Posted on 08/01/2002 5:16:08 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
Edited on 05/07/2004 8:00:51 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
As we endeavor toward a more lucid and informed discussion of substance abuse, let's deconstruct the mystique of marijuana and recognize it for the dangerous drug that it is.
Marijuana is a substance that's worthy of our concern. It is the most prevalent of all illicit drugs used in the country. The 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reported that 34 percent of Americans have used marijuana in their lifetime and 5 percent are current users.
(Excerpt) Read more at theithacajournal.com ...
Thanks for the humor break. You guys need to put the bottle down before you post here.
Maybe because it hasn't been proven that tobacco alters the mental abilities of its users (yet).
I would think that an airline pilot who uses tobacco only affects himself whereas one who uses marijuana affects far more people.
Wouldn't you agree?
"....*including* Big Macs and prescription drugs."
pardon me
Nice strawman, where did you get it? Why do Libertarians make up other people's thoughts? It's impossible to carry on a meaningful conversation with you people because you are constantly telling me what I think.
If you would do research you would find that the comparason is made of the delta-9 for the lowest commercial form of cannabis available in the '60's to the highest available now. Actually, the average grade on the street now has a much lower THC level than that in the '60's.
This is one of the several contrived lies contained in the article. Do you guys ever read actual studies on the topic? Sometimes, I think that there are people who really believe that if a written piece can make it into print it must, ipso facto, have accurate information. 
And alcohol plus marijuana had been used by 33.5%?
This article is full of highly implicating yet incomplete stats and information.
Your entire "freedom" vs "good/bad for you" argument makes absolutely no sense. I don't think anyone knows what you are even trying to say.
Freedom and rights are not prdicated upon "is it good for you". I don't care if someone calls themself "liberal" or "conservative" - if they believe that "good/bad for you" trumps individual rights, them screw 'em. Freedom rejects this notion all together. And, its the CONSERVATIVES who are using the "its bad for you, its bad for society" argument to keep drugs illegal. Yes, "liberals" have their pet causes to. As far as I am concerned, both need to shut the hell up and mind their own damn business.
I would like to make some observations and beliefs about pot that comes from 20 + years of use.
1. Almost your whole life revolves around the abilty to get high. When can i do it next? how can i do it? Will anyone catch me?
2. You spend enormous amounts of energy making sure you have your stash. you use friends and anyone else to help you get your stuff. The worst feeling in the world was the end of your bag, you would ration it out in hopes that you can make it to the next bag. When supplies are low you go in panic mode as you may have to wait days to get the next bag. You smoke resin from your pipe and hunt down your stash areas in hopes you forget some.
3. The let downs sometimes get severe , often fighting off headaches and drowsiness. You blame it on lack of sleep or some other reason why you have headaches , but you know it is from coming off your high. After it clears , you light up again and start all over.
4. It controls most facets of yuor life. Most of your decisoions are based on pot. I can smoke a joint after my sales call. I can smoke before i pick up my friend. My wife won't be home for an hour so i can light up. I have to go get gas( i need to lite up). Time to take out garbage( time to lite up).
5. You will take unusual risks just to get high. Stashing it in your shoes on overseas flights so you still have it on vacation. Emptying half of the tobacco from your cigarette and filling it with pot so you can smoke it in public. sneaking it in the hotel fire escapes even though it is going to reek up the hallway. Doing one hits and blowing smoke into bathroom vent.
6. It does make you an introvert. Nothing will shut down your abilty to socialize more than being stoned. You lose the confidence and a desire to communicate with others. Often when you do speak, you don't make as much sense to others as to yourself. You become an observer and your circle of friends never expands. You come off as aloof or stuck up often. people get the impression you would rather not be with them, which is true because you would rather be with "mary-do-ya-wanna"
7. It does create panic attacks and sometimes affect your nervous system. The scariest monent i can recall is driving with my family stoned. I lose feeling in my right leg and i am in panic mode. I have my wife and my kids and i am scared. My wife asks me whats wrong and why am i going so slow. I am scared stiff and just want the ride to be over. This starts to happen over and over again , but i still keep smoking. Once i am driving thru the mountains outside of tahoe with my wife , my mother -in law and great aunt and i an convinced i am going off the side of the mountain and i cant explain to them why i afraid to drive any faster. My heart starts to race often while i am high from panic attacks.
8. It is not just the fact of getting high, it is dealing with all that comes with getting high. It is illegal, so you have to deal with peolple , who in essence are criminals. With that comes risks that you do not need to take. Every time you get another bag, it could be the cops coming around the corner because they flipped your supplier. You get pulled over for speeding and they find your stash in the car or they see your blood shot eyes and grill you.
Not until i led a striaght mans life , did i notice all the things i missed out on because i was to busy getting high. Most every picture of me thru those years has blood shot eyes. I never gave my kids the full attention on their projects because I was either to high or to burned out to focus. I spent 15 years of marriage lying about something that was a daily part of my life. So i don't buy the arguement that you can smoke pot and be succesful. Yes, I was succesful in business, but i was failing in life. My single biggest accomplishment in my life will be kicking pot and cigarettes at the same time. To realize you can live your life without stimulants is amazing. I still give in the occasional vice of a cigar on special occasions or a drink at a social event, but they have no meaning in my life. Living longer and healthier have all the meaning now.
Well, it seems that the "birds of paradise" are coming back to roost in that bastion of libertarianism, "Eurotopia."
So why are so many of the pro pot posters here ignoring the argument you just made and instead screaming about how "Pot ISN'T bad for you!! This article is a pack of LIES!"?
The difference is that those 10 potatoes don't adversely affect a person's mental abilities, as does marijuana, nor do they lead to addiction and possible introduction to harder drugs, as does marijuana.
What did I post to you earlier? We call the article LIES because it is. What it says isn't true, ok? Anything you inhale IS going to be somewhat harmful.
And again, you can show no post where ANYONE said "Pot isn't bad for you". You keep beating that dead horse. No one said that. That's why these arguments are so silly. You guys continually say the anti-wod people say "Pot isn't bad", but no one ever has. Get a grip.
Perhaps, but I think he was illustrating the point that the crime rate and marijuana usage are on the rise.
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