THIS IS NOT AN ONION ARTICLE. SERIOUSLY CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP.

author=Craze
yeah like people with an undeveloped frontal lobe?

just keep it away from kids and i'm happy

Definitely agree with that. Kids are a whole other realm of discussion, and there's some things that kids just shouldn't mess with because of their fundamentally different (and more vulnerable!) nature. Obviously to most people hopefully, smoking doobies should be one of them.

author=Pizza

author=Link_2112
Yeah, I would agree with Feld. Chances are that person would have a shitty life even if they didn't smoke weed. Just so happens they picked weed as the thing they do instead of having a productive life.

It certainly does have different effects for each person. Some people get paranoid. Some people get sick. Some people get stupid. I'm in the lesser known group of people who get "smarter" on it.

Part of the problem with how burnouts smoke weed is that they smoke way too much. Most people, smokers and non-smokers, probably think that it's normal and okay to smoke a whole joint to oneself. That's overkill. Half or less and you will have a good buzz. People can't pace themselves(or don't realize they can) and it builds up a resistance in your body and you need to smoke more and more to get that same high.

Yeah, when I used to smoke we had a pretty good size pipe and I would only do maybe 3 or 4 large drags off of it. That was good enough to get me totally stoned for around 4 hours, and I'm a pretty big guy. I think people overestimate how much they should smoke, which is a terrible thing to do since you're already fucking your lungs up to begin with.

I can't imagine smoking a whole joint to yourself. Totally pointless. The worst trip I ever had was off of a joint that I smoked like half of by myself, and it was so bad that I fucking quit smoking. A lot of it had to do with effects on my body too- protip: don't smoke pot if you have nerve problems in your body. I used to get alien hand syndrome in my left arm once I got high enough, and it's really not fun to lose control of yourself like that.

I also don't think you can lay 100% of the blame of a shitty life style on weed smoking. Like I said, my room mate is a huge pothead- he smokes up pretty much every night, but when he's up he's always working on game dev and generally using his time pretty well for a college student. Hell, I used to work 2 week turnarounds in Alberta and then spend my week home stoned/drunk, so I definitely think that it all depends on the person doing the drugs.

Good posts, I pretty much agree.

author=Corfaisus
EDIT: Nope. Potheads - like their cousins the filthy drunks - can go fall in a ditch. I've got no sympathy for people who run away from life. I see that shit and it honestly makes me cry a little inside because otherwise decent people recreationally poison and make fools of themselves. Nevermind the fact that they become temporarily useless and incapable of sustaining intelligent conversation.

"You're going down a path I cannot follow!"

Are you talking about people who use pot/alcohol or abuse those things? Because using or abusing are quite different from one another with relatively very benign substances like weed or alcohol! I don't/can't smoke anymore, but I do drink occasionally, and I am pretty willing to solidly wager that I'm more productive/healthier than a great bit of people, especially those who inhale bags of potato chips and soda at a time, things I'd argue are far unhealthier than an occasional joint or drink.

author=Corfaisus
Even if just "using" it, the end desire and result is the same, right? Otherwise you'd find something else that "tastes good".

Uh, no. What are you talking about?

author=Corfaisus

author=Feldschlacht IV

author=Corfaisus
Even if just "using" it, the end desire and result is the same, right? Otherwise you'd find something else that "tastes good".

Uh, no. What are you talking about?

Answer the question. If it's not for taste, people use such substances to loosen up, right? Because life's too scary to face sober?

Uh, no?

People drink/smoke for all sorts of subjective reasons. Many people use it as a band aid or to run away, yes, most people are aware of this, and many would agree that those people need help of some kind (and not the judgement and ivory tower consternation that you're exuding, which helps no one).

The rest, might drink or smoke to relax, or to chill, to loosen up, as a conversation starter, to enhance food, or for whatever reason. Occasionally I have a glass of wine with dinner because the alcohol cleanses my palate and relaxes me. Does that make me some sort of alkie life escaper? What an infantile way of looking at it.

Link_2112
Yeah, I would agree with Feld. Chances are that person would have a shitty life even if they didn't smoke weed. Just so happens they picked weed as the thing they do instead of having a productive life.

Maybe. Part of my daily job is working with kids (not adults; I'm not educated enough about it to talk about this re: adults) who are total potheads. It's an escape, the "thing they do", yeah. On some level, it is a choice (or maybe just a gamble to see which escape/coping mechanism you get).

However! Kids who are having a shitty life? I can help them.. I do every day. I'm not a social worker, I don't see them after they leave high school, but while they're with me I am a guardian angel of sorts. Or rather, the good angel that sits on a cartoon's shoulder and says "c'mon, let's get this work done so that you can relax". I can't fix problems at home, but I can talk about them with kids. I can't twist a kid's ear until they pass their English course, allowing them to go to the vocational center next semester, but I can remind them and keep them motivated.

If a kid is doing pot more than just recreationally (STILL GROSS but I know I can't stop it 100%), it becomes so much harder to reach them. One of my biggest ins with my boys is that I'm as much of a nerd, probably moreso, than they are. I can talk to them about videogames! I might be the only fucking staffperson in my entire school that can have a discussion with kids about Skyrim or League of Legends or Borderlands or whatever. But if they start smoking? They just kinda... lose interest. A few weeks ago I asked one of my potheads, who has told me allll about his love of League before (because I asked him about his League-themed Chrome skin), if he had tried URF mode at all. He just kinda went (o)_(o) at me and mumbled about something or other. And that's all I ever get out of him unless he's asking me "Mr B have you ever been high?" "Mr B I don't believe that you've never done LSD" "Mr B how often do you get hammered" "Don't you think <my boss> looks like he does meth?" lsknsgsrqs (no; i never have and never will; never; one of my best friends is a recovering meth addict and <boss> looks and acts nothing like him). Well, that or if you bring up Obama, because then he rolls around on the floor yelling about "the niggers." Pot and poor parenting: NOT GOOD FOR KIDS

I know that none of this is scientific. It's all anecdotal. I don't get a ton of money and I'm not a scientist. (Well, I kinda am, I keep data on all my students and part of my job is being able to analyze my day-to-day interactions with kids and adjust my technique based on that. </off-topic>) What I want to say, put simply, is that pot makes somebody (at least kids) with a shitty life harder to reach and makes it harder for me to help them fix it.

edit: corf you either have some bad experiences or you're just a jackass

People need to come down off their high before trying to argue their point.

Yeah, I agree, you really should come off your high horse before getting involved in this discussion.

I was going to actually try to discuss some of your post with you, but it's sort of pointless because you've made it abundantly clear at this point that you have no intention of listening to anybody in this thread.

author=Cor
None of this post answered the sole question that I posed: why does the everyman feel the need to smoke/drink/do drugs if "to loosen up/escape" is an "infantile" way of looking at things?

Nobody said that. In regards to your original question (which wasn't this one), I answered that.

Here's a counterquestion. Why is light/reasonable smoking/drinking fundamentally different from any other activity that people use to unwind?

^OUCH

that's totally understandable though. I mean what else is there in life!??!?

Broad generalizations, that's how I win arguments.

Corf, if you want to be bitter and look down on people to make yourself feel better, you are more than entitled to do so as you please. It is certainly one way to go through life.

author=drenrin2120
Broad generalizations, that's how I win arguments.

Corf, if you want to be bitter and look down on people to make yourself feel better, you are more than entitled to do so as you please. It is certainly one way to go through life.

I haven't done that shit since I was a teenager. Nobody does that shit unless they've got some serious developmental problems. Nowadays I'm just genuinely upset that people decide to throw their money and health into this pit. Not to mention the fact that, once this kind of thing starts, it falls on the rest of us to keep them from hurting themselves/others, which is a pretty shitty and selfish thing to do.

"I want to drink, so you're going to be my designated driver."
"I've got my own life to live; I'm not going to drive you."
"Fine, then I'll just do it myself and kill someone."
*grabs keys and trashes evening plans*