Well, if they get around to it, after just one more hit.
The Marijuana Policy Project sent out this press release with the incredible news that potheads are “less depressed” and in “better moods” than their non-pothead counterparts.
Yeah, I have a feeling that’s because they’re stoned and just a tad out of touch with reality. Being on drugs will do that to you. So will being drunk.
Fascinatingly, it didn’t seem to occur to the people conducting this “survey” that it’s not wise to take seriously the statements of people who are on drugs. Sounds like something someone would do who was on drugs. Oops.
Hmmm, this is like if there was an LSD “policy project” out there sending out a release exclaiming, “LSD makes it possible to fly!” But they don’t mention what happens when you jump off your balcony. That would ruin the importance of the “feeling” of it all.
In the meantime, a scene from the so-much-happier contingent:
Wait, where’s the bong? Hey man, don’t I know you? Who has the Cheetos? What war? Whoa! We’re at war? Hey, those are my pretzels! Can I crash here? Forgot to pay my rent. Who’s got the papers for my “medicine?” Har har har! Dude, can I borrow some money? I keep forgetting to try to get a job. Yeah, dude, isn’t it nice to not have a care in the world? We’re so much happier than all those working stiffs. What was your name again?
Reality Bites.
Tammy, i truly am a big fan, but it’s distressing that you resort to the very typical stereotypes of marijuana users. It would be the same as saying that every person who drinks alcohol is a red-nosed, sloppy, Ted Kennedy-esque drunk.
While there are certainly many pot-smokers who fit the stereotype, most of them are no different from casual drinkers. They go to work (incredible!), pay their bills, raise good kids and are otherwise responsible citizens. Just like casual drinkers, they like to unwind at the end of the day with their favorite relaxer.
It is just as silly to call all marijuana users “stoners” and “potheads” as it is to call everyone who likes a beer now and then “drunks”.
Tammy ,, why do you have hate for people that use marijuana insted of more dangerous things like ciggs. and booze?? Recent research shows marijuana stimulates brain cell growth and NO one has ever died from a marijuana overdose, unlike the 1000s a year from booze,, Do some more research next time Tammy, you look kinda foolish
Can you drink without getting drunk? Yes
Can you smoke pot without getting high? Don’t think so dude.
Now just for fun, let’s imagine a ship full of Pothead Pirates.
Arrrr!
MARIJUANA is the sneakiest of all drugs. It takes a loooong time to bottom out on unlike cocaine or heroin. Under the guise of heightening sensations such as taste for foods and appreciation for music, it dulls one to the depths of their emotions. Of course potheads are less depressed! They are looking at the world through rose-colored/smoke-clouded glasses. Everything is “O.K.” when you’re stoned. Marijuana is the equivalent of putting a smiley-faced band-aid over all that ails you while stuffing down the the true feelings…. everything from slightly ruffled feathers to out and out rage. Stoners without their pot tend to act like women with worst-case-scenario PMS…grumpy, irritible, raw and ready to “get into it” at the drop of a hat. It is the easiest drug to justify using, because it supposidly has no physical addiction, but just watch your pothead buddy try to get a good nights sleep for the first 2-3 weeks into quitting! It also most definatley builds a tolerance within the user…..notice how you have to smoke five times a day to catch a decent buzz, when that first wake’n’bake bong hit used to do it for ya? Don’t kid yourselves. I speak from decades of experience both on and off this substance. It’s a slow burn, but it WILL take you down. MARIJUANA ANONYMOUS exists for a reason. I suggest you seek them out if seeking out and smoking pot takes up more of your time and energy than you ever intended for it to and that is causing you some concern.
CTINKER,
That sounds exactly like the type of advice one would give anyone, addicted (or otherwise having trouble with) any drug. Fact still is, MOST people who smoke pot do it on an occasional basis, do not get hooked and have no problems.
We don’t ban alcohol because so very many people have problems with it. Ever see a drunk trying to get clean? Not pretty either. In fact, far less pretty than just losing a few nights sleep and being grumpy.
Maybe i’m just too libertarian on this issue, but we SHOULD treat marijuana like we do alcohol. Let’s not lump the vast majority of responsible occasional users in with the potheads. It would be seen as a silly argument against alcohol and should be seen as just as silly against marijuana.
As far as the statement that you can drink without getting drunk, but can’t smoke without getting high…Again, similar logic applies. You can’t drink without getting at least a bit of a buzz. There is no threshold below which alcohol has no effect. Just as you don’t HAVE to drink to drunkenness, you don’t HAVE to smoke until you are stupid. In fact, most occasional users don’t smoke that much.
Still, if you want to outlaw a substance because it is intoxicating, even if it is all the time, then i assume you’ll be wanting to outlaw ALL substances that lead to intoxication. IF intoxication is wrong, then logically, it must be wrong in all cases, not just with particular drugs.
Tammy is right. Potheads are potheads for a reason, their blinded by the pot on top of their head.
I first got tried weed in high school, it turned into an every day thing and gee my grades went down, go figure, I stopped caring about society in general and it led to harder drugs as well, cocaine, speed, downers, you name it.
The study is completely bogus and is an attempt to mainstream it. Have we not been down this road before? Tammy is correct.
Pot shuts down emotions. It helps people to avoid any reality in their lives. It is used as medication instead of facing one’s problems.
I was fortunate and I got out of that lifestyle. Too many friends stayed in it.
Cigs are bad, alcohol can be worse, so lets just up the anty? Add another bad habit? Which leads to another bad habit like cocaine?
I can’t tell you what a complete WASTE OF TIME smoking pot was for me and is for many young people today. It sucks their brains out. They see it as more acceptable because its safer for driving? But they smoke it more and do other drugs along with it.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. If someone is getting drunk or cannot control their liquor, then you tell them to their face. Same thing with pot – the gift of low-expectations in life.
I’ve noticed very few people move up in life who still smoke pot on a regular basis like they did in college dazzzzzzze. They usually get stuck at dead end jobs and complain, watch tv, and laugh at old beavis and butthead reruns.
OH PLEEEEEZE! I quit smoking pot for a decade in 1992…when I fell off the wagon for five months in 2002 I could not BELIEVE, not only the prices, but the STREGNTH (ie: “CHRONIC”) of what is being grown today!!!!!! And I am no lightweight….there is no way you can compare even 1-2 tokes of that stuff to consuming 1-2 beers or glasses of wine. Unless you are smoking some poor mans home-grown dirt weed there is NO WAY to prevent getting COMPLETELY STONED from it, ESPECIALLY if you are a CASUAL user and have not built up a tolerance.
True, not everyone who uses intoxicants is an addict…not everyone HAS an addictive personality. As far as legality, I’d rather see pot legal than booze if given the choice…and as far as one’s right to alter their conciouseness goes, my idol is DR. TIMOTHY LEARY, and that kind of RESPONSIBLE exploration (on a very limited basis) has been one of my life’s passions, but DON’T KID YOURSELF ABOUT YOUR LOVE AFFAIR WITH POT. If you could really take it or leave it, why risk getting arrested to aquire it? I mean, I like relaxing by watching “NIP/TUCK” on TUES. nights, but if it was suddenly banned, I wouldn’t be calling around to see if a dealer had an underground bootleg copy for sale and risk a misdemeaner charge to buy one. I’d watch something else….
For the record, I support decriminalizing marijuana. However, saying that doesn’t mean I don’t also think most of the people who spend their lives advocating legalization are dumbass stoners who generally do their cause more harm than good.
As a committed federalist, this strikes as exactly the sort of thing best dealt with at the state or local level (just like prostitution, gay marriage and abortion, to name a few other random examples).
Having grown up in an atmosphere where a member of my family turned into a serious pothead, I don’t know if I’d buy any arguement that claims pot “stimulates” brain cell growth! If anything, I witnessed just the opposite.
I watched this person go from being a well-intentioned, fun person to be around to someone who couldn’t get through a single day without a couple of joints. The accumulative effects were noticable; the more years that went by, the more dependent the guy became.
He started to care less and less about his appearance, became disinterested in his family, flitted from job to job…and when he COULDN’T get pot, whoooo boy, you didn’t want to be around him.
With that as an example (along with the various other marajuana-using folks I’ve met over the years) I can’t say it’s exactly harmless.
(“So will being drunk.”)Alcohol is a drug. Cunning, Baffling, Powerful etc. Also the marijuana today is incredibly potent. The modern growers know all the techniques to produce Buds that are twice as potent than what I smoked in the 70’s and 80’s. The younger the person is when they start getting high, the more damage is done.
I’ve just come upon your website today and have been looking through your archives. I don’t agree with all your politics but it seems you have some good points. However, I take exception to your comments here on marijuana.
In other posts you emphasize education and people being aware and intelligent, yet you take what is a scientific study and discard it with name calling and stereotypes.
If you’re so interested in marijuana and how it affects people, why do you fight and insult studies trying to scientifically find out how it really affects our bodies? What are you afraid to find out? That pot really does help people with terminal illnesses? Are you afraid to find out that it’s less harmful to your body than having a couple martinis a week?
Please, if you have opinions and believe so highly in individuals being critical thinkers, try to respond with a little more intelligent response than “dude, where’s the cheetos?” Critical thinking, if you don’t recall, includes such skills as not relying on anecdotal evidence, stereotypes or non-repeatable studies.
It just goes to show that no one can report on this subject without showing prejudice. I found your opinion inflammatory and misleading.
[Yes, but where are the Cheetos dude?–ed.]