Okay, no more metaphoring.
I go to a co-worker’s home to watch a football game, and later a barbeque. During the game we’re munching snacks (appetizers) and sucking brews. Except me. I abstain from the beers, but enjoy the food and game and comradeship. There are ten of us, plus some women. I promise you that my lack of a beer (no glass, of course) will be commented upon, negatively by some. If I get a soda, few will be mollified.
So, I say “I’ll be right back, I’m going home for a few minutes to smoke a couple joints”.
I walk home (a couple blocks away) then return in time for the 2nd half. I grab my Pepsi, a handful of peanuts, and start yelling at the tv (which is proper). Am I one of the guys?
And what will be the general reaction to my choice of poison? Will some object because what I did is illegal?
I’ve asked drinkers who do object if they think pot should be legal. They say “no”. I ask why. They say "because it’s against the law. :dubious:
Why does it suck? Boring? I’ve never had the pleasure, so I don’t know.
By the way, I’ve had very informal dinners at my house, no booze but BYO is okay. Guess what. Those who did bring booze wanted me to drink. :rolleyes:
I’ve been a hermit for the last several years, so maybe things have changed.
No, you just look like a weirdo stoner who only cares about getting stoned.
You become “one of the guys” by becoming one of the guys. People tend to bond with those who share the same vices as they do.
Because most peopel would rather drink than stand there not drinking AND be responsible for making sure a bunch of drunk people get home.
It’s not a horrible gig, unless they all get a bit too drunk, 'cause then you are not just driving, you are babysitting, which is no fun with grown ass beligerant drunks.
But I don’t drink, and I have noticed that people try really hard to get me to take a drink, or at least have a soda. I don’t object to that. I will even take a soda in a fancy wine glass with a lemon wedge. Whatever.
I don’t smoke weed (anymore), but I am very pro-weed, to the point of marching against weed laws. I can’t understand how in the world alcohol is legal, but not weed. I am always hoping someone can offer me some good reasons for that.
And the same people who claim they object to weed smokers because they are breaking the law are the same people that don’t have a problem with breaking the speed limit, or jay-walking, or littering, or taking some grapes from the grocery store, the hypocrites.
Not to mention the fact that many unjust laws had to be broken in order to make some changes in this country that we all know were desperately needed.
Well, now. That statement’s pretty revealing.
Hey, I stood up and yelled at the tv!
And you don’t have to “stand there” to not drink. Everything else (listen to music, dance, socialize, play shuffleboard) is fair game.
It is because anti weed group ran a huge dishonest and very successful campaign against it . Remember the movie Reefer Madness. That is an example of what they did. Politicians demonized weed publicly and sold it to the people who did not know better.
Well, de gustibus, and all that.
I checked with a couple of doper friends as to whether they are principally trying to savor the subtle character of what they smoke, or trying to get high. Both came back with “Are you kidding?”
- it’s illegal
- there’s a cultural stigma or taboo
- smoke is offensive to some people’s noses
Did you check with mswas, above? (#55)
I fear your friends are rather, um, unsophisticated. I’ll bet they roll pinners, too! 
Peace,
mangeorge
I’ve got to disagree with you, and I think this opinion may be what’s indirectly influencing your friends’ attitudes, especially since earlier in the thread you said this:
I have some Drambuie (a Scotch liquer), some Baileys Irish Creme, and some brandy in the house right now. I don’t drink them to get drunk, and I"ve only been close to being drunk once in my life, and that was on some very good tasting home-made stuff. I drink because I like the taste of what I drink, if only in small quantities. My mother has a glass of wine with dinner most days not because she’s an alcoholic but because she also enjoys the taste of it. As far as I know, she’s never been drunk either.
I think that a lot of people in America think that anyone who drinks is either an alcoholic or on her way to becoming one and, as you said, the only reason people drink is to get drunk. If you really believe that or seem to believe it, your friends may be picking up on your attitude and trying to get you to drink because of it, either to show that you’re not as righteous as you try to make yourself out to be or possibly to show you that you can enjoy a beer or two without being a drunkard. Anyway, that is simply my crazy theory and that and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of overpriced stimulant at Starbucks.
As for why drinking’s more socially acceptable than pot, here’s my other crazy theory. I support legalizing pot and other drugs, but if you smoked it in my home, I would tell you to leave and I would think less of you for doing so. It’s not because I’m so righteous I never break the law; it’s because I’m not likely to be thrown in jail or lose my job because of a speeding ticket, but I am if I’m convicted of drug use or drug possession and, just as important, if I speed, I’m doing so voluntarily and accepting the consequences. If you bring drugs into my home, that’s something I haven’t chosen to do and I see you as inflicting the consequences on me.
My last word (not really) on this topic:
Payback. I friggin hate hangovers. And none of those mythical “cures” work. Not even menudo, let alone the “hair of the dog”.
Ow! Just thinking of it hurts. 
Mmmm, menudo. It’s been too long.
Please no comments about the defunct boy band.
You know, people throw that around a lot, but I don’t buy it. Folks from my generation – early to late 20s – don’t have much experience with anti-marijuana propaganda. In fact, if anything, the pro-pot movement has been the most vocal and most apparent to our generation. Just look at how much our generation loves stoner movies and rock’n’roll.
Most of the people I know who view weed negatively do so because of personal experience with stoners. I’m sure there are lots and lots of great people out there who smoke weed and it never negatively affected them, but that’s a subjective judgment call for them.
Legalization proponents like to tout the fact that marijuana is not physically addicting, but they usually fail to point out that it’s unusually easy (and detrimental) to abuse.
Not to mention potheads are incredibly fucking annoying. Their jokes are not funny. Some think they’ve been possessed by Confucius while they’re high and spout the most incredible inanities. They’re the ultimate wallflowers at a party, oh, and that reminds me.
Smoking marijuana seems like a completely self-centered kind of substance use. Very few people I know get drunk because they genuinely enjoy the effects of alcohol on their bodies. They get drunk because being drunk around other people is a social event in and of itself. Being drunk equates (right or wrong) more fun for the entire party, so to speak.
Why is a toker getting high? To get high and make himself feel good, of course. Once he’s high, forget about him engaging the rest of the partygoers in energetic conversation (slurred or otherwise) or playing the drinking games. How does a weedsmoker break the ice anyway? At most parties I’ve been to, the smokers are secluded in a bedroom/bathroom/porch away from everyone else.
Oh, and that stuff stinks, too.
So I can understand the opposition to weed. That being said, I’m not against the legalization or even the illegal use of it in general, even at my own parties. I actually have a lot of friends who like to get high on occasion. And while I’m fine with them and never complain, in this post it was very easy to take my own minor annoyances and magnify them into an actual anti-pot-in-social-situations platform.
You mean drugs other than alcohol, I assume. I know it’s legal, but it’s funny how many will bring it uninvited.
I wish evertbody would read the part where I made it clear that I’d never assume to bring pot into someone’s home blind. Nor would I bring a (legal) bottle of wine, unless it was our shared custom.
I realize you don’t smoke pot and that you wouldn’t bring illegal drugs into someone’s home; I was addressing the more general issue of why using pot is less socially acceptable than drinking alcohol, even among those who support legalizing pot. By the same token, I get tired of people who don’t acknowledge there’s no middle ground between being a tea-totaler and an incipient alcoholic and those who believe people only drink alcohol in order to get drunk.
You think drinkers don’t stink? :dubious:
Oh, the wonderful bouquet of alcohol sweat! And that breath!
Everything else you say is cool. 
eeerrhhh! tap tap tap. 
I’ve seen attitudes towards alcohol change a lot over my lifetime. Smoking too.
High school and college? Drink! Smoke!
A few years later: Have you been drinking? :dubious: You smell like smoke. :dubious:
If someone lit a joint around me these days I wouldn’t care if it was pot. I’d be thinking “put that out! Do you know what they do to smokers when they catch them these days?!?!?!”
Man, you’re 100% correct. I’ve cleaned up way too much stinking puke, too.
No. Honestly I don’t. Do you mean for the smoke, or the substance itself.
I quit tobacco some years ago. I’ve seen people who were allergic to seeing smoke from down the street.
I’m becoming cynical about some (many?) people’s allergies.
No. in fact,* this comment* is full of it. Alcohol, specifically ethanol, is kept in drink because it’s volatility allows it to convey a huge range of flavours to the nose, where they are appreciated (hence you not being able to taste things with a plugged or pinched nose) . Alcohol free booze sucks because it is incapable of conveying the same intensity of flavours. To truly get a non-psychoactive drink that could hold it’s own with booze, you would need to replace the ethanol with another equally safe & equally volatile solvent that did not have the same effects. If this could be developed, then a case could be argued for putting the same legal treatment as cannabis onto ethanol.
The point is that, although many people regrettably use ethanol as a legally available drug, that is not the reason why most alcoholic drinks are made, withe possible exception of cheap watery beer and stuff like everclear and redbird. Alcoholic drinks are made to be appreciated like chocolate, or steak, or smoked salmon, and to be consumed in low enough quantities to avoid getting drunk.
There are many legally available substances intended for other purposes that can be abused as drugs: gasoline & solvents, plastic glue, compressed gas dusters, cough syrup, medication, etc. etc. None of them are evil when used as intended.
When used as drugs, because of the potential damage, it can be argued these substances *are *evil, and so can ethanol , and so can cannabis.
Crocodiles and Boulevards, I have a sinking feeling that a bunch of your crack head friends are pretending to be pot heads.
And I will take the smell of weed over the smell that wafts from both cigarette smokers and drunks. But, I have a pretty hardy nose, so few smells bother me.