USA Today: Marijuana may not be lesser evil

[KanMan]

USA Today: Marijuana may not be lesser evil

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Caution: Marijuana may not be lesser evil

By Rita Rubin
USA TODAY (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-02-05-marijuana_x.htm)

Online Poll @ USATODAY.com (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-02-05-marijuana_x.htm)

Your experience

How addictive do you think marijuana is?

I've never tried marijuana.

I've used marijuana but never felt addicted.

I've felt addicted to marijuana.

I've used marijuana, then 'harder' drugs.

[TheFatKid]

I must say, the poll votes just contradicted the whole article

[Weedhound]

I actually started with booze and used weed later so I can't say I started with it at all......

[suhl]

ive used marijuana, then harder drugs, but i have never felt addicted to anything. hmmm.

in a way it is a gateway drug. i have said this before. it is totally up to the user though. what i mean is find me one person on the planet who has done harder drugs but hasnt smoked before. then again find me one person who has used harder drugs who hasnt drank before. then again you can find me millinos who have smoked or drank and just stopped there.

i really dont like how the articel just sidesteps alcohol. besides alcohol...
it is the biggest gateway drug there is

[2600HERTZ]

I actually started with booze and used weed later so I can't say I started with it at all......

I too started with alcohol. Then i tried shrooms, because I wanted some inspiration for a sculpture I was doing, and had received information that I should try those to help with it. Then about a half a year later I tried weed, and have smoked ever since, off and on though, depends on whats going on in my life at the moment.

[fasterspider]

Since I was one of those drug addicts that kept on looking for that better high and did not stop looking until I was a full fledged heroin addict, I can say I never found a high better than marijuana.
Gateway drug? I think it may be the 1st or 2nd thing people mess with but the ones that go onto hard drugs would have gone on to hard drugs with or without marijuana in their lives anyways. They most likely started with alcohol because their parents had it in the house. Alcohol is the drug that causes people to lose their morals and blatently fuck up and then blame it on the alcohol saying "It was not me, it was the alcohol" But it is them that consume that hard core mind altering substance knowing full well it was going to do something to them that could seriously change peoples lives in the 1st place.
Alcohol is the gateway drug and it is advertized on TV because it is legal.

[Nochowderforyou]

Gateway drug? I tend to disagree.

Cannabis is the most popular of all illegal substances, and the reason I think people try cannabis first, is it is considered softer than other drugs, and it is the most easy to find and purchase. You can walk up to 50% of the people in your area, and most of them will know where to find cannabis.

If anything, tobacco is the first thing people try, but it isn't considered a drug. Once something has been approved by a our government, it makes it no longer immoral. :rolleyes:

For me, tobacco was the first drug I used, then alcohol, then cannabis. Using cannabis never gave me an open door to other substances. It was more curiosity than anything. Seeing it in the movies, on TV, hearing about, well yeah I'm wondering what the other stuff is about, but I wasn't stupid enough to get hooked on it. Plus I found harder drugs very boring compared to cannabis. Harder drugs just give you energy or make you pass out, so I find it pointless.

[Leebstatus]

Well no fucking shit it's addictive -- anything that is that fun will be. Just as addictive as playing WoW (actually a bit less) or TV or soda. Anything you view as a fun recreational activity will turn in to a habit.

But it's not like you can't stop. I haven't smoked for 4 days after smoking every day for 2 months. Why? Haven't managed to get any. But I'm not going crazy, or going through withdrawals. I wish I had some weed, but it doesn't kill me.

I don't think weed is a gateway drug. I don't want to do any more drugs than I did before I started, and I doubt that will change. The guy in the article was just a lazy piece of shit who was looking for an escape. I can say right now that World of Warcraft has and will be a bigger distraction in my life than weed ever will be.

[Nochowderforyou]

Well no fucking shit it's addictive -- anything that is that fun will be. Just as addictive as playing WoW (actually a bit less) or TV or soda. Anything you view as a fun recreational activity will turn in to a habit.


A habit and addiction are 2 different things. :)

[SwirlyMass]

That fucking article pissed me the fuck off.

I wanna tell whoever wrote that to their face that they are a sheep, a brainless sheep who can only regurgitate propaganda and lies because they are too stupid to distinguish truth from idiotic fallacies.


One of the main points i want to make clear to everyone who read that article is that the reason weed is "addictive" to some people is because it creates a reality that is better then the normal one for a short time. It makes things funny, it relaxes you, it makes food taste so good that you will swear you've never actually TASTED it before now.


So if that makes weed addictive then money, fame, wealth, beauty, physical objects, social interactions, and sleeping are all just as addictive as weed, or more!

If you know someone who's had a crappy life; you give them marijuana and they like it and start using it consistently, then take it away and they say they want it and are craving it then how does that make it addictive?
Thats like taking a homeless lady, turning her into a celebrity, giving her all the money and stuff she could ever want; let her get used to it, then take it all away and leave her on the street with nothing except rags on her back. do you think she might crave that thing she once had, especially because it's better than her "norm"?




I hate anti-marijuana people. i wish i could go to a big anti-weed get together and replace all the food with space cakes and watch them all get so high they flip out and kill themselves.:stoned:

[suhl]

i dont really care if it kills people. free will is a god given right. nmake it legal fuckerz:cool:

[SwirlyMass]

i gotta agree about WoW. I bet a million dollars that if they did a clinical study about which is more addictive. Weed would get blown away by WoW.

I know a kid who played WoW so much that he starved himself and ended up in a special hospital just to keep him alive because his heart muscles got so weak and atrophied.

[Gatekeeper777]

USA today is just a nationwide propaganda machine.
Enquiring minds wanna know.

[Nochowderforyou]

i gotta agree about WoW. I bet a million dollars that if they did a clinical study about which is more addictive. Weed would get blown away by WoW.

I know a kid who played WoW so much that he starved himself and ended up in a special hospital just to keep him alive because his heart muscles got so weak and atrophied.

One of my friends brothers got so hooked on video games, he wouldn't even go to the bathroom. The kid would wet himself right there, and I'm not kidding either.

I also heard of a video game addiction center in the UK, for people addicted to video games. The sad part is, 96% of the people who check in, are males.

[Gatekeeper777]

People CAN get addicted to anything but if i have my choice its goona be pussy.

[dejayou30]

I find it interesting that all the articles are about teens that get addicted. There are studies that find it can be addicting and cause amotivational syndrome for teens. Marijuana is not for teens, just like alcohol and tobacco. People are idiots.

[slipknotpsycho]

He liked what it felt like, and by age 15, he was smoking pot every week. He supported his habit with the money his parents gave him for getting straight A's on his report card. They didn't have a clue.

and that's a problem how? o.0 HE'S GETTING STRAIGHT A'S!

[Leebstatus]

A habit and addiction are 2 different things. :)

I suppose. But when I say "habit" I mean an extremely entertaining habit that I want to do all the time. Still, I can live without it. And I highly doubt marijuana use in teens is any different, especially as teens have less responsibility. I have no problems balancing weed with school and work. It's all about managing your priorities.

[Skink]

I started with Coffee then Ciggs then Beer then Pot...

[Gatekeeper777]

hmmmmmmmmmm, i started masterbating as a young teen now that i have grown up i have moved onto other things like pussy.
Masterbation is a addicting gateway activity. roflmao

[Jderringer]

I hate anti-marijuana people. i wish i could go to a big anti-weed get together and replace all the food with space cakes and watch them all get so high they flip out and kill themselves.:stoned:

That is AWESOME! :bong:

[Bob the Awesome]

Let me put it this way:


Burden of proof falls upon the person making the claim.

They keep claiming that pot is a gateway drug but can offer no substantial proof that it, empirically, is.

Therefore it's not a proven phenomenon, and should be disregarded. That is one of the worst articles ever. They point out the fact that they don't quite know everything, but then go on to make brash assumptions anyways.

[the scientist]

didn't start pot till college where it was introduced to me by a friend. Being away from home I didn't have parents bothering me and I could space out all day.

you high school kids need to watch it - you have to be a mature individual to smoke it and still mix with society, pass school etc. or it could make you a failure - one without money. On the other hand Ive seen kids burn out early and turn their lives around because they've been to the edge and burned out and know there needs to be a balance.

couldn't stand cigarettes - made me puke.
alcohol - you gotta work too hard
cocaine - damn if I ain't allergic to it. snot just runs down my nose. probably the best thing for me. Remember Len Bias, now its cut with what?
heroin - are you kidding?

pot is the answer for me, the source of my sanity, my nerves and my sustenance.

[Purple Banana]

I agree... High school kids should exercise caution when smoking- NOT SAYING THEY SHOULD NOT. Just focus on graduating, and then do whatever the fuck you want...

I really like the poll results :D

[TheFatKid]

My dad wants me to read this since he got it in the paper. I read one sentence, and just stopped reading because it was so stupid.

[bucknuts1870]

The only drug I ever felt physically addicted to was the H-Bomb and a girl I knew but did not hang out with OD'd and died and that scared me enough to stop cold turkey after about 2.5 years of doing either Oxy or H everyday almost. My buddy's dad was perscribed over 500mg's of oxy a day, he had been on workman's comp. for almost 17 years from a back injury. We used to pop 80's like candy, he'd take 10 at a time from him...High School was too much fun.

I feel addicted to weed, but in a different way. I think if you say you aren't addicted your lying to yourself. Anything can be mentally addicting; eating, working out, sex, whatever. If you choose to smoke pot regularly you are mentally addicted. That is not to say you can't stop at anytime, but still, your addicted. Having said that, I don't think it's all that much of a problem as long as you don't feel the need to smoke 24/7. I usually don't blaze until late afternoon evening once I get done with everything I have to do during the day. I do know people however that marijuana HAS affected in a very very negative way and they would have been better off never smoking, but everybody's different, you cannot punish the whole for the actions of a few.

[Feebs420]

.....and it just happends to be the same day and Mr.Marley's birthday.:rastasmoke: :rastasmoke:

[OniEhtRedrum781]

lol the poll made me ROFL

[bucknuts1870]

P.S. I have not done anything besides weed and alcohol in over a year and before that I only did some things occasionally after I stopped doing opiates. I feel much better about myself, and am doing much better as a person. To all of you who are younger, DO NOT DO OPIATES. Very addicting, you cannot control it like weed, and basically nothing good comes from it. I have seen numerous people who are very very smart people go way down hill from it, out of a little group of friends I had that I did it with 1 is in jail, 3 are junkies, 2 are out of rehab and clean, and 1 had to move to Colorado to get and stay clean. Very bad things...

[ukmonkey]

I took mushrooms when I was 12 and they are class A now but were legal then so I kinda started on harder drugs.

Cannais IS a gateway drug... but for one reason only, cos we have to go to a drug dealer every time we want one who normally says "bruv u need any white with that?" and due to our inherently inquisitive nature we normally give are quite likely to eventually give it ago. If it was legal I doubt we'd have class A's shoved in our face at the local pgharmacy.... but hey look on the brightside.... atleast its tax free!

[slowburn420]

I must say, the poll votes just contradicted the whole article


haha thats exactly what i thought :Tomcat: http://boards.cannabis.com/images/smilies/custom/Tomcat.gif
:Tomcat:

[Prunedale]

Since I was one of those drug addicts that kept on looking for that better high and did not stop looking until I was a full fledged heroin addict, I can say I never found a high better than marijuana.
Gateway drug? I think it may be the 1st or 2nd thing people mess with but the ones that go onto hard drugs would have gone on to hard drugs with or without marijuana in their lives anyways. They most likely started with alcohol because their parents had it in the house. Alcohol is the drug that causes people to lose their morals and blatently fuck up and then blame it on the alcohol saying "It was not me, it was the alcohol" But it is them that consume that hard core mind altering substance knowing full well it was going to do something to them that could seriously change peoples lives in the 1st place.
Alcohol is the gateway drug and it is advertized on TV because it is legal.


I agree with you and judging by the people I know who are junkies at this time, I've known them many years and from their history, they were going to be users anyway. It wasn't marijuana that got them into anything harder it was their choice and quest for a break from their reality.

"You are at school, and your main job as an adolescent is to learn and memorize," NIDA director Nora Volkow says. But if you keep becoming intoxicated by smoking marijuana, she says, you'll fall further and further behind in your studies. "How are you going to catch up?"

Nora Volkow doesn't know shit. Our Validictorian all 4 years of high school (years ago) was the biggest pot head I knew, as well as being under the influence of alcohol in class. Finished his work faster than anyone and came out more focused than anyone. So I began smokiing with him before school and at lunch. My grades increased a full 2.0 gpas from being at a D average. I was so focused and on task with my thoughts. I found calmness in learning while high. Thats the way I learn now. I smoke, get motivated and begin the educating. I haven't been to college yet after 7 years out of high school and I have self taught myself ALOT. In my opinion I think Nora V has never touched even Caffeine and is full of shit. Anyone can talk shit about the user and try to attack their education and make it related to marijuana as a "gate way" its about the individual and the environment they come out of, and wether or not they want to control their future or throw it away.

NORA if you can read this.. You don't know shit, stop making un-researched bias opinions. USA today if you can read this. Maybe I'd read your publication, and promote it. (since I work for a 5 star hotel on the monterey bay, and regularly can give your paper out,) IF you didn't print stupid shit like this, as a result, instead of USA today, I give out the local paper at our guests doors in the mornings. We have 300+ luxury suites. That DON'T read you now.

[ZeldaG.]

for me cigarettes was the gateway :)

[Markass]

can't argue with those poll results. Out of ten thousand some votes. should e-mail newsweek and tell them that the information is apparently untrue and very biased towards what the government tells people....

[N3D FLANDERS]

I must say, the poll votes just contradicted the whole article

haha wow
i would have to question the validity of the post though
84 percent have smoked when only 10 percent havent tried it?
that would be great but its not true

[mfqr]

and that's a problem how? o.0 HE'S GETTING STRAIGHT A'S!

I think that is the best argument seen on this thread yet. Why would these fucks talk about how it's so bad when the kid is getting 4.0's in school? These people can't seem to put it together, can they? "Oh he's getting straight A's, but he's smoking pot! Omg, terrible! He's going to ruin his life now!"

[sleepless]

i smoked mj and never wanted to take anything harder, so i didnt other than to try magic mushrooms which i took once and didnt like. i drank cider once, then i drank a lake full of alcohol, moved on to spirits and found i was fast spiralling into alcohollism. gave up the booze. its so messed up that a harmless smoke is against the law, wheras a dangerous and highly addictive drug like alcohol is sold in every supermarket in the world. ban alcohol, legalise pot.

[DudemeisteR420]

and when it said"todays marijuana is more potent and therefore more toxic than marijuana in the 70's" WHAT THE FUCK!
if anything it is better for you because you have to smoke less of the nasty stuff to get the same ammount of thc

[0ffspring]

Alcohol, then shrooms and finally weed, I stopped there.

[Delta9 UK]

and when it said"todays marijuana is more potent and therefore more toxic than marijuana in the 70's" WHAT THE FUCK!
if anything it is better for you because you have to smoke less of the nasty stuff to get the same ammount of thc

More toxic LMAO! It has never been toxic so how can it get "more toxic" - LOL

[ukmonkey]

Alcohol, then shrooms and finally weed, I stopped there.

snap apart from I also tried pills simly because I was in the club and met some chicks that were hot and offered me some, and ended up having the time of my life... wudn't do it regularly though, t does fuck with your head.

[burnable]

In chronological order:

1 cigarettes
2 alcohol
3 weed
4 shrooms (which I thought were awesome at first, but then the more I did the less I liked them)
5 cocaine (never liked it, now I think of it and shudder, it's so gross)
6 oxycontin (indifferent at first, then I grew to like it. couldn't do a lot of it because it made me tired)
7 ecstasy (really really really liked it, but did too much one weekend and lost interest)

I think that's everything. I hope I don't get this thread closed with all this illicit info, but I do have a point. Weed is the only drug I still use (and I drink 1-2 times a week). With Every other drug I always hit a wall, and found reasons to not do them. It's cuz they're bad for u :) I never got busted legally for possession or anything, and stopped of my own free will, not because they weren't available. My point is, those who end up doing hard drugs and that can't get off them probably have self-destructive behaviorial issues and their disposition toward those drugs are not associated with cannabis itself. For this reason I think resources that are currently used to fight drug use and possession should be used for treatment of addicts, otherwise you're going to increase the overall number of criminals in the world by sending people to jail who don't belong there.

[anangrymailman]

I hate that gateway drug bullshit. Just because most people try weed first, doesn't mean its a gateway drug. Someone who says yes to meth or heroin probably isn't going to say no to weed...

[anangrymailman]

ever anti weed article is the exact same thing with a different name.


its just bullshit, weed is ver minorly addictive, i like to say its just as addictive as caffiene(sp) is to some people.

i also think that if you cant stop smoking weed and you want to you have a very weak will power.

Actually caffeine is said to be very addictive. Weed doesn't even compare.

[PatrickHenry]

Why not legalize it and find out? It's about personal freedom, I don't need the government protecting me from myself! For every person that says they're addicted there are hundreds of others that say they aren't.

[spankey]

ive used marijuana, then harder drugs, but i have never felt addicted to anything. hmmm.

in a way it is a gateway drug. i have said this before. it is totally up to the user though. what i mean is find me one person on the planet who has done harder drugs but hasnt smoked before. then again find me one person who has used harder drugs who hasnt drank before. then again you can find me millinos who have smoked or drank and just stopped there.

i really dont like how the articel just sidesteps alcohol. besides alcohol...
it is the biggest gateway drug there is

it is a gateway drug only because it is illeagle and most people have to go to other then upright people who introduce pot smokers to the other drugs. if it was leagle you would not have your local pot dealer trying to get you to use other higher profit drugs to boost there income. im not saying that ever dealer pushes other drugs but allot do.

[MotleyCrueBoy24]

Bullshit... more Bullshit...and then some..