# A naïve person's questions about drugs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 15, 2023, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698 "2023-04-15T03:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/1 "2023-04-15T03:47:30Z")
Is it a common practice to mix meth in with marijuana when smoking marijuana? Does doing so change the characteristic smell of smoking marijuana? If so, can you describe this effect at all? Would a knowledgeable person be able to detect this difference in smell based on the smoker walking by a couple of feet away on the sidewalk? Would you expect a person smoking marijuana with meth in it (unknown amount) to be able to walk down the street more or less the same way that a person smoking just marijuana would be able to? I told you the questions were naïve. I know virtually nothing about any of this stuff. This is to settle a disagreement. Neither of us is at all knowledgeable except that the other person lives in a neighborhood beset (by her description) with homeless people and drug use. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/2 "2023-04-15T04:37:45Z")
I am a pot smoker and I had a brief and very bad affair with meth. Yes, some people do mix it. Yes, the smell changes, burning meth is a very harsh chemical smell, good pot smells like a skunk…hence the term “skunky weed”. Just about anyone would notice the smell of burning meth, it is very distinctive. (They might not know what they are smelling, but they would know that they were smelling something bad.) I have smoked pot/meth and walked, but even now that pot is legal here, I wouldn’t do it in public due to the smell. Also, just in case you are interested in experimenting. Don’t do it. Trust me on this, OK. Meth is bad. Meth doesn’t care if it kills you as long as it gets all of your money and everything you love first. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/3 "2023-04-15T04:42:26Z")
A friend of mine who is a forensic pathologist told me that meth absolutely has its own distinct, identifiable smell. How would you smoke “marijuana with meth in it”, though? Sounds like that would risk burning your meth. Crystal meth is often recreationally “smoked” by vaporizing it in a glass pipe. So your [@Roderick_Femm 's friend’s] premise already sounds dubious. ETA, yep, no doubt many druggies have _tried_ it… ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/4 "2023-04-15T04:43:17Z")
Druggies do what druggies are gonna do. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/5 "2023-04-15T06:50:40Z")
**Modhat** : As all of this is a new area of discussion for the SDMB, I just want to remind everyone … - We encourage people to abide by local law, which varies widely. Please do not post suggestions or advice on how to evade local law. - We will check in on such threads occasionally, and step in if we see someone suggesting ways to get around the law. Please don’t do this. sorry for the interruption ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/6 "2023-04-15T15:51:23Z")
I know a lot of people who smoke pot. I don’t think I know any meth heads. So no, in my circle at least, it’s not common to mix meth with your weed. It’s non existent, in fact. I’d wager the vast majority of pot smokers do not use meth. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/7 "2023-04-15T15:52:21Z")
The other side of that though is how many meth users also use pot? I’m guessing that percentage is much higher. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/8 "2023-04-15T15:57:57Z")
Yes, I don’t doubt it, though my experience with that world is limited. But as @DPRK noted, they would probably take each drug on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/9 "2023-04-15T15:59:43Z")
The point is not whether users of one drug also use the other, but if they mix them and burn them at the same time. My friend claimed that the smell emanating from the person walking by included the smell of meth. I could only spell the pot, but I have not smelled meth burning before. > [@JaneDoe42](#): > > Yes, some people do mix it. > > Yes, the smell changes, burning meth is a very harsh chemical smell, good pot smells like a skunk…hence the term “skunky weed”. > > Just about anyone would notice the smell of burning meth, it is very distinctive. (They might not know what they are smelling, but they would know that they were smelling something bad.) Thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds like even I would have been able to tell the difference under average circumstances. I think my friend is a little excitable and paranoid. p.s. to moderators: sorry, I didn’t even think of the implications about illegal activity. I am certainly not seeking any advice on that score as I am not even remotely interested in using these substances. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/10 "2023-04-15T16:07:22Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > It sounds like even I would have been able to tell the difference under average circumstances. Going by my experience, you would have known that something was different. It is a very harsh chemical smell, something like burning rubber. Perhaps your friend got a whiff of a car running on a flat tire as the guy with the pot walked by? Mods, I would never tell anyone how to use, make or buy meth. My constant refrain is Do Not Do It. Learn from my mistakes, meth is bad bad bad. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/11 "2023-04-15T16:12:40Z")
No one have violated our rules. That note above is just to avoid replies that do. You’re all good so far. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/12 "2023-04-15T16:15:51Z")
Yes it’s done. Crack (free base cocaine), PCP (angel dust), and heroin among other drugs are often mixed with marijuana. I have no idea how effectively any of those drugs are ingested in that manner. I have taken tokes from joints that I suspected were adulterated in that manner, there was a bad taste of some kind, and I wouldn’t smoke anymore of it. Tobacco has long been used to add nicotine to the experience, that’s pretty much what a blunt is, some weed rolled into a joint with a cigar wrapper, but tobacco mixed with marijuana may be rolled up in conventional rolling papers. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/13 "2023-04-15T17:31:47Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The other side of that though is how many meth users also use pot? > I’m guessing that percentage is much higher. Yes. That’s what drove me crazy in the “marijuana is a gateway drug” argument. Probably 90% (stats pulled out of ass for demonstration purposes) of eventual addicts started with marijuana. Maybe 10% or less of pot smokers go on to be addicts to anything stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/14 "2023-04-15T19:06:49Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Probably 90% (stats pulled out of ass for demonstration purposes) of eventual addicts started with marijuana. And even before that, tobacco! Or caffeine! ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/15 "2023-04-15T19:44:49Z")
I have always considered alcohol to be the ultimate gateway drug. Every pot smoker that I know drank booze before they smoked weed. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/16 "2023-04-15T20:32:54Z")
But the “Just Say No” folks couldn’t use alcohol (or tobacco or caffeine), because the lobbies for those products would have killed them. Marijuana was only supported by those damn hippies, so it was easy to demonize as _the_ gateway. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/17 "2023-04-15T21:05:01Z")
I have it on good authority that over 99% of heroin addicts started on milk. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/18 "2023-04-15T21:30:27Z")
It can be done but there are more efficient ways to use meth and if you are regularly using meth, you are going to go for the best buzz for your buck. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/19 "2023-04-15T21:33:34Z")
But, a meth user isn’t going to turn down weed, and may even use it to help them relax when they run out of meth. Both smells would linger, and combine on the body. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698/20 "2023-04-15T23:06:06Z")
No, they were actively consuming as they were walking. We weren’t close enough to smell odors that were only lingering on the body. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-naive-persons-questions-about-drugs/982698.md?page=2)