Originally Posted by pyrar
There are so many problems with your logic I don't even know where to start.
I'm 20 years old, and a sophomore in college. I have been smoking almost every day for the past year. Prior to that, I was a very casual smoker, some months smoking once or twice, or none at all. Less than 25 times per year. That was up until about a year ago.
Now, I smoke ONLY once per day, and always at night about an hour or two before sleep. Personally, I use it because I like the effects: relaxation, altered state of mind, increased laughter, etc,. I use it at night prior to sleep because it is the time of the day when I DON'T NEED to be productive: this is time I had previously spent watching tv sober, using the computer, etc,.
Now, I've made the decision to not smoke during the day, because I understand that would be irresponsible for me, and for my life. Marijuana isn't MAKING me use it all the time, I am the one that controls its usage. If you don't have the ability to exercise that discipline, you shouldn't be using it. Period. Learn to be accountable for your actions, something you probably have no concept of.
I have plenty of friends that use marijuana just as often, if not more, than I do. Some of them have problems managing their usage(being high during the day, in school, etc,.). I also have other friends who use it responsibly as I do, and they have no problems with it in their life.
Reality check: You're in college, you're young, you don't know what your talking about(an exaggeration, of course).
You say you go to LMU? I've got some friends there, some do some crazy drugs over there. You in a frat(99.99% chance)?
You say you spent 1/2 a semester baked? That doesn't seem very smart to me. You were responsible for choosing to smoke for that period of time. Marijuana didn't entice you. You most likely have other psychological issues that need sorting out, and your outlet for your problems was marijuana at that time.
You attempted to persuade others to smoke? I'm assuming you peer-pressured them? Another clue you might be in a frat. If you are consciously peer-pressuring people like that, see a therapist. Bully, anyone?
The point is that you are obviously ABUSING marijuana, just like people abuse every other drug on this planet, but you chose pot.
I'm not saying marijuana abuse doesn't cause any ill effects, because it obviously has to you. You need to understand that when you started ABUSING it, you should have said to yourself, hey, what am I doing? Anytime you make a lifestyle change such as smoking every day, you NEED to analyze it. That's what a responsible person does.
I really hope this isn't the case, but I wouldn't be surprised if in 2 years you end up with a vicodin addiction, because that is what "people were doing" at the time, and you were just a psychological mess, so you abused it. For your sake, don't let this abuse problem manifest itself in another drug, activity, [insert commonly abused thing here].
Overall, you probably used the following logic in your post:
Cause: Started smoking marijuana a lot.
Effect: It ruined my life.
Reality: You weren't happy with yourself prior to smoking a lot(that's a problem), and you ended up abusing marijuana, masking your emotional distress. Now here you are, complaining about marijuana hurting your life, when what really is hurting you isn't even in the post at all.
Also, about your "negative effects":
Those are the effects of depression(give or take a few).
You were depressed, you started smoking, it made it even worse, and here you are now. Probably still depressed inside, but hopefully finally accepting that. The world is a lot bigger than LMU, TRUST ME.
BTW:
I don't mean to sound like an asshole, I'm just laying it all on the table for you. I could be completely wrong about everything I said, because I don't know you, but maybe you will pull a little insight out of this post.
In response to this:
"Based on observations of myself and my close weed-smoking friends, marijuana slowly creeps up on you, and before you know it, you aren't who you thought you were or who you want to be. I really think huge potheads would be doing themselves a favor by asking themselves, "Is this truly the person I want to be?"
Listen. Smoking all day, every day, is a lifestyle change. Lifestyle changes CHANGE WHO YOU ARE. That's why they are called lifestyle changes. Its your conscious decision to change your life, by smoking every day, that is what actually catalyzes the changes.
All of my close friends, who have known me since WAY before I started smoking, tell me that I haven't changed at all. Why? Because I do the same shit I've always done from 9am - 9pm, except for when I smoke, usually by myself, at night.
Significance: It hasn't changed my life, or creeped up on me(lol), at all.
I don't tell people I smoke, and they would never notice. I enjoy it, my life is enriched, and life goes on.
Who Am I?
College student.
Self-employed, and own an IT consulting company.
On my way, to *hopefully* expanding my business(booo recession), and some day a family and kids.
Have my dreams been ruined by pot? You be the judge. As far as I'm concerned I'm right on track ;).
PEACE OUT
