A Critical Standpoint on Smoking Marijuana

[2600]

Heirophant says:
Smoke of any kind is probably harmful to the lungs,So what! Modern life with all its globe spanning pollution is daily filling your lungs with who knows what,cannabis can be consumed in other ways,but pollution will KILL you no matter how it enters your system, So whats your point

Looks like you guys agree then!


a: "The sky is red."
b: "No, the sky is blue."
a: "But it's not yellow! And that lady over there is FAT!"
b: ...
a: "(yes! i win!)"

[Stedric]

Green Gaucho, I will first state that I agree with you competely that marijuana harms the lungs. Inhaling smoke everyday will gum up the works and cause lung problems over time. But just as with tobacco, (unless you have been smoking for over 40 years) if you stop for a certain period of time, your lungs will begin to heal themselves.

Secondly, "addiction" is a word that is misused often these days. The simplest way to define "addiction" is a behaviour or habit that is difficult for someone to stop. So, think of the things your exposed to in any given day, and ask yourself if any of the are addictive. First of all, lets start with chemicals; caffeine for example is prevalent in our society and VERY highly addictive, with withdrawal symptoms that FAR outshadow those of marijuana.

Third, notice how it is not only chemicals that human beings find themselves addicted to. Gambling, for example, is highly addictive behaviour. It results in horrible situations for people and is an incredibly hard habit to break. People slicing their wrists can also be classified as addictive behaviour. Any type of behaviour can be addictive for someone. As I often say to an ex-friend of mine, "being a jackass is a drug to, and your an addict". I don't just say this out of spite for him, he has behaviour patterns that he is completely dependant on.

My point is not to tell you that pot addiction doesn't exist, but that it is a very light and somewhat rare addiction that is overshadowed by much larger and prevalent addictions. Just putting things in perspective.

[SativaTrip]

personally i don't know WHY ANYONE is so worried abut smoking causeing cancer....fifty percent of all of us alive right now will die of cancer .....seriously.....and let's all worry about fucking smoke from my gra of bud a day give megaddamn break........why don't you all just go outside and go driving by a bunch of kids playing you fucking dingbats fuck....childrens astma rates are ALWAYS going UP these days...it's four times higher here where i live then the rest of the USA. And it's supposedly 'farm country".

PS- the prb is that you and your friends need to get hobbies.. If i smoked all the time i would be so bored!!!! So guess what? I DON"T. Wow what a concept. And you cannot withdrawl from weed...thc is non-toxic THC.....which is what you are "addicted"lmao to. Unless of course your addicted to the carbon monoxide. maybe you like to smoke and drive. lmao....word out fuckers

[GHoSToKeR]

Green Gaucho, I will first state that I agree with you competely that marijuana harms the lungs. Inhaling smoke everyday will gum up the works and cause lung problems over time. But just as with tobacco, (unless you have been smoking for over 40 years) if you stop for a certain period of time, your lungs will begin to heal themselves.

Secondly, "addiction" is a word that is misused often these days. The simplest way to define "addiction" is a behaviour or habit that is difficult for someone to stop. So, think of the things your exposed to in any given day, and ask yourself if any of the are addictive. First of all, lets start with chemicals; caffeine for example is prevalent in our society and VERY highly addictive, with withdrawal symptoms that FAR outshadow those of marijuana.

Third, notice how it is not only chemicals that human beings find themselves addicted to. Gambling, for example, is highly addictive behaviour. It results in horrible situations for people and is an incredibly hard habit to break. People slicing their wrists can also be classified as addictive behaviour. Any type of behaviour can be addictive for someone. As I often say to an ex-friend of mine, "being a jackass is a drug to, and your an addict". I don't just say this out of spite for him, he has behaviour patterns that he is completely dependant on.

My point is not to tell you that pot addiction doesn't exist, but that it is a very light and somewhat rare addiction that is overshadowed by much larger and prevalent addictions. Just putting things in perspective.

Well said! You said exactly what I was trying to say, I only used the somewhat dubious analargy of fruit.

[Damaniel71]

I believe that there are two different ways one can become addicted to a substance. One is a physical addiction. This is characterized by tolerance, withdrawls, dependencies, etc. This is commonly seen in crack, any opiats, nicotine, and even caffeine.
The other kind of addiction is a mental one. One can become mentally addicted to just about anything. Whether this is TV, music, work, or weed, its all relatively the same: pleasure. It is easy to become mentally addicted to pleasure. Particularly in the US, many of us are mentally addicted to something such as TV or fast food.
It should be remembered that there IS a small amount of physical addiction for weed. It has been documented and studied, folks. However, while it is slightly physically addictive, there are MANY other drugs that are much more addictive. Even caffeine, a substance that is completely accepted in society, is more physically addictive than weed. I mean, earlier today I had a headache. As soon as I had my daily caffeine intake, my headache was gone. I have never gotten anything as bad as that when I would go for a week without weed.
The key rule about weed that I believe everyone should follow is this: Never, ever let weed become the most important thing in your life. If you find yourself making weed your largest priority, you ought to really step back for a second and figure out what you are doing with your life. Things like family, friends, and yer career should always come before weed. If you can smoke like crazy but still make those other things your top priority, then by all means, light that thing...

[Frequency]

After reading these forums for around a month, and attempting to comprehend certain statements that have been made about smoking marijuana, Iâ??ve decided to write a few of my thoughts about this ever so interesting plant. Let me first say that in no way am I against people smoking it, and I hope you can try to listen what Iâ??m attempting to get across with an open mind. Hopefully it will make for good discussion, as I am trying to understand why certain people think they way they do about this plant.
First of all, Iâ??m completely in support of people who use it recreationally everyday, and find it a relaxing hobby or a way to socialize with friends. I myself, love smoking a bowl or blunt every now and then amongst my friends and sharing stories. I also believe it has certain medicinal qualities to it. It can help with glaucoma, arthritis, and may even be able to help against tumors and things of that sort. Certainly one can argue that it is for the most part, a harmless weed. The trouble starts when those who use it recreationally, try to argue that smoking it â??is completely harmlessâ?� and there is no scientific proof behind claims that it can be dangerous. It seems to me that many users try to legitimize their problems with smoking by spewing out irrational lies. One great example is this particular quote from a recent thread. â??Hell no I wont admit cannabis is a bad thing. They still have yet to prove it causes any life threatening damage to the lungs.â?� As I stated above, of course itâ??s not a bad thing. But claiming that smoking does nothing negative to the lungs is just ridiculous. One person who seems to agree with me recently stated, â??I don't see how anybody can logically say it's 100% harmless. You can smoke marijuana, tobacco, a rolled up piece of old carpet, a leaf off a tree. Regardless, anything smoked is gonna clog up your lungs, restrict oxygen flow, and gunk up the works.â?� The whole reason why people cough when taking a large hit is because the body is attempting to rid itself of something thatâ??s not supposed to be there. Just ask the girl from a recent topic who claims that she has recently been experiencing â??Smokerâ??s Coughâ?� and that sheâ??s spitting up gross mucus. Anyway, it seems for a person to argue against something so concrete would be like banging your head on a brick wall. On to my next point, which is certainly up to more debate.
The long-term effects of THC on the human brain are highly disputed. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, has effects which include relaxation, euphoria, altered space-time perception, enhancement of visual, auditory, and olfactory senses, disorientation, and appetite stimulation. To me, these are the things that make people love smoking in the first place and this seems evident when I see my friends and I laughing at rediculous things. =) However, smokers often tend to dismiss the claim that these effects are sometimes very dangerous and can have very serious consequences. Things like reduced reaction time are what make smoking and driving dangerous. I also believe that THC truly is addictive in a sense. Many who smoke everyday claim to not be addicted at all, but my experiences say otherwise. Though it may not be as physically addicting as other drugs and alcohol, mentally itâ??s very addicting. The fact that many tokers spend a large part of their paycheck every week would suggest this. Many of my friends would rather spend their money on weed than save up for an investment that would help them in the future. I have nothing against it, but I guarantee if these people were to suddenly stop having a constant intake of THC, they would experience withdrawal symptoms and would probably be very irritable for awhile. I have seen this countless times, with many people. The rejection of the idea that cannabis does have addictive qualities to it, seems closely correlated to typical immature teenage boy attitude. (i.e.. nothing can keep them down, they can stop whenever they want to, feelings of invicibility, etc.) Surely there are those who can quit for the most part, but for the majority of people, itâ??s simply not the case.
Another way in which I think marijuana can be harmful that most smokers donâ??t seem to recognize, is the lazyness that often ensues. Sure you can make the concious decision to go out and run, or get work done, but that is not the natural effect of THC. The natural reaction to smoking cannabis is to be more relaxed and a feeling of euphoria. People use it to feel detached from reality. Just look at the indica plant and the natural â??couch-lockâ?� effect it has or the mental distortion caused by Sativa plants.. In my opinion, people can do whatever they want with their lives, but denying that itâ??s more than often counter-productive seems illogical. There are those who claim is helps them with certain tasks such as writing and I respect that.
In conclusion, smoking can be a fun, relaxing thing to do after a dayâ??s hard work or when you want to just chill with some buddies. It should be kept in moderation though, and there are those who deny the negative effects, and act as though they canâ??t be hurt by it. As shown in the topic titled â??ignoranceâ?�, smokers sometimes exibit a feeling of â??higher-intelligenceâ?� when non-smokers tell them that itâ??s not exactly healthy. And to the younger, teenage audience on these forums, parents are a valuable source of information and more than often know whatâ??s best for you. If they want you to not smoke so much, try your best to uphold their wishes. Sure it may seem oppressive now, but then again, your mind is devoloping and you eventually know why. When you get out there in the world by yourself, you will have your own household and can make your own decisions about your body. As a smoker myself, I ADMIT that it certainly isnâ??t a healthy thing to do, and try not to legitimize the reasons as to why I smoke. I like it because it messes me up, just like most other people do. Sadly, I am one of the few who will admit this.

Can you say "waste - of - time"?

I read the first sentence and was like, "here's a real wise guy." You are imparting artificial attempts to try and convict the forum of personal conquests on thoughts and the logical behavior of them when dancing with THC. You are wasting your time, and unpracticed imagination. Well then I take that back, write all you want....on notepad...

so you can practice more

[Stedric]

He's just stating an opinion, at least he was polite about it.

[Frequency]

Stedrick is Mr. Cool

[GreenGaucho]

Way to use advanced words while trying to scrutinize me Frequency. I was offering my opinion and asking others theirs'. Honestly, since it was a "waste of time" I doubt you took the opportunity to even read what I had to say. Good job making wrong assumptions. Here's my advice, stop be a fucking troll, nobody thinks you're cool. From now on if you don't like something you see, then get the fuck out, because your opinion is shit now.

[Frequency]

haha... watch it there slick..I'm not your mother..don't yell at me like a bruised nut...

I just startin posting like two hours ago since like months ago... I'm not an active member... So I am almost certainly positive that not everyone on this forum knows who I am...

Do something constructive with that energy... like clean off that t-shirt you been wearing for two weeks straight.