Marijuana: Harmless or not?

[monotony]

I started this topic because of some of the things that got started in the "I fund terrorists" thread. What do the majority of you guys believe? Should weed be lumped in with 'real drugs' or should it be legal? And when I say harmless, I mean the drug itself... not the shootouts, and the other effects of it being illegal.

 

[Cyco]

No worse than the legal drugs we have now such as alcohol and tobacco. How many fights have broken out because somebody smoked too much weed?

 

[SpongeBob]

Well it's definitely not healthy, but either is red meat, cigarettes, or too much sugar, etc. Those things are legal.

 

[JSang]

as harmless as tobacco or alcohol.
cigs or liquor might even be a lot worse for you =/

 

[Spendthrift]

its hard to seperate the drug from its effects. in a perfect world it would be much like alcohol and wouldnt be a big deal.

but in our imperfect world it is a problem (not that alcohol isnt a problem).

after watching my friends and family i do believe that marijauna is a gateway drug (the same can also be argued for alcohol). ive seen my friends and family progress from marijuana to other drugs and make a mess of their lives.

its not a nice thing.

 

[Colt45]

can't be worse for you than taco bell or a bottle of jim.

probably better for you than cig's.

 

[PistachioByAzul]

Are there chemical properties that make weed a "gateway drug"? What a terrible phrase, complete DARE-contrived nonsense.

 

[monotony]

Originally posted by: Spendthrift
its hard to seperate the drug from its effects. in a perfect world it would be much like alcohol and wouldnt be a big deal.

but in our imperfect world it is a problem (not that alcohol isnt a problem).

after watching my friends and family i do believe that marijauna is a gateway drug (the same can also be argued for alcohol). ive seen my friends and family progress from marijuana to other drugs and make a mess of their lives.

its not a nice thing.

Although I can respect that many people believe that marijuana is a gateway drug, that is pretty much the ONLY negative affects that anyone ever mentions. I watched a half-hour special on MTV a little while back which was basically about how horrible pot was, etc, etc... and the only thing they came up with, was that it was a gateway drug. Do you honestly believe that without weed, the problems with other drugs wouldn't have been there? Serious drug use is a symptom of some other problem. I just don't believe that the "negative" effects of weed warrant the fact that it's illegal for the same reasons many people are stating here.

I am sorry to hear about your friends and family. My family has had similar problems with serious drug use, but I still don't believe that weed was the catalyst (in our case).

 

[LaBang]

It is pretty harmless.

I have been a big pothead at times during my life. It has not been a gateway drug. I think that people that do other drugs were going to do those drugs in the first place and just used weed to get their feet wet.

The only harm that i have experienced from marijuana is a little laziness, loss of short term memory (memory that is less than 15 seconds long) and sometimes a feeling of mild depression. For all of the benefits that marijuana has, the harmfull effects are unimportant to me.

Yes it does some harm, but it also does good.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Spendthrift
its hard to seperate the drug from its effects. in a perfect world it would be much like alcohol and wouldnt be a big deal.

but in our imperfect world it is a problem (not that alcohol isnt a problem).

after watching my friends and family i do believe that marijauna is a gateway drug (the same can also be argued for alcohol). ive seen my friends and family progress from marijuana to other drugs and make a mess of their lives.

its not a nice thing.

Thats bullsh!t. Everyone seems to think that marijauna is the first drug people try. Nope. Sometimes it is alcohol, sometimes it is pills. Regardless you can't BLAME marijuana for your friends and family doing drugs. That is the deciscion they made. It was their fault they made a mess of their life. Simply put, any drug CAN make your life unmanagable. Marijuana is one that is LESS likely to have that effect. Alcohol is MUCH more likely to cause addiction or lead to supposed "harder" drugs.

BTW you are talking to a full fledged recovering addict right here. I will not listen any cop-outs that it was the drugs fault. It was their fault, much like my addiction was MY fault. These days peopel want to have something to blame instead of looking at themselves.

Yes there are people who have a problem with marijuana. Compare it to alcohol and it is not even really a fair comparison. Alcohol is much more destructive. That being said I hated marijuana. I think it sucks.

 

[Thegonagle]

I don't believe in gateway drugs. I believe that every drug is different enough from another that they each have their own ?gate?. MJ is often the first thing a person tries because it is so readily available.

 

Nothing worse than alcohol or smoking.
Its out there, everyone knows it. Even Canada knows it! I don't know what the US govt is smoking though.

 

[dawks]

Weed kills brain cells.. but so does alcohol.. The difference is, weed kills more brain cells. Your kidding yourself if you think it doesnt. Of course the amount is negligable.. but after months of continous smoking, people reaction times are slowed and their memories are somewhat affected (I've seen it personally.. several of my ex-friends have much sorter memories since they started smoking weed. Its kind of disturbing). And it doenst effect everyone the same.. Dont forget you are born with a certain amount of brain cells.. Once you kill them, they dont come back.

As for being a 'gateway drug'.. the biggest reason its called that is because its a basic stimulant that is rather addictive and very easy to get a hold of. People enjoy smoking it, and enjoy the high of course, so they smoke it more, and more to achive that high. After a while, its just not the as fun, so they end up moving on to more powerful and potentially dangerous drugs to get that high back.

 

[JingP]

obviously not harmless or it wouldn't be prohibited. I'd like to compare

I would say eating a big mac is more detrimental to your well-being in today's western world (and some eastern also).

and the drugs funding terrorist theory is complete crap. You dont knowingly sponsor terrorists when you buy narcotics. I'm sure someone out there giving money to a crooked charity also guilty of the same.

 

[Maleficus]

I wouldn't call it harmless but i do think it should be legal.

one thing everyone should understand though is that anything that you dont keep in check/moderation becomes dangerous.

anyway i don't think it is that big of a deal.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: DaZ
Weed kills brain cells.. but so does alcohol.. The difference is, weed kills more brain cells. Your kidding yourself if you think it doesnt. Of course the amount is negligable.. but after months of continous smoking, people reaction times are slowed and their memories are somewhat affected (I've seen it personally.. several of my ex-friends have much sorter memories since they started smoking weed. Its kind of disturbing). And it doenst effect everyone the same.. Dont forget you are born with a certain amount of brain cells.. Once you kill them, they dont come back.

As for being a 'gateway drug'.. the biggest reason its called that is because its a basic stimulant that is rather addictive and very easy to get a hold of. People enjoy smoking it, and enjoy the high of course, so they smoke it more, and more to achive that high. After a while, its just not the as fun, so they end up moving on to more powerful and potentially dangerous drugs to get that high back.

Have you ever done drugs? First of all it is not a stimulant. "After a while, its just not the as fun, so they end up moving on to more powerful and potentially dangerous drugs to get that high back."

Did you get that straight out of a DARE textbook?

C'mon if you have never done drugs don't lecture people!

 

[monotony]

Originally posted by: DaZ
Weed kills brain cells.. but so does alcohol.. The difference is, weed kills more brain cells. Your kidding yourself if you think it doesnt. Of course the amount is negligable.. but after months of continous smoking, people reaction times are slowed and their memories are somewhat affected (I've seen it personally.. several of my ex-friends have much sorter memories since they started smoking weed. Its kind of disturbing). And it doenst effect everyone the same.. Dont forget you are born with a certain amount of brain cells.. Once you kill them, they dont come back.

As for being a 'gateway drug'.. the biggest reason its called that is because its a basic stimulant that is rather addictive and very easy to get a hold of. People enjoy smoking it, and enjoy the high of course, so they smoke it more, and more to achive that high. After a while, its just not the as fun, so they end up moving on to more powerful and potentially dangerous drugs to get that high back.

"According to the congressional Office of Technology Assessment, research over the last 10 years has proved that marijuana has no effect on dopamine-related brain systems - unless you are an inbred Lewis rat (see below), in which case abstention is recommended" - Marijuana and the brain

1. Weed is not a stimulant
2. Weed is DEFINATELY not that addictive. Very slight...if at all.
3. You don't build up a tolerance...so you don't need "more & more"

There are so many misconceptions about this [edit]plant[/edit] from all the propaganda our government puts out...

 

[Shelly21]

Drugs are bad mmmmmkay?



I'll have to agree that most things are bad for you anyway. even living is bad, cause you'll end up dying.

 

[Spendthrift]

[sarcasm]
youre right, its complete BS that my friends and family have started with marijuana and then gone on to do harder drugs. im just making it up cause im a sellout to the DARE bandwagon. we all know its impossible for the people that support legalization of marijuana to be wrong, so obviously im a liar.
[/sarcasm]

and yes i can and do blame marijuana for my friends and family doing harder drugs. i also blame alcohol and ive already admitted thats its as much a "gateway drug" as marijuana. its a progression. many people are looking for that better high. they may start with alcohol or pills. then they look for something better. and there marijuana is. and it just continues on and on.

i havent claimed that marijuana is horrible for your health. i dont believe enough studies have been done on its effects. however, i cant imagine that inhaling anything is good for your health. and i could be wrong but hasnt marijuana been linked to impotence and lower sperm counts? not horrible side effects, but unhealthy nonetheless.

Do you honestly believe that without weed, the problems with other drugs wouldn't have been there? Serious drug use is a symptom of some other problem

i dont know, but i know with my friends and family i wont have the chance to find out.

Alcohol is MUCH more likely to cause addiction or lead to supposed "harder" drugs.

got studies to back it up? (not saying youre necessarily wrong, just want to see some hard evidence)

 

[jhu]

Marijuana is not a drug. I used to suck dick for coke. Now that's an addiction. You ever suck some dick for marijuana?

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: JingP
obviously not harmless or it wouldn't be prohibited.

you have way too much faith in our government. Weed is illegal because a lot of corporations stand to loose a lot of money if it becomes legal so they pay legislators money to keep it illegal

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: jhu

Marijuana is not a drug. I used to suck dick for coke. Now that's an addiction. You ever suck some dick for marijuana?

DAMN YOU!
You beat me to it

 

[monotony]

Spendthrift - I do not believe that it's complete BS that your friends and family started w/ MJ, and then moved on to other things. I hope I didn't convey that. I just believe that if you remove marijuana from the equation, people that want to get high, are going to get high.

The fact that I occasionally partake in a little weed, has no bearing on how I feel about real drugs. I would *never* do any real drugs for a multitude of reasons, and the fact that I smoke out will never change my view on that.

And as far as weed vs alcohol... all weed does is make you happy. I have never, ever seen a person that weed has made aggressive or violent, not the case w/ alcohol. I think most people that have been around it would agree with that.

Like I said...I really do sympathise with what you and your family have been through.

 

[luv2chill]

got studies to back it up? (not saying youre necessarily wrong, just want to see some hard evidence)

Do you really need studies to tell you that? Alcohol has proven to be physically addictive in some people--it's called alcoholism, and you will find that it's quite prevalent.

On the contrary, there are no physically addictive substances in cannabis. And while absence of proof is not necessarily proof of absence, there have been a sufficient number of studies that this can be reasonably assumed. The addiction with marijuana is the same as with sex, or with food, or with playing Everquest--that is it's a mental addiction. People susceptible to mental addiction can get addicted to just about anything... it's their personality more than anything else that is the root.

And as far as alcohol being more likely than MJ to lead to harder drugs. It would be hard to find a study to prove that assertion. The biggest problem is that nearly everyone who has smoked MJ has ingested alcohol at least once in their lives. That is what people mean when they say that the true "gateway" drug is alcohol. For most people, that is the first "mind altering" substance they ingest (barring perscription meds like Ritalin, codein, etc.).

I'm very sorry for what your family and friends went through, but they should not blame the drugs and neither should you. They will only begin to heal (emotionally and mentally) when they accept responsibility for their actions. Physical addiction is a terrible thing, I know. But you will find that the first time they snorted/injected/smoked whatever physically-addictive drug that no one was holding a gun to their heads. Believe me, I empathize, sympathize, whatever. But avoiding responsibility isn't healthy.

Excess is everywhere---not just with drugs. Drug ABuse is just a symptom of a much greater societal problem.

l2c

 

[apoppin]

Not "harmless".

But not something a person should be put in prison for.

I see Spendthrift has dropped his "analogy" of drugs to child porn and is just repeating his D.A.R.E. nonsense by rote (at least that is some improvement).

Marajuana is no more a "gateway" to harder drugs than is alcohol or tobacco.