pot makes you smarter

[indra]

Why, to suit YOUR personal preference? Indra, I am a little surprised to find you adopting a 'I don't like it, so let's ban it' argument!

Just joking dear.

I don't really mind tobacco being legal -- I don't choose to use it and try to stay away from those who do (and I do like having it banned from use in public places because people smoking in enclosed public places force me to breathe smoky air). I would like to make marijuana as legal as tobacco, or actually as legal as alcohol since it does have an altering effect, but also with restrictions similar to what cigarette smokers face because of the smoke. Then the people who don't wish to use it don't have to, but the people that do can.

I don't see pot as any more of a "gateway" drug than alcohol or cigarettes.

 

[the iron horse]

"But name one positive benefit for tobacco usage. There aren't any."

~ melon


What can I say? I'm just a foolish Libertarian.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/9962636434/104-7195306-4138368?v=glance

 

[A_Wanderer]

"But name one positive benefit for tobacco usage. There aren't any."

It makes you look cool!

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Smarter makes pot me!! That's awesome!!

 

[Angela Harlem]

I did numerous studies on the effects of pot...and the results found that it did not make me smarter. Quite the opposite.

QED.

 

[Tech]

great... all I need is for some of my stupid friends to hear this so they can justify smoking this stuff! There going to be researching this question for a long time. It's still not going to stop those who take it.

 

[Rono]

I dunno, become a pod adict sounds not so smart to me

 

[melon]

What can I say? I'm just a foolish Libertarian.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/9962636434/104-7195306-4138368?v=glance

I should have guessed some quack would have written a book saying tobacco is good for you.

Melon

 

[Kieran McConville]

Doesn't matter if it is good for you or not, Melon. I know tobacco is not good for me, but if anyone trys to make me stop, they will get a swift kick to the head. End of story. What the hell gives anyone the right to lecture me?

 

[BVS]

What can I say? I'm just a foolish Libertarian.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/9962636434/104-7195306-4138368?v=glance

What does Libertarian have to do with it? I thought the Republicans had the market for ignoring science.

 

[A_Wanderer]

I think that the left is just as good at ignoring science when it suits their interests; for example "race as a social construct" which come to think of it could lead to one hell of an OT.

 

[Irvine511]

I think that the left is just as good at ignoring science when it suits their interests; for example "race as a social construct" which come to think of it could lead to one hell of an OT.

but race is a social construct ...

 

[BVS]

I think that the left is just as good at ignoring science when it suits their interests; for example "race as a social construct" which come to think of it could lead to one hell of an OT.

 

[Irvine511]

[q]Report: 92 Percent Of Souls In Hell There On Drug Charges
October 12, 2005 | Issue 41•41

HELL—A report released Monday by the Afterlife Civil Liberties Union indicates that nine out of 10 souls currently serving in Hell were condemned on drug-related sins.

"Hell was created to keep dangerous sinners off the gold-paved streets of Heaven," ACLU spokesman Barry Horowitz said. "But lately, it's become a clearing-house for the non-evil souls that Heaven doesn't know how to deal with."

The disproportionate number of drug offenders in Hell is a result of God's "get tough" drug policy of the 80s A.D., imposed after Roman emperor Domitian Flavius introduced opium to his people. God's detractors say His reactionary "one sin and you're out" rule places too harsh a penalty on venial drug users.

According to God's law, souls who possess four ounces of illegal drugs at any point during their mortal lives face a mandatory minimum sentence of eternity.

High-ranking seraphim in the Eternal Justice Department defended God's law.

"It's all about accountability," the angel Nathanael said. "The rule of the Lord affords the complementary blessings of freedom and responsibility, and provides the governing framework under which man is punished or rewarded according to his deeds. The rules are very simple: You do the crime, you do the time. Eternity, in this case."

The ACLU report included profiles of hundreds of offenders condemned to eternal perdition under God's law. Among them is Pvt. Robert "Bobby Joe" Hetfield, a World War I fighter and amputee who became addicted to morphine during his last 72 hours of life on a French battlefield in 1918. As punishment, Hetfield has spent nearly a century cleaning Beelzebub's dope house every morning by consuming the urine, excrement, and vomit left by Satan and his revelers.

Another offender listed in the ACLU report is Huachuri, an Incan peasant who used a coca-leaf-based marital aid in 1311. As punishment, he is sodomized continually by a winged, razor-penised goat.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41447

[/q]

 

[ouizy]

I am not so sure cigarette smoking is the correct or analogous abuse substance to be compared to marijuana.

I liken it much more to alcohol drinking, and ignoring my own opinions about pot, I truly cannot see why alcohol is legal to be sold over the counter, but pot is not.

One is proven to be addictive, one has not been proven to be addictive.

Both inebriate you to a certain degree, for some in much the same ways.

Why is pot illegal? Because it is a plant that grows and is not manufactured by big business?

The day pot becomes legal is the day big manufacturers jump in on the game and the GDP goes up. Why then does the government dislike this substance, but allows alcohol producers advertise in every form of media available?

I just do not get it.

 

[phanan]

Smoking is one of those things that disgusts me to the very core of my being. It's destroyed my grandpa, it's destroyed my dad, it's caused my family and my extended family so much worry and pain and stress, all because a few people feel like it's their God-given right to inhale smoke. Call me stuck up or self righteous or whatever the fuck you want, but I simply cannot fathom why anyone in their right mind would think it's OK to put their own bodies and their families through that. There is nothing, NOTHING positive that comes from smoking, nothing.

Keep pot illegal. And get rid of tobacco while you're at it.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I've smoke a lot of pot in my life. My brain cells are doing just fine, thank you. I own a home, have an incredible job, lots of friends, and have never been addicted to anything. I cannot bear to be around drunk people but stoners have never bothered me in the least.

Anyone catch Melissa Etheridge's interview on Dateline NBC the other night? Pot got her through chemo and was the #1 thing recommended to her by all of her doctors. She said why start the cycle of prescription meds (adding one drug after another to counteract the effects of the previous drug) when smoking marijuana relieved the pain, the depression, and increased her appetite. She also made the excellent point that of course anything that makes you feel better can be abused--just look at Vicodin and other prescription meds that people get addicted to.

I believe one day marijuana will be legal and gays will be allowed to marry, it will not be society's undoing, and everyone will look back and wonder what the hell the big deal was all about.

 

[nbcrusader]

I think perspectives on smoking pot change - especially when you have children. I have an older half-brother. He has smoked pot most of his life. I remember how he and his bride disappeared during the wedding reception to light one up.

Now, his 17 year old daughter is struggling in life and keeps turning back to pot. Now he see what problems it can create. And he wonders where his life would be had he quit pot decades earlier.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I think perspectives on smoking pot change - especially when you have children. I have an older half-brother. He has smoked pot most of his life. I remember how he and his bride disappeared during the wedding reception to light one up.

Now, his 17 year old daughter is struggling in life and keeps turning back to pot. Now he see what problems it can create. And he wonders where his life would be had he quit pot decades earlier.

But replace "pot" with "alcohol" in your post and it's the same thing. Replace "pot" with prescription meds in your post and it's also the same thing. Some people have a glass of wine socially once in awhile, others have had their lives ruined by alcohol, and every scenario possible in between also exists. It's no different with pot--except that since you can grow pot in your backyard or basement it's illegal.

 

[Irvine511]

I think perspectives on smoking pot change - especially when you have children. I have an older half-brother. He has smoked pot most of his life. I remember how he and his bride disappeared during the wedding reception to light one up.

Now, his 17 year old daughter is struggling in life and keeps turning back to pot. Now he see what problems it can create. And he wonders where his life would be had he quit pot decades earlier.

i'm not seeing the connection between any of these things -- is he in a bad place? how has his pot smoking made his daughter turn to pot? what has smoking pot prevented him from doing? could the pot smoking simply be an easy thing to blame?

i'm not saying there isn't a correlation, i'm just wondering what it would be. could the same thing be true of alcohol? of fatty foods that might cause someone to become obese? why the rush to make pot illegal when substance of equal if not greater harm are not just legal, but highly encouraged -- just look at the advertising surrounding fast food and other nutritional garbage.

i've used marijuana in a semi-medicinal, self-perscribed fashion -- when you don't have health insurance and you're so consumed with anxiety that you can't sleep at night and you discover that pot helps you fall asleep and calm your nerves and there are fewer side effects than if you were on, say, Paxil, then, i'm sorry, but pass the bong.

 

[verte76]

I smoked pot in high school and college, and then it started to make me paranoid. I don't know why this happened, but it did. I quit with no problem. I can't say that it caused me any problems with my life. I know other people who did have their lives affected adversely by pot use. But the same thing is true of alcohol, and pot has therapeutic value as well. I think it should be legallzed and sold by prescription, not over the counter.

 

[joyfulgirl]

i've used marijuana in a semi-medicinal, self-perscribed fashion -- when you don't have health insurance and you're so consumed with anxiety that you can't sleep at night and you discover that pot helps you fall asleep and calm your nerves and there are fewer side effects than if i were on, say, Paxil, the i'm sorry, but pass the bong.

I've told the story in here before of having a diarrhea attack on a road trip. Nothing in sight but the high desert plains. Not even a bush to squat behind. My friend had some pot and I smoked a little, diarrhea instantly gone. To deny that relief to people on chemo is next to criminal, imo. But no, as Melissa Etheridge pointed out, you give them a diarrhea medicine which causes constipation and then you give them medicine to counteract the constipation, which then gives you hemorrhoids so you need a hemorrhoid medication which then makes you break out in a rash, so then you take....and on and on.

 

[Irvine511]

But no, as Melissa Etheridge pointed out, you give them a diarrhea medicine which causes constipation and then you give them medicine to counteract the constipation, which then gives you hemorrhoids so you need a hemorrhoid medication which then makes you break out in a rash, so then you take....and on and on.

and keep the people buying more and more and more mediciation ....

 

[ouizy]

I've smoke a lot of pot in my life.

Sorry - I stopped reading after this.



I too, see nothing wrong with it.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Sorry - I stopped reading after this.



I too, see nothing wrong with it.

Wicked. I never said I was a good typist.

 

[financeguy]

i'm not seeing the connection between any of these things -- is he in a bad place? how has his pot smoking made his daughter turn to pot? what has smoking pot prevented him from doing? could the pot smoking simply be an easy thing to blame?

I don't smoke the stuff....never have....but one of my friends who does will admit that it has affected his short term memory. Other friends who worked in the US during the summer some years ago told me about a young kid of 18 who worked with them who was so zonked out on pot that he had literally lost the power of speech. I think NBC's point is simply to do with setting a good example and whether a parent who smokes pot is doing so.

But overall, I'd say legalise it, regulate it, and put health warnings on the packs, as with tobacco. And certainly, the health warnings should specify the studies indicating apparent exacerbation by pot of mental illness in some people who have existing mental conditions - and mental illness can be every bit as debilitating as the various physical ailments caused by tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption.

 

[nbcrusader]

i'm not seeing the connection between any of these things -- is he in a bad place? how has his pot smoking made his daughter turn to pot? what has smoking pot prevented him from doing? could the pot smoking simply be an easy thing to blame?

As a parent, you see the incredible power of setting an example. Children will absorb all aspects of a parent's behavior.

 

[Irvine511]

As a parent, you see the incredible power of setting an example. Children will absorb all aspects of a parent's behavior.

oh, absolutely.

but why is pot a bigger issue than, say, alcohol or eating healthy food or driving the speed limit, etc.?

also, to add one caveat to your point, while i think parents must set a good example, i think there's such a thing as setting too good an example.

i love my parents very much and am thankful every day, however, one critique that i would have of their parenting was that they tried to set too good an example. stories of junior high drinking or petty vandalism or any sort of less-than-perfect behavior were usually reacted to with a mixture of indignity and sanctimony, especially by my mother. we didn't behave that way, as their children, this was expected. and, for the most part, i was a very well behaved child.

however, what this did to me was think of my parents as *tremendously* naive. they weren't, in retrospect, but it pretty much ended any chance they might have of my being honest and open with them if i were to ever have fallen from whatever high standards of behavior they had set out as the goal.

at the end of the day, all is well, but i also think that while children absorb all aspects of a parent's behavior, parents also need to be wise to how observant their children are -- kids can smell bullshit a mile away, and i think parents would be stunned to learn at just how well their children can read and understand their parent's behavior.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I don't smoke the stuff....never have....but one of my friends who does will admit that it has affected his short term memory. Other friends who worked in the US during the summer some years ago told me about a young kid of 18 who worked with them who was so zonked out on pot that he had literally lost the power of speech. I think NBC's point is simply to do with setting a good example and whether a parent who smokes pot is doing so.

No one is saying that there aren't certain side effects to long-term pot use, or that some people may have an adverse reaction to it. I think you probably agree with me but I just had to say that before the next person writes "Well, my friend smoked pot and said it made her overeat. Another friend said it made him too paranoid to go to work. Therefore, I think it should remain illegal."

Peanuts can kill a friend of mine but should they be illegal?

Saline solution can send another friend of mine to the emergency room. Should it be illegal?

And as Irvine pointed out, look at fast food for crying out loud.

Most of the legal stuff in the average American medicine cabinet is more dangerous than marijuana is to the average person.

I think that all most advocates of legalizing/decriminalizing marijuana are saying is that it's no more harmful than alcohol; in fact, it's less harmful with more therapeutic benefits. A person can have a drink at home to relax after a hard day's work, or in times of stress, or in just hanging out with friends. Some people will get drunk and kill somebody on the highway but most people won't. I should be able to do the same with a joint without fear of being arrested. Some people will smoke marijuana, trip on their shoelaces, fall down in the street and get run over by a car, but most won't.

 

[Angela Harlem]

but why is pot a bigger issue than, say, alcohol or eating healthy food or driving the speed limit, etc.?

Who's to say it isn't? I can only do what anyone else does, and speak for myslf, but I weigh all these up fairly equally in my life. But I've smoked pot before. I eat KFC occasionally. I've sped before, even got a speeding ticket (but I blamed the make of my car ) and I like a social drink. All of these things in the wrong moderation can cause anyone an ongoing amount of problems. but as a person guilty of every vice you've listed, does this mean I am at risk of throwing my life away?

I just realised this looks like I am addressing you solely, irvine. Sorry, lol. I'm not sure who I'm directing this at. Blame the years of pot smoking on my inability to keep up at this moment (not my daughter and her barking toy dog... )