Who openly acknowledges the pitfalls of MJ?

It seems like alot of people on this board jump on the 'because pot should be legal, it is harmless' bandwagon.

Who here actually acknowledges and accepts the pitfalls of MJ?
I smoked a little bit in high school, never bought. If someone offered me a puff on a joint, i would not turn it down. Never really was impressed with MJ, I am more of a drinker. Much alcohol has passed through this body. I don't get into trouble much. I haven't been arrested or anything like that, but I have had alot of run ins with law enforcement where i really could have been in a bad position but I always seemed to get out of it unscathed whether it is speeding or DUI/DWI or illegal immigrant smuggling. (fun stories)

Two years ago i started smoking regularly, everyday. Though I am not a loooong time smoker, I do consider myself a hardcore smoker. As long as my eyes are open, i will never turn it down. Before I started smoking, I did alot of public speaking. I have spoken in front of 3k people before and done very well, enough for numerous compliments. The summer before I started smoking, I got a great job where i sold 60k dollars worth of books for a publishing company. Awesome for a 20 year old college student. I bought a new car and paid for 2 full load semesters of college for 15 weeks of work. Now that I smoke, I get into much less trouble. I haven't had to talk to a single police officer in two years now. My affairs are in order, I get up on time without a hangover. I am in my 3rd year of college and plan on graduating in the next 2 years from one of the best business schools in the country.

Smoking is now a part of my personality. It fits me well and it lets me enjoy life a little bit more. However, I cannot speak like I used to. I cannot write like I used to. Now that I think back, I realize how sharp i was mentally and how dull I am now. I don't need to speak anywhere or sell anything, so it doesn't really matter. I have met enough stoners to be able to tell that MJ screws with the brain a good bit.

In my defense, at least I waited until I got into college to smoke pot. Lots of kids start smoking at 15....and end up nowhere. I am an optimist and a realist. If i would have smoked like i do now back when i was 15, i can almost guarantee that I wouldn't be where I am today.

Do any of yall feel any negative effects of MJ? I do acknowledge the negative affects of marijuana, and I choose to live with them. I do not see myself stopping anytime soon.

Discuss.

BTW, the caffeine/MJ thread made me start this one. Personally, I think whoever thinks that caffeine is somehow more harmful than MJ needs to pass the blunt and analyze that a little more carefully.

I suppose I could look at my own history that way.

If I'd taken to smoking regularly while I worked in the retail sector (rather than becoming a socially anxious, depressed drunk) I might not have gotten so sick of myself and my work that I wouldn't have gone back to school and gotten my college diploma.

Now I don't drink much but I smoke lots. Which is fine because they're paying me what seems like a ridiculous amount to sit at a desk and do work a bright chimp could be trained to do. It's just boring boring boring. Hence my preferred herbal remedy. I've been smoking every morning for two months and no one has noticed. Well, I suppose I'm more patient, nicer and more sociable now...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ValkyrieAg

BTW, the caffeine/MJ thread made me start this one. Personally, I think whoever thinks that caffeine is somehow more harmful than MJ needs to pass the blunt and analyze that a little more carefully.

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I'm guessing you don't know a lot about Caffeine.

Well after 12 years of smoking, mostly everyday now (past 9 years or so) I think I'm happy with the 'pitfalls'.

The pitfalls are in YOU not MJ.

Something is inherently wrong with YOU.

Something undefinable,

FLUID,

The basic building blocks of low self-esteem...

Personally, before saying mj made you less 'sharp' or turned most people who did it into losers consider also:


- Some people are already losers who also smoke mjb (chicken & the egg type thing).

- As we get older our bodies and minds does change. I can say I was extremely sharp as a young man under 12yrs. After 12yrs - 18yrs or so I was still sharp but started having a harder time with short-term memory and learning new things (I wasnt smoking or doing any drugs at this point). From 18 to present (28) I've noticed my memory in general is continuing to decline (short-term memory) and that I find myself having to think and try a lot more when doing completely new things. I've only been smoking for the last 6 months or so... In that time I havent consciously noticed any significant change...


I'm fairly active on two self-help Internet sites... One of the things I find myself saying most often is that you cant be so quick to blame certain things in your life (like mj). I'm not saying mj doesnt have drawbacks but also consider even though our 20s are still considered 'our prime', our peak is usually over at the end of our teen years. Every day we get older, ever day stress and pressure on us build, and it isnt uncommon for many people to get depressed and not even know it.

So people are aging and suffering from mild to moderate (sometimes severe) depression and wonder why they arent the same as a few yrs ago... Or some people will say, "Yeah but this JUST started to happen"... Well maybe you JUST started to think about it ;)


If you're smoking all day every day bro you might want to pull it back just a notch... But light every day smoking or moderate smoking on occasion shouldnt be causing significant problems (IMO).


However, I will say this. While mj has a lot of benefits I think smoking it out of a joint/blunt, pipe, or water pipe also has real health risks. I think for the best of all worlds, again IMO, smoke daily lightly or moderately on occasion AND try to get use to a vaporizer. I know that is where I'm heading :)


Thats my :twocents:

My favorite is people who claim that it's "harmless" on the lungs simply because it doesn't cause lung cancer. Apparently cancer is the only type of harm that can be inflicted on your lungs:rolleyes:

Compared to alcohol and tobacco it's practically harmless. I think the positive effects definately outweigh the bad. It could cause lung damage, but it depends how you consume your cannabis doesn't it? What are the risks from vaping or eating? Ofcourse i prefer smoking but the point is you can avoid a lot if 'risks' with the way you consume it. Is anything harmless? Probably not, but thc is pretty damn close.

i think you bring up a good point. there are definately bad things about mj, but there are bad things about pretty much everything. i dont think the negative effects of mj are really that bad. the good certainly outweighs the bad. moderation, i think, is the key.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ValkyrieAg

BTW, the caffeine/MJ thread made me start this one. Personally, I think whoever thinks that caffeine is somehow more harmful than MJ needs to pass the blunt and analyze that a little more carefully.

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FACTS:

Caffeine IS physically addictive.

You CAN overdose on caffeine (theres enough caffeine in a single box of "NoDoz" so don't think its hard to achieve)

Caffeine, honestly, is a poor mans meth.

Seriously, you need to research a little more before making these claims. I don't think it makes people slower. It doesn't kill brain cells thats for sure. Maybe your drinking is catching up with you, alcohol does damage the brain and your brain does not always recover from that damage.

http://paranoia.lycaeum.org/marijuan...mythology.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ValkyrieAg

It seems like alot of people on this board jump on the 'because pot should be legal, it is harmless' bandwagon.

Who here actually acknowledges and accepts the pitfalls of MJ?
I smoked a little bit in high school, never bought. If someone offered me a puff on a joint, i would not turn it down. Never really was impressed with MJ, I am more of a drinker. Much alcohol has passed through this body. I don't get into trouble much. I haven't been arrested or anything like that, but I have had alot of run ins with law enforcement where i really could have been in a bad position but I always seemed to get out of it unscathed whether it is speeding or DUI/DWI or illegal immigrant smuggling. (fun stories)

Two years ago i started smoking regularly, everyday. Though I am not a loooong time smoker, I do consider myself a hardcore smoker. As long as my eyes are open, i will never turn it down. Before I started smoking, I did alot of public speaking. I have spoken in front of 3k people before and done very well, enough for numerous compliments. The summer before I started smoking, I got a great job where i sold 60k dollars worth of books for a publishing company. Awesome for a 20 year old college student. I bought a new car and paid for 2 full load semesters of college for 15 weeks of work. Now that I smoke, I get into much less trouble. I haven't had to talk to a single police officer in two years now. My affairs are in order, I get up on time without a hangover. I am in my 3rd year of college and plan on graduating in the next 2 years from one of the best business schools in the country.

Smoking is now a part of my personality. It fits me well and it lets me enjoy life a little bit more. However, I cannot speak like I used to. I cannot write like I used to. Now that I think back, I realize how sharp i was mentally and how dull I am now. I don't need to speak anywhere or sell anything, so it doesn't really matter. I have met enough stoners to be able to tell that MJ screws with the brain a good bit.

In my defense, at least I waited until I got into college to smoke pot. Lots of kids start smoking at 15....and end up nowhere. I am an optimist and a realist. If i would have smoked like i do now back when i was 15, i can almost guarantee that I wouldn't be where I am today.

Do any of yall feel any negative effects of MJ? I do acknowledge the negative affects of marijuana, and I choose to live with them. I do not see myself stopping anytime soon.

Discuss.

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How dare you acuse it on the mj. It's obviously the alcohol causing negative effects, how can you be so blind. Caffiene has over 800 chemicals in it (most of them synthetic) while thc only has 400 (all natural). Caffiene is addictive, and while cannabis can be mentally addicting, physically there are no withdrawl symptoms. You can overdose on caffiene, nobody in the 3,000 years of recorded use has od'd on cannabis. Caffiene cause cancer and heart problems for thousands every year, cannabis has yet to be proven to give anyone cancer.:rasta:

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Originally Posted by mrdevious

My favorite is people who claim that it's "harmless" on the lungs simply because it doesn't cause lung cancer. Apparently cancer is the only type of harm that can be inflicted on your lungs:rolleyes:

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Of course it's not harmless on the lungs. It's burnt plant matter is irritating on them. It will make you cough and wheez and hock up crap. Yet nobody documented has developed permanent symptoms from smoking to much cannabis. Symptoms dissapear when smoking is disscontinued.

I think that too much of anything can potentially be harmful to you. Before you start claiming mary jane is responsible for the things you listed valkyre, I would seriously take a long look in the mirror and have a deep self examination. If you really really believe that Mary Jane is to be blamed for your issues then you should seriously consider stopping.

My biggest problem I have with the herb is that I have to hide it. I hate having to live a double life with people I know because of the legality issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ValkyrieAg

It seems like alot of people on this board jump on the 'because pot should be legal, it is harmless' bandwagon.

Who here actually acknowledges and accepts the pitfalls of MJ?
I smoked a little bit in high school, never bought. If someone offered me a puff on a joint, i would not turn it down. Never really was impressed with MJ, I am more of a drinker. Much alcohol has passed through this body. I don't get into trouble much. I haven't been arrested or anything like that, but I have had alot of run ins with law enforcement where i really could have been in a bad position but I always seemed to get out of it unscathed whether it is speeding or DUI/DWI or illegal immigrant smuggling. (fun stories)

Two years ago i started smoking regularly, everyday. Though I am not a loooong time smoker, I do consider myself a hardcore smoker. As long as my eyes are open, i will never turn it down. Before I started smoking, I did alot of public speaking. I have spoken in front of 3k people before and done very well, enough for numerous compliments. The summer before I started smoking, I got a great job where i sold 60k dollars worth of books for a publishing company. Awesome for a 20 year old college student. I bought a new car and paid for 2 full load semesters of college for 15 weeks of work. Now that I smoke, I get into much less trouble. I haven't had to talk to a single police officer in two years now. My affairs are in order, I get up on time without a hangover. I am in my 3rd year of college and plan on graduating in the next 2 years from one of the best business schools in the country.

Smoking is now a part of my personality. It fits me well and it lets me enjoy life a little bit more. However, I cannot speak like I used to. I cannot write like I used to. Now that I think back, I realize how sharp i was mentally and how dull I am now. I don't need to speak anywhere or sell anything, so it doesn't really matter. I have met enough stoners to be able to tell that MJ screws with the brain a good bit.

In my defense, at least I waited until I got into college to smoke pot. Lots of kids start smoking at 15....and end up nowhere. I am an optimist and a realist. If i would have smoked like i do now back when i was 15, i can almost guarantee that I wouldn't be where I am today.

Do any of yall feel any negative effects of MJ? I do acknowledge the negative affects of marijuana, and I choose to live with them. I do not see myself stopping anytime soon.

Discuss.

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Man, get off your own nuts for a minute. Too much of anything will kill you. If you can smoke once in a while and be happy then pot is fine. But it's when you smoke repeatedly daily the negative effects start to really show. But hey, if you smoke as much as you say and you're doing as well in life as you claim to be then more power to you.

Anyway to answer your question, if I smoke a lot continuously then I find myself real lazy and stupid. I never get ANYTHING done and the more I smoke, the more it seems like I need it. Do I think marijuana has negative effects? Yes. But in my eyes they are only visible in heavy smokers.

Oh. Im not dissing my Mary Jane, guys.:rastasmoke:

Im smoking a bowl right now. :D But no, im not blaming marijuana for anything. Everything in my life right now is kosher awesome. But I am just pointing out that some people seem to think that marijuana can do no wrong, when in fact i would agree that it really hurts short term memory and thought processes. Like i said, the small effects are nothing that bothers me, its just something I have noticed and felt like pointing out.

Also, as a drinker, I would NEVER say marijuana is more harmful than alcohol. Have you ever woke up and said "oh wow, I am never smoking again". No.

I mainly started the thread because of the caffeine thing. I don't think caffeine, as typically used by a consumer, (coffee, soda, stay awake, candy) is harmful at all. I have never seen anyone say their alphabet wrong after a 6 pack of cokes.

Everything has negative to go with it... if you drink too much water, you can cause your heart to stop (electolyte imbalance and fluid overload, and all that jazz). As far as the short term memory goes? I can handle forgetting things once in a while, after all, I'm only human.

But there are ignorant people, especially some young teenagers who smoke because it's "cool" and don't respect cannabis. Those are they stereotypes that are automatically placed on all of us stoners, unfortunately. In my eyes, that is the only true negative part of cannabis. The rest is simply inconveniences.

moderation my friends moderation...

Well I do accept the fact that over use of anything is bad. And smoke is bad. So yes I know that smoking cannabis is not good for you...in a way. Smoking still is beneficial for some of the positive things cannabis can do but I do believe smoking it is defeating 50% of the purpose while the other 50% is still being effective, but that's only because of the smoke. I do understand when you abuse it you probably will have a bad bad fucking period in your life and once you stop abusing it you'll see how bad that was.

Lately I haven't been smoking much if at all and I can truly say I don't wanna go back to smoking every day, every hour of the day just for the fuck of it. I do have slight pains in my lungs but I suspect it's nothing more than lung inflammation since it doesn't even bother me at all when I inhale, exhale or even when it irritates me. But I do have something in the center of my chest that is a problem. I don't know what it is but I'm going to the doctors when ever, I've already told my mom and we're gonna go this month if not some time early next year. So yes I know cannabis has some negativeness to it but I still like it. You just have to really understand that cannabis can be abused and I wont speak for everyone but I will say having cannabinoids constantly flowing through my mind non-stop was not healthy and eventually made me sorta mentally ill and a overall messy person. Use it, don't abuse it :D.

given my present condition i see more pitfalls w/o than w/ .
lots more +'s than -'s so i'm not loosing any sleep over it
peace
crispi

To me, the pitfalls are pretty simple:
-Dry throat, dry hacking, wakes me up at night if I smoke out of a bowl or joint. A little less severe with a water pipe
-Escapism... if you're prone to it, deal with the issues instead of getting high! Same goes to alcohol and other drugs.
-yeah I get a bit forgetful... um... what were we talking about? :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Captain Hanks

How dare you acuse it on the mj. It's obviously the alcohol causing negative effects, how can you be so blind. Caffiene has over 800 chemicals in it (most of them synthetic) while thc only has 400 (all natural). Caffiene is addictive, and while cannabis can be mentally addicting, physically there are no withdrawl symptoms. You can overdose on caffiene, nobody in the 3,000 years of recorded use has od'd on cannabis. Caffiene cause cancer and heart problems for thousands every year, cannabis has yet to be proven to give anyone cancer.:rasta:

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Captain, This is most defiantly incorrect!

Caffeine and THC are both 1 type of molecule which consists of 1!!! Chemical
Both are 100% naturally occurring

What I think you meant is Cannabis buds have over 420+ different chemicals (chemicals just means substances) and cocaine has under 15. Just to illustrate how the number of â??chemicalsâ?� doesnâ??t have anything to do with the harm!

Caffeine is quite bad for you. And when we say that Iâ??m not talking about the â??highâ?� being bad for you as some people on here have put. It is the accumulated effect of this drug being in your system that harms you. It doesnâ??t have to alter your state.
Caffeine fuckes up your digestive system with heavy use consuming over 700mg a day on average will guarantee an ulcer.

Now back to the original post.

The only negative effect of cannabis use that I have encountered when not “high”: is that my word retrieval is slowed sometimes.
Basically I cant remember the word’s I’m thinking of more often. Again that could be my aging also(doubt it), it only started recently

The plain fact is that lots of research has been done and they have found NO changes or damage to the brain with cannabis use (when your not high).
Yes, several studies show that cognitive functioning is slowed when high, or when your coming down. But no long term effects.

Mr, devious.
Good point, cancer isn’t the only harm to the lungs but it is probably the most serious concern. It’s link to cancer has been proven. What is most important is that No one has ever died from lung diseases from cannabis smoking. But without killing it can still do harm such as reduce aerobic capacity and reduce lung capacity; Then again so does watch TV.

hey valk, I've noticed that the periods in my life in which I was constantly stoned caused memory difficulties, and often an inability to talk in my natural rapid-fire pattern. Eventually I came to value my sober times throughout the day, so instead of wake n bake, I'll wait till 1 or 2 in the afternoon to smoke my first bowl. the mornings seem to be my most lucid , productive and decisive time of day. so after that I'll blaze and become indifferent. then each successive time I smoke in a given day I allow myself to completely sober up, shake off the burn-out, and really crave a bowl. I'll end up smoking 2 or 3 times in the daytime, then at night it doesn't matter-I don't need to be sharp. Anyway, this method has been advantageous for numerous reasons. mostly, I don't experience annoying high body tolerance as much, I don't need a bowl in order to have an appetite, I have tons more energy, the day seems longer and more fulfilling cuz I'm not hazy all day, it makes me cherish and appreciate herb much more.
In any case, moderation is definitely the solution. I also drink coffee and alcohol and my own bodily responses indicate that weed is much safer, even in excess. I'm glad you celebrate herb because it is a glorious reward to any arduous mental or physical activity.

Burnable- that's a great post and I agreee with all of it so I gave you rep!
The 'sharpness' bit... the couple times I've tried wake-n-bake I have a little trouble functioning even MUCH later in the day after it has worn off.

when i first started smoking alot the first thing i noticed was that i couldnt remember where i put things as well and now a couple of years into smoking i notice i cant remember at all where i put shit and my vocab is worse and it takes me longer to remember big words that i normally would use in a conversation.

when i first started smoking alot the first thing i noticed was that i couldnt remember where i put things as well and now a couple of years into smoking i notice i cant remember at all where i put shit and my vocab is worse and it takes me longer to remember big words that i normally would use in a conversation. so i would say pot is bad for memory but if you go a couple of months with out smoking that can be reversed:stoned:

...coffee/weed?....I allow myself...two pots a day....one of each...

I agree with everyone who says the good outweighs the bad when it comes to MJ. Personally, I have noticed that my word recall has sucked lately. I have trouble thinking of words sometimes, like that feeling where the word is on the tip of your tongue and you just can't say it. It's probably from smoking weed, but it could also be unrelated somehow. I think cannabis is a miracle herb and I definitely don't think it causes much harm.