaire orgainization you work for told you to stop or risk losing millions as a result? I only make $40,000 a year and would never risk losing that salary over something like weed, but back when I was smoking it heavily everyday I might have.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> Yeah I can see that happening eventually where it's legalized, and then just like you can't drink on the job or drive drunk it needs to be regulated in the same manner(to be done on your free time only and not behind the wheel either).
> 
> And we had a local pro athlete here who was an admitted weed smoker and had already been suspended for it, and according to public records he was making a salary of $1.4 million a season. Well even though he was sternly warned to stop and would be drug tested for it he STILL continued smoking it, and as a result he was then suspended again for a year WITHOUT PAY for testing positive again! To me this is an example of someone who got addicted to it so badly, that he was willing to forfeit a million dollar salary for a year so he could continue getting high even after being warned repeatedly not to. And even though there is red tape and politics involved in all of that, would you not stop smoking it if the billionaire orgainization you work for told you to stop or risk losing millions as a result? I only make $40,000 a year and would never risk losing that salary over something like weed.


What player? Do you live in Washington by chance? In any event, here's an article on two players who were suspended... Turns out there's more to it, including this...

"On the other hand, the anti-doping agency’s rules do not prohibit players from smoking marijuana during the off-season. Washington tight end Fred Davis and left tackle Trent Williams had apparently smoked marijuana during the four-month NFL lockout this year and again once the season began. Both were suspended for the remainder of the season"

Perhaps more red tape in drug testing issues... 

For pro athletes, the risks of smoking pot are high — but so are the benefits - The Washington Post


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> What player? Do you live in Washington by chance? In any event, here's an article on two players who were suspended... Turns out there's more to it, including this...
> 
> "On the other hand, the anti-doping agency’s rules do not prohibit players from smoking marijuana during the off-season. Washington tight end Fred Davis and left tackle Trent Williams had apparently smoked marijuana during the four-month NFL lockout this year and again once the season began. Both were suspended for the remainder of the season"
> 
> Perhaps more red tape in drug testing issues...
> 
> For pro athletes, the risks of smoking pot are high — but so are the benefits - The Washington Post


One thing I will never reveal Cherry is who I really am or where I'm from because of all the intimate information shared on here. Because for all I know someone my wife knows or is maybe a family member of hers is on here, and if that's the case and they have read all the things I've revealed about my marriage.......I may as well start packing my bags already and hire a moving van.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> One thing I will never reveal Cherry is who I really am or where I'm from because of all the intimate information shared on here. Because for all I know someone my wife knows or is maybe a family member of hers is on here, and if that's the case and they have read all the things I've revealed about my marriage.......I may as well start packing my bags already and hire a moving van.


Sorry, I completely understand


----------



## tina2244

Puff puff.. pass.. Who wants the next toke? I got the BC bud over here  

Its a little early for smoking the ganja but again, this weed discussion is makin me jones for it.. Damn I hate being SOOOO addicted lol


----------



## FirstYearDown

Pass it here mama! I have some Jamaican cess.


----------



## tina2244

Here you go buddy.... (virtual doobie pass)


----------



## FirstYearDown

Is there tobacco in this spliff? I don't put batch in my ganja. Makes me sick.

I can't smoke my weed until I finish cleaning the floor and do some studying for a quiz. See? Some potheads can actually prioritize. My husband and I have agreed that if weed is making me too lazy and unproductive, I will have to stop. Until then, he often says he would rather have a wife who loves pot instead of alcohol. :smthumbup: 

My SIL is a lush. She constantly talks about liquor and makes a fool out of herself when drunk. SIL doesn't care who is around when she hits the sauce, so our very formal MIL knows that my SIL has a drinking problem. When I am high, I am quiet and sometimes giggly. I do not stagger around and slur my speech like an idiot...no wonder my husband doesn't mind the weed!

A dear friend of mine passed away from AIDS. The medical marijuana helped him eat and controlled his nausea. 

For your listening enjoyment...might me hard to understand as it is in patois.
GANJA FARMER BY MARLON ASHER - YouTube


----------



## Caribbean Man

FirstYearDown said:


> Is there tobacco in this spliff? I don't put batch in my ganja. Makes me sick.
> 
> I can't smoke my weed until I finish cleaning the floor and do some studying for a quiz. See? Some potheads can actually prioritize. My husband and I have agreed that if weed is making me too lazy and unproductive, I will have to stop. Until then, he often says he would rather have a wife who loves pot instead of alcohol. :smthumbup:
> 
> My SIL is a lush. She constantly talks about liquor and makes a fool out of herself when drunk. SIL doesn't care who is around when she hits the sauce, so our very formal MIL knows that my SIL has a drinking problem. When I am high, I am quiet and sometimes giggly. I do not stagger around and slur my speech like an idiot...no wonder my husband doesn't mind the weed!
> 
> A dear friend of mine passed away from AIDS. The medical marijuana helped him eat and controlled his nausea.
> 
> For your listening enjoyment...might me hard to understand as it is in patois.
> GANJA FARMER BY MARLON ASHER - YouTube


:smthumbup:

Marlon Asher is from Trinidad.
I used to know him before his " stardom." 
He wrote that song after there was a massive offensive by joint U.S Army and local Soldiers against Large Scale Ganga Farmers and exporters in the Caribbean and Trinidad.
Most of the large scale farms [ 50 - 60 Acre farms ] were destroyed.
The smaller ones survived.
The U.S Army sent about six Chinook helicopters to drop soldiers into the Marijuana Fields. They could not approach from the outside because the fields are usually booby trapped. [ trap guns ].
As soon as the soldiers left , the Ganga farmers simply went back and cultivated their ganga again.


----------



## FirstYearDown

I know the story of that song, CM. Marlon may be trini, but he sounds Jamaican in that song to me.


----------



## Caribbean Man

FirstYearDown said:


> I know the story of that song, CM. Marlon may be trini, but he sounds Jamaican in that song to me.


:rofl:

It's a Trini thing dear.
Trinidadians are " Mimic Men." We can imitate ANYBODY. If a Trini were to go France for two weeks he will come back speaking perfect French!


----------



## tina2244

Nope, I hate it when people put tobacco in their joints... Find it gross too. Pot doesn't make me lazy either. My husband finds it strange that does the opposite effects from a sterotypical pothead. On a regular weekend.. I start cleaning, then go for a run, come back to clean some more.. organize, clean.. pretty soon the house looks awesome all with a silly grin on my face. 

If anyone wants to see a good marijuana documentary on truths/myths/industry.. watch The Union.


----------



## Cherry

tina2244 said:


> Nope, I hate it when people put tobacco in their joints... Find it gross too. Pot doesn't make me lazy either. My husband finds it strange that does the opposite effects from a sterotypical pothead. On a regular weekend.. I start cleaning, then go for a run, come back to clean some more.. organize, clean.. pretty soon the house looks awesome all with a silly grin on my face.
> 
> If anyone wants to see a good marijuana documentary on truths/myths/industry.. watch The Union.


That is so true! And again, I'm not saying pot doesn't create problems for some... But my experience has been one of energy too. H and me both. We've gotten a lot of work done on and around the house.. most recently we added a master bath, all but plumbing done by us . I'll take that over getting drunk, watching some sad sap movie on lifetime (<my previous life) anyday!


----------



## Cee Paul

Until they do make it officially legal, something to think about is all the good jobs people miss out on because they have to have their weed. And yes there are ways to mask it but from what I'm hearing is that a lot of big companies that are offering the high paying or good jobs, are starting to use either the prick your finger onto a glass slide or a strand of hair method; and I know for a fact both of those are fullproof and nearly impossible to mask. We get a pop drug test once a year - every year, and once you walk in the door and get setup they will hand you a small glass slide(for a blood sample)and a pee cup & walk you to the nurse. Back in January I saw a fellow employee who had put in 13 years with our company, who was fired after one of those pop tests because he all the sudden decided to take a few hits off a joint at a New Years Eve party a week before(so bye bye $40,000+ a year job with great benefits).


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> That is so true! And again, I'm not saying pot doesn't create problems for some... But my experience has been one of energy too. H and me both. We've gotten a lot of work done on and around the house.. most recently we added a master bath, all but plumbing done by us . I'll take that over getting drunk, watching some sad sap movie on lifetime (<my previous life) anyday!


Let's not forget that weed(THC)is on the list of "downer" drugs and is not lumped in with cocaine, speed, or ecstacy, which are of course all listed as "upper" types of drugs; so for the record I am not just simply making that fact up for my own benefit.


----------



## CLucas976

Cee Paul said:


> Again the whole point of this thread was "marijuana is addictive....*to some*", and those that don't think so are wrong and you may as well say that neither is alchohol because to those like me and others who don't have drinking problems - it's not. So I'm not saying at all that I am against weed and maybe it should even be legalized, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's just a harmless & cute thing that people do because in my line of work(lab testing)I see people ruin their lives over it everyday.


I really just don't see the point in starting a thread when you're a fence sitter on a debated topic.

You really have no debate here, it looks more like you're either looking for a bunch of "yeap, you're right" or to poke at people and get reactions.

Good troll technique, but really, everything is addictive to someone, and everyone here has agreed with you in essence, except for the pure nature of the addiction (physical vs. mental)

which is why I asked what your point was..what were you hoping to get from these 7 pages of the same argument?


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> Let's not forget that weed(THC)is on the list of "downer" drugs and is not lumped in with cocaine, speed, or ecstacy, which are of course all listed as "upper" types of drugs; so for the record I am not just simply making that fact up for my own benefit.


This is another argument we can tackle, if you'd like, as there are studies indicating it is not strictly a "downer", and "downer" has not been my experience or other responsible pot users on this thread. 

"While many psychoactive drugs clearly fall into the category of either stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogen, cannabis exhibits a mix of all properties, perhaps leaning the most towards hallucinogenic or psychedelic properties, though with other effects quite pronounced as well. Though THC is typically considered the primary active component of the cannabis plant, various scientific studies have suggested that certain other cannabinoids like CBD may also play a significant role in its psychoactive effects.[15][16][17]" 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)


----------



## Almostrecovered

this quick educational documentary about an experiment on spiders explains the differences between certain drugs
Spiders On Drugs - YouTube


----------



## Cherry

Almostrecovered said:


> this quick educational documentary about an experiment on spiders explains the differences between certain drugs
> Spiders On Drugs - YouTube


OMG... That is fvcking hilarious! I think I'll stick to just one cup of coffee this morning


----------



## Cherry

CLucas976 said:


> which is why I asked what your point was..what were you hoping to get from these 7 pages of the same argument?


Shhhh... It's so I can share my tiresome, boring research on the subject


----------



## Cee Paul

CLucas976 said:


> I really just don't see the point in starting a thread when you're a fence sitter on a debated topic.
> 
> You really have no debate here, it looks more like you're either looking for a bunch of "yeap, you're right" or to poke at people and get reactions.
> 
> Good troll technique, but really, everything is addictive to someone, and everyone here has agreed with you in essence, except for the pure nature of the addiction (physical vs. mental)
> 
> which is why I asked what your point was..what were you hoping to get from these 7 pages of the same argument?


If you don't like the thread or the subject matter you are free to.....keep moving; I do it all the time with all the 10,000 topics going on on here, where if I see something that doesn't appeal to me or I don't have an opinion about I just simply.......move on.


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> This is another argument we can tackle, if you'd like, as there are studies indicating it is not strictly a "downer", and "downer" has not been my experience or other responsible pot users on this thread.
> 
> "While many psychoactive drugs clearly fall into the category of either stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogen, cannabis exhibits a mix of all properties, perhaps leaning the most towards hallucinogenic or psychedelic properties, though with other effects quite pronounced as well. Though THC is typically considered the primary active component of the cannabis plant, various scientific studies have suggested that certain other cannabinoids like CBD may also play a significant role in its psychoactive effects.[15][16][17]"
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)


The only things that I can go on is what the chemical experts have said about certain drugs for years & years, and the fact that when I was sitting in a room full of people snorting coke all eyes were wiiiide open and people were restless & hyper, and when I was sitting around in a room full of people smoking on a bong or a joint everyone was feeling silly and laid back most of the time. But again it does effect people differently I won't argue that fact, but for the majority of people cocaine is an upper and weed is more of a relaxing drug.

It's as simple as this: if you were wanting to feel tired and get some sleep would you drink a) a tall can of Red Bull, or b) a nice cup of hot herbal tea or warm milk before bed to accomplish that.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> The only things that I can go on is what the chemical experts have said about certain drugs for years & years, and the fact that when I was sitting in a room full of people snorting coke all eyes were wiiiide open and people were restless & hyper, and when I was sitting around in a room full of people smoking on a bong or a joint everyone was feeling silly and laid back most of the time. But again it does effect people differently I won't argue that fact, but for the majority of people cocaine is an upper and weed is more of a relaxing drug.
> 
> It's as simple as this: if you were wanting to feel tired and get some sleep would you drink a) a tall can of Red Bull, or b) a nice cup of hot herbal tea or warm milk before bed to accomplish that.


There's no doubt it is a relaxing herb... Don't get me wrong, I could definitely be lazy after smoking, if I chose to be. And when I first started smoking, I was pretty worthless, that's why I wouldn't do it often at all. 

I guess you could say I built up an immunity to it (?), because I did like the appetite it gave me and I really needed food, which I otherwise would have to force myself to eat, which is no fun. I went to the doctor for my eating issues a few times, to no avail... She told me to continue to force myself to eat. Again, no fun, especially when you have a weak stomach and everything makes you feel sick to your stomach. So I kept smoking it and in a few months, more than just my weight has improved:

1. I've managed to put on at least 5 lbs (I'm 100 now) and I'm still gaining, goal is 110; 
2. My H and I do not fight hardly at all, but we do have deeper, more open discussions about things, coming to calmer resolutions (vs. the cops being called quite a bit); 
3. I've stopped drinking entirely (something I NEVER thought I would do even though it was destroying every aspect of my life... to the point of almost losing my life from a stroke and then almost losing my family because of an inability to control my emotions and actions );
4. My head is clearer, my thoughts are calmer, my mood is incredible -- And these things are during the day when I'm nowhere near pot;
5. My abnormal cells on my cervix have stopped or slowed, won't know for sure for 3 more months, but I had the most hopeful pap I've had in nearly 5 years, a week ago... 

All of that, for me, are pretty significant, positive changes to my life. And while in a perfect world, I would not need any substance to balance my life, this is the closest thing I've come to normalcy in my life in a long time. And for me, the only negative I see with pot in my life is the legalities of it. I am not hurting a soul smoking pot, in fact I am improving my quality of life and in essence those around me who care about me and want what is best for my overall health.


----------



## tina2244

Another day, another doobie


----------



## GTdad

I smoked the stuff when I was a kid, but could take it or leave it, and haven't touched it in decades. I always preferred the People's Drug: alcohol. Which leads ironically to my main point.

I was an Asst. DA for five years. We used to have conversations where the consensus was that if society was really interested in impacting crime, we'd legalize pot and ban alcohol. Pot didn't cause people to shoot their friends, or beat their spouses and children, or kill people on the roads. They just wanted to sit around watching TV and ordering pizza. And if they had to drive, they'd go exactly the speed limit because they were paranoid about being pulled over. 

From a crime standpoint, pot is an intoxicant we should all get behind.


----------



## CLucas976

Cee Paul said:


> If you don't like the thread or the subject matter you are free to.....keep moving; I do it all the time with all the 10,000 topics going on on here, where if I see something that doesn't appeal to me or I don't have an opinion about I just simply.......move on.


I fully support people actually having a discussion on the topic. I support many of the people's views here, and as well, have stated my own.

I still asked you, what you wanted to gain from this thread that you started, I'm pretty certain you've been asked already, and you have yet to answer..

Although I could probably start a thread about how cheeseburgers are addictive to some people, and tell you to piss off when you asked me what my point was too. Maybe I'll do that, instead.


----------



## Cherry




----------



## johnnycomelately

CLucas976 said:


> Although I could probably start a thread about how cheeseburgers are addictive to some people, and tell you to piss off when you asked me what my point was too. Maybe I'll do that, instead.


I had a bad experience with a cheeseburger once, back in the day, it wasn't one of these pansy modern cheesburgers though...it had unpasteurized cheese on it! My nightmare went on for hours...


----------



## Cherry

johnnycomelately said:


> I had a bad experience with a cheeseburger once, back in the day, it wasn't one of these pansy modern cheesburgers though...it had unpasteurized cheese on it! My nightmare went on for hours...


Must've been a White Castle


----------



## Cee Paul

Last time I checked a cheeseburger was not illegal and could not land you in jail or cause you to lose your job, so once again a dumb analogy that maybe should've been kept to yourself. 

And I did answer as to why but it was a few pages back, so rather than repeat myself and type it all over again I will simply make you scroll back and look for it yourself.


----------



## CLucas976

All I've seen out of you, is that you were a pot head in college, and now you regret it.

because you experienced such severe with drawls that it makes pot addiction on the same level as heroin, and you want to make sure everyone here, that agrees marijuana can be addictive, to know it.

did you want a gold star?

Cigarettes cost you your health, are starting to cost you jobs, and are HIGHLY addictive. They're more hazardous to your health than smoking weed, and they're legal. I must have failed to realize the only "addiction" worth discussing were illegal ones. silly me.


----------



## Cee Paul

CLucas976 said:


> All I've seen out of you, is that you were a pot head in college, and now you regret it.
> 
> because you experienced such severe with drawls that it makes pot addiction on the same level as heroin, and you want to make sure everyone here, that agrees marijuana can be addictive, to know it.
> 
> did you want a gold star?
> 
> Cigarettes cost you your health, are starting to cost you jobs, and are HIGHLY addictive. They're more hazardous to your health than smoking weed, and they're legal. I must have failed to realize the only "addiction" worth discussing were illegal ones. silly me.


Over the years I have heard many people talk as if weed was 100% completely harmless and acted like there's nooo way anyone could get addicted to it, so I simply decided it would be a good topic to throw up on here but apparently it has offended you and invaded your personal space somehow. So far I have seen a lot of good feedback about it along with a handful of foolish comments - like the cheeseburger one, and to me it's interesting to talk about this with others from different walks of life.


----------



## Wing Man

Used to get baked back in the 70's but marriage and kids pretty much took care of all that.


----------



## Going Mental

> My body craves Scarlett Johansson, does that mean I am addicted to her?


Only if it affects your life negatively and you can't control it 

So where does paranoia & onset of schizophrenia come into all of this debate? Does it have a physiological or a psychological basis???

I get it that weed for most is not physically addictive, but as for every rule, there are exceptions. It seems CeePaul & my H are two examples who are potentially two exceptions to the rule.


----------



## Cherry

Not enough human studies to answer if there is a true link, or rather cause/effect link. But here's a link and as MJ relates to schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Studies that do exist are both positive and negative, and the negative are sketchy in some instances.

http://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/does-marijuana-cause-schizophrenia/

ETA.. I went back and read the article more thoroughly. It appears there are a lot of variables when it comes to mental health and pot, one of them being age.


----------



## Wing Man

Sometimes I miss the old doobie days but it just got to a point where it was getting in the way of things and I had to let it all go, and so I smoked my last fat doob back in 1982.


----------



## FirstYearDown

You smoked your last spliff the year I was born!:lol::lol:

30 years later, I am picking up where you left off.


----------



## 2nd_t!me iz_best

you know they lace that with crap now to up the weight for sells with stuff like glass beads for reflective paints they use on roads and anything else they think will be undetectable. one of my last ones was laced with angel dust. got paranoid like he11. stopped shortly after except twice for extreme headaches.


----------



## johnnycomelately

2nd_t!me iz_best said:


> you know they lace that with crap now to up the weight for sells with stuff like glass beads for reflective paints they use on roads and anything else they think will be undetectable. one of my last ones was laced with angel dust.


That doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would you lace something so cheap, with something expensive?


----------



## Cherry

2nd_t!me iz_best said:


> you know they lace that with crap now to up the weight for sells with stuff like glass beads for reflective paints they use on roads and anything else they think will be undetectable. one of my last ones was laced with angel dust. got paranoid like he11. stopped shortly after except twice for extreme headaches.


It's unfortunate you experienced laced weed, but it certainly is not the norm, and in fact, the norm is to buy complete buds.. not ground up at all...you grind it yourself. 

(P.S. more people are turning to growing it themselves for personal use, it is legal to do so in many medical MJ states and the internet is full of how-to's).


----------



## 2nd_t!me iz_best

johnnycomelately said:


> That doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would you lace something so cheap, with something expensive?


you talking the dust?
that was 30 years ago. 
i guess it was done as an 'enhancer' lol.
stayed crouched behind a bush for hours and hours thinking 'they' were coming to get me.


----------



## 2nd_t!me iz_best

Cherry said:


> It's unfortunate you experienced laced weed, but it certainly is not the norm, and in fact, the norm is to buy complete buds.. not ground up at all...you grind it yourself.
> 
> (P.S. more people are turning to growing it themselves for personal use, it is legal to do so in many medical MJ states and the internet is full of how-to's).


the glass beads and such are done on buds as well.
you can not tell they are on them, but it does add to the weight therefore the selling price.


----------



## Cherry

2nd_t!me iz_best said:


> the glass beads and such are done on buds as well.
> you can not tell they are on them, but it does add to the weight therefore the selling price.


More of a reason to know who you're getting it from. 

P.S. I did a quick Google search on glass in bud. It appears there was a purported epidemic in the UK in 2008... The validity of that claim has been debated.


----------



## that_girl

johnnycomelately said:


> That doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would you lace something so cheap, with something expensive?


My last experience with pot was laced. OMFG. HORRIBLE experience. I wanted to die. That was the last time and I quit cold turkey (being a college student and I had smoked at least 3 times a day for at least 5 years).

I don't know what it was laced with but holy crap. :nono:


----------



## Caribbean Man

Marijuana is sold down here by the ounce. It is usually sold in those little resealable plastic bags like those you get prescription drugs in.
Then you can purchase the paper wrapper [ Bambu paper ] in the supermarket, wrap your own joint and smoke it.
How To Roll A Blunt Out Of Fronto Leaf & Bambu!!! - Grasscity.com Forums


----------



## Wing Man

Caribbean Man said:


> Marijuana is sold down here by the ounce. It is usually sold in those little resealable plastic bags like those you get prescription drugs in.
> Then you can purchase the paper wrapper [ Bambu paper ] in the supermarket, wrap your own joint and smoke it.
> How To Roll A Blunt Out Of Fronto Leaf & Bambu!!! - Grasscity.com Forums


We used to buy nickel and dime bags back in the 70's and early 80's and they were always nice sized too even for that price, and then we always rolled them up in good ole Joker brand rice paper.


----------



## Cherry

Caribbean Man said:


> Marijuana is sold down here by the ounce. It is usually sold in those little resealable plastic bags like those you get prescription drugs in.
> Then you can purchase the paper wrapper [ Bambu paper ] in the supermarket, wrap your own joint and smoke it.
> How To Roll A Blunt Out Of Fronto Leaf & Bambu!!! - Grasscity.com Forums


They sell pipes and papers at our convenience stores around our city, they even have specialty stores that sell all sorts of smoke items, bongs and such.... For tobacco use of course 

ETA.. the MJ itself is sold like that here and sometimes completely sealed depending on the source.


----------



## FirstYearDown

johnnycomelately said:


> That doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would you lace something so cheap, with something expensive?



To get the pothead hooked on a more expensive drug.

Lacing does not happen very often here.


----------



## johnnycomelately

FirstYearDown said:


> To get the pothead hooked on a more expensive drug.
> 
> Lacing does not happen very often here.


Why would they do that? You wouldn't know that the feeling you had was a craving for a drug, never mind which drug. 

Why would a drug dealer waste money getting people high on stuff they don't know they are taking? Doesn't make any sense. 

I would guess if there is something bad in weed it is more likely to be pesticide.


----------



## FirstYearDown

I know that cravings for crack or heroin are ten times worse than any yen for weed. So if someone smokes some laced ganja, they know right away because the cravings are stronger and the high is different. 

It is not a waste of money if addicts keep coming back for more of that "special weed."  Maybe this doesn't make sense to you because you are not aware of what drug dealers do to increase potency. Weed can be laced with cocaine, Windex (yes, really) or any other drug that can be hidden in a spliff.


----------



## johnnycomelately

FirstYearDown said:


> I know that cravings for crack or heroin are ten times worse than any yen for weed. So if someone smokes some laced ganja, they know right away because the cravings are stronger and the high is different.
> 
> It is not a waste of money if addicts keep coming back for more of that "special weed."  Maybe this doesn't make sense to you because you are not aware of what drug dealers do to increase potency. Weed can be laced with cocaine, Windex (yes, really) or any other drug that can be hidden in a spliff.


That sucks. All the more reason to legalise and control.

Where I live it is mostly home-grown and traded between friends, so you know it is safe.


----------



## 2nd_t!me iz_best

Cherry said:


> More of a reason to know who you're getting it from.
> 
> P.S. I did a quick Google search on glass in bud. It appears there was a purported epidemic in the UK in 2008... The validity of that claim has been debated.


i think its fairly naive to think there are thieves and rip offs only in certain parts of the world.

its also been reported that they spray it with lead and other harmful metals you cant see or glues and other chemicals to give it the 'appearance' of having more resins in it to make it more appealing.

also i dont like the idea that the growing of this has spilled over into our forests and national parks along the west coast by the mostly mexican drug lords. hikers and campers getting caught up in booby traps and getting killed by accidentally coming across these criminals gardens.
one thing that could put a stop to these activities is to legalize it and take the profits away from these types of people.


----------



## Cherry

2nd_t!me iz_best said:


> i think its fairly naive to think there are thieves and rip offs only in certain parts of the world.
> 
> its also been reported that they spray it with lead and other harmful metals you cant see or glues and other chemicals to give it the 'appearance' of having more resins in it to make it more appealing.
> 
> also i dont like the idea that the growing of this has spilled over into our forests and national parks along the west coast by the mostly mexican drug lords. hikers and campers getting caught up in booby traps and getting killed by accidentally coming across these criminals gardens.
> one thing that could put a stop to these activities is to legalize it and take the profits away from these types of people.


I did not say it was only in that part of the world... But that is the only news worthy incident of it happening lately (2008), if you can find another incident of that happening more recently, I'd love to see a link, I could not find anything..

I won't debate the rest with you, don't know enough about it.


----------



## johnnycomelately

There is a lot of myth and paranoia about weed, most of it is teenage urban legend. I have smoked for 20 years in 4 countries and 2 continents and I have never seen even a single shred of credible evidence linking marijuana directly to a single death.

You can find identical scare stories about mobile phones, the MMR vaccine and bottled water left in a car. 

Mature people know that these stories are just that, stories.


----------



## Caribbean Man

johnnycomelately said:


> There is a lot of myth and paranoia about weed, most of it is teenage urban legend. I have smoked for 20 years in 4 countries and 2 continents and I have never seen even a single shred of credible evidence linking marijuana directly to a single death.
> 
> You can find identical scare stories about mobile phones, the MMR vaccine and bottled water left in a car.
> 
> Mature people know that these stories are just that, stories.


:iagree:

Basically what I have been trying to say since last week.
I have never smoked Marijuana, but I grew up around people who used to cultivate Marijuana and sell it. I have NEVER seen a man " high on weed " doing ANYTHING erratic of dangerous. Most times I would remember when those around me were " high " they ate lots of food and went to bed. They always hibernate after smoking.
Like almost anything else, it could be addictive ,and it should be controlled like alcohol, not banned. Too much resources is spent trying to enforce that ban.


----------



## tacoma

Caribbean Man said:


> Like almost anything else, it could be addictive ,and it should be controlled like alcohol, not banned. Too much resources is spent trying to enforce that ban.


Which is why it won`t be legalized.

The people who end up pocketing those resources are in positions of power and won`t give up their golden goose.


----------



## *needaunderstand*

Weed is somthing the government should make legal. i dont do it, but i know many that do. i grew up with parents that will smoke crack, snort cocaine and pills. to me weed is the best choice if you wanna get a high. it doesnt effect your body in a bad way like other legal things (beer, nicotine...etc)


----------



## Wing Man

It should all be legalized, taxed, and heavily regulated.


----------



## joe kidd

Wing Man said:


> It should all be legalized, taxed, and heavily regulated.


Like everything else. :rofl:


----------



## jupiter13

Plenty of studies on marijuana. It is NOT physically addictive it is all in your head. It is a matter for each person who is using whatever they are using to escape life's problems or realities when drugs and alcohol become the problem. I know, I've been through it, watched many, many people, been inside too many rooms not to be able to see how it affects others. As a medical marijuana advocate the history and chemical changes that are in reaserach and development to enhance cannabinoids such as the CDB's today are much different that they were back in the 50's and 60's when THC was enriched in the plants DNA just for that purpose


----------



## Cee Paul

jupiter13 said:


> Plenty of studies on marijuana. It is NOT physically addictive it is all in your head. It is a matter for each person who is using whatever they are using to escape life's problems or realities when drugs and alcohol become the problem. I know, I've been through it, watched many, many people, been inside too many rooms not to be able to see how it affects others. As a medical marijuana advocate the history and chemical changes that are in reaserach and development to enhance cannabinoids such as the CDB's today are much different that they were back in the 50's and 60's when THC was enriched in the plants DNA just for that purpose


Again whatever "form" of addiction it falls under is a moot point to me; because I could easily say the same thing about alchohol not being addictive because it's never had that effect on me no matter how many times I consume it, but there's a million alchoholics & ex-alchoholics out there who would strongly beg to differ I'm sure.


----------



## Caribbean Man

joe kidd said:


> Like everything else. :rofl:


:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
Gotcha!


----------



## Cee Paul

I saw a figure the other day that legalizing weed and taxing it would bring in an estimated $1 to 2 BILLION dollars revenue for this country annually, and add that up over let's say 10 years and that money would solve A LOT of deficit issues in this country!


----------



## Cherry

Pssst.. the islands are magical, even more so a lil stoned . lol


----------



## Cee Paul

I already know this first hand many times over, but how would some of you describe the difference between just being high or totally stoned?


----------



## ScarletBegonias

Cee Paul said:


> I already know this first hand many times over, but how would some of you describe the difference between just being high or totally stoned?


I only smoke once in a while but i used to do it ever day, kinda like how some people would drink a few glasses of wine in the evening,i'd take a hit of weed.

For me,being high is a mellow feeling.Nothing makes you angry,nothing irritates you. 
Being totally stoned is when paranoia sets in.It isn't fun. You get sloppy and all you want to do is get back to that "high" part and stay far away from the "stoned" part.

I liken it to being tipsy vs being drunk.


----------



## Cee Paul

ScarletBegonias said:


> I only smoke once in a while but i used to do it ever day, kinda like how some people would drink a few glasses of wine in the evening,i'd take a hit of weed.
> 
> For me,being high is a mellow feeling.Nothing makes you angry,nothing irritates you.
> Being totally stoned is when paranoia sets in.It isn't fun. You get sloppy and all you want to do is get back to that "high" part and stay far away from the "stoned" part.
> 
> I liken it to being tipsy vs being drunk.


Very good analogy and description; and that was the problem with me in that I didn't know when to stop or didn't want to and always ended up...........stoned & useless.


----------



## ScarletBegonias

Cee Paul said:


> Very good analogy and description; and that was the problem with me in that I didn't know when to stop or didn't want to and always ended up...........stoned & useless.


thankfully i learned when to stop. Never really had an addiction. I smoked cigarettes for a while but had no issues quiting cold turkey,haven't smoked them in years.same thing w/drinking and the weed. i rarely drink alcohol anymore and when i do it's only one or two drinks.

I enjoy smoking weed.I have chronic hip pain from some surgeries and various issues,i notice after smoking i feel no pain;-) I do NOT like being stoned though.A small,good buzz is plenty for me. no hangover either


----------



## Cee Paul

ScarletBegonias said:


> thankfully i learned when to stop. Never really had an addiction. I smoked cigarettes for a while but had no issues quiting cold turkey,haven't smoked them in years.same thing w/drinking and the weed. i rarely drink alcohol anymore and when i do it's only one or two drinks.
> 
> I enjoy smoking weed.I have chronic hip pain from some surgeries and various issues,i notice after smoking i feel no pain;-) I do NOT like being stoned though.A small,good buzz is plenty for me. no hangover either


I have the opposite effect with alchohol in that I have always been able to have a couple of drinks - get a nice relaxed feeling or slight buzz - and then stop there; and sometimes I will go a few months without having a c*cktail or even wanting one. But weed had me HOOKED in hook line and sinker and I have come across many others like this back in the day(who are still hooked today in their late 40's & early 50's), which is why my original title was that "Marijuana IS addictive.......to *some*" much like alchohol is but not to everyone.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> I already know this first hand many times over, but how would some of you describe the difference between just being high or totally stoned?


I just get pretty spacy when I'm 'stoned'. But when I'm just high, I can come up with some of the best solutions to the worlds problems . Seriously though, being high is just a calm feeling. It's like nothing gets under your skin and things are surprisingly clear. But this is only my experience with it.

ETA: I really feel there is a spiritual side to being high too


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> I just get pretty spacy when I'm 'stoned'. But when I'm just high, I can come up with some of the best solutions to the worlds problems . Seriously though, being high is just a calm feeling. It's like nothing gets under your skin and things are surprisingly clear. But this is only my experience with it.
> 
> ETA: I really feel there is a spiritual side to being high too


That's where weed becomes dangerous is when it's abused; because most people I know(myself included)could totally function and do most things while being high, buuuut when you are stoned or baked you really shouldn't be trying to make any important decisions or maneuvers because it will probably end badly.


----------



## ScaredandUnsure

Marijuana is what they call a psychosomatic drug, where your brain makes you think your body needs it, but it's really not the case. So while "you" think you need it, it's your brain fooling you. It's weird, but I've always heard that about marijuana and I feel the same way when I smoke pot that I do when I go to the casino or play world of warcraft. The same damn feeling. I've got an addictive personality, I could so easily become an alcoholic if I let myself, I love being tipsy, I like being drunk (not completely intoxicated though). I like getting high, but I don't get the intense craving for it, like I do with video gaming (weird huh?). I limit my alcohol intake to almost nothing, but a drink or two every so often. When I have pot available to me, I will smoke a lot of it, but I've never become addicted to it. 

I simply don't believe that it is an actual addiction, other than your brain saying "Heck yeah, let's roll another joint and have some fun, yeah!!!" And cigarettes, ugh, I wish I never even started that disgusting habit. I am aiming to quit, I just need the will power to do so. As for the hardcore drugs, I've only experimented with cocaine and acid, cocaine was a meh, I didn't even care if I ever had it again, I got nothing from it. Acid I liked a lot, A LOT, but I never did it more than the one time. I could of seen myself hooked on that for some time.


----------



## Cee Paul

Right before I quit weed and everything else 15+ years ago something dawned on me; I was no longer smoking weed because I enjoyed it but I was smoking it because I felt I HAD to, and when it gets to that point where you HAVE to have it in order to feel normal it's definitely time to quit.

As far as acid or any hallucinating drugs I always said "NO" and never tried them, because I am a person that has to be in control and know exactly what is going on around me at all times & the thought of hallucinating never ever appealed to me.


----------



## Cherry

ScaredandUnsure said:


> Marijuana is what they call a psychosomatic drug, where your brain makes you think your body needs it, but it's really not the case. So while "you" think you need it, it's your brain fooling you. It's weird, but I've always heard that about marijuana and I feel the same way when I smoke pot that I do when I go to the casino or play world of warcraft. The same damn feeling. I've got an addictive personality, I could so easily become an alcoholic if I let myself, I love being tipsy, I like being drunk (not completely intoxicated though). I like getting high, but I don't get the intense craving for it, like I do with video gaming (weird huh?). I limit my alcohol intake to almost nothing, but a drink or two every so often. When I have pot available to me, I will smoke a lot of it, but I've never become addicted to it.
> 
> I simply don't believe that it is an actual addiction, other than your brain saying "Heck yeah, let's roll another joint and have some fun, yeah!!!" And cigarettes, ugh, I wish I never even started that disgusting habit. I am aiming to quit, I just need the will power to do so. As for the hardcore drugs, I've only experimented with cocaine and acid, cocaine was a meh, I didn't even care if I ever had it again, I got nothing from it. Acid I liked a lot, A LOT, but I never did it more than the one time. I could of seen myself hooked on that for some time.


Now that you mention, yeah, when I'm shopping or doing something I really enjoy doing... It is the same kinda "high" feeling I get from pot! I have a very addictive personality too. I've never tried anything like coke, heroin, etc... for that very reason. 

And if anyone wonders, I do realize I may be cross-addicting from alcohol to weed in some form. And for me I look at it for more medicinal purposes... The destruction from alcohol to me and my family was so great that something had to give. And I know my H and I could both benefit from some more accepted (in some peoples eyes) forms of treatment... ADHD meds, anxiety meds, sleeping meds, anti-depressants, etc. Pot treats every one of whatever ailment each of us suffers from (including alcoholism). My H and I have been trying to be more involved with whatever Bill is in our state to make marijuana accessible for medicinal purposes at the very least. It's really sickening to know there is a natural treatment available for our ailments, yet we're being forced to take dangerous prescription drugs or suffer. We have seriously considered moving to a legal state or country.


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> Now that you mention, yeah, when I'm shopping or doing something I really enjoy doing... It is the same kinda "high" feeling I get from pot! I have a very addictive personality too. I've never tried anything like coke, heroin, etc... for that very reason.
> 
> And if anyone wonders, I do realize I may be cross-addicting from alcohol to weed in some form. And for me I look at it for more medicinal purposes... The destruction from alcohol to me and my family was so great that something had to give. And I know my H and I could both benefit from some more accepted (in some peoples eyes) forms of treatment... ADHD meds, anxiety meds, sleeping meds, anti-depressants, etc. Pot treats every one of whatever ailment each of us suffers from (including alcoholism). My H and I have been trying to be more involved with whatever Bill is in our state to make marijuana accessible for medicinal purposes at the very least. It's really sickening to know there is a natural treatment available for our ailments, yet we're being forced to take dangerous prescription drugs or suffer. We have seriously considered moving to a legal state or country.


So you all are driving around and out and about tripping on acid? That's a comforting thought knowing that the car coming in the opposite direction might be seeing 4 cars instead of one, or a giant blue turtle crossing the road, or something wild like that while in traffic!


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> So you all are driving around and out and about tripping on acid? That's a comforting thought knowing that the car coming in the opposite direction might be seeing 4 cars instead of one, or a giant blue turtle crossing the road, or something wild like that while in traffic!


Do what? One, who said a goddamn thing about driving around? And two, who said a thing about seeing sh!t while high? I don't know what kind of weed you use to smoke, but I've NEVER experienced psycho crap even being completely stoned. And that said, some of you responsible drinkers have probably never attacked your spouse because you suspected them of doing something off the wall because you're drunk. Hallucinating on alcohol perhaps???

It's what your mind and body is allergic to.. yours is pot, mine is alcohol, H's is cocaine and hard liquor, etc.

ETA: alcohol made me think crazy thoughts, I thought my whole family was out to "get me"...My alcohol abuse kept me in the drama cycle that I created. I strongly believe that medicinal MJ is a treatment... Not a quick relief or temporary relief, if used responsibly.... But whatever, I'm gonna go chase after that giant blue turtle I just saw...


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> Do what? One, who said a goddamn thing about driving around? And two, who said a thing about seeing sh!t while high? I don't know what kind of weed you use to smoke, but I've NEVER experienced psycho crap even being completely stoned. And that said, some of you responsible drinkers have probably never attacked your spouse because you suspected them of doing something off the wall because you're drunk. Hallucinating on alcohol perhaps???
> 
> It's what your mind and body is allergic to.. yours is pot, mine is alcohol, H's is cocaine and hard liquor, etc.


I thought you were talking about "acid" since that is what ScaredandUnsure was boasting about him using all the time and you were using his quote, but my bad if you were just talking about weed because as I said previously I have functioned fine many times while just being high on that. And for the record - I have not been "drunk" since my college days nearly 20 years ago Cherry because I've never been a heavy alchohol user.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> I thought you were talking about "acid" since that is what ScaredandUnsure was boasting about him using all the time and you were using his quote, but my bad if you were just talking about weed because as I said previously I have functioned fine many times while just being high on that. And for the record - I have not been "drunk" since my college days nearly 20 years ago Cherry because I've never been a heavy alchohol user.


Oh, I've never done acid .


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> Oh, I've never done acid .


Me neither and can safely say 100%.........I never will.


----------



## Cee Paul

Abra said:


> Interesting thread, Cee-Paul. I read a study about how cocaine changed the way we define addiction because it did not have a physical withdrawal syndrome.
> 
> The did PET scans on people who were addicted to cocaine. The neural pathways lit up like a neon highway at the mere mention of the word cocaine. So, there was something physical going on that constituted a craving in the brain.
> 
> What they showed was that drug usage (even drugs without a physical withdrawal syndrome) changed the brain. The reward circuits are altered and that forms the addiction. I think there are physical alterations in the brain that we don't see, but that there are neurological changes that occur with drug use which make all drugs a risk of becoming an addiction. It depends on each person's unique brain circuitry and how much drug usage it will take to alter their circuitry.
> 
> Addicted brains : the chemistry of pain and pleasure


As someone who had a three year bout with cocaine off and on all I can say is that when you first start using it you feel like SUPERMAN ontop of the world, and it is an amazing euphoric feeling like no other! But after awhile it starts to take over and control you and in the end leaves you feeling depressed and paranoid.


----------



## anonymouskitty

I rolled a couple of joints during my 20's wasn't addicted to them at all
I started smoking cigs when I was 13 didn't stop till the birth of my first child 11 years ago. Haven't smoked one since , have no desire to do so either


----------



## Cee Paul

anonymouskitty said:


> I rolled a couple of joints during my 20's wasn't addicted to them at all
> I started smoking cigs when I was 13 didn't stop till the birth of my first child 11 years ago. Haven't smoked one since , have no desire to do so either


Cigarettes are a b*tch to quit and I bid farewell to those too thank God! But I personally know(or knew)one person who is now dead from throat cancer because she wouldn't give them up, and another one who has extreme COPD and was told to quit smoking or she would die from it, but so far has totally ignored those warnings for one of those white sticks of death.


----------



## MattMatt

Marijuana made me feel paranoid and it made me cough for days after using it. So I stopped using it.


----------



## Cee Paul

frankieg said:


> my gf's lazy ass 22 year old son is one of them. he does not work and just plays call of duty all night. all he talks about is if i had pot i would do this i would do that. from getting a job to working out. it is not pot he should not worry about. it is the ride in the ambulance i am about to give him if he does not smarten up fast.


Sounds like me about 25 years ago and I am damn lucky my dad didn't strangle me to death like he wanted to!


----------



## Cee Paul

frankieg said:


> a few days ago i took him to the boxing gym that i coach at after hours. i wrapped his hands put on glove and got him in the ring. i promised him i would throw a punch. i said ok try and hit me. he tried, but after 1/2 a round he had not come close and he was exhaused, he is 22 i am 49????
> 
> my passive aggressive way of showing him who is boss


Heh heh; and my dad is an ex-military boxer as well and even today at almost 80 yrs old he could STILL probably whip my azz!


----------



## ScaredandUnsure

Cee Paul said:


> I thought you were talking about "acid" since that is what ScaredandUnsure was boasting about him using all the time and you were using his quote, but my bad if you were just talking about weed because as I said previously I have functioned fine many times while just being high on that. And for the record - I have not been "drunk" since my college days nearly 20 years ago Cherry because I've never been a heavy alchohol user.


A. I'm a she.
B. I said I experimented with acid once, where did you get that I said that I used it all the time?
C. I would smoke pot more often if I had it readily which I do not. I do not have a dealer. Nor do I want one.
D. No where did I ever say I got into a car while I had any form of drug in my body. I don't even drive hours later from one drink.

Sorry I added my experiences in, didn't mean to "boast" about it.


----------



## arbitrator

frankieg said:


> my gf's lazy ass 22 year old son is one of them. he does not work and just plays call of duty all night. all he talks about is if i had pot i would do this i would do that. from getting a job to working out. it is not pot he should not worry about. it is the ride in the ambulance i am about to give him if he does not smarten up fast.


Sounds greatly like my STBXW's oldest son(23). Got caught with possession of weed at his apartment, pleaded out, and accepted 6 months probation offered by the county prosecutor. He made one visit to his probation officer, decided that he didn't like him or the mandated drug checks very much; then about a month later he voluntarily went back up in front of the presiding judge and asked to be sentenced to the county clink for the duration of his sentence. You gotta love the Judge though. He gave him the full 6 months anyway. STBXW was fuming telling me that I was at fault for not being much of a stepfather to him, then saying it was only just a little bit of weed and that the police should have just looked the other way. Secretly, I was elated to see him go!

But when he got out, he returned to our house, laid around and played Warcraft all night, slept all day, drank Mom-supplied booze, and refused to work! Also wore his prison stripes home and continued to wear them around the house and to family functions, mind you, as some sort of "red badge of courage."

Now you tell me exactly who's the irresponsible parent here?


----------



## Cee Paul

ScaredandUnsure said:


> A. I'm a she.
> B. I said I experimented with acid once, where did you get that I said that I used it all the time?
> C. I would smoke pot more often if I had it readily which I do not. I do not have a dealer. Nor do I want one.
> D. No where did I ever say I got into a car while I had any form of drug in my body. I don't even drive hours later from one drink.
> 
> Sorry I added my experiences in, didn't mean to "boast" about it.


It was all a misunderstanding so my bad on that.


----------



## jupiter13

Well, I certainly shouldn't say a thing BUT......I live in California. I'm also involved in the medical MJ movement. Medical MJ if gotten from a responsible collective or dispensery is usually tested. The tests are usually for molds, pesticides, THC, CBD, CBN levels those are the Cannabinoids. They hold the key to the medical properties that help and heal many illnesses. I personally have a friend that is using medical MJ turned into a wax/oil diluted with DMSO, placing it directly onto her cancer tumor. The treatment so far is working the tumor has gotten smaller. Our government would like it very much if the THC was breed out of the plant, where back in the 40's, 50's, 60's they where cross breeding the plant to create the high THC that produces the high or stone most people are looking for. Responsible people using Medical MJ are just as concerned about those who are out there abusing all the pain pills the doctors hand out like candy. The only reason MJ is not legal is the government, pharm compony's, even fabric, lumber etc etc down the change don't want it legel is becasue hemp can replace cotton, lumber used to build your homes, everything can be replaced with hemp. goggle it.... Everything in life is addictive if you are an addictive personality that's just a fact of life, it's your choice. All most everyone I know has expermented with drugs of one kind or another some are still out there once again it's your choice. I love to drink and I do use a form of medical MJ but that does not mean I am drinking or running around being high or stoned out of my mind. I have never seen anything strange while using my medication and everything I use is tested by an accredited lab. Opps got winded sorry


----------



## alex2

so is water.


----------



## Cee Paul

alex2 said:


> so is water.


Water is not an "addiction" it's a NEED in order to survive; because if I never had weed, alchohol, caffene, sugar/sweets, or tobacco again in my life I could still completely survive without it. Cut yourself off from things like water, healthy foods, and oxygen and you will............DIE.

*rolls eyes*


----------



## Cherry

Someone with money needs to start a petition against the federal gov't, with the backing of a good lawyer. And yes, I know there was one in 2011, I haven't read the whole thing, only snippets of the rebuttal. And quite frankly it was weak. There are enough legal states and countries to support what research has been saying about the benefits of medical MJ, there are also plenty personal stories to attest to the benefits. And one of the last polls I saw, over 50% of the American people support medical MJ. 

Anger kills, alcoholism kills, depression kills, cancer kills... All these and other potentially deadly or debilitating ailments can benefit, or in some cases can be eliminated, with the use medical MJ. 

But nope, there would be a financial collapse of some big pharma companies, and some other money hungry control freaks. Nothin' to do with safety, or else they would go after the legal pill pushers....


----------



## Cee Paul

Cherry said:


> Someone with money needs to start a petition against the federal gov't, with the backing of a good lawyer. And yes, I know there was one in 2011, I haven't read the whole thing, only snippets of the rebuttal. And quite frankly it was weak. There are enough legal states and countries to support what research has been saying about the benefits of medical MJ, there are also plenty personal stories to attest to the benefits. And one of the last polls I saw, over 50% of the American people support medical MJ.
> 
> Anger kills, alcoholism kills, depression kills, cancer kills... All these and other potentially deadly or debilitating ailments can benefit, or in some cases can be eliminated, with the use medical MJ.
> 
> But nope, there would be a financial collapse of some big pharma companies, and some other money hungry control freaks. Nothin' to do with safety, or else they would go after the legal pill pushers....


Is there a way to squeeze THC into a pill or do people _have_ to smoke it to feel like they are getting benefits from it?


----------



## FirstYearDown

Marinol - the Legal Medical Use for the Marijuana Plant


----------



## Cherry

FirstYearDown said:


> Marinol - the Legal Medical Use for the Marijuana Plant


But this is exactly what I am talking about... Why the he!! does anyone have to produce synthetic THC? It's there, it grows naturally, it's a freakin weed... Why all the money on synthetic crap, just pick it off a plant and freaking smoke it, lol? And then the only way to get that legal synthetic crap drug is if you have cancer or AIDS. It doesn't call for the treatment of other ailments, only the worst of the worst 

Marinol: The Little Synthetic That Couldn't

And another excerpt from - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org

"Marinol is synthesized in the laboratory rather than extracted from the plant. Its manufacture is complex and expensive because of the numerous steps needed for purification. The poor solubility of Marinol in aqueous solutions and its high first-pass metabolism in the liver account for its poor bioavailability; only 10-20% of an oral dose reaches the systemic circulation.

The onset of action is slow; peak plasma concentrations are not attained until two to four hours after dosing. In contrast, inhaled marijuana is rapidly absorbed....

Marinol's most common adverse events are associated with the central nervous system (CNS); anxiety, confusion, depersonalization, dizziness, euphoria, dysphoria, somnolence, and thinking abnormality."

ETA: Upon further reading of this evil synthetic crap drug, it doesn't sound like something I would come close to putting in my body. 

"Besides, you can't overdose to death on pot. According to pharmacologist Andrew Weil, researchers have tried to kill dogs with an overdose of marijuana, and the dogs simply won't die. You might die if you ate 40 aspirins or 10 raw potatoes, but not if you ate 10 pounds of pot."


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> Is there a way to squeeze THC into a pill or do people _have_ to smoke it to feel like they are getting benefits from it?


I believe some folks here have mentioned an oil form or an inhaler. Part of the allure of actually smoking it allows for almost immediate relief for some ailments. For instance, think migraine relief. I certainly don't want to wait around a few hours for relief from that.


----------



## Cee Paul

What cracks me up is that the law for now is ALLOWING these fake weed products(called "spice")to be sold in convenience stores, and so far they have been very dangerous and several deaths have been reported around the country, but yet natural & mostly harmless REAL weed is..........illegal.


----------



## Cherry

Cee Paul said:


> What cracks me up is that the law for now is ALLOWING these fake weed products(called "spice")to be sold in convenience stores, and so far they have been very dangerous and several deaths have been reported around the country, but yet natural & mostly harmless REAL weed is..........illegal.


I agree... It's a political fight, that's all there is to it. Think about it, the only reason anyone gets in trouble for MJ is because it is illegal... Not because they ate someone's face off, or kill their spouse, or steal, rob or whatever, or have a fatal car accident, or beat their children. It's because they are sitting in their home or with a group of friends smoking something that someone, somewhere chose to make illegal because why? It MIGHT cause respiratory problems or someone might get addicted? Get the damn cars off the street, close down factories (<--- talk about polluting the air), ban shopping malls and online shopping (<--- that sh!t is addicting for me) etc... And while we're at it, ban every damn thing that COULD cause any harmful situation in someone's life. 

Seriously, it's quite sickening.


----------



## FirstYearDown

You guys need to move to Canada.


----------



## Cherry

FirstYearDown said:


> You guys need to move to Canada.


There are three states that I would be want to live in, and wouldn't you know, none of them are legal states. I want it to be HOT... Is it hot in Canada? I'm not talking 80ish, I want 90+ during the summer


----------



## FirstYearDown

During the summer it gets very hot; today is 93.2F. We use Celsius here. 

Not sure if you can handle a Canadian winter. At least you can smoke to take the edge off!


----------



## Cherry

^^^ True... I've seen some of those Holmes on Homes (HGTV) shows.. that's a lot of snow


----------



## Cee Paul

FirstYearDown said:


> You guys need to move to Canada.


Not a weed smoker and hate freezing cold winters so.....no thanks.


----------



## FirstYearDown

Yeah, the winters can be pretty brutal. We have been lucky the past two seasons with warm temperatures and hardly any snow.


----------



## blindsideddad

Cee Paul, Joining this thread late, but I'm totally with you. I was completely dependent on the ganja. Would lie, and spend money that I did not have. Would tell my wife we were too broke to go out to dinner, but then spend $20 on some weed. I would promise not to smoke, then an hour later "just take 1 puff".

Personally, I don't want to blame the pot for my issue- if it was not pot, it would have been something else. I was hiding from my emotions, hiding from myself. 

And just like with alcohol, most people are responsible users. but as with alcohol, there people that mess up their lives with it. Both drugs serve a valuable social function, and both drugs create problems as well. Personally, i think alcohol causes more problems, but weed was part of mine.


----------



## cantthinkstraight

blindsideddad said:


> Cee Paul, Joining this thread late, but I'm totally with you. I was completely dependent on the ganja. Would lie, and spend money that I did not have. Would tell my wife we were too broke to go out to dinner, but then spend $20 on some weed. I would promise not to smoke, then an hour later "just take 1 puff".
> 
> Personally, I don't want to blame the pot for my issue- if it was not pot, it would have been something else. I was hiding from my emotions, hiding from myself.
> 
> And just like with alcohol, most people are responsible users. but as with alcohol, there people that mess up their lives with it. Both drugs serve a valuable social function, and both drugs create problems as well. Personally, i think alcohol causes more problems, but weed was part of mine.



Alcohol is *FAR* more destructive than marijuana.


----------



## Cee Paul

cantthinkstraight said:


> Alcohol is *FAR* more destructive than marijuana.


For me personally it was the other way around.


----------



## ScarletBegonias

cantthinkstraight said:


> Alcohol is *FAR* more destructive than marijuana.


As it applies to me and people I've witnessed being drunk...I have to agree with this. I'm sure it's not true for everyone though.


----------



## Cee Paul

ScarletBegonias said:


> As it applies to me and people I've witnessed being drunk...I have to agree with this. I'm sure it's not true for everyone though.


Back in my younger years of partying my body would seriously crave the THC in weed and the nicotine in cigarettes, but it really had no attachment to alchohol and I have always been able to take it or leave it.


----------



## Weakendwarrior

Another loooonnngggg thread that I just finished reading through. Canada was getting pretty close to making the possession and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana for personal use legal until our current administration got elected with a majority government and our drug laws got blasted back to the stone age. The so-called "omnibus crime bill".

Though most of what I'm reading here is anecdotal, I personally believe that pot is far less harmful (in the vast majority of cases) than alcohol or tobacco both of which are freely available and legal.

One doesn't have to work in a hospital setting very long to see the devastating effects of heavy alcohol abuse or average cigarette consumption...and that's just the medical effects....the societal effects of alcohol are perhaps even worse. Heavy pot consumption can cause chronic bronchitis (but not emphysema) and is not linked to lung cancer UNLESS combined with a tobacco habit in which case the risk for cancer exceeds that of tobacco alone. There was one study that showed and increased risk of heart attack and sudden death in the hour following the smoking of a joint but the study had some serious flaws and has never been reproduced. There has otherwise never been a link between smoking pot and the development of "clogged" arteries.

As to addiction....hell yes, pot can be addictive. So what? The distinction between physical and psychological addiction is pretty artificial when you look at brain chemistry. It's the price of admission....if you're going to smoke pot, smoke it responsibly or risk being a little cranky when your stash runs out. Physically? I'd put it at about the same level as coffee or maybe a bit less. 

Pot has been my drug of choice for 40 years. I hardly drink at all anymore (two drinks max and VERY infrequently) and I gave up a bad cigarette addiction 11 years last Saturday (but who's counting?). The pot helped me kick the "evil weed" ie tobacco and I've smoked 4-5 time a week since. I get my supply in the fall and it has to last me the year (1/2 pound of locally grown bud). I usually have some left over each fall.

I get a biphasic response to toking....an initial buzz that lasts about 3/4 of an hour during which I'm "raring to go"....hike, x-country ski, mow the lawn, you name it...I get energized. This is followed by the mellow phase...munchies, etc. 

I hold down a good job and am a responsible member of my community by which I mean I am otherwise law-abiding. I don't get irritable or argumentative when high and my wife doesn't have a problem with it...we've been married for 32 years...she likes her two standard glasses of wine after work and I smoke a bowl....it works for us. 

If my job were subject to this ridiculous random drug testing I would feel a bit violated as my use of this substance has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to perform at work. It's ludicrous to me that an employee can show up to work hung-over and fear no consequences unless he screws up (and would likely be given a second..third...or fourth chance) yet a pot smoker harbouring the remnants of some THC in his/her fat from toking at a party a week previously can be terminated with no question. 

I feel that most of the harm from pot comes from the criminal justice system and I feel it should be decriminalized if not outright legalized and regulated. In fact I think the same way about ALL illicit drugs...legalize them all. Let's face it, the war on drugs has been an abysmal failure (an embarrassment really). I think people would rather go to the liquor store to get their crack or heroin than have to avoid law enforcement and deal with shady and sometimes dangerous characters. It's high time (no pun intended) for our society to become a bit more enlightened about these things. 

On an intellectual level, how any government can outlaw pot and legalize (if not promote, in the case of EtOH) alcohol and tobacco boggles my pot-saturated, stoner, demotivated brain. Addictive? Yep. Manageable? I think so. 

Just my "dime's" worth.


----------



## Cee Paul

_"As to addiction....hell yes, pot can be addictive. So what? The distinction between physical and psychological addiction is pretty artificial when you look at brain chemistry. It's the price of admission....if you're going to smoke pot, smoke it responsibly or risk being a little cranky when your stash runs out. Physically? I'd put it at about the same level as coffee or maybe a bit less." _

As we already mentioned it has different effects on different people, and for me I got to a point where I HAD to have it to feel normal and funtion everyday and I'd go anywhere to get it(50 miles out in the sticks or to dangerous parts of the inner city where it was being sold on street corners)anytime day or night.


----------



## Weakendwarrior

Cee Paul, I'm not trying to change anybody's opinion....just offering mine based on MY experiences.


----------



## Caribbean Man

Weakendwarrior said:


> O*n an intellectual level, how any government can outlaw pot and legalize (if not promote, in the case of EtOH) alcohol and tobacco boggles my pot-saturated, stoner, demotivated brain. Addictive? Yep. Manageable? I think so.
> 
> Just my "dime's" worth.*


:iagree:

Well I have never smoked marijuana,
And it boggles my mind too.


----------



## Cee Paul

Weakendwarrior said:


> Cee Paul, I'm not trying to change anybody's opinion....just offering mine based on MY experiences.


No problem and to each his/her own; and for me weed was too addicting and a destructive force in my life much like alchohol is to millions of people, but I have always been a person who can have a few beers with the guys and then not even think about or have one for another 3 months. It's all about brain chemistry and makeup I guess and different things tickle the brains of each one of us, and for me things like weed and cocaine pulled me in...........DEEP.


----------



## Cherry

neilbl said:


> I have not tried smoking weed or any other addictive things. I can't feel how guys who have experience this feel. I have somehow felt how you guys who have experienced weed felt, by reading the posts here.


No reason to start now.. just live vicariously through our posts


----------



## katiebelle

My husband smoked pot 30 years -- I never smoked it but tolerated it. He was angry and verbally abusive when he didn't have it. He'd ignore me and slam things. And just loved me soooooooo much when he was high. It was all pretty sick. He strung me along for yrs. saying he wanted to quit but couldn't. I was stupid for staying. He always said he'd quit when we started a family. That got put off because he kept doing it. Somewhere in there I should have left but didn't. Then we had a baby. When our first was 2 yrs. old I told him he could keep doing it, but he'd have to do it somewhere else and I didn't want to be with him anymore, although I loved him dearly. He decided to quit completely. He was physically sick for at least a week-- I took him to the ER after the 3rd day because he was having panic attacks and his heart rate was constantly high. He was sweating profusely and vomiting. Stayed in bed for days shaking and sweating. Missed quite a bit of work but his boss was very understanding. He got through it, but now resents me to no end because of it. He slipped up 6 months ago and tried to hide it -- I packed his stuff and said he could keep doing it since he loved it so much but he'd have to do it elsewhere. I don't want that crap around my kids -- it's illegal and can't have it around the kids. Yes, we have 2 now. So he quit again, but the withdrawal wasn't nearly as bad. He just ignored me for a couple weeks and slammed stuff. It's been fun ever since. I never smoked it, but it has ruined so many aspects of our life together. To say which drug is more destructive or addictive depends totally on each individual.


----------



## Caribbean Man

Anything that is abused is bad.
Sex is addictive and when a person is addicted to sex they don't value relationships.
Alcohol is addictive and when a person is addicted to alcohol they don't value relationships.
Porn, same result.
Gambling,same result.

Marijuana is only bad when it is abused.


----------



## Cee Paul

katiebelle said:


> My husband smoked pot 30 years -- I never smoked it but tolerated it. He was angry and verbally abusive when he didn't have it. He'd ignore me and slam things. And just loved me soooooooo much when he was high. It was all pretty sick. He strung me along for yrs. saying he wanted to quit but couldn't. I was stupid for staying. He always said he'd quit when we started a family. That got put off because he kept doing it. Somewhere in there I should have left but didn't. Then we had a baby. When our first was 2 yrs. old I told him he could keep doing it, but he'd have to do it somewhere else and I didn't want to be with him anymore, although I loved him dearly. He decided to quit completely. He was physically sick for at least a week-- I took him to the ER after the 3rd day because he was having panic attacks and his heart rate was constantly high. He was sweating profusely and vomiting. Stayed in bed for days shaking and sweating. Missed quite a bit of work but his boss was very understanding. He got through it, but now resents me to no end because of it. He slipped up 6 months ago and tried to hide it -- I packed his stuff and said he could keep doing it since he loved it so much but he'd have to do it elsewhere. I don't want that crap around my kids -- it's illegal and can't have it around the kids. Yes, we have 2 now. So he quit again, but the withdrawal wasn't nearly as bad. He just ignored me for a couple weeks and slammed stuff. It's been fun ever since. I never smoked it, but it has ruined so many aspects of our life together. To say which drug is more destructive or addictive depends totally on each individual.


Don't feel bad Katiebelle because after quitting cold turkey I experienced a lot of those same reactions, and I started having panic and anxiety attacks about 6 months after quitting and they lasted about 3 years and were scary as hell.


----------

