I think you overestimate the number of regular pot smokers. I would be in that 50% you stated, but I am not part of the market today. If it was legal and I could be convinced that no more paranoia would happen, I might possibly consume it again.
But your conclusion does not follow from the premise. Just because X number of people have at one time in their entire lives tried marijuana, does not mean that it is “everywhere.” I’m sure we could do a poll on how many people have “tried” liver and onions when their grandma made them eat it as a kid. That number does not represent current liver and onions consumers.
Find some data then. Here’s some, Colorado has 21.6% used in the last year, Massachussets has 17.6%. Where’s the threshold where you think reefer madness will become apparent?
I too have felt the ‘dead and insane’ effect of being high. Now I also had lots of positive experiences too, but at least one time in four I’d get paranoid. All that was well over 30 years ago. Now I don’t use it anymore.
Note that while growers push strains that they claim have specific effects, those claims are very anecdotal. No matter what strain you smoke, you will get at least 100, and possibly as many as 300 different types of cannabinoid and other psychoactive molecules, most of which have never been closely examined for their specific effects on humans. It is definitely a ‘shotgun’ type of drug, and one strain that works one way for one individual may have very different effects on another.
So take all advice on pot with a grain of salt. There are many unknowns, and just as many unknown unknowns about what’s in it, and how it works precisely, etc.
Note that I don’t oppose legalization. But people need to realize that many claims made about pot are not based on objective scientific study. You pays your money and you takes your chances with it, just like so many other things in life.
Oh, I realize that. Still, having grown up in an environment where the police were feared, I get a little increase in heart-rate when I see a dude in blue. Indeed, I’ve been sitting around at a party smoking with a group of “new friends” only to find out that one of the group is a cop. Old habits die hard.
In can also contribute to psychotic episodes in the user, especially if the user has a problem already. It highly depends on the person and their chemistry. I’m one of those that have to stay clear of marijuana, as I had a psychotic episode that was likely exacerbated by sustained heavy use. That shit can put you completely out of business mentally for a year or more. The few times I’ve tried it since I’ve gotten symptoms as described in the OP, once to the point of believing I’d lost all my memories.
In The Netherlands there’s near consensus among mental health professionals that there’s a link between rising issues with mental health and legalization of marijuana. The incredibly shitty in-patient mental health clinics doesn’t help, of course.
For people who doesn’t have that problem, I find excessive use makes most of them incredibly tedious and boring people to be around. “Does anyone have papes?! Papes, anyone?!”
I’m not against legalization, btw. Criminalization doesn’t seem to help anyone.
Sure, there are pitfalls and it’s not for everyone. Some people just aren’t compatible with it and that doesn’t need to reflect badly on them. There are plenty of activities which are great for some but a bad idea for others like bungee jumping or nightclubs.
When you were paranoid as hell, how did you react? How likely were you to punch someone?
Right now, that soccer mom gets loose on Friday night by drinking alcohol or taking benzos, both of which are worse for most people than pot.
I know you’re dubious of theories about the human mind but what do you think causes that effect?
I do worry about a certain percentage of the population which has difficulty handling just about anything and may now increase their consumption of pot. I suppose it might help to lower the bar at which people can be considered unfit to make decisions for themselves and can be treated as legal minors.
My issue is that the pitfalls are never discussed in these type of debates. For the debates, we get the side that states it is a wonder drug, or we get stodgy old bastards like Jeff Sessions criticizing it. I’ve never seen an acknowledgement about this paranoia in any major news source.
Not at all. I was fighting to figure out what was real and what I was imagining.
Some do. That’s a pretty broad brush there. Some read a book and go to bed.
But I agree with you. I don’t think that a person’s type of poison in a free country should be illegal unless there is good reason for it. And since we already tried alcohol prohibition and it didn’t work, we aren’t debating that again. We are debating a change in status for marijuana.
I think it is only fair that the entire picture be presented. I’m a first hand witness (and it seems others in this thread are as well) that it is not all wonderful. The last time I smoked, I would not wish that experience on my worst enemy. Ever.
Ehh… I’m not sure exactly what you want to say here, but my first reaction reading it was to tell you to fuck off.
How about rather than making more people powerless, we try to strengthen how they are dealt with after they find out they can’t handle “just about anything” and try to get them self-sufficient again?
My observation as an outsider is that heavy “recreational” marijuana use keeps people immature more than any other drug. This doesn’t seem to happen to people who use it for medicinal reasons, although those people are more likely to start using it at older ages, and may not enjoy the high they get from it.
I also feel that growing weed for one’s own use is no different from making your own beer or wine. We all know that millions of people out there should not have beer or wine; millions of them (and there’s a lot of overlap) shouldn’t use marijuana either.
Is this correlation or causation? IOW, do the immature people have no qualms with breaking the law and smoking marijuana, or does smoking marijuana contribute to the immaturity?
IOW, if legal, would doctors, engineers, and scientists stop off at the local weed shop and toke a few on the way home, or would they largely not change their habits in any event?
You also felt like you were in Hell? You must’ve been smoking the good stuff.
I admire your ability to make the liability of paranoia and make it advantage. I enjoy the stuff as much as the next person, but, sometimes, it triggers my anxiety, and that’s not fun.
My problem with smoking weed (which, full disclosure, I’ve never done) is not the weed per se but the smoking. Regardless of how benign THC is, compared to nicotine, you’re still inhaling superheated toxic gasses. I’ve brought this up before, and other Dopers (heh) have cited studies showing that marijuana smoke is less toxic than tobacco; but no one’s ever shown me a study that says smoking weed is less toxic than not smoking anything at all. Plus, you’ve got all the same issues of second-hand smoke and annoying people around you with the smell.
Obviously, I have less concern about edibles. But I like my smoke-free restaurants, theaters, and airlines, and would hate to see us revert to a nation of puffers.
I don’t think you’ll see smoke free areas allowing pot smoking. That hasn’t happened in the states that have legalized it.
As to the hazards of the smoke, keep in mind that very few people smoke pot the way they smoke cigarettes. The intake of smoke is much lower in most cases. Yes, I know there are exception, but there were people that smoked 4 packs a day also.
When I was a teenager, I was unable to get high. No matter how much pot I smoked with my friends, I never felt the slightest effect, even though the folks I was smoking with were utterly stoned.
Then, during my freshman college year, my roommate got some pot from a connection in Long Island and we smoked some before going to a jazz concert (Oregon/Gary Burton if you’re interested). About a half an hour into the concert, I realized that I was SEEING the music as beautiful, flowing colors.
My roommate also had an atypical response to the pot. We figured that it had been laced with something, probably PCP, which was popular at the time.
After that experience, I could get high, but it was never like that first time. Really more of a downer than anything else.
No idea. The workings of the human mind are very poorly understood and most models have little actual scientific evidence behind them. It’s just one of those brain things, I guess. It is a commonly reported experience.
