What do people think about marijuana?

I think it’s great.

I don’t smoke it, and would not be happy if my kids’ smoked it. Nah it’s not something I condone. Sorry.

It’s an amazing plant.

“Do your thing, as long as it doesn’t cause harm to anybody else.”

That’s the basic principle that underlies most laws in the United States. Why should our drug laws be an exception?

What people? Are you polling Flutherers or are you looking for published research?

i think they should legalize it, so potheads have nothing to talk about.

Legalize It

Personally, I don’t like pot but I think it should be legalized because everybody does it and I’d rather my friends get pure pot than part pot part something else of unsure origin. Also hemp is pretty awesome and can be used for a lot of things and it’s illegal to grow it in this country.

The fervor with which some people argue for pot to be legalize puts me off a little- if it’s just for fun, then it should not be, among other things, the basis for a political party. Its hard to argue that something that provokes such strong feelings is not addictive. But I do agree that it should be legalized, because it certainly does more good, and probably less harm, than other substances. Being mildly addictive is not grounds for legal interdiction. I have never tried it, and have no desire to, but it seems that tradition is the only reason our institutions oppose it.

@KatawaGrey
Who the fuck sells laced pot?

@Jayne
It’s not that cannabis is addictive (it’s not), it’s the principle of owning your own body. If you allow the government to dictate what you can and cannot put into your body then they own a part of you. I believe that all people have the right of full ownership of themselves.

@Vinifera7: I don’t know since I don’t do it but I would imagine that you would trust the stuff you grow yourself a lot more than the stuff you buy from some random guy. And there really is no call to be so caustic. Other recreational drugs tend to be cut with stuff, it is not unreasonable to assume that pot might be.

@Jayne: Very well said. Lurve for you!

I don’t understand exactly why it became illegal in the first place. I mean, yes, it does decrease productivity and distract from possibly more important priorities, but I agree with what lefteh said in that it should be a personal matter. There are those people who may take it too far, in which case it can affect their lives and becomes their responsibility to reform, but when used casually and in manageable doses it can be a great equalizer for our society. But then, isn’t it just like our government to be all uptight about a substance like that.

@Vinifera7 I dont know who says pot is not addictive, but I guarantee its not the guys who has been smoking everyday for 15 years and who will spend his last $50 for an eigth, then when he runs out he starts to smoke resin

@tennesseejac
There’s a world of difference between physiological addiction and psychological addiction.

I think you already have an answer Stoner65.

I myself enjoy it quite a bit once every few month for recreational purposes and sometimes more frequently than that to treat migraines. I’ve never found a painkiller that got rid of it like weed does.

I think pills and alcohol are better. Especially mind altering anti-depressents and psychotropic drugs, those are safe and good and good for you, like Mom and apple pie.

But smoking a naturally occurring flower? Are you trying to kill your self?

@Vinifera7 what is the difference? being addicted to something seems pretty clear cut. if you cant go a day without doing something I would say you are “addicted”

@tennesseejac: You really need to read up on marijuana.

Why not ask Jesus?

@Vinifera7
I can understand that. But the government bans cocaine, rightly, because of its negative effects on the user and others. In this case the government is simply mistaken about those effects, and not inclined to change its analysis thanks to political inertia. So I don’t think people should take ideological offense over the illegality of cannabis. Granted, many people do take such an offense, which rather undermines my argument that there must be some sort of addiction to justify the strength of the opposition to those laws. But hey, that’s what I get for not thinking things through.

@tennesseejac
You obviously haven’t used any drugs before. Do some research.

I physically crave nicotine sometimes because it has addicting effects on the body. Weed isn’t like that.

@asmonet i need to read up on it just as much as Michael Jordan needs to read about basketball

@Vinifera7 i have smoked more weed than you can imagine, which is the best kind of research… so please save your spill for something you know about

@tennesseejac: I beg to differ.

@Foolaholic: You might want to check out this page. It has a ton of interesting information about the history of marijuana, legislation FOR and against it and how it became illegal. It essentially boils down to:

Why is weed illegal?
Some fuckwit named Anslinger.

@Jayne
Actually I think that all drugs should be legalized. I hold a fair amount of libertarian (lowercase “L”) ideals.

@tennesseejac
Sorry for making that assumption, but it was a logical conclusion to make given your response.

Cannabis is great. The word “marijuana” however is not so great. It’s the word the US government used to name cannabis in order to make it sound more Mexican, and thus allow easier passage of their laws against cannabis. Yes, much of the push towards making it illegal was based on racism against Mexicans.

Why is it illegal? Well, hemp could have competed against both cotton and the paper industry which was just getting going at the time. It sure isn’t illegal because it’s dangerous – although the government did try to convince the people that it would cause you to become crazy and kill people for fun (please watch Reefer Madness, and then watch Reefer Madness the Musical to make things all better), cannabis on its own is not deadly, you physically cannot smoke enough to poison yourself with it, you’d pass out way before you’d have smoked your first pound.

@dynamicduo

I see your point about not being lethal, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it risks. I have a friend who once took much more than she could handle. She spent the next two solid hours sobbing her eyes out and muttering about how ‘it’ was all her fault. I’m sure that people doing things to this extent too frequently can cause some psychological damage, but still it’s not that different from drinking. If we get to be the judge of how much alcohol we can handle, then why not pot?

I have absolutely no problem with it. I used to smoke daily (for about two years), but now I don’t get anything out of it except paranoia and anxiety, so I don’t bother with it.

@Foolaholic: Methinks your friend is a drama queen using a readily available excuse to be the center of attention. Weed didn’t do that, emotional immaturity and instability did.

@asmonet

Actually….that makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it….

While I am not a fan of marijuana, the fact that alcohol is legal and pot is not seems to be incredibly hypocritical.

I win!

I’ve had a guy like that in a smoke circle once. It was not cool. He kept feeling me up, getting slapped by me, crying for an hour and then he humped my leg. Weed wasn’t the issue there.

He got decked.

I like it.

Have any of you guys heard of a documentary/movie called Super High Me , its basically like Super Size Me except in this a man who has smoked pot regularly for 15 years goes cold turkey for 30 days then does some different tests, i.e. SAT’s, VO2 Max, Psychic ability and various others.. Then he gets baked off his arse for 30 days straight never being sober for those 30 days. He then does the same tests with some pretty amazing results.

@joeysefika
I’ve heard of it briefly. I didn’t realize that it was a documentary. Gonna check it out.

Two stories… Both involve drugs and cars, both are unfortunately true.

Story #1: I was at a party with an ex-girlfriend, both of us were really drunk. A dog bit her eye that I later learned tore her tear duct. The only guy that wasn’t drunk was really stoned. We had him drive us to the hospital. Blood was running down her face and he was driving 20 MPH.

Story #2: I was at the bar and got really (tragically) fucked up. I went to a friends house and walked up as he was walking out. I was so drunk that I didn’t notice that he was too. We get into his truck and drive off. He turns a corner and nails the back of a parked car.

So, I ended up at the hospital at the end of both those stories. The hospital sent me bills at the end of story number two.

I think smoking anything is bad for you. I am aware of this. I think marijuana is good for you. I think Marijuana is a beautiful plant that grows from the Earth. Despite all the politics out there about this, the basic thing that disgusts me is that the government has taken away our legal right to our own soil. We can’t grow whatever we want! It makes me sad.

Medicinal cannabis has been used for over 4,000 years, if not even longer. Really, there’s no arguing with that. Until recently, many people thought that eating tons of processed foods, taking tons of antibiotics, and hydrogenated foods were okay for them. Now, the research is out, and it’s probably better to try to use herbs for conditions that won’t kill you and eat food that isn’t man made.

Marijuana can be used for chronic-pain syndromes, cancer pain, multiple sclerosis, AIDS wasting syndrome and the nausea that accompanies chemotherapy. Science reveals that the risks of marijuana use, which have been thoroughly researched, are real but generally small. In fact, marijuana might even help to cure Parkinson’s Disease and Schizophrenia.

On top of all that, it can be used to make a healthy oil, make clothing and paper, and you can eat the seeds. It’s pretty much a superfood. People are still living in the fucking dark ages.

I think liking to be high doesn’t mean you are addicted to it.

I am against it.
Ok, it’s not as bad as some stronger drugs out there, or even some of the legal substances (apparently it is less addictive than sugar, and anyone on a diet knows that).

But it is still a drug, and does cause harm.

Also, the fact that it is illegal means that it can (and has proved to) be the gateway to stronger stuff. If it were legal people would just buy it like they do with cigarettes, the prices would be regulated and so would the product. Now you have to buy it off some junkie who might want to also push you cocaine for a higher profit. In an alley. At night.

I believe that it should be legalised and controlled, but I would still not smoke it personally (I don’t smoke normal cigarettes either, nor do I drink alcohol).

Judging from the responses to this question, I think that the subject of marijuana can be a very contentious issue.

I’ve never used it and I’m not enough of an expert on this topic to give an informed opinion. I do like reading all the give and take here though regarding the whole cannabis issue.

Lurve for stoner65 for generating such a great debate

I smoked pot for the first time while I was in Amsterdam and it was…..interesting…I’ve always known a lot of people that smoked (I generally assumed that I was the only on that HADN’T) and after smoking I can honestly say what I have said without experience before. It should be legalized.

I have, on occasion, consumed alcohol and I can say that alcohol does a lot more harm than pot, but we haven’t made that illegal; not that the government hasn’t TRIED, but the prohibition efforts failed on an epic scale so…..

The key is that all things should be done responsibly and in moderation…it’s abuse that is the problem and there are plenty of legal vices out there for people to abuse without making something as potentially harmless as pot illegal.

Jack79, the gateway theory has been thoroughly analyzed and is certainly not confirmed, let alone “proven”. It’s debunked to me. You know why people who try cannabis go on to trying other drugs? Because they’ve heard for all their life that weed is bad and awful, and they try it and realize that the government and their parents have been lying. So they go on to trying other drugs under the assumption that they’re not as bad as they’re made out to be either. And that’s where the slippery slope lies, because drugs like heroin and meth are awful and will fuck you up in no time. Cocaine is no better. Weed and shrooms? They grow from the ground and aren’t processed in the least bit. It’s the same as tobacco, except far less damaging to you (of course smoking anything is bad for your lungs).

“Now you have to buy it off some junkie who might want to also push you cocaine for a higher profit. In an alley. At night.”
This made me LOL. This is certainly not the way it works, at least not here in Canada. Everyone has a friend who knows someone who sells. I can personally trace the strain of weed I smoke back to the person who grew it, and it’s only 2 to 3 steps up. There’s no pushing of other drugs, no cutting of weed with whatever you could try to cut it with, just good old mary jane strains of your liking, grown by hard working Canadians in BC, Ontario, and all other provinces. Methinks you are watching too many movies that involve fictional drug trades. Or maybe some places in the States are like this. I can’t be the judge.

Furthermore, cannabis has been long since proven to be medicinal, and not harmful in the least compared to pretty much any other medicine. There are ways of consuming the active ingredient that do not do damage to one’s lungs, such as the THC spray called Sativex as well as Marinol, as well as cooking the cannabis in butter and using the butter in baked goods. Cannabis is proven to reduce nausea and increase appetite, great for pregnant women, cancer patients, AIDS victims, etc.

There is one very well known interaction with cannabis. People who are disposed towards mental illness may exhibit a strengthening of this illness when smoking cannabis. One should proceed with caution until they are able to find their limits though, and negative events can be avoided. Such as, not smoking a massive doobie for your first time in a room full of noisy loud people. Done responsibly, it can be explored just like many other drugs.

And finally, we must state the obvious question, the elephant in the room. Why is alcohol legal when it causes so many hundreds of thousands of deaths each year as well as tons of money in damages and suffering (more than $21 billion according to one estimate, wowzers!), but cannabis is not legal when it does not directly cause any deaths and could be taxed and sold legitimately for a great profit and a great economic boost?

@ronski I have never bought weed in a dark alley at night or had anyone I have bought weed from try to push anything else on me. I don’t think it is like what you think it is. That sounds like some Law and Order shit.

@Jack79: Read what dyanmicduo said. She is amazing. And right. As for American smokers, I have never bought weed in a sketchy manner. It was always at a friends house, in a warm and cozy living room, we probably had a beer, sometimes in the early afternoon. And with the lights on.

I don’t know anyone who buys weed in an alley…or anything other than what I described above.

@ronski: You can’t cure Parkinson’s or Schizophrenia with weed. You can treat symptoms of Parkinson’s at best, as for Schizophrenia cannabis has been linked to exacerbating mental health issues in some cases. I would be cautious of repeating that in the future. Unless you can show me a study or evidence of some kind I’m unaware of?

If more people smoked good weed, the world would be a kinder, more mellow place. People would just be more tolerant and shit wouldn’t get so deep so quickly. Yeah, it might take some time to get great things accomplished, but those things would be well worth the wait for sure.

@gimmedat I think it’s flawed logic to say that everything would be better if ALL people smoked pot….there are some negative side effects for SOME people…and it could be extremely destructive in certain context.

I don’t think she meant it literally.
Even so, she said more not all.

@hitomi,...see you’re trying to harsh my mellow. I’m not saying everyone should smoke weed, I’m just saying that if more people did, this place would be relaxed. You know, people take themselves too seriously. Life isn’t meant to cut others down, point out flaws, and stress. Weed could serve as the great equalizer. You toke…you bond. How about marijuana democracy? Like world leaders have to smoke some bud before they sit down and talk about the world’s ills? I’m simply saying, weed is fine in my opinion. If you want to smoke, you should be able to smoke. The US has it all wrong.

@gimmedat The idea that everyone being mellow and caring less about “little details” is the same logic behind the opium use in China….and I am not comparing pot to opium (I know that they are very different drugs…not that I’ve used opium), but the idea is the same…and from personal experience…decision making while high…not the best plan ever.

I do, however, believe that people should be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want to smoke, but, like with alcohol, I think it’s important for it to be done responsibly and I don’t think it would be acceptable to perform certain jobs and tasks while under the influence.

@asmonet http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/303438.stm

@jessturtle23 I’ve never bought weed in a dark alley way, you must be referring to someone else :)

@asmonet oh yea, and your right, I should have said help to treat. my bad.

Pretty much everybody I know smokes pot: teachers, musicians, actors, lawyers, students, social workers, PhDs even. Legalizing hemp and cannabis would be a great boon for the economy. Plus, every once in awhile I like to light up a big fattie.

people in general, or us?
well i think it’s fine. sure there are negative side effects, but are there not negative side effects to any drug, legal or illegal? i think it’s strange that alcohol is legal at a certain age and with certain circumstances when its effects tend to be much more damaging than those of marijuana.

@ronski: Actually, the article has absolutely nothing that qualifies as evidence.

“Scientists hope to use a marijuana-like chemical in the brain to treat Parkinson’s Disease and schizophrenia.”

“But Professor Piomelli said cannabis itself did not offer any kind of cure.”

“Marijuana doesn’t provide the regulatory effects on dopamine in the brain that we’re looking for,” he said.

It isn’t cannabis they’re using, and it does treat symptoms in rats. And they ”hope” it might be helpful in humans down the line. That article, doesn’t help your statements, it hurts them.

@asmonet it also says “Patients with schizophrenia and other diseases have reported that marijuana appears to relieve some of their symptoms, but scientists have never found a physiological reason why.”

Wow!! my shit cancelled out 3 members ‘till I’ve actually listed this stuff!!
Someone must know of this response. OK !
In my day, circa 1969, weed was by the “Lid”. Who cares how much it weighed, it was a nice glad-bag of distraction for the time. But, hello!! I remember one night, back in 1970, a couple of friends came into my room, and offered a hit of a dube. OK. they were sortof laughing all along. And I took another hit.
My God!! 2 hits, and I’m 3 sheets to the MF wind!!
Turned out to be pure “Black African” weed. Unadulterated, natural stuff. That was the same days “Blind Faith” Can’t find my way home, happened to become a real life event. In those days, weed was truly exotic, all the time. Roll Me a Bummer!! FU.

I am not American, I have never even been to America. And yes, I also know places in some of the coutrie I’ve been to where you could buy weed directly off some local farmer. But my cousin is a pothead and buys it off the same guy who sells cocaine and guns.

I agree with dynamicduo’s theory in the first paragraph. Which is also part of the reason I think it should be legalised. Yes, people grow up thinking it is a dangerous, deadly substance, then realise there’s no big deal. But the problem for me is going to the other extreme and thinking it’s all good for you, like green salads and fruit juices. It’s not. It’s not as bad as alcohol, certainly not as bad as heroin, and perhaps not even as bad as coffee. But it’s still not a healthy habit.

I have some friends who smoke on a regular basis. They are very cool and happy people. They are also braindead.

There are just as many people who become “braindead” as you say, then there are people who are not braindead at all, but are functional, rational, thinking humans who regularly or occasionally smoke cannabis on their own time.

Correlation does not equal causation. Could it be that these people are really just laid back people to begin with, and the fact that they smoke weed is not why they are “braindead”, but simply something they like to do regularly?

Of course, I have to point out that becoming braindead from smoking weed has not been proven at all. As this FAQ says: None of the medical tests currently used to detect brain damage in humans have found harm from marijuana, even from long term high-dose use. An early study reported brain damage in rhesus monkeys after six months exposure to high concentrations of marijuana smoke. In a recent, more carefully conducted study, researchers found no evidence of brain abnormality in monkeys that were forced to inhale the equivalent of four to five marijuana cigarettes every day for a year. The claim that marijuana kills brain cells is based on a speculative report dating back a quarter of a century that has never been supported by any scientific study.