Neither is water. But it’s close enough, and controllable enough, that it does not deserve all its bad press, let alone to be a Class 1 (extremely dangerous, with no medical use) drug. I mean seriously. I don’t want to debate legality, but tobacco and alcohol are legal, and pot isn’t? WTF?
Nah, just incompatibility.
I was a twenty-year-old lush with a stoner boyfriend, and I turned out…well, okay.
I wouldn’t conflate water with pot. Pot is a lot more harmful than water…water doesn’t give people panic attacks or short-term memory loss, short attention spans, slowed reflexes, or damage the lungs or affect the brain. But I do see your point about alcohol and tobacco. I don’t know why alcohol and tobacco are legal when pot isn’t. Personally I would legalize the stuff and print huge warning on the packages and charge people excessive amounts of money for using it.
I also went trawling through the net again to find more information about panic disorder and marijuana. It’s pretty interesting stuff. Some people find that taking marijuana eases panic attacks, while others find the exact opposite. For me, it triggered my latent panic disorder and I’ve been having attacks for about ten years now, off and on. If you want to read more about it, here’s some more links of varying scientific value:
http://www.doctorslounge.com/psychiatry/forums/backup/topic-4225.html
Homepage - EFTDownUnder (trying to find that APA article they mention)
http://opium.poppies.org/index.php?s=&act=ST&f=8&t=7863 (a message board)
Oh…and sorry about the huge hijack. Hopefully the OP doesn’t mind.
If it gives you panic attacks, don’t smoke it. That doesn’t mean that many, many people don’t smoke it with no ill effects.
Thanks Dio. I wasn’t exactly asking you whether I should smoke pot.
It should be obvious that I’m not conflating water with marijuana. It was hyperbole.
Actually, under the right circumstances, it can do all of that except maybe the short term memory loss/short attention spans. Water is also a whole hell of a lot more harmful than marijuana. How many people die from pot each year? And how many people die from drowning?
Whether it directly triggers latent psychosis or panic attacks, or if those are set off as a result of the alteration of one’s state of mind regardless of the drug one takes is debatable. But, the fact remains that not one single person in medical history has ever died as a direct result of smoking pot. Sure, you get idiots who get stupid and stumble in front of a train, but chances are they were jut stupid to begin with; the weed just exacerbated the situation.
People–many of them, in fact–have died from water overdose, however. In that respect water IS more dangerous than weed.
To respond to several people at once, as well as one wise-ass:
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I recently had a reunion, and part of that was reconnecting with a lot of people who connected with many others to try and list “who’s doing what nowadays.”
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I did not go to a large school, and a lot of people still live in the area.
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My experience is just that, mine. It’s not a statistical study, nor an assertion, nor is it even a condemnation on drug use in general. I support what I feel is a right for people to choose what they want to use in terms of drugs/etc. with their own bodies.
For that matter, I think several drugs should be decriminalized, and some even have the possibility explored for them being a legal, taxed product.
However, my experience with chronic drug users, my personal experience, has been very, very negative.
No sweat, he’d have to be stoned to turn down some 3 way action!* Oh, wait…
*And I realize he never said he was gonna get some 3 way action, but he probably had some negative vibes flowing that nixed that already.
I, for one, am entirely on the OP’s side here. Nothing pisses me off more than girls who absolutely *have *to go out to get some pot in the middle of the night, when they should instead be spending that time sensibly, i.e. in the nearest bedroom, doing the dirty with me.
That *was *the point here, right?
It sounds like he never even took his bat off his shoulder. Sure, he might have struck out, but he could have at least struck out swinging.
"Dear The American Scholar Forum,
The scenario I shall now endeavor to limn is one in which I had not previously imagined that I, myself, would someday participate…"
Wow, OK. First off, thank you for all the responses. I have read them all, and appreciate everyone’s viewpoints. I think a little more explanation is called for.
The first thing I want to respond to are the calls that I am being unduly judgemental on this girl. That is not my goal, as despite the experience I had with her last night, I still believe, (based on my conversations with her before the night in question) that she is a kind soul and I do not question her value as a human being. I do sincerely hope for her sake that she eventually gets her act together, and I realize she is still young and that may take some time yet. I don’t have the time to wait for her to do it, but I still wish her luck in this regard.
If I was overly judgemental it was only because I am judgemental of myself, for as I stated - I did the same thing, and I did it to a point of extreme excess and got burned out on that lifestyle entirely. I still don’t think there is anything wrong with a little pot and alcohol, but I know my limits and I know what I like and this experience was way beyond that (p.s. to all those saying what an “opportunity” it was: although she is cute, I did not find her friend attractive at all. And I was just so turned off by the whole thing I was really not in the mood. Sorry if that makes me boring.)
Another tangential point which I didn’t mention earlier, but just to add to the case for “she is being pretty irresponsible with her life right now”, is that they mentioned how they have been arrested multiple times for DUI, and Alice had been in a serious accident recently while she was in a car being driven by a friend who was driving “totally plastered”. Turnoff factor +5.
Yeah, I’m still young too. I know. People keep telling me that. But you know what? I had my day with all that early on. It’s out of my system. I’m ready to become a responsible adult now and that’s the path I am sticking to. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to have fun. Of course I do. But I know myself well enough to know what is fun for me and what isn’t, and this wasn’t.
Like guppy alluded to, more people have died from drinking too much water than from smoking too much pot. As far as I know there hasn’t been a single recorded death that can be attributed to marijuana alone.
Thanks for the clarification. I see your point better now. Especially with the DUIs and the drunk driving accident.
Yeah, that was the point I was making.
The OP sounds like he knows what he’s doing. While I strongly disagree with those who reinforce the “20-year-olds should be out partying/getting wasted all the time” stereotype, I also don’t see that a pothead has to turn out a loser later in life, or that one’s attitudes at a young age form one’s persona for the rest of time, or that drug use cannot be separated from one’s everyday doings. Maybe this girl isn’t at the point where she can separate the two – or maybe she is, if she didn’t really mention it until she was around her “friend”. But either way, incompatible is just that, threesome jokes aside.
Constantly talking about it, now…I’ve always found people who never shut up about their drug use/partying horribly boring and annoying (though they fall into the general category of attention whores who think everyone cares about their mundane “bad boy/girl” activities). They’d probably be phased out of my life in time if they wouldn’t quit it.
How come no one mentions the carcinogenic properties of pot smoke in these debates about whether it’s all right? Isn’t smoked pot as or nearly as bad as cigarettes in that respect? Or have I heard wrong?
I mean, sure, no one has died in a “Hold your smoke for a Wii” contest, but long term use affects the lungs, doesn’t it?