Stronger Pot May Make Refer Madness Real, U.S. Fears

This thread was fucking stupid. "Preteens are'nt supposed to smoke weed" well no shit! I love this bit:

They throw us in court for smoking a joint or some other horrid "crime" we've commited, they force us to go to state-run rehabilitation center to cure us of our "addiction", and then claim that more kids are going to rehab solely because of marijuana addiction. It's bullshit. Of course theres more kids in there, the court is making us fucking go. What the hell did they expect? BTW, real rehab centers don't take people who are "addicted" to marijuana. They know it's bullshit and they don't want their time wasted.

 

I can't believe that they are even worried about weed in the first place. I mean come on it's not all that bad. If they wanna be worried about something then they need to about the young kids and the harsher drugs that can actually do something bad to them. The Government Can Kiss My Ass!

 

EXACTLY! i TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!

 

Riff-iz-me,
Does it not make you a bit angry that they claim marijuana is more dangerous than cocaine and herion?

 

Same ol' paranoid propagandic bullshit. If pot's getting stronger, more's the better. Pot users won't have to smoke as much of it then.

I find it amusing how drug czar Walters tries to distance himself from Reefer Madness at the end, after spewing all that only-slightly-subtler bullshit.

 

^^Well pot is getting stronger, and I agree. Generally, if it's better weed, you'll end up smoking less of it.

 

I need to move to Amdsterdam.

 

gEO, it does not make me any madder than hearing people on this board bitching about conspiracies and oppression. Most people on this board have never and will never experience any significant oppression. I think it is ignorant of policy makers to spread obvious lies to promote their agendas but I also can see where they are worried about tomorrow's generation of leaders as well. We need to get the stuff legalized and regulated for many reasons that I will not go into here. I can see where MJ can be as dangerous as those harder drugs in teh sense that it can ruin a family when a person becomes psychologically dependent on it, spending rent money on weed and such. But as for physical dangers, no, I don't see the comparison to coke and heroin.

 

I don't really think marijuana could ruin a family in that sense unless the user was incredibly irresponsible. It's not physically addictive, it would simply be a matter of will power, basically. With drugs like heroin or coke, though, the user's health is at risk when they try to quit due to withdrawal symptoms.

The idea that someone would become so addicted to weed that they spend their rent money on it, recognize their problem and can't stop just doesn't seem probable. Most people can and will stop if they see it as a problem, and if they don't, then they probably don't really care about their family that much.

You're right that the policy makers should be concerned with the future leaders of this country, but they're focusing on the wrong things. There are so many other bigger problems that needs to be focused on. Illiteracy rates, poor education, poverty, marijuana just doesn't seem like it's that much of a problem to me. The article talks about marijuana potentionally making teens depressed and pyschotic, but what it doesn't realize is that most teens today are regardless of whether they use drugs or not. I just think NIDA is being incredibly stupid when they try to play off more potent weed as the problem. It's not, though. I don't know what it is, but it pisses me off that NIDA will blame marijuana as the problem simply so it will be enforced more.

It just seems to me that NIDA are not actually concerned with our best interests, but rather with getting the extra funding they need.

 

I didn;t say that weed was a major problem with most families. I DID say that if that happens then it can be as big a problem as coke and heroin. The idea that most people will regulate themsleves is a bit naive and unrealistic. The temptation to smoke is a powerful one and buying an ounce can be very tempting as well, even when rent is due this week. MJ is a psychologically addictive drug and it is therefore a matter of willpower to quit. But reality is that many people lack the will power to regulate their use when the real world around them is usually pretty shitty. MJ is a nice escape.

 

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GOD THIS JUST MAKES ME HATE BUSH MORE LOL.

hello?! are all these mother fuckers in sane? *IF* we all *really* wanted to quit dope tomorrow we'd just do and we'd be fine. yeah maybe a lil insomnia because we aren't as chill. maybe less hungry for a while cuz the intensity of the munchies is less. but overall we'd be fine in fact most of the time we feel better its just that getting high is better than that. .
psychotic? please. if i didnt smoke up i might not even be alive today. i've been thru some horrible horrible ordeals and mary jane helped me thru it. i may have killed myself or had to take anti depressants (which to me are way worse cuz u can physically withdrawl from that crap).

and i cannot BELIEVE that cocaine is a class 2 drug while reefer is in class 1 with heroin. people are fucking stupid.
potent or not duznt matter. how often u smoke how much u smoke and what u do with ur life is the matter. u can be a stoner and still work, play, etc. u can live a normal life and still smoke out everyday damnit!
dope is mentally addictive in the sense that it makes u wanna do it cuz its fun man. but like i said, ive quit before n nothing happened. i'm addicted but i can quit easily. try tellin that to a heroin or crack addict. mother fuckers. they just wanna get a cut outta that money they cant stand that theres so much money goin around the black market and its not helping the economy n all. bastards. they dont care about the drug problem if they did they'd go for the worse drugs. poor old mary jane being bullied all the time

 

All the bad stuff you hear about weed is bullshit or bushshit - it's all politix man - been goin on for years

 

"AYE!" I could NOT agree more. and does that country have ANY problems? the answer is n0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o. i wish americans would wake up.

 

blame it on the conservative christian mentality that has dominated this country for the last several decades.....if it's fun it's probably wrong in god's eye's....and thats who vote's so that's who we will please.....you young cats need to remember that....

 

[quote)

The idea that someone would become so addicted to weed that they spend their rent money on it, recognize their problem and can't stop just doesn't seem probable. Most people can and will stop if they see it as a problem, and if they don't, then they probably don't really care about their family that much. (quote end)


Just to share a little case study with you, whislt I hate to admit it, it isnt all good on the weed front i'm afraid (although I do think that this and indeed most reports on the subject are often poorly informed and poorly presented to the public!).

Basically, the son of a family friend (whom I have not met personally) is currently receiving treatment for 'cannabis psychosis' which is effectively a condition relating to the abuse/mis-use of cannabis. This usually happens as part of psychological dependency on weed, not an addiction, because weed of course is not technically addictive. This guy got to the stage where he was staying home from work so he could stay home and get stoned all day. Whilst at first glance this sounds like a great plan, the reality is that you are effectively in a stoned haze all the time and your body is never functioning correctly at any point in the day. The guy ended up not being able to function until he'd had his 1st joint as soon as he woke up (not good). As per 'riff' he ended up spending all his money on weed and was smoking 1/2 an ounce (14grams) of weed a day pretty much by himself, thats a £350 a week habit!! Ended up in hospital to go cold turkey and sort his head out. Several months later he was released and is just starting to get his life back on track.
So, we're talking about an average 19 y/o from a good, solid family background, losing the plot cos he abused the herb, i guess its similar to alchohol dependency in that respect, its fun to be pissed but if you were pissed all the time it would become the norm, and socially unacceptable. Which is why the vast majority of people choose not to be pissed all the time, even though they could in theory, and why most people dont take heroin. The only difference there being that EVERYONE knows the score with H, whereas there is still so many mixed messages/reports with weed, changing the classification to Class C etc. just adds to the confusion, whatever any government decides, it needs to make its mind up and be clear in explaining any action it takes.

Just to conclude, weed CAN post a risk but the ratio of users/problems I imagine is pretty good for any 'pro' campaigners, and is used purely as a social way to get high in 99.9% of cases. Certainly the 'increase in no. of people treated for weed abuse has risen by 142% since '92 has to be checked, I wonder what the actual figures are, fairly low i'd guess?!

 

I so totally agree with you all!

IMPEACH BUSH NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

At first, I agreed with alot of what you had to say. To get mj education out there, we need intelligent people to do this, but your last posting has me wondering what you are about.

I am 32 years old, own a house, have a family, and go to work everyday to pay the bills. I have been smoking for over 16 years and have yet to see mj "ruin" a family that wasn't already in a dysfunctional relationship to beging with. I can look at this from both sides of the table because I am an ex heroin and cocaine addict of ten years. It has been 5 years since I kicked all that shit. I know what addiction is and how it can ruin a family. Obviously this is all propaganda like you had said, considering that Bush is trying for re-election (not like he was ever elected in the first place).

MJ will NEVER be as dangerous as a PHYSICALLY addiciting drug. You say that the psychological aspect is strong enough for the smoker to spend the rent money and such? Come on man, let's get realistic. The fact that you even slighty side with the government makes me cringe. Chocolate is psychologically addicting as well, I have never herad of anyone blowing the rent on chocolate (I know this is a poor analogy, but just as ridiculous).

You said thet you weep for the future? I weep for you. You came in here and totally bashed a bunch of TEENAGERS for having opinions. I guess you forget the comments you may have made as a teenager.

RORY...: I hate to tell you but the guy who's life became crazy from smoking too much was probably predisposed to that type of behavior. A person just doesn't stop going to work to sit around and smoke pot all day, there are probably some facts that you don't know. He was only 19, bad judgment calls could be to blame for this. It's soooooo much easier to say, "it was the pot", maybe he just got lazy or has some other mebtal issuse you may not know about. I'm not saying that it's bullshit, but I have been to rehabs and "cannabis psychosis" just wasn't a term that I have ever heard used. If he had to go to rehab strictly for smoking weed, he probably has other problems as well. I'm not saying it CAN'T happen, it's just not very likely.

"In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer
than many foods we commonly consume.
It is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana
to induce death. Marijuana, in its natural form,
is one of the safest therapeutically active
substances known to man."
- Francis L. Young, DEA Administrative Law Judge 9/6/88

Now this statement is coming from the DEA....Kinda' odd that the government is now trying to classify it as a drug that is just as dangerous as heroin, cocaine, opiates, etc. Isn't it nice to see the contradictory behavior of my U.S. government? This kind of statement gets ignored by all of those that know the truth.

When the DEA themselves say that a drug is relatively safe as compared to some of the everday foods we eat and they say that IT DOES HAVE MEDICINAL PURPOSE, shouldn't the people who appointed them to thier positions start to listen and learn?

 

RORY...: I hate to tell you but the guy who's life became crazy from smoking too much was probably predisposed to that type of behavior. A person just doesn't stop going to work to sit around and smoke pot all day, there are probably some facts that you don't know. He was only 19, bad judgment calls could be to blame for this. It's soooooo much easier to say, "it was the pot", maybe he just got lazy or has some other mebtal issuse you may not know about. I'm not saying that it's bullshit, but I have been to rehabs and "cannabis psychosis" just wasn't a term that I have ever heard used. If he had to go to rehab strictly for smoking weed, he probably has other problems as well. I'm not saying it CAN'T happen, it's just not very likely.

Hi Guy, in ref to my psychosis guy, you could well be right, although i would say that the weed didn't help his situation, he was definately diagnosed with 'cannabis psychosis' but like you say, there were probably influencing factors, the weed acting as a way out, i imagine in a similar way that someone would perhaps turn to alcohol as a way out. When used in a normal, sociable fashion (like 99.9% of us do) weed is relatively safe, certainly when a direct comparison is made to the obvious legal 'drugs' that are cigarettes, alcohol & as you say, chocolate. And certainly when compared to H & Coke. My initial point was simply that it isnt ALL good when it comes to weed, and we've got to be careful not to present the argument in a totally subjective fashion, or else we leave ourselves open to be ripped apart by any opposition. If you've been through the whole rehab thing I certainly wouldn't dream of questioning your knowledge of this as you've obviously been there, seen it, done it.that. Now its gotten interesting i'll try & dig out more info on the case in point & let u know!


Also, I agree that Riff-iz-me has a lot of good points, and I think we'd agree on a fair few issues on this subject, however, I feel that the good points you make are over shadowed by your condescending tone and lack of respect perhaps for the opinion of others. Obviously, this forum attracts people of all ages/backgrounds and people are gonna have different opinions and have different ways of expressing them and i just think that perhaps you're a bit harsh and judgemental. At the end of the day you're older and of course your bound to have seen & experienced more in life including knowledge of weed & politics. Its not really for me to say but just chill a bit and perhaps think about the phrasing and tone of your posts

 

Nobody willingly goes into treatment for marijuana addiction. They send them there because they got caught smoking. They're not even close to the alcoholics that start shaking if they don't have a drink. And I'd love to hear what " abuse " is by their standards.

 

So what you are saying is that as long as I am bashing Bush or the government it is okay to be harsh, condescending, arrogant, judgemental, close minded and immature. BUT, when I don't agree with the anti-government rhetoric spewing across this board I need to be kind, polite, understanding, and open minded?
Our country has serious problems. Some of which are the result of current policies and some are the result of Clinton's and other past presidents' policies. Instead of screaming about George W Bush everytime something doesn't go your way, why don't you try to make a real difference? As screwed up as this country is, it is still the greatest nation on earth at this time. God forbid we actually enforce our sovereignty by not asking the world's permission to deal with those factions that threaten the American way of life. We are NOT Europe (thank God) and hopefully we never will be. I don't have any problem with people disagreeing with government policies but not all of them are bad. And yes I remember what I was saying when I was a teen, and guess what...I WAS WRONG. Apparently being a teen and young adult comes with the irrepressible compulsion to rebel against whoever is in authority at the time regardless of the reasons. Let's not forget that Clinton enacted many drug laws too that affect MJ but why aren't the libs on this board bitching about that? Oh yeah...because he is their boy.

I am done with this board for awhile. You guys have fun pretending that you know the answers to life and politics. I will be enjoying my weed as a conservative Christian who's opinions and beliefs were not welcome on the "hippie" forum. I hope you can see the hypocrisy you guys are spouting. God bless.