[QUOTE=glee]
This sounds like a good definition of a drug.
However, according to Havik, something’s not a drug if:
So alcohol isn’t a drug because you can’t smoke it?
And sleeping pills aren’t a drug because you don’t go on a killing spree after taking them?
This sounds like you need a new definition of drug.
[/QUOTE]
No, you misunderstand me. I never said I don’t consider it a drug. And for the record, I didn’t mean drug in the literal sense. Perhaps I should have worded it differently, but whatever you get the idea. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Clothahump]
It’s a drug. It should not be legalized.
[/QUOTE]
Great, you can go live on a tiny island with the rest of the people who think it shouldn’t be legal. Don’t worry, you won’t get lonely; you’ll have each other to talk to.
[QUOTE=Christopher]
Have you ever met people that have smoked it heavily for ten years? If you don’t think they aren’t crazy you need to see a shrink.
[/QUOTE]
Have you ever met people that have smoked it moderately and responsibly for ten years? If you don’t think your crazy people wouldn’t be crazy without the weed, you need to see a shrink.
[QUOTE=Havik]
No, you misunderstand me. I never said I don’t consider it a drug. And for the record, I didn’t mean drug in the literal sense. Perhaps I should have worded it differently, but whatever you get the idea. :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
OK, fair point - it was ‘most of your friends’ who said it wasn’t a drug.
But I certainly don’t get the idea - what do you mean by ‘drug’ if you don’t mean it in a literal sense?
(cue Alice in Wonderland…)
It honestly doesn’t matter what I think it is, legally it’s a drug (fines, jail time for possession, growing, etc) so therefore it is. Until the government admits it’s not a drug, then it still is.
[QUOTE=Havik]
Most of the people I know wouldn’t consider it a drug for a few reasons:
It’s “a natural herb, maaan.”
You can’t overdose and die from smoking it.
The effects of smoking it has never made anyone (that I know) wig out and get pissed, go on a killing spree, then get national attention and sympathy for being trapped in a ruthless drug’s clutches.
I’m sure there are other reasons, but you see, this a thread meant for discussion!
[/QUOTE]
Hemlock is also “a natural herb, maaan” and the results are not happy.
I smoke and know the dangers, and smoking is not healthy.
You are correct. I have never heard of someone high on weed going on a killing spree…at most, they are looking for Twinkies.
So while I personally think marijuana should be legalized (I have been able to vote, unsuccessfully for that on the last few ballots in Nevada), I personally have not smoked it in decades.
That said, should it become legal, count me in as a buyer.
It’s “a natural herb, maaan.”
[/QUOTE]
This argument pisses me off. Yes, it’s natural (unless it’s that horrible selectively bred super-THC stuff that’s going around). So is ricin.
I once upset some hippies who were saying that vitamin C extracted from plants is “better” than synthesised vitamin C. I asked if they meant the inherent trace minerals or something else from the plant. No, they meant the vitamin C alone. I asked how a molecule of ascorbic acid can differ depending on what synthesised it. Eventually they came down to: “the synthesised stuff doesn’t have a soul”. So I informed them that plants are just “little vitamin C factories” and they refused to talk to me any more.
[QUOTE=DMark]
3. You are correct. I have never heard of someone high on weed going on a killing spree…at most, they are looking for Twinkies
[/QUOTE]
Well, yeah, but y’know, man…we might kill FOR a Twinkie. In a minute. When we get off the couch. Couch. Couch. Couch. You ever say a word so much it doesn’t MEAN anything anymore? Couch. Couch. It just sounds like a sound, man. Just…sound. Devoid of meaning. Couch. Crouch. Crouching on the couch…
Um, what were we talking about again?
(glee, of course that’s exactly correct. And my “moderately and responsibly” line before that, of course, was because I’ve known far more people who smoke weed sometimes and keep their lives together than actually become total slackers. And I know none at all who are clinically psychotic as a result of 10 years of weed use, nor have I seen any medical reports of such a phenomenon. I could have said “cite?”, but it seemed too effortey.)
I had a wonderful chance to watch the various effects of this Drug about 8 years ago. Three of my social circle, including me, rented a house. The others were almost always there in the evenings. And they all started doing weed. (I didn’t. I did beer)
Some would smoke it, have fun, then not touch it again for months. Some started it as a habit but dropped it years later just because it wasn’t doing anything for them.
One got so far into it he never moved beyond his part-time job at a supermarket. Once he gave up the weed he got his education finished and is now a Director of a London IT firm. But was it the weed that caused this ?
Not really. He was totally unmotivated and uninterested in education. He’d become bored and wanted time off. If he hadn’t gotten into weed he may have dragged himself out of the rut sooner. But ultimatly when he was ready he got back on track by himself.
If it hadn’t been weed it would have been something else. Maybe something worse. So having seen a dude fall so far into long term heavy usage and walk away, I’m doubtful that he can cause the problems but I don’t doubt it can prevent or delay recovery.
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Great, you can go live on a tiny island with the rest of the people who think it shouldn’t be legal. Don’t worry, you won’t get lonely; you’ll have each other to talk to.
[/QUOTE]
So is alcohol. I never understood why people say “drugs & alcohol”… :dubious:
[/QUOTE]
Okay, here’s a bit of a side-thread. Is alcohol a drug in a more narrow sense… something that blocks a ‘receptor site’ that an internal compound in the body would otherwise take up? Is this a useful definition of drugs at all? I’m reaching somewhat, but I remember hearing something about this in terms of the chemistry of many common drugs and am curious about how it fits in.
[QUOTE=glee]
OK, fair point - it was ‘most of your friends’ who said it wasn’t a drug.
But I certainly don’t get the idea - what do you mean by ‘drug’ if you don’t mean it in a literal sense?
(cue Alice in Wonderland…)
[/QUOTE]
I think I mean in comparison to other labeled drugs or narcotics like herion, methamphetamine, cocaine, etc.
Compared to those babies, weed is a friggin’ ice cream cone on a sunday evening.
[QUOTE=jjimm]
This argument pisses me off. Yes, it’s natural (unless it’s that horrible selectively bred super-THC stuff that’s going around). So is ricin.
I once upset some hippies who were saying that vitamin C extracted from plants is “better” than synthesised vitamin C. I asked if they meant the inherent trace minerals or something else from the plant. No, they meant the vitamin C alone. I asked how a molecule of ascorbic acid can differ depending on what synthesised it. Eventually they came down to: “the synthesised stuff doesn’t have a soul”. So I informed them that plants are just “little vitamin C factories” and they refused to talk to me any more.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, saying it’s natural is pretty much a copout to me. Just because something is natural, doesn’t make it okay, but I guess some people will always choose to ignore the idiocy in that.
[QUOTE=chrisk]
Okay, here’s a bit of a side-thread. Is alcohol a drug in a more narrow sense… something that blocks a ‘receptor site’ that an internal compound in the body would otherwise take up? Is this a useful definition of drugs at all? I’m reaching somewhat, but I remember hearing something about this in terms of the chemistry of many common drugs and am curious about how it fits in.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know about alcohol, but THC binds to cannabinoid receptors
I can tell you that it means:
