For those who've tried it: Can you describe the horrors of smoking reefer?

[Philosoraptor]

When you smoked it, were you hooked? Was it a gateway drug that led you to the hard stuff? What living hell did you go through? How did you recover after it destroyed your life? Did you steal for it? Fight for it? Kill for it? Can you describe this menace worse than death?

What dire warning would you give to anyone considering trying this devil weed? How many years of hopeless addiction did you go through? How many years did you spend in prison? Were you tempted into debauchery and deviancy during your drug crazed abandon?

Is it true that reefer addiction is harder to kick than coffee? Do you ever crave it? How many lives have you seen torn asunder and devastated by it? Would you agree that reefer addiction is our nation's greatest threat, second only to terrorism?

Please relate how you fell under marijuana's wicked spell and how you clawed your way back to reality, and in so doing perhaps save generations the agony that you personally experienced from smoking this monstrous, vile weed.

Thank you for sharing.

[hobbit709]

1. You left out the "sarcasm" thingie.

[DS1]

3. Well. Like, that's just your opinion, man

[screembloodymurder]

248. Many of my friends came down with Reefer Madness in the 60's.

Merit Scholars turned to zombies in the span of a few short years. Whole vocabularies lapsed into "like wow" and "groovy". It was hell on earth and many a fine young man never returned from that first puff on the dragon weed. Take from me kid, don't inhale.

Bill Clinton

[GrantDem]

294. .

[natrat]

307. the dude

[deutsey]

309. Proof of the Ancient Origins of Dudeism...

http://dudespaper.com/proof-of-the-ancient-origins-of-d... /

How old is Dudeism? We here at the Church of the Latter-Day Dude have argued that it’s existed in one form or another since the dawn of human civilization. But today, finally, we have some hard evidence to support our theory.

Seems that they just found a huge stash of killer doobage in the 2700-year old tomb of an ancient Caucasian shaman in what today is modern China.

MORE...

[Bucky]

364. You left out the "I'm too dense to get sarcasm" thingie

I'm going to post the word "joke" here now, so that you know I was was joking. Because if I don't actually label a joke with the word "joke" on the joke, the joke isn't a joke.

JOKE
Now laugh, goddammit

[babylonsister]

2. Hahaha! Good luck with this one!

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Well, let's see.

The first time was really bad. After smoking it, we found out there were no cheeze doodles in the house and when the munchies came on, we ended up eating saltines and carrot sticks dipped in ranch dressing.

[Kahuna]

16. LOL! I used to keep a supply of Chips A Hoy cookies for my

pot smoking munchies.

[Bake]

159. What? No White Castles????

Holy crap, that's a nightmare!!

Bake

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. I've never indulged

but I've been at places where people have. And it is very interesting. Unlike bars where people get drunk and obnoxious (I've observed there, too, because I was a designated driver), people smoking don't get belligerent and don't do stupid things. Personally, I'd much rather ride in a car with someone under the influence of pot than under the influence of alcohol--and I've done both. The pot smokers are much better and safer drivers in my experience.

[Kahuna]

19. I used to love to drive when I smoked pot....

Yes. Smoking pot can make you do stupid things.

[ShortnFiery]

37. Important Notice - and what partly busted Al Gore's son ...

Well, don't drive stoned because it's REALLY DANGEROUS (DUI).

One Big Tell: Whenever I see some car drive by kind of slow and with their lights-off during the dead of night, my first thought is "POTHEAD!"

[Romulox]

174. Actually, their likely drunks---guys going 55 mph on the dot, who can't stay in their own lanes

[uncle ray]

179. many law enforcement officers seem to disagree about it being dangerous.

many times i've been pulled over with the odor of recently smoked weed in the car, always for equipment violations, no license plate light etc. NEVER have i been hauled in to the pokey in the interest of public safety. ONCE i was given a ticket for possession and paraphernalia, and allowed to drive off. most often, i've been told to have a nice day, and be careful. so it seems law enforcement doesn't see it as a great risk to public safety. that is not to say that one should be getting really ripped off pot while driving, that is not smart, but a light buzz, such as nursing a bowl, will not make the average smoker a worse driver. i can say in my case, it makes me a better, more tolerant driver who is much less likely to be bothered by others awful driving.

[riverdeep]

332. Consider yourself GODDAMN lucky.

I don't know where you live, but there are absolutely places in this country that will bust your ass for a gram of pot. That gram will then cost you $2000 or so in lawyers fees, and if you're lucky, you won't do time. Yes, I know people who this happened to.

Driving while high tip number premo uno: don't take anything you can't eat. If you must drive while high, and I really really don't recommend it, don't do 'couch hugger' weeed. Generally, the strains that make your body unwilling to respond and only want to sit on the couch (usually the indica strains produce this sensation, although it varies so much). Again, I personally can't see why you just can't wait, normal consciousness isn't something to run away from to me, but IF you're going to do it, at least do it so the rest of us, and you, don't suffer.

[uncle ray]

368. luck has a little to do with it.

i think my behavior has more to do with it. i'm not a stereotypical pothead. i don't think eating a bag of weed as a cop approaches the car is a good lead in to a successful police encounter. i've seen too many episodes of COPS where the cop asks the suspect, "what's in your mouth?" Busted! the police are most concerned about impairment, and i do my best to not BE impaired. speak politely to the cop, be coherent and have properly functioning motor skills, and the police won't see the need to remove you from the road, or even cite you.

[riverdeep]

379. Eating a bag of weed? Sounds like a Cheech and Chong movie.

No, they'll locate the residue anyway (unless you're eating the bag as well, I guess) if they decide to bring a dog out.

What I meant was take a small joint only, practice putting it out quickly, and if the time comes, that's what you eat. You can survive that easily enough without any strange effects. Smoke only with the windows down. Also, whether you're a smoker or not, keep a pack of cigarettes (opened, with some missing), smoke a few or have someone smoke them and keep the ashes (with some half-smoked ones)in your vehicle's ashtray. It makes your interrogator less suspicious as to why you have a lighter. As you smoke your toke, drop the ashes into a cup of black coffee with a little still in it. When you're done, toss the ashes/liquid out the window (it's biodegradable). It may be going overboard, but details can count.

Or you can refuse a search of your vehicle. As long as you don't keep a pipe or something out in the open (giving them probable cause to get a warrant), you might get away with it, you might not. It'll make for a long day though, and it's just better when there really is nothing there. There are those who argue this approach.

http://www.flexyourrights.org/traffic_stop_scenario

Of course, the bastards can always plant something and give you a beatdown in a holding cell for good measure. All hail the drug war!

[notadmblnd]

39. yeah, like stopping at green lights.

I caught myself doing that more than once.

[ShortnFiery]

48. Yes, and it's insane to even consider going over 30 mph ...

Like the silly commercial with an Elderly Couple: Wife driving and speedometer ticks above 25 mph when the Old Man shrieks out, "Slow Down You're Going Like A Bat Out Of Hell!"

Again, nobody should drive under the influence (DUI) for themselves and others. I drive SCARED and stone cold SOBER when I visit my mother in Phoenix. You have no idea how many elderly people are "driving while medicated."

Looking out for Elderly People Buzzed on their own Prescription Drugs - a true necessity ... and frightening in Phoenix, AZ, etc.

[DoctorMyEyes]

82. LOL!

Erring on the side of caution!

[OnyxCollie]

158. Even William S. Burroughs warned against smoking pot and driving. nt

[alfredo]

167. Not worse than driving over a suspension bridge while tripping on acid.

[SteppingRazor]

191. Do we really want to take his advice on what not to do on drugs? Maybe we should ask Mrs. Burroughs?

Oh, that's right. We can't. He blew her head off.

[yardwork]

200. Probably not because of marijuana, though.

[OnyxCollie]

218. I thought it was odd that he had felt so strongly about smoking and driving.

I can't remember what book it was in. Maybe "The Yage Letters."

And why not take advice about drugs from a hardcore drug abuser like WSB? Plus, if he were still alive, I doubt he would advocate shooting a glass off someone's head while on heroin.

[SteppingRazor]

226. Yeah, I was just havin' a little fun at Old Bull Lee's expense.

I mean, I think smoking and driving is probably less harmful than any number of driving and fill-in-your-drug-of-choice-here combos, but you're right. If you're going to take anyone's advice on drug use, might as well be Burroughs. Dude was a king-hell of an abuser.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

286. .

[sniffa]

257. Glad I only drive while rolling

It's the most wonderful experience.

[On the Road]

372. Although Richard Alpert

dropped acid and piloted a small plane. It's amazing he came back alive.

[Romulox]

173. Logic problem: isn't more likely that ALCOHOL made you drink and drive? nt

[madamesilverspurs]

192. Not just stupid.

I have a very dear friend who has struggled for years to break his weed habit. He has a small circular scar on his right temple; it's where the bullet entered to lodge between the scalp and the cranium. On hearing my friend's story, one idiot joked that "cool, smoking weed makes you bullet proof!" My friend verbally eviscerated the idiot.

[charlie]

32. Stoners are the guys doing 30 on the freeway

Even when you're baked, you worry about going to jail or killing somebody. High is a whole different animal than drunk, and it's a disservice that "intoxicated" is often used to describe both.

[Fumesucker]

76. Meh, that's only the amateurs..

Pros don't go under 45 on the interstate.

[Marr]

161. Pot smokers may drive slowly, but they have no idea where they're going.

Or more precisely, they know where they're going, but they don't know exactly where they are in their route. Once took me about four hours to get home from a friend's house that was 30 minutes from my own. You drive for a minute and then engage in this inner dialogue loop:

Where am I...?

I don't know...

Oh wait- I recognize that sign...

Yes I know where I am. I need to make a u-turn.

(1 minute of normal driving)

Where am I...?

(repeat)

[alfredo]

171. That must have been some good stuff. Best to stay home, listen to Miles

Davis and sipping a good Cabernet. Suggestions: " Jack Johnson", " On the Corner." Of course Portishead, Radio Head, Christian McBride, Charlie Hunter, or Lawrence Welk might be your thing. Stay home and don't do anything that demands you to kill your buzz.

[GoneOffShore]

253. No stupid things? How about eating a dozen Dunkin' Donuts at one time?

Doesn't that like, you know, like qualify?

[Hippo_Tron]

281. Pot certainly impairs your ability to drive but it's likely they cause few if any fatal crashes

The main reason that drunk driving can be so dangerous is because drunk drivers often drive recklessly at high speeds. The stoned guy or the drunk guy driving really slow are hazards but not on the same level that as the drunk guy who is going 80 on a 30 mph street.

[dysfunctional press]

304. i generally do not leave the house without my pipe and some weed for the ride.

even if i'm just running errands. especially if i'm just running errands.
wallet...keys...phone...weed...okay, let's go.

[Marrah_G]

6. Madness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[islandmkl]

7. the worst aspect of the whole pot-smoking thing:

fiery hot doritos with grape jelly...or unheated canned asparagus with a bowl of frosted flakes...

taste buds get higher than brain cells...

[SwampG8r]

329. cold spaghetti and peanut butter sandwiches

[meegbear]

8. I was a runaway pregnant teenage cheerleader prostitue ...

all because of the devil's weed. See my story next month on LifeTime -- check local listings.

[Divine Discontent]

12. see!!!

ha... at least you didn't become a full prostituTe, and instead, were the less dreaded prostitue.

good morning laugh, thanks! runaway cheerleader!

[meegbear]

70. See!! That vile root messed up my spelling abilities!!

Why was I sooooo dumb??1?!

[Divine Discontent]

74. LOL vile vile vile root!

have a good day-ze!

[meegbear]

96. You too!

[Oak2004]

327. Hey. there are some truly vile roots out there ;)

http://www.nakamalathome.com/buy_kava/home.php?cat=266

Utterly utterly vile. You make it, gulp it, and try not to gag.

At least that's true for the first cup. After the first one, the next one doesn't seem to bother one much. And the one after that, well...

Kava: one of those plants someone forgot to make illegal.

[malta blue]

9. I have a few extra pounds

[Divine Discontent]

10. well...

it's a fun tobacco, but I certainly hope no one would drive after smoking it, but they do - I've seen a car full of young adults blazed and red eyed get into a major accident - twice.

part of the reason I'm not for it being legal to people under 21 or 25, whatever people come up with as the best.

[Le Taz Hot]

11. In the interest of

saving generations the agony that I personally experienced from smoking this monstrous, vile weed, I will, of my own volition, furnish a reusable canvass bag into which those wishing to rid themselves of this menace can deposit said contraband.

[ShortnFiery]

27. ...

Alex, I'll take "Psychedelic Fantasy Afternoon" for $100.

[Kahuna]

13. No horrors. Just munchies and laughing at stupid stuff. It didn't lead

to the "hard stuff" for me.

[madrchsod]

14. hot flashes---

according to my wife pot is the only thing that does the trick....

[ShortnFiery]

40. Damn! And here I've been taking Black Cohosh and Soy Protein.

Bummer Man.

[Mabus]

152. Your wife would be right

And it is the main reason why I am without right now. I like to have it around to help with my arthritis but it was using it for hot flashes and the hormonally imbalanced-inspired crying sprees that made me run through my stash. And the most amazing thing is that it is so fast. If I have a hot flash all I have to do is light up and a few minutes later it is gone. In fact, it was my husband was the one who suggested I smoke a joint when I was in the midst of a days long crying jag and that's when I found out that pot not only stopped the crying jag but stopped the hot flashes as well.

I'm half American Indian and I have never sweated much except for when it was intentional at a sweat lodge ceremony. Even in the sweat lodge, the sweating is a whole lot different than what I've been having lately. This whole "breaking out in a sweat" stuff is new to me and I don't like it. I don't know how other people deal with it on an almost daily basis. My husband thinks it's funny that I'm finally finding out what it is like to perspire "like normal people". Although he still says I don't sweat very much at all it certainly feels like a lot to me.

[babydollhead]

197. accupuncture has many treatments for hot flashes.

[Mabus]

210. And if we had any money that would be an alternative I would look into

Each visit to an acupuncturist or other medical provider costs money. My husband's status at his job was recently changed from salaried employee to contract worker which means we no longer have health care. Actually, the company only paid his insurance. Insurance for me would have cost an additional $350/month, so I have been without health insurance for almost a year now. Add in transportation costs (gas or bus fare) and co-pays and that's money I don't have.

On the other hand, I can buy a bag of pot and it will cost between $85 and $100. That means I'm already saving at least $250 a month (not to mention any co-pays and follow-up visits). Smoking pot means I've got medicine that takes care of my hot flashes and other hormonal imbalances (loss of appetite, nausea, sleeping problems, etc.) and my arthritis for over a month. So, without health insurance, I'm doing what I can with what I can afford.

[babydollhead]

225. I agree.

[trumad]

15. The frying pan I beat my mom with looked really big...

[madokie]

17. Light up

and pass the bowl.

Having graduated from high school in '66 and never having heard the word marijuana I was blown away when I went into the Navy and they were showing me this film reefer madness over and over telling me how bad it was and all that and to say the least it caught my interest to the point that I just had to try some of that devil weed. So I did and well you can guess the rest of the story, it went up in smoke. I remember Dad telling me as I was headed out the door on my way to boot camp to not be taking cigarettes from strangers. I thought that was a strange thing to say to me.

Yes I grew up in a close knit small community with only 7 classmates up to and including the 7 grade then we moved and the number grew to 20 some. Graduated with 32 others, three or four was pregnant best I remember too.

[terrya]

18. It's easier to kick than alcohol.

That's for sure.

[Divine Discontent]

21. agreed. eom

[Celeborn Skywalker]

67. Yep.

To me, it's equivalent to food addiction. When you stop, you crave it, but you don't have any actual physcological or physical signs of withdrawal. At least that was my experience.

[Morning Dew]

20. I felt an unrelenting horror -

the feeling of unreality left me nearly unhinged.

My normal world had disappeared only to be replaced by a feeling that I was about to be crushed by some evil force over which I had no control.

There was fear, there was paranoia.

I never want to experience anything like it again.





Oh, wait...

I thought this was a Bush administration thread.

Never mind.

[ShortnFiery]

22. Well, if used alone (not laced with anything) marijuana makes *most* more sedate and less feisty.

They don't call it STONED for nothing!




*but I only know what others have told me.

[charlie]

23. I watched a friend devour a whole loaf of Roman Meal

when we got the munchies and it was the only thing in the house. Then he went outside and puked ORANGE.

Just say no. Live healthy.

[juno jones]

111. I think lard's a gateway drug

Use it once for cornbread, and next you're making biscuits and pie crusts out of it because the exquisite flavor and flaky texture is the devil's own lure.

Next thing you know, you're shunning all-american hydrogenated crisco subtitutes and scouring potentially dangerous neighborhood groceries for lard since they don't sell it grocery stores anymore.

When you get to the 50 pound box, you know you're hooked.

Edit to add: throw in munchies and you're just in a world of hurt. MMMM. Biscuits and gravy....

[ensho]

166. lol good one

nt

[juno jones]

182. Thanks! n/t

[jmowreader]

177. Maybe they don't sell it at grocery stores where YOU'RE from

but in Fayettenam, it's sold at every supermarket.

[juno jones]

181. I envy you your easy access to that modern-day crack

LARD!!!!

[Jamastiene]

231. Geez, I didn't know Fayettenam had that.

I should really stop and check out the local wares when I'm there instead of just driving through and hating the traffic and the smog.

[jmowreader]

272. Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Walmart all have it

Look in the shortening bay. It's usually on the bottom shelf.

[Jamastiene]

278. Cool.

Thanks for the tip.

[JVS]

350. I was in a English grocery store once looking at the different prices on butter.

Going down the row I see a way cheaper price on a tag and look up to see what this butter was. It was lard. Imagine the savings!

[Justpat]

196. LOL. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

250. The real addicts pour their leftover grease from frying in to a container and

save it for future use.

I remember my great grandparents had one such metal container kept on the range for just this purpose.

The only thing they didn't fry was water, but it probably wasn't from a lack of trying.

[juno jones]

371. My grandma did too.

Always the cast iron pan full of grease on the back of the stove.

It grossed me out as a kid, but years later, working in a cajun restaurant we saved bacon grease for flavoring in the hush puppies.

As for frying water, my grandma had one setting -fry. I'm just surprised she didn't try frying biscuits-oh yeah- she did. She poked holes in them and called them donuts.

[GoneOffShore]

254. In the same way that bacon is a gateway protein.

Cook bacon and all but the most hardcore vegan starts to twitch with hunger pangs. Their eyes get red and their palms itch. They'll watch you eat it like a dog watches you eat.

It's very cool.

[juno jones]

373. LOL!

I vegetarian I knew said that the hardest thing to quit was bacon. Not like she did, really. I contributed to her falling off the meat wagon dozens of times with bacon.

[Crazy Dave]

24. People get shot and killed only because it's illegal

Imagine, someone getting killed over a joint he tried to sell an undercover cop who pulls a gun on him and if the guy panics or runs or fights because he thinks he's being robbed and his life is in danger, he might get shot...over a stupid joint or dime bag.

[Smith_3]

25. Hallucinations and paranoia.

It induced a mild case of paranoid schizophrenia that had to be treated.

I don't think pot should be illegal but I do think that the pot advocates generally downplay the dangers of it.

[apocalypsehow]

44. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

"It induced a mild case of paranoid schizophrenia that had to be treated."<-----that's some funny shit you got right there. That act belongs on the road.

[Smith_3]

47. Not so funny actually.

You wouldn't be laughing if you had a clue.

[apocalypsehow]

51. Yeah, it's pretty fucking funny, alrighty.

Fairy tales told with a straight face usually are.

[Smith_3]

52. You obviously don't know what you are talking about. nt

[apocalypsehow]

58. Yeah, I'm deep in the grip of a "mild case of paranoid schizophrenia"

that's gonna have to be treated cuz I smoked a joint in college - oh, the horror!!!!!!11

[Smith_3]

63. Well, hardy because of one joint.

In my case it was heavy use over a period over about two years.

[apocalypsehow]

68. So far hitting every cylinder. Next up: the conversion story and the ten steps.

[snooper2]

134. Sorry, you got something else wrong with you...

Heavy use for about 15 years now... ( I guess wake-n-bake counts right )

Last thing that would ever happen is "a mild case of paranoid schizophrenia "

[mike_c]

325. 35 years here, my friend...

...and I'm a working scientist and educator. I toke daily. Over the years I've had numerous times when I get tired of it for a while and just leave the stash in the freezer for a few weeks or months-- try that sometime, alcohol addicts!-- but I'm a lifelong stoner who's quite happy with the herb.

Time to fill the bong, I do believe.

[riverdeep]

333. Not necessarily.

Drugs produce reactions in people based on their individual chemistry and experiences. Pot isn't for everyone. It doesn't mean it's 'bad', it just means it's not for everyone. I have unpleasant reactions from caffeine.

[acmavm]

349. OH please. You've got more serious problems than smoking weed.

[Smith_3]

54. here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_ (drug)#Health_issues

[apocalypsehow]

61. Blah, blah, blah. Take it up with the Church Lady, sport. n/t.

[Smith_3]

64. I am an atheist. nt

[apocalypsehow]

66. Yeah, and I'll bet you're a "lifelong Democrat" too, right?

Like I said above, this act belongs on the road.

[devilgrrl]

269. What a windbag that guy is.

Sounds like he was smoking catnip.

[apocalypsehow]

315. "Sounds like he was smoking catnip" - LOL! Yep.

[Occulus]

168. And you have a VERY nice profile.

[apocalypsehow]

318. I have a feeling it'll be "enabled" soon enough, when the delivery guy or gal comes a knocking...

[EOTE]

137. Here's what I see.

There MIGHT be some health risks associated with consuming cannabis via inhaled smoke. As of right now, there are no studies linking smoking marijuana with lung cancer, but in spite of that, there are still some researchers who think that smoked marijuana poses a greater risk than cigarettes for getting lung cancer. Because, gosh darnit, they've just got a hunch and their hunches are rarely wrong. However, there are studies that suggest that certain chemicals in marijuana actually have anti-carcinogenic properties. And, on top of all of this, nearly any perceived negative health effects of smoking marijuana can be null and void if you consume cannabis in a method other than smoking. So what I see here is a drug that is 100% safer than 99.9% of drugs offered by big pharma, yet we can't partake legally. You may have had a bad reaction, but for 99% of the rest of us, we can smoke, eat or inhale marijuana with no ill effects.

[12string]

184. pot and cancer

you are wrong,pot has actually been shown to help prevent lung cancer.go to jack herer's home page.you can find the 25 year long university study on it.

[EOTE]

186. I believe that marijuana has anti-carcinogenic properties.

So I'm not sure why you replied to me, I'm pretty sure we're in near agreement. I was referring to the wiki link that was posted and trying to discredit the poster's claims. Wiki suggests that some researchers think that there MIGHT be a link between cannabis and lung cancer, but none currently exists. So I was saying that those researchers are working on a 'hunch' which is basically worse than nothing.

[riverdeep]

337. Much of the ill effects of, if there are any, can be subsumed by vaporing.

Vaporizing is where is the cannabis is heated enough to heat the oils, but not the vegetable matter.

All kinds of vaporizers out there, the best is supposedly a device called the Vocano:

http://www.vaporstore.com/categories.php?cat=53

Here's a video of a medical marijuana user imibing:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-86148997740720...

You can also vaporize with bongs taking 'solar hits'. Essentially, it's taking a bong (or some other device) out on a sunny day, focusing a magnifying glass onto the bowl section, and heating more gently and without the fumes of a butane lighter.

[ShortnFiery]

57. It's a mild psychedelic. You'd either have to be smoking 24/7 or dropping some Acid on the side?

I know, I know, pot is much stronger than the 1970s but hell. You'd have to LOAD up. Or perhaps your joints were laced with PCP? or some other horrid stuff.

In and of itself, the active ingredient (THC) has been hijacked by drug companies so they can jack the price up ... The brand name is Marinol. Selfish bastards are USING the medicinal properties for financial gain but KEEPING it illegal to the general public.

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/ongoing/marinol.html

[Smith_3]

60. No LSD. No other lacings. Only pot.

I know for a fact. I tried again recently with some homegrown and it has that same effect on me still, which is why I stay away from it.

[apocalypsehow]

65. Uh-huh. That sig line of yours sure is apt.

[Mojorabbit]

97. I had a girlfriend

who would have an adverse reaction whenever she would smoke pot. Her heart would go into an abnormal rhythm (PAT)possibly due to an anxiety attack which would also present with some paranoia aspects. I think there is a small subset of the population that should not partake. Thank the Goddess I am not one of that population.

[timtom]

102. Is it remotely possibly that

Smith_3's body chemistry and metabolism might be different than yours?

Just taking a shot in the dark here.

[pipi_k]

132. Exactly...!!!

As I stated someplace below, lots of people I know who have panic disorder have experienced horrible effects from smoking pot.

It's not the pot itself...it's one of the ingredients...maybe the THC, but who knows...that affects a certain part of the brain and causes havoc.


I see others laughing at this idea and it's sad. Like, it's not possible for someone to be allergic to pot just like someone can be allergic to bee stings or peanuts or even cold weather? Yes...there are people who are allergic to cold weather.


I do hope that anyone still sitting there ridiculing another person because he had a bad reaction to something THEY are able to tolerate remember that what's pleasant for one person can be poison to someone else...

[Occulus]

170. COLD WEATHER IS NOT NOT NOT AN ALLERGEN

[yardwork]

204. Changes in air pressure or cold weather can cause respiratory distress in some people.

I don't know that it counts as an allergen but the symptoms are the same...

[Mabus]

219. I am allergic to the sun

And no, I'm not joking. I feel like a mole person or a vampire who is afraid of sunlight. I have actinic prurigo, an hereditary form of pmle (polymorphous light eruptions) that is more common among those with American Indian populations (I am half-American Indian). Every spring I have to harden off my skin slowly so I can spend time outside (try explaining that to fellow protesters who think you're slacking off or joking). Otherwise I have small, red bumps that itch like mad and appear most often on any skin exposed to sunlight but especially my face. Some years are worse than others and I have had years where I developed blisters and bleeding under the skin. There have been some years when I have little to no problems at all.

I wasn't diagnosed until a few years ago when I did some research on the internet and found the InteliHealth website (see excerpt below). I copied the information and took it to my doctor and after testing the diagnosis was confirmed. So, if someone says they are allergic to cold weather, I'm not going to dismiss it so quickly.

According to InteliHealth, which explains it better than I ever could:

A sun allergy is an immune system reaction to sunlight, most often, an itchy red rash. The most common locations include the "V" of the neck, the back of the hands, the outside surface of the arms and the lower legs. In rare cases, the skin reaction may be more severe, producing hives or small blisters that may even spread to skin in clothed areas.

Sun allergies are triggered by changes that occur in sun-exposed skin. It is not clear why the body develops this reaction. However, the immune system recognizes some components of the sun-altered skin as "foreign," and the body activates its immune defenses against them. This produces an allergic reaction that takes the form of a rash, tiny blisters or, rarely, some other type of skin eruption.

More at: http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/1071...

[Jamastiene]

235. I get blisters when I go in the Sun too.

I'm not as much as half Native American, but I do have a lot of Tuscarora in me. Those blisters are painful AND itchy at the same time for me. I get mine on my face and my arms.

[Mabus]

247. If you never knew the reason before

now you have an explanation. I can't tell you how many years I spent in complete misery without understanding why. I swear, when I tell people they think I'm making it up. PMLE and AP aren't fun.

[Jamastiene]

234. Tell the US Army that.

My cousin is an officer in the US Army and had to be re-stationed from Germany to a warmer place because he was allergic to the cold.

[Occulus]

339. Your cousin is NOT "allergic to the cold"

Sorry.

An allergic reaction is, put very simply, a case in which the immune system is reacting inappropriately to a foreign substance- a substance- that is nominally harmless. Think ragweed, or other grasses, or flowering trees.

These are biological substances the immune system wrongly but chronically regards as a threat.

Cold weather is not an allergen; thus, your cousin cannot possibly be "allergic" to cold weather.

It is not possible. Period.

[unapatriciated]

353. It is possible your cousin has raynaud's disease

one of it's triggers is cold weather two of my sisters have it and can not live in cold climates.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/raynaudsdisease.html

[pipi_k]

252. sorry, but it is...or at least it can cause reactions...

I have a sister whose hands turn white and get these big ugly lumps all over them when they're exposed to cold.

just like hives

so there's clearly something about the cold that triggers that reaction

[FloridaJudy]

302. Some people react to it as if it is

I had a friend who'd break out in hives on areas of her body exposed to cold. It's not common but it happens.

http://www.allergynursing.com/questions/cold_urticaria....

http://dermnetnz.org/reactions/cold-urticaria.html

In severe cases, people can actually die from cold-temperature induced allergy symptoms. I'd call that real enough.

[Duppers]

346. 'course not

but it can produce some allergy/asthmatic like reactions.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

290. There's a difference between panic disorders and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness.

I'm have bad trips, but they weren't "schizophrenia." They were bad trips.

[eridani]

What s/he's describing isn't very common--

--but it does occur. I've known a few people who get really weirded out to the point that they strictly abstain.

[apocalypsehow]

313. Nonsense - what's really "different" between "Smith_3" and me is something I can't state,

because the message would simply be deleted. The fact that you do not have the perceptional facilities to grasp that is a curiosity, to be sure, but not my problem.

Now, go snivel to someone else.

[timtom]

326. Oh, I see.

You have another agenda.

Sorry.

[ShortnFiery]

71. Well, perhaps you are representative of a small percentage allergic to THC?

Or have some other idiosyncratic reaction?

In general, the active ingredient in Marijuana is now being used in "a pill" for therapeutic purposes, i.e., Marinol. If it made the average person PSYCHOTIC, it wouldn't be used by the drug companies to *make filthy profits* when the natural weed would do just fine.

[Smith_3]

78. I know that my reaction to it is uncommon.

Most people I know who smoke it are doing fine. The ones that I do know that had some issues I highly suspect to have taken other stuff too. But I have never tried anything besides weed. I always thought of it as some sort of allergic reaction.

[Bluenorthwest]

108. You say you've never tried 'anything besides weed'

but elsewhere on the thread you say you drink. Here's news, both things can not be true. You tried smoking and drinkning.

[superduperfarleft]

110. Why are you so interested in this gotcha crap?

Several other people have mentioned "allergic" reactions to weed, why aren't you interrogating them?

Relax, I'm sure the poster didn't mean to hurt your poor little plant's feelings.

[Bluenorthwest]

117. Not gotcha, sorry

If a person is using two substance and does not mention one, they are not being honest. I know some folks have allergies or whatnot. But drinking is almost always hiddenn behind the horror stories, and yes, again, this person is not counting liquor as a drug, 'cause it is leagal, and compares it to chocolate. Ever seen the coco skid row? Me neither.
Your snark is pointless and rude. Just asking for facts, why do facts bother you so? What is wrong with honesty?

[superduperfarleft]

120. Facts don't bother me....

defensive potheads do when they refuse to believe that someone may very well have had a bad reaction to their precious plant (do you really think that asshole above is acting appropriately?). And I thought the poster made it pretty clear that there was nothing else involved, as did the mother of the bipolar daughter below. Are you going to grill her too?

[Bluenorthwest]

135. Can you read?

I say very clearly twice to that poster that I know some folks have poor tolerance. How is that refusing to believe anything? But the person also drinks hard liquor, and did not say until asked. The poster is being asked about the other drugs he used. And finally came clean about the drinking. "Of course I get drunk" he says, as if getting drunk were universal among adults. Not drinking. Getting drunk. And that is very vital to the discussion.

The poster in question is not getting bent out of shape like you are. He does not seem to think alchohol is a drug, but he seems to see my point. If I drank as he does, I'd be a wreck. If he smoked, he'd be a wreck. He came here to tell of his pot problems, and I asked about his drinking. And he drinks. I don't. I don't drink because it does not fit my body. Same as why he does not smoke, how odd! My whole point is that 99.9% of the time when I hear about issues 'with pot' the person is using liquor or other things, or has an ongoing imbalance. Being straight forward about all things is easy, and true. If this poster can not smoke, what the hell do I care? But I could tell the poster drank, so sue me, I asked. And I was right.

[superduperfarleft]

136. You don't drink?

Man, what a square.

[Bluenorthwest]

154. Yeah

Four corners.L7. What can I say? Don't like it.
But I am also not here announcing that I hate drinkers.
I am a square. A pot smoking square.
Is your point that I should drink or what? Do you have an objective here?

[TrogL]

178. Some people can't

[Smith_3]

121. I was "being honest". I just didn't mention things I considered irrelevant to the discussion.

Of course I had drinks sometimes during those days. I still have them. But my condition was not caused by "drinking and pot smoking". It was caused by pot smoking. Believe me.

[AngryAmish]

175. I'm Like A Chocoholic, But For Booze

<www.theonion.com/content/node/33296 >

[Smith_3]

113. Answer: the "other stuff" I was referring to meant "hard drugs".

I have never tried coke or LSD or shrooms or anything else.

I didn't mention alcohol, cigarettes or coffee and chocolate. I have tried those.

[pipi_k]

147. I took it to mean

that the person had never tried acid or speed or cocaine or heroin or anything like that...

[riverdeep]

338. Except people respond to more than just thc.

There are other cannabinoids that are also present, in addition to other chemicals. That's why different strains of pot make for different highs (in addition to the method of imbibing).

I'm guessing that a different method of imbibing, perhaps a different strain of weed and a more serene environment could have made for a less toxic reaction, but I trust that some people will just have certain reactions to things. Live and let live. It's not proper for him/her to make a blanket statement, but neither is it for proponents.

[dysfunctional press]

77. pot, like acid, can cause psychological affects to those already prone to such episodes...

it's not the pot, so much as it is you.

[Smith_3]

81. As long as I stay away from the weed, I do just fine.

The only episode I ever had was ten years ago, when I was smoking the hell out of weed.

[dysfunctional press]

85. and it's good that you've recognized it...

but since it doesn't have that kind of effect on the vast vast majority of users- it's more about you, than it is about the pot.

[Smith_3]

I suppose so. I did'nt say that I think it should be illegal.

I think an adult should decide for him/herself.

I know people who go totally nuts from drinking alcohol but do fine on pot. I can drink and it doesn't do anything.

[Bluenorthwest]

105. Ah!

So when you had 'issues' were you both drinking and smoking? Because that is not the same as just smoking. It simply is not. It is drinking and smoking. Have you been talking all this time about a dual substance thing, being presented as 'pot only'?
And you know, I have never met anyone who can drink and it does not do anything, although I have met many people who think that.
So were you a drinker and a smoker when you had issues?

[Smith_3]

112. By "not anything" I mean not anything extraordinary.

I get drunk of course. But I can sober up and go on with my life and not get into fights and shit while I'm drunk. Drinking every once in a while does not interfere with my life. Smoking pot would.

The effects I described were from "only pot". It occured of course that I was also drunk sometimes in these days but generally I was just smoking pot.

[Bluenorthwest]

124. Well then,

you should not smoke pot. But if I were you, I'd also take a look at your assumptions about drinking. You compare drinking with eating chocolate and you say 'I get drunk of course'. Why of course? Not everyone gets drunk, not even all who drink.

[Smith_3]

130. Not the point.

The point is that you are trying to invalidate my story about smoking pot. You are free not to believe it of course.

[Bluenorthwest]

142. No sir

not attempting to invalidate, attempting to contextualize. You see the use of the hard drug you drink as irrelevent. I do not agree, I think it is a factor, and it is clearly a drug. I do believe you. As I said, you probably should not smoke. Why would you if you don't like it? And you and I have the same exact view on the law, which is adults should be free.
I could not 'get drunk' or even drink lightly without suffering greatly. So I do know that what is for me might not be for the other guy. As you seem to as well. You are not saying I should not smoke. I'm not saying you should not drink. I am saying you should think of it as a drug, because it is. Just as pot is a drug. You are of course the only arbieter of what is good for you and what is not. As am I. It sounds to me like we have differing bodies. But understand that a drink everyonce in a while would slay me. I have a brandy and the next day is hell. No past drinking problems, no hatred for liquor. Just can not deal with it. Does not make me crave more or misbehave, it makes me feel like crap. Clearly, others have more fun with a cocktail than I do. I sure don't begrudge them that, and I am glad that you do not wish to see your needs imposed on others, just as I don't.
I was not intending to give you a hard time at all. When people talk about pot drama, I always ask about the details. And 99% of the time there is another drug or other factors. I always ask that.

[pipi_k]

123. The same thing happened to me on a number of occasions

Only pot. Nothing else was in it, I was told.

Really bad reactions. I mean bad.

But then, I've had panic disorder since I was ten, so it could have been some of the ingredients in pot itself that messed with certain brain cells and caused the nasty reactions...I know many people who have panic disorder who have said the same thing.

If I drank alcohol with it, the effects weren't nearly as horrible.


Anyway, I just never liked it all that much. Even being in the same room where others were smoking without smoking it myself didn't feel all that great...one time my friends found me sitting all by myself in a closet after being exposed to second hand smoke.

Oh well...

[EnviroBat]

146. Dude, don't worry about some of the assholes on this board.

I've know people who have suffered the same reaction. A good friend of mine will never touch it again because it caused similar effects till the point he thought he was having a heart attack. Just because other people toke up with no ill effects, doesn't mean everyone else has the same experience. I have the shit completely ruin a concert for me before, and I don't dig large crowds when stoned. Just remember, I never take advice or criticism from burnouts, and neither should you. If weed ain't your thing then it just isn't. No biggie.

[Caliman73]

243. Marijuana can be a disinhibitor

I would imagine that the underlying psychosis was there prior to use and the Marijuana use allowed the thought processes to come up unfettered. There haven't been any reliable studies to suggest the Marijuana causes or contributes directly to psychosis. If you had bad experiences while using it and no longer partake that's ok, but don't claim that it causes psychosis. I stopped after a brief time of occasional use because I didn't feel it was doing anything for me, but I can see why people like it.

[riverdeep]

340. Isn't that sort of like saying diabetics are 'off' somehow?

Sugar messes with their body chemistry although it's something most of us can take. It's an individual thing. Not everyone came into this life with the biochemistry to imbibe marijuana. Most have. Those that didn't, shouldn't be ridiculed (regardless of implied blanket statements they make). For them, it might very much have 'caused' a bad reaction. A reaction they otherwise wouldn't have had. I don't think they're defective, as such.

[leftchick]

87. I sort of think that is a myth

I unknowingly did some Thai Stick in a bong in the late seventies that knocked my socks of. And it lasted for hours.

[intheflow]

298. People who have a propensity toward clinical paranoia/some other forms of mental illness

can have problems with weed. It's unreasonable to think that any substance is 100% safe for 100% of the population (except, maybe, water). Not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic, not everyone who eats peanut butter goes into anaphylactic shock, and not everyone on the planet who smokes weed has the benign reaction that the vast majority of the population enjoys. I never believed it until I met someone who has this problem; like the poster you're responding to, she smokes copious amounts of very strong weed from sun-up to sundown, and her paranoia is truly scary in its scope.

I'm speaking as a former dealer (in my wild and woolly youth), and someone who is 100% in favor of legalization.

Edited b/c my spelling sucks.

[leftchick]

80. you are kidding right?

you got treated for smoking pot???

reminds me of the clip of the cop who called 911 after eating pot brownies with his wife and he thought he was dying!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IoCGpP1FSM

[Smith_3]

83. Well, I didn't smoke it only once.

It was more like a gradual developing condition over a time period of two years where I smoked it on a regular basis. I haven't smoked it since then (except those few times were I wanted to "see if it still does that") and I have been fine.

[Mabus]

88. One of my bipolar stepdaughters can't smoke pot

It has a tendency to trigger her psychotic delusions. We found out the hard way when some her friends got her high and take her to "Da Vinci's Code". Within a couple of days she took off. She was found by relatives three days later at a bus station and, after she pushed a cop, she ended up in the psych ward for the next month. I also have a cousin who tried pot to help with her depression and it either does nothing at all or causes her to become too introspective and more depressed. I understand what you're saying, not everyone can smoke pot.

[superduperfarleft]

95. Isn't it awesome when the uber-cool potheads laugh about it, too?

Reason #340545632 why I hate potheads.

[Mabus]

128. I'm a pot smoker and I'm not laughing

Everyone is different when it comes to ingesting foreign substances. I'm allergic to codeine and break out in horrible hives but I don't hate people who can take it for their problems. I've had people who think I claim to have an allergy to get harder drugs for pain and have laughed at me. That's their problem. Not mine. I recognize what I can and can't do.

Personally, I use pot to help with my arthritis. It helps ease the pain like no other legal substance I've found. I wish it were more widely available for that reason alone.

[superduperfarleft]

131. Nothing wrong with someone who smokes pot.

It's the big-P Potheads that annoy me.

And I agree, I wish those who need it for medicinal purposes had easier access to it.

[Mabus]

145. I misunderstood

Fortunately I don't know any big-P Potheads, at least not anymore. I knew some in high school and college. They've kind of fallen by the wayside and I lost track of them a long time ago.

One of my best friends in high school (and one of my first boyfriends) couldn't function with or without pot. He was the one who taught me how to hollow out my cigarettes and pack them with pot so we could smoke them at the school's smoking patio. It was all he lived for and the last time I saw him was the day he dropped out of high school and took off to California with some people he knew. I often wondered whatever happened to him.

[Bluenorthwest]

151. Gee.

Who's the big P Pothead? You thought this poster would be anti-ganja because of her daughter, but she is a patient herself, just as I am. I you think easier acess for patients would be good, you should think about acting accordingly.
You are charcterizing activists and advocates for our own health and the health of others in ways that would work counter to the goal of easier acess.

If you don't like it, go advocate against it. But namecalling should be put aside if you want to be taken seriously. So far you've made no point at all, but that you hate pot smokers.

What is your objective here?

[superduperfarleft]

155. I don't mind pot, I used to smoke fairly regularly.

It's the Potheads I hate, who act just like the assholes in this thread who mock people who don't share their love of the stupid plant or downplay the fact that there may very well be some negative health effects. You're confusing anti-pot (which I am not) with anti-Pothead (which I most definitely am), just like I hate drunken fratboys but I don't mind alcohol itself.

I don't care who does and who doesn't smoke, and I think it should be very legal and readily available to whomever wants it, for medicinal purposes or otherwise. I just hate the people who turn it into a lifestyle and think that the only thing that defines them is the fact that they sit on their ass listening to shitty music and getting high, or who drone on and on about how awesome pot is and about the time they ate a whole bag of cheetos was like OMG THE FUNNIEST THING EVAR!!!11, or who openly laugh at the people like the poster above who had a very adverse reaction to it. It's completely obnoxious, and since this is the internet, I can easily call people out on it as opposed to gritting my teeth and ignoring it.

You questioned the other guy's drinking, but what about you and the others here, who are so defensive and ready to unleash a barrage of rofl smilies on anyone who posts anything other than absolute praise of the plant? What about those who laugh about driving under the influence, or who proudly state that they do a wake-and-bake? (if the first thing you do in the morning is take a hit, that's not the behavior of a casual user)

[Bluenorthwest]

172. Characterizations are not useful

And I did not question the other guy's drinking. I questioned the fact that he was drinking and did not count that as a drug. It is a drug, just as pot is a drug. He and I shared a nice exchange. I asked about the drinking, because I always ask those who are volunteering drug experiences about the other drugs they were using. Upthread I asked someone if there was tobacco in the blunt that made them sick. Not out of judgment or out of defense, but out of curiosity. Same reason I asked about the drinking.
I did not call the guy a Drunk for drinking. Nor did I mock him or anyone else. But to claim that alcohol use is irrelevent is not something I agree with at all. And I said so. Alcohol is a drug. Legality does not alter that. If we are talking about drug use, the alcohol must be included. Otherwise it is like saying 'I had a winecooler and passed out for 48 hours' without mentioning the fistfull of pills the wine washed down.
I am not hear to judge or castigate adults for what they do. But I will ask for honesty and details, for my own use. I have no problem stating that pot smoking is not good for some people, none at all. Never have.
Look at the adjectives in your questions. You claim I am defensive and ready to unleash a barrage of blah blah for those who don't give praise? That is not supported by my writing. I do not speak for these others that you speak of. Certainly not without specifics. Certainly not via hearsay.
In closing I'll say that in general to each his own is the way. But to deny the power of any drug, be it pot or alcohol or caffine, is fool's work.

[martymar64]

255. The people you describe are merely assholes

They would be assholes whether they smoked weed or not.
I'm a pothead, but I don't laugh at others' health issues. It's called being compassionate and I see compassion much more from potheads than from alcoholics.
Get off your high horse. Your judgmental attitude says volumes more about you than any potheads.

[superduperfarleft]

267. It's not being judgmental, it's a completely subjective opinion

of mine that most potheads are annoying. If you don't fall into the rambling, crappy music-loving, burnout category, then don't take offense because it doesn't apply to you.

And if you're so concerned about high horses and being judgmental, why don't you lecture some of your stoner buddies that were mocking the guy who posted about developing psych issues when he smoked weed (or the ones that are bragging about driving under the influence, for that matter)? Or is it perfectly okay to pick on the "square" and drive while intoxicated as long as it's a "cool" substance?

[martymar64]

268. It's not my job to lecture aybody

I know plenty of people that don't smoke weed and I never give them grief for it, it is their choice and I respect them. I'm sure most potheads find you annoying too, I sure do.
As far as shitty music goes, I guess you hate Louis Armstrong, who smoked weed everyday and referred to it as his "assistant and friend". What do you consider good music, Toby Keith? Yanni? Britney Spears? The Osmond Brothers? If you don't like potheads, then take every CD you own and burn them because all of those artists were really fucking high when they wrote those songs.
As per driving while intoxicated, it's not OK under any substances. And as for the "square" characterization, you're calling yourself that, not me. I don't know you and from the schoolmarm attitude you're copping, I wouldn't want to.
If somebody is going to laugh at others' health issues, then they need to examine their own souls, that's not my job to be a scold. If you want to be a self-appointed scold and alienate those around you, that's your choice.

[superduperfarleft]

271. And yet you stopped to lecture me. I'm honored.

Sorry, I just react badly to bullies, which the subthread above was full of. I was just sticking up for the guy, it was the stoners who decided to start mocking him. It says quite a bit about you and the insincerity of your "examine their own souls" line that I offended you more than they did, so much so that you had to break your no-scold rule and reply.

And once again, anti-pothead doesn't mean anti-pot. You can smoke weed and not be an obnoxious douchebag. It's just the particular kind of obnoxious douchebag I was talking about also happens to be a pothead. Again, if you don't fall into that category, you have no reason to be offended.

Your accusation about the music I listen to is particularly laughable, not only because you're so far off base, but also because it drips with the exact same "dude, you're not as cool as me" attitude I was talking about. I could go all snotty indie hipster on you and start naming artists that you've never heard of, but I won't.

I'm off for a beer. Maybe it will expannnnd my minnnnnnnd woooo woooo woooo

[martymar64]

273. Bless your little hipster heart

I bet you'll be drinking alone.

Ciao.

[superduperfarleft]

275. Oh, burnnnnn!!!!!

Not really, but that was a surprisingly quick reaction for a stoner. Congrats on that.

P.S. Grateful Dead sucks.

[martymar64]

283. Whatever dude. Go bother somebody else.

Welcome to ignore.

[fascisthunter]

193. Um... how the hell would you know who was a "big-P Pothead" on this thread?

People don't believe you because they haven't experienced what you have. Does that make everyone who disagrees with you a "big-P Pothead"?

I do however, know somebody who had a panic-attack after smoking lot's of pot and that's because he had issues in his life at the time. Now, does this make me a "burn-out" or a "Big-P Pothead". Then you claim those who don't drink as being "squares", yet expect people to believe and respect your experience.

Everybody's body reacts differently to drugs....

[superduperfarleft]

208. #1: none of this was my experience, you're responding to the wrong person.

#2: I was defending the guy who people who chose to mock because he admitted to have negative experiences with pot.

#3: The being a "square" for not drinking was so obviously snark, and I can't believe so many people took it seriously.

[apocalypsehow]

320. Boo-hoo...hand me a Blue Moooooon. Boo-fuckin'-hoo....

You guys with your pitter-patter, weepy widdle tale of woe about your mean old treatment at the hands of "potheads" don't really think you're fooling anybody, do you?

Do you?

[superduperfarleft]

356. Hitler was a pothead. n/t

[EnviroBat]

148. Burnouts generally laugh about everything...

But they are "enlightened" so that makes them right...

[Forkboy]

240. Especially Levi's ads.

[Smith_3]

115. I hear ye.

I "took off" as well.

[Mabus]

141. I understand, all too well what you mean

Pot isn't a one-size fits all type of a drug. Some people can and some people can't. It's like alcohol. There are some people who have a few drinks and wake up the next morning feeling fine, there are some who experience hang-overs and then there are some that for whom a few drinks is only the beginning of changing their lives forever. With my stepdaughter, pot is absolute no-no. She doesn't metabolize well and it messes with her head. It makes her feel paranoid and it is all downhill from there.

On the other hand, there are people like me. In the beginning I used pot as way to feel better, to socialize and otherwise just feel good. I first got high with my older sister at a party in high school. We used it for fun and to have fun. Now, I use it recreationally and as a medicine. I use it to help overcome my innate shyness and to be sociable. I also use for pain management. I often wake up and feel as stiff as a board. I have arthritis in my spine and knees. I've had to have my husband carry me to the bathroom so I can relieve myself. When I smoke a joint and my whole body relaxes. It is a deep-down total relaxation. The pain either goes away or becomes manageable and then I can do normal, every day things like walk my dogs, mow the lawn or go grocery shopping. When I take the pharmaceuticals that the doctor prescribes I get an upset stomach, my thought processes become cloudy and I just don't feel like doing much of anything. Worse, the pain is still there. So I end up taking more pain meds and then I start getting depressed. I have think about suicide rather than living in pain.

Personally, I like to smoke a joint and go for a walk, read a book and just be normal. Smoking pot helps me both mentally and physically. Pharmaceuticals? Not so much. And to be honest, if it hadn't been for pot, I don't know if I could have dealt as well with my stepdaughter's mental illness as I have. Make no mistake about it, she has had a number of psychotic episodes that weren't triggered by pot. She's been having them since she was a small child. I can smoke pot and she can't. It's just that simple.

[yardwork]

205. I can confirm that pot causes negative reactions in some. Most things do.

Most substances have adverse effects on a small number of people. That's just a fact.

[yardwork]

203. Marijuana causes paranoia in some people but I don't think it causes schizophrenia.

Some people do have adverse reactions to pot. Never mind how I know this (koff koff) but I think it's a stretch to call that schizophrenia.

[Jamastiene]

238. You can get drug induced schizophrenia.

I've never heard of people getting it with pot, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I know people with crack/coke addiction can get drug induced schizophrenia. It does happen.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

280. Oh my GAWD

paranoid schizophrenia and hallucinations and bears, oh my.

If you experienced this while smoking weed you have a very unbalanced central nervous system.

Most people just get hungry, forget stuff and sleep. Really.

Maybe whatever you smoked was laced with angel dust.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

289. You didn't get schizophrenia from smoking weed

It would have happened regardless.

[asdjrocky]

322. Sorry, that has got to be, at best, mis-information.

Are you saying that is what your diagnosis reads?

[panader0]

26. Started in'64 when I was 14

was hooked immediately and have smoked daily since. I have a small construction company and we test for marijuana and if you don't have it in your system you are fired.

[Uben]

33. Can I sue you for that?

I think you are violating my civil rights!






/sarcasm

[enuegii]

35. Are you currently hiring?

[babydollhead]

198. our drug policy at work...

"What do you have?"

[Jamastiene]

239. Wow, to work for you would be amazing.

[Uben]

28. I was born a poor white child....

....in a small Texas town in the mid nineteen fifties.

My first experience with the devil weed was in 1970. I went to a party where there was a houka with about 6 hoses sucking on what was about an ounce of weed. Remember,pot was $10 an ounce, and not very good back then. After I hallucinated for about four days, I woke up on a sand bar somewhere on the Red RIver, my head was pounding, there was a decomposing alligator gar about a foot from my nose. I saw Jesus, joined a "free love" commune, and spent the next twenty years doing LSD and heroine.

As you might expect, I grew up to be a worthless, do nothing. I never finished college, and never had a job I care to brag about.

Unfortunately, somewhere in my late twenties, I started saving money and investing. I had to quit working at age 45 because I had accumulated too much money. The damned Clinton administrations boom years compounded my savings to the point I became a millionaire.
Now, I just sit around smoking weed, and watching C-SPAN.

Unless you want to suffer a fate as bad as mine, I suggest you stay away from weed. It'll ruin your life!

[readmoreoften]

256. One word: careful with the cookies and brownies. Even if they taste good, just eat one.

It takes about 4 hours if you have a slow metabolism for the THC to hit. Not that I have any experience with this subject.

[NoPasaran]

29. It made Country Joe & The Fish records seem listenable

Dreadful stuff

[DoctorMyEyes]

89. Too high to change the 8 track

listened to Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road repeatedly all day because I couldn't remember or didn't feel like changing it.

[davekriss]

160. Try 13th Floor Elevators...

...for the ultimate, but be sure to smoke a joint first (or, better, drop a tab). Some of their great songs, "Slip Inside This House", "Slide Machine", "Levitation", and "Pictures (Leave Your Body Behind)" -- the last song probably being the most "out there". I think Roky Ericson ended up on a psych ward for a while, but he did make interesting psychedelic music back in the time.

[Joe Fields]

301. You don't have to be stoned to like them, but it helps!

[GliderGuider]

30. The dreaded slippery slope

"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination."

Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859) British author and intellectual.

Based on my past experience, indulging in reefer likewise leads to procrastination. So, based on Monty Python's "witches weigh the same as a duck" logic, smoking pot must be identical to murder.

Ahhh, this is really good shit...

[northernlights]

31. it was all my friends' faults

they introduced me to it on our way to see 2001. I have no memory of munchies. I suspect there was an endless supply of buttered popcorn shoved under my nose.

I never did get addicted, which I don't understand. All I have to do is see 2001, tho, to get high. That, or moulin rouge.

On the other hand, I kicked coffee last spring. Fell off the wagon by midterms this fall, tho.

[ThomWV]

34. I smoked weed once and I've never been right about anything since - just ask my wife

The demon weed ruined my sorry ass and because there was no way back to sanity and industry for a person hooked on the green-menace I never tried.

[Mabus]

36. You would not believe what pot has made me do

And I'd like to tell you about it but I was laughing so hard that I forgot. I do remember something about coming up with a way to spread peace, love and understanding around the world. Next thing I knew we were getting deliveries from the Chinese, Italian, Indian and Middle East restaurants.

Then there was that other time when....what were we talking about?

[notadmblnd]

38. I started using when I was 15

the first few times I thought it was no big deal because I didn't have a noticeable reaction. Then one day, some friends and I were hanging out and decided to try it again. Well don't cha know, I got the giggles. Then the horror set in. My mother called and requested that I come home. I was in a panic, would she be able to tell? What would I say? I had to come up with a story. I decided to run all the way home. It was cold out and that would explain the flushed face and red eyes. When I entered the door of our house, I suddenly realized that my parents had left. I was in the clear! I realized I was famished. Certain that I would die if I didn't have something to eat immediately, I opened the refrigerator. There in the shelf sat a large bowl strawberry jello. Not even stopping to do the civilized thing and put the jello in another dish, I grabbed a spoon and devoured almost the entire bowl.

I continued to use the rest of my high school years. It was fun. Then I got in with a bad crowd, they were drinkers. they were constantly trying to get me to try alcohol. I had been told that marijuana would lead to harder, more addictive drugs. I must confess, I had tried alcohol once when I was trying to prevent my abusive step father from becoming violent (it always happened when he drank) by helping him drink his beer. I had never been as sick as I was the day after that little experiment. I declined my friends offers for the hard stuff. I graduated high school and was hired a a full time employee by the company I worked for.

I spent the next 28 years gainfully employed, purchasing a home, getting married and raising a family and generally being a productive member of society.

I know it sounds awful, so kids; don't do what I have done. The results could be horrendous.

[Shiver]

41. My freshman year in college, I actually did have a bad experience...

My suitemates and I had purchased a quantity of herb (read: I bought it, and was sharing) and rolled a large blunt, with the intention of sharing it among the six of us. As such, quite a bit was put in, even compensating for two of my friends and their ridiculously high levels of tolerance.

While waiting outside for the others, I ran into this girl I'd met a few weeks earlier. Remembering that she had said, rather coyly at the time, that if I ever had any she'd love to get high with me, I ditched my friends and went off with her. She was on her way home for the weekend, so we drove around in her car, completely demolishing a blunt intended for six people between the two of us.

I suppose I should mention here that I have a purposefully low tolerance. Very low.

She dropped me off back at the dorms, and I fell out of her car and onto the sidewalk, where I crawled to a nearby streetlight and curled up next to it, trying to force the world to return to it's correct axis. I don't know how long I was there, but my friend Pirate (who, oddly enough, was actually dressed like a pirate) found me. I must have managed to say something, because the next thing I knew I was upstairs on my floor. My face was red and I felt extremely hot, so Pirate took me into his suite (known as 'The Icebox', due to the big vent for the air conditioner being in their hallway) too cool off and come down. He then waved his hook hand goodbye and left for some party. I think.

I don't remember much of what happened next, except for the horrible nausea, pounding migraine and my feet attempting a coup against my liver, but I ended up lying on the floor in their suite lounge, unable to move and listening to the a Travel Channel program on the 'Country's Best Public Restrooms'. At one point I became terrified that the carpet was trying to eat me, and at another I traveled back in time two hours to watch myself fall down on the floor. I also at some mac 'n cheese that seemed to appear out of thin air, although in retrospect I assume someone took pity and brought it to me.

My suitemates would have been pissed about me ditching them, but judging by the way they laughed their asses off, they were able to get over it quick.

[Bluenorthwest]

101. One question...

maybe two. When you say 'blunt' do you mean blunt, ie, rolled with tobacco? And if so, do you use tobacco regularly? I will not drive the point home, but most reports of bad reactions to ganja wind up being about a mixture of things, like a few beers and a joint, or three cigs worth of tobacco wrapped up, inhaled and held in the lungs. If you used tobacco, and are not used to tobacco, the symptoms you report are not suprising at all.
Just a thought, 'cause you said 'blunt'. The term means many things to many people.

[Shiver]

104. Not sure. I didn't roll the blunt myself.

The blunt, as I recall somewhat hazily, was weed wrapped in a large cigar wrapper. I've smoked tobacco since I was 17, though, and was well-used to it by that time.

My belief has always been that I simply smoked way more than I could handle, and then smoked twice that. I skipped over the first five stages of high and plunged right into 'Transcendent Lovecraftian Thought'.

[Bluenorthwest]

114. Well

I'm against the mix. I also smoke cigs, but if I were to smoke a huge Euro style tobacco mixed joint or 'blunt' I would get ill. From the tobacco.
When I hear bad pot stories, I always look for the other substance, for it is almost always there. Not always, but usually. So I always ask.

[Shiver]

116. Understandable

It's possible there might have been something in it, and is another theory I've considered heavily.

[Bluenorthwest]

119. Thanks for being understanding

Just saying. Deeply inhaled and held tobacco is dreadful, even for smokers, with or without any other herb in the mix.

[Selatius]

190. I guess the only advice is you should roll it yourself. Never know what friends could put in there.

Gotta make sure you're not being spiked by something else in there.

[Shiver]

209. Never got the hang of rolling, to be honest.

I don't buy my own stuff that often - the reason I have the low tolerance is so that when someone shares with me, I don't require too much.

A friend of mine tried to show me how to roll once, but I spaced out so...

[Jamastiene]

241. You could probably learn the novice roll.

If you fold the paper as if you were folding a letter in three folds, then put a V shape at the ends of the fold, it holds the herb better, then you can roll easier. An ex-girlfriend of mine did it that way even though she was a heavy user at the time. She just preferred doing it that way.

[timtom]

236. Oh, yeah?

Didja ever drop acid an then smoke some of that Primo white-flecked opiated hash?

THAT'll make one see the devil.

Real quick.

But, I'm ok now (30 some odd years later).

[martymar64]

260. No, but I have seen people go catatonic on 10 drops of liquid.

I did too much acid once at a Dead show in Long Beach and ended up sitting in the same position in my car in the parking lot for 3 hours. I was able to talk but I had to struggle to keep the world from going away.
After that, I was much more careful and quit psychedelics completely about a dozen years ago. Way too intense for this old man.

[timtom]

274. I know of trips of such intensity.

I used to get into the autonomic system.

"Gee, what is it that makes me take that next brea...uh, oh...

[martymar64]

259. I'm with you on that count

My krauty friends would always roll it with tobacco and I would chastise them for ruining good weed like that. But then again, they got all huffy when "Sprockets" was on SNL. I love them, but the Germans have zero sense of humor.

[eridani]

297. Advice to all Americans in Europe. With pre-rolled joints, always ask for

--an AMERICAN joint. They'll know that you mean no tobacco.

[yardwork]

206. Cigar wrapper - that alone has a zillion nasty chemicals.

It's possible that there was something else in there as well.

It's also possible that you simply smoked way too much in too short a time period.

[Shiver]

212. Possibly both.

Hadn't considered the wrapper before...

Ah, the things we do to get in good with a cute girl who later turns out to be a hypocritical tramp...

[distantearlywarning]

375. A similar experience happened to me one time

I found out many years later that the guy who gave me the joint had laced it with PCP.

So maybe you weren't smoking just a little herb, if you know what I mean...

[Subdivisions]

42. Quit bogartin', dude. Pass that bong. n/t

[Lint Head]

43. It makes you a cereal killer. Look out Frosted Flakes.

[Uben]

50. I used to mix Frosted Flakes with pot.....

......it was GRRREEEEAATTTTTT!

[The_Commonist]

45. Um...

Wait, what were we talking about again?

[Recursion]

46. Well, to be fair...

...it actually did hook me up with the guys who got me into cocaine. So, yeah, it was a "gateway", just like alcohol was a gateway to it.

[apocalypsehow]

49. Every time I tried it and shared I got laid. So my life was a total fucking mess there for awhile

until I got my mind right. It's all good now.

[B Calm]

72. I've heard it makes you horny!

[kimmylavin]

93. Never heard of a "stoner boner?"

[LiberalEsto]

53. I never really liked the stuff

It made me feel stupid and confused. It took away my sense of focus in college. I had a horrible experience with hallucinations after once smoking some that was probably laced with pcp. And then I started getting sinus infections from the smoke. I gave it up decades ago. On the other hand I liked LSD a lot, but quit after watching my brother totally flip out on it 34 years ago.

My brother's constant use of weed destroyed any sense of ambition or drive he ever had. He never went to college, and barely finished high school. He has drifted from marginal job to marginal job, living in awful apartment dives with all kinds of skeezy roommates, messing with worse substances along the way. He's now in his 50s and still has the emotional maturity level of a 17-year-old, which is the age when he began getting high.

[elleng]

55. THANK YOU ALL!

What a pleasure!

Remember feeling your legs and arms weren't attached to you? Ah, those were the days!

[FraDon]

56. • "… buried with a lot of it."

I stand with this recently excavated Shaman.

A photograph of the graves whole cannabis sample as it is examined in a lab. The scientists are unsure if the marijuana was grown for more spiritual or medicinal purposes, but it's evident that the blue-eyed man was buried with a lot of it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/donshall/3091972693/

[progressoid]

59. Didn't do a thing for me.

Maybe I just didn't get the good stuff.

Or, maybe I'm already fucked up.

[AngryAmish]

62. Not for me

Mostly put me to sleep. Last time I smoked (13 or 14 years ago) I did not appreciate the time dilation effect (1 minute seems to last ten) and I threw up (but I was also drinking a lot).

Anyway, the stuff is not for me. But it should be legal.

[Fumesucker]

91. You get old enough and the time dilation effect is actually rather nice..

By the time you get to late fifties years are going by like weeks did when you were fifteen, it's kind of nice to slow that inevitable tick tock of time down a bit every now and then.

[leftchick]

69. oooh it was HORRIBLE!

I gained twenty pounds from a constant over indulgence in Cheetos while never straying far from MTV.

[Jamastiene]

244. Was that back when MTV actually played music videos?

If so, I was your counterpart in my area.

[leftchick]

251. omg yes

back with the original four VJs when it actually seemed so fucking cool when you were stoned. "Video Killed the Radio Star"! lol!

Remember this bunch?




I will never forget the launch of MTV. Looking back it actually was very innovation for the time.

[martymar64]

261. I remember all of them!

I used to have the hots for Nina Blackwood. I was 18 when MTV started.
Jeez, now I'm really dating myself.

[Jamastiene]

277. Let's see if I can remember without looking them up:

JJ Jackson
Nina Blackwood
Mark Goodman
Martha Quinn
Alan...Aaaah, I can't remember his last name.

I had a crush on Nina Blackwood for the longest time, then I had one on Martha Quinn later.

[dysfunctional press]

73. i've been smoking it daily for over 30 years now..

i burn through about an ounce/week- and that's just me, my wife doesn't smoke, and neither do my friends.

but- i don't drink ANY alcohol, i've NEVER used tobacco, and in my entire life i've had exactly 3 small sips of coffee- i can't stand the swill.

[MineralMan]

75. I was a daily smoker

back between about 1970 and 1974. Then, the price got just too high, so I stopped buying the stuff. No withdrawal. Nothing. No big deal.

But, it was "far out" for a few years.

Funniest thing I remember was following the little beeping sound on some Moody Blues track, as it went around the room. Second funniest was a Cheech and Chong performance, where Blind Melon Chittlin' fell off the stage.

[endarkenment]

79. birdcage mouth

if you've experienced the trauma of birdcage mouth you are most likely damaged and scarred for life.

[distantearlywarning]

84. At best it was kind of relaxing

At worst it made me a bit paranoid.

I thought it was less problematic in a variety of ways than alcohol.

While stoned, I spent a lot of time watching Beevis & Butthead on MTV and eating Cheetos. While this was probably not the most productive type of activity I could have been engaging in during my early twenties, it certainly didn't lead to total ruin or anything. I didn't find it addictive either mentally or physically and was very easily able to quit cold turkey in my mid-twenties when I decided one day that I was tired of being paranoid while stoned. Quitting smoking cigarettes was about 100 times harder than quitting pot, and losing weight has been a battle of truly epic proportions (so I guess you could say the only thing I regret about my pot smoking days are all the Cheetos...LOL!)

The biggest pot head I knew in college got her Ph.D. two years ago and is a now very successful classical musician, happily married, and a great mom. The only problem she ever had related to pot as far as I can tell is the time she got busted for possession and had to pay a fine and got a misdemeanor on her record. In other words, her problem with the stuff was that it was (unfairly) illegal.

I myself am also working on a Ph.D., a homeowner, very happily married, have a large circle of friends, and so forth. I vote, typically drive the speed limit, and currently indulge in NO substances whatsoever including alcohol and caffeine. In fact, I'm more of a girl scout than either of my two Mormon friends.

So, anecdotally speaking, I have to say that I think that smoking pot eventually leads to abstinence, good citizenship, and the procurement of higher education levels.

[rcrush]

86. I smoke daily

I've gotten a little fat.


But I dont drink alcohol and I stopped smoking tobacco.

[KG]

90. i forgot.

[superduperfarleft]

92. I like pot, but I absolutely hate potheads.

They listen to shitty music and will drone on and on about how great their crappy music is (and if you point out that it's crap, they insist that "you just don't get it"), and they all seem to develop this obnoxious I'm-so-much-cooler-than-you-because-I-smoke attitude which this thread is rife with.

Yes, yes, you're really sticking it to the man by telling that oh-so-funny story about eating an entire bag of cheetos (or one of its unfunny variations) a million fucking times.

Newsflash: it's an enjoyable drug, not a lifestyle.

[DainBramaged]

94. Are the Oreos gone, hey man you could have saved me one.

[NashVegas]

98. Best Things That Ever Happened to Me

Were the friendships I made over a bowl or a joint. Nothing creates a bonding opportunity like the threat of arrest.

I don't do it any more though. Too old for that shit. If you're going to make it legal, make it legal for people under 25 only.

[Jennicut]

99. All it did is give me the munchies back in college

I was 21 so yeah, I smoked a bit. It calms your nerves when you have finals but it made me cough a lot and I was hungry all the time so I quit. That was 11 years ago.

[Ganja Ninja]

100. It's like your drifting, trapped in a world without time where ...

colors collide and shadows explode. But this is no fantasy dream world. This is the real life everyday world of a pothead.

[YOY]

103. I can tell you all about the horrors of quitting and my advice to those who want to kick the habit:

Stop smoking it. Pretty easy really.

It's about the easiest "addictive substance" to kick that I have ever seen. I considered the "addiction" to be about as much as a willing lifestyle change. You just have to want to live differently (or to force yourself.)

No shakes. No irritability. No side effects. You just stop smoking it.

[kwassa]

106. I don't like it.

Makes me paranoid, which is not my idea of fun.

Did it back in the day, but the day is long gone.

[MuseRider]

107. Damned evil weed

has ruined almost every day of my life since around 1969.

[youthere]

109. I pondered the scrolls in the wallpaper pattern for about 2 hours...

just basking in the beauty of their "swoopiness" and ate a giant bag of sour cream and onion potato chips with cool whip. It was a nightmare I tell you. One time I tried to make out with my KISS poster.

[Gman2]

118. YoU GuyS BettEr waKEUp!!!!!!!!!

There is no point to not driving stoned. You are tested for drugs if you kill someone etc. There is no real test for stoned on pot presently. You WILL be charged with murder etc. That is why my cannabis doc gives a prescription for marinol. Get two tabs, and keep the bottle. If you are in an accident, you tell them you took the tabs. They cannot prove otherwise. There is no other way to prevail, innocent or guilty. I have heart failure, given me by george bush, not telling usall that BPA causes heart disease and diabetes. I am a moldmaker{plastic}. I lost my voice, and stayed up for three months. I could not sleep, cuz I needed to stay straight up to breathe. My lungs are filled with liquid. I was drowning. I was going to die. I was ready. Then, the meds started to allow my heart to relax a little. Then, finally, I used cannabis, as a patient. My voice returned, I am capable of sleeping in any position. I went from immaciated, to fifty pounds lighter, and as muscular as I ever was, including highschool, almost. Strangely and fortunately, I never got the munchies, when I did it strictly for kicks. Because, I would die, if my absolutely necessary med caused me to balloon. If I dont do cannabis, I will die. AnD FOxNeWs immediately started their smear campaign, with footage of bums getting stoned legally, in san fran. I hate the fucking fascist repugs. Evil.

[randr]

122. First off, for the uninformed

There is a great deal of difference in strains of the herb. While one type will be a physical experience-great for sex, another will be more cerebral-great for listening to music.
The majority of pot sold on the street is of low quality and generally only makes you stupid.
With the evolution of the medical strains we now have pot that is specific for all that ails ya.
Now my confession. I have smoked pot most of my life. I am now in my sixties and do not see any reason I will not be smoking or ingesting the herb in some manner. My usage has varied from wake and bake all day high to maybe once a month use. Never have I, or any of my friends, experienced what would be described as withdrawal.
I have lived in a community that is rather tolerant, at least the group of people I associate with, not a small crowd. We play baseball, basketball, ski, river raft, dine, and dance as often as possible and for many years as high as possible. As our collective recreational time has moved us into more professional and family oriented responsibilities we have all slowly lessened our usage and up our requirements for quality.
As of now I will have a small toke if I have had a stressful or physical day, immediate relief of muscle aches, a toke or two with friends at concerts or dinning, and a toke or more when skiing or on a river trip.
Enjoy your life as you see fit, but beware of the brain washing machine that would deny you pleasure.
After all, one of our inalienable rights is the "pursuit of pleasure".

[Gman2]

129. It aint as much the strain, or type of cannabis, it is

more the manner in which it is grown, and the stage that it is harvested, and in particular, how freshly it arrives at its overjoyed owners possession. The trichomes, while still white or clear, get you an up high. Poorly treated, old, slow transporting, harshly treated cannabis, will have a significant portion of it's active delta 9 THC, broken down into CBN. CBN is what is referred{pun intended} to as couch lock. Sativa not only has more THC, but a far more portion is not CBN. Indica is more dense, and lots of CBN. Sativa is huge, so you will not get it from indoors. Indica can be cerebral, if you early harvest. Even slightly, but for non patients, that is academic. You are at the mercy of ? Also, there is the modern effect of inddors. The light, reaching the plants is very focussed in the blue spectrum, then red purple. But you dont get UV B. Like God intended. This is presently debated, as to it's theorized effect.

[randr]

133. I am one who subscribes to the theory that the herb is evolving for our use.

[Gman2]

149. Over time, that is true. But your next bag aint feelin it.

Almost as important as how the farmer and mule treated it, is how YOU treat it.

[EnviroBat]

150. I wish I could use it recreationally like that.

I admire people who can, and I envy the enhanced experiences they seem to enjoy. Unfortunately for me, it causes me to become introverted, and a little wigged out when there are lots of people and stimuli. I can go into the recording studio with a couple of friends, toke up, and have a great time. But I get in a crowd, and I want to remove myself from the situation.

[juno jones]

125. All I know is

I was clinically depressed. VERY depressed thru high school. I have been on tricyclics, etc back in the day. I stopped taking them because they put me to sleep. Supposedly they would make you sleepy for a week or two then you'd adjust. After a couple of months of somnambulance, I quit trying and started giving the pills to friends who claimed they got off on the stuff (I know I'm going to hell for that).

As a 17-year-old senior, I tried pot. At 18 I began smoking it daily. I have had no problems with depression or suicidal thoughts since. I also use it for menstrual/menopausal issues and chronic pain relief. And it makes me laugh.

Completely anecdotal, but that's my experience with the evil weed. Munchies are far more forgiving than tardive dyskinesia.

edit to add, I miss sativa. You could work all day on that stuff. Indica has become the norm where I live and I can only smoke now when I have nothing to do after because I get too spacey.

[RobinA]

126. Made Me Eat Vending Machine

cheesburgers in college - and like them.

Smoked more than once a day at one time, but discovered it was a waste. Just made me feel dull. Had to endure the horror of laughing until I couldn't get my breath. Forgot a whole Kansas concert one time, which could be good or bad depending on how you feel about Kansas. Generally led to a lot of fun times with friends, and who needs that.

[Richard D]

127. It was a gateway drug for me

From reefer to coffee. Still hooked on it to this day.

[Ellen Forradalom]

138. It was a gateway drug to silence, then sleep.

The wacky weed doesn't do much for me

[pleah]

139. Oh, the horror!

Being happy and calm, it was a horrible experience!

[EnviroBat]

140. There have been times after one or two hits of "Wheel-chair" weed,

that I felt too retarded to function. I couldn't recognize simple shapes or letters. I remember driving down a country road one night and up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light. My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim. I had to stop for the, no, wait. What was the question again?

Seriously though, really stoned people behind the wheel are every bit as dangerous as a drunk driver. I hallucinated on night on my way home. I was driving down some road in the middle of nowhere and thought there was a train crossing he road up ahead of me. I thought, "Shit, there's no crossing lights or gates"! I slammed on the brakes, and almost lost control of the car. There was no train. After that, I thought there were deer bounding across the road every hundred yards or so. That was a long, scary drive home.

There have been a few times up on stage with a band that I forget I'm playing the music. I start listening to it thinking, "Wow man, this sounds cool..." Then I have to snap back into reality and remember what notes to play.

[opihimoimoi]

143. MATTTTT,,,,the questions ya ask.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOeQUg2gewM

Up in smoke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEpUGKoe1l4&feature=rela...
part 2

[Mari333]

144. made me eat too much, made me paranoid. n/t

[EstimatedProphet]

153. Jesus dude. Spark a spliff and chill.

[City of Mills]

216. Do you know...

I finally saw Lord of the Rings recently and your avatar makes sense to me now! After who knows how long...

[EstimatedProphet]

221. .

[lies and propaganda]

156. best.thread.ever...

passes bong..

[Hubert Flottz]

157. I'm high on the real things...

A clean windshield, powerful gasoline and a shoe shine.

[davekriss]

162. Breaking: Marijuana is a gateway....

...to peace, love, and understanding. It leads to higher levels of empathy, compassion, and thoughtfulness! We just can't have that in America!!

[TrogL]

163. One of the worst experiences of my life - for a specific reason

I had tried pot a number of times and gotten absolutely no effect. The problem was, I'm a singer and found the smoke really hard on my throat and lungs and hence didn't inhale and hence didn't get the full effect.

My partner at the time found some really mind stuff and had me use a bong with something (menthol?) in it to sooth my throat and I was able to get a bit.

I have Asperger's and one of my particular side effects is that I have "touch" issues related to fabrics and textures. The pot threw everything out of whack causing a "body stone" where everything was amplified, which drove me practically to a panic attack. Bystanders noticed the problem and found me a safe, quiet place to lie down in the sun (we were at a nudist retreat) to sleep it off.

I'll never touch the stuff again.

[guitar man]

164. I had a bad experience last week

Mind you, for what I paid, I wasn't expecting super primo hydro, but thiat shit was pure bunk, it wouldn't get a fly high.

[alfredo]

165. I have to inject it into my eyeball, seeds stems and all.

[ensho]

169. Mary Jane has been a long time friend

she will get you through almost anything

[OnyxCollie]

176. Weed has nothing on salvia divinorum.

My friend had given me a bowl of the 10x stuff to smoke. Absolutely terrifying. I felt like I was disintegrating into nothingness. But there was more. It felt like what we experience as "reality" was just a cruel joke played upon us by our own nervous systems. It was like stepping out of the Matrix and seeing things as they really are. My friends and I all had similar experiences.

I taped it and watched it later. At one point I had screamed, "Jesus!" and "This is scary!"

One more thing: All of us felt like there was some "thing", some malevolent force, there on the other side.

I'm convinced this is what it is like to experience death and non-existence. (Look up Zeno's paradox and think about how it would apply to moving from the stage of life to death.) It really fucked me up. I felt "broken" for months. Strangely enough, I felt fortunate to have experienced something so far beyond anything I had ever experienced, either in "reality" or under the influence of weed, shrooms, or LSD. Salvia is still legal in most states, but won't be for long. I'd be pissed to have some legislator who has never experienced it (but who likes martini lunches), decide that I shouldn't have it.

On edit: That said, I'm not sure I'd ever want to do it again.

[skooooo]

195. Didn't have any bad experiences with SD, but..

...it takes entirely too much energy to deal with, so it doesn't appeal to me. I did it about 3 times.

[martymar64]

264. I've tried Salvia a few times

It's definitely not a party drug. It's extremely weird, I kept feeling like others were in the room when I was alone and I kept feeling myself pulled to the left and light from my computer monitor spilled out on to my desk like translucent gel.
Very weird, intense shit.

[OnyxCollie]

314. I felt pulled to the left as well.

So did my girlfriend. I think it has to do with what hemisphere of the brain is affected.

[JVS]

354. I think it depends on which way aour head droops when you lose balance and can't hold it up

I've felt pulled to the left, right, and even up when I leaned back. Once I also moved left following my head and ended up kind of doing a slow motion summersault on the end of the couch. It was only when my sitter started making weird laughs to fuck with my head that I looked back to see what that was and starter trying to mutter curse words at him. Good times

[BuddhaGirl]

288. I tried Salvia - really liked it

I very much enjoyed the experience of "no time" - very peaceful, no fear, not a thought in my head.

After a little while, everything starts creeping back in...what a difference!

[Ex Lurker]

331. I smoked in college twenty-some years ago

I drank more than smoked, but I'd smoke some weed 2-3 times a month. Sometimes it was very pleasant, others not so much. I remember getting really paranoid a few times. Not that the cops were about to bust in on me or anything, more like, "I should be studying and I'm going to flunk out." I haven't smoked any in years and have no desire to, but I think it should be legal.

[JVS]

352. That shit is hillarious.

It's like you're falling in a black hole. lulz

[Doctor_J]

180. Watch "Reefer Madness" next time it's on TCM Underground

late Friday night. You will never want to use.

[Retrograde]

183. You can burn your fingers if you're not careful lighting up

you get the munchies, which can be bad for your nutrition if all that's available is junk, and the worst: you can get arrested, convicted and spend a lot of time in prison for what should be a non-offense.

I never was a heavy user, haven't had any at all in over 25 years and probably wouldn't even if it became legal tomorrow (lung issues), but at the right time with the right people it can be a fun recreational substance.

BTW, did you know that 100% of all drug users started out on milk?

[Selatius]

185. I smoked weed. Then I went insane and destroyed my life.

If weed were a hot woman, I wouldn't sleep with her, man. She's bad news.



Seriously, having played with Mary Jane, I can't say it's any worse than smoking cigarettes. I mean, at least the THC in weed has a retarding effect on cancerous cells. Nicotine doesn't.

[ThomWV]

187. Really? I went insane and destroyed my life, and then smoked weed. Shit got better.

[Selatius]

194. "Shit got better" is my experience with Mary Jane.

Seriously, if weed were a woman, though, we'd go all night. It's appropriate it has Mary Jane as one of its names.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

188. My take...........

I've smoked pot, on and off, for the past 20 yrs. Here are the downsides as I experienced them:

1) Smoking is bad. No matter what you smoke, its going to gum up your lungs and limit respiration. Also, when you set organic matter alight, you create volatile compounds that can harm your airway and body. Solution: Vaporizer. By vaporizing, the weed is heated only enough to vaporize the THC and not burn the vegetable material, hence no burning.

2) It never made me paranoid as much as it accentuated my normal introversion. Most of my friends who smoke get motor-mouth when they get stoned, so even then, I was alone in a crowd. Solution: Find other people to get stoned with who may be more respectful conversationalists.

3) No money. Not in the respect that pot took all my money that would normally be allocated to bills and the stuff of life, but no money in that pot is so expensive now that I never have any money to buy any. Hence big stretches of time of going without. Try doing that w/ smokes or coffee.

4) And now the biggest downside: Living in a country where its stupidly illegal. A Zogby poll taken in 2006, showed that nearly half of all Americans polled believe that marijuana should be legal and regulated like alcohol. An in 2002, that number was even higher at 61%, and that 47% of Americans thought that alcohol was the most dangerous drug out there.

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6838
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5349

But here's where the rubber meets the road (and where I get on my soapbox): If this previous election taught us anything its that if we make our voices loud enough, we can move mountains. If we truly want pot to be legal and regulated in this country we have to get over our fears and speak the fuck up. While I don't think President-elect Obama will legalize, the door may be open enough to get our foot in for those who want legal pot.

[martymar64]

266. My worst pot experience

I was smoking a very tiny roach without a clip and sucked it into the back of my throat. I felt like I had a blister back there for about three days from the burn.
Ouch!

[Dr. Strange]

189. I think this video describes it well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBsxqQIu_5s

[yardwork]

199. Alcohol is the number one gateway drug.

[Radical Activist]

201. Very infrequent user.

Never a regular user. Never addicted. Its a much preferable drug to alcohol and cigarettes in terms of buzz, addictive qualities and health impacts.

[onenote]

202. it was horrible

I was nearly forced into a life of crime in order to support my related addiction to twinkies and ho-hos, and to also pay for the gallon of murine I was using every week to get the red out of my eyes. Plus, I couldn't stop tying plastic bags into knots and setting them on fire.

[City of Mills]

207. It may become lame after awhile!

If you smoke frequently enough, you end up smoking and not really appreciating or feeling the high. Once your tolerance is at this level, you're really just smoking out of habit. Sometimes it helps to take time off to drop your tolerance.

After about 10 years of frequent smoking (frequent, I mean really frequent, maybe 5-6 times/week, 2x per day), something changed for me. I'd smoke, and it felt like I had a thick elastic band around my chest and lungs. I didn't enjoy that feeling too much. Still tried to smoke a few times after (different 'strains' too, wasn't just one bad batch) - same thing. And just like that, I lost all interest in the ritual. I changed up my routine and spent more time outside doing stuff. It was easy to quit, no withdrawals. I tried quitting before but living with someone who enjoys it not just as a hobby but a sacrament, it became impossible. Once I split with that individual, it was much easier to do so. Now I don't know how I spent so much time stupid and munchy. I'm so busy with other stuff! But it's a good thing, I guess I'm in a different place in my life right now.

Marijuana can be tough to kick for people who tend to attach to things, whether it's buying scratch tickets, having a glass of wine every day, etc. Some people have addictive personalities, and will rationalize and justify their use as long as possible. I wouldn't recommend anyone with that type of personality indulge in MJ, you will just end up smoking to maintain the ritual or habit and it gets expensive. Other than that it can be fun, I may partake again someday but really have zero desire to do so at this point.

[City of Mills]

211. Almost forgot: Pot tits

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=pot+tits&...

[ensho]

362. pot didn't give them tits - hormones in food/water did/does

nt

[Deep13]

213. You know, I'm not sure it has even killed anyone.

For the record, I have never tried it. This is because I have always been mortified by the prospect of a criminal record and my distrust of a product from an illegal source. (I realize now that one can just look at it to see if it is as advertised.)

My understanding is that it is not physically addictive like cocaine, heroin, alcohol or nicotine. People who are high are generally too lazy to commit crimes or otherwise to get into trouble. Some people who use it also use other, worse drugs, but that is probably because they are already willing to break the law in order to try new things. People who use it a lot can become delusional. Also smoking ones own weight in grass over a long time can cause a person to become psychotic. I am aware of one example of a man who developed paranoid psychosis and shot a cop (he lived) because of heavy cannibis use over several months after years of regular, recreational use. (I know because I helped prosecute him for the assault.)

On the other hand, it shows real promise for alleviating debilitating symptoms of some diseases and the side effects of their treatments.

[Karenina]

214. Uh... What was the question again?

[Soylent Brice]

215. hmmmmmm.....

i can't remember any.

[Fireweed247]

217. There was that time the three of us ate an entire batch of brownies half baked

because we could wait for them to finish cooking.


The number of health problems that it heals makes it a crime that it is illegal, and makes me suspicious as to who is keeping it illegal.

The laughter alone could heal many marriages.

[TexasObserver]

220. It's a gateway drug ... to Twinkies.

allegedly

I once heard a real horror story about a guy who smoked too much and fell asleep on a friend's couch. An airplane crashed into the house and killed the guy. Obviously, drugs kill.

[Witchy_Dem]

223. Twinkies! *snort* or a whole box of Ho-Ho's!!!!

[carlyhippy]

228. One time I ended up eating a box of snack crackers that were a year out of date

they were good, too.....at least they weren't dog snacks....

[Witchy_Dem]

229. Yeah but dog snacks dipped in cheese......

[TexasObserver]

242. mmmmm, HO HOs. with vanilla ice cream.

[Witchy_Dem]

245. Oh that is baaaaaaaad!

[screembloodymurder]

249. Yes, and Captain Crunch.

Leader of the munchies.

[TexasObserver]

262. mmmm, cereal. killer.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

222. It made me think my baby was a cheeseburger, and I ate it.

Not bad, actually. But I had a hell of a time explaining it to my wife.

[spanone]

224. i've only tried it several tens of thousands of times....once i get the hang, i'll get back atcha

[carlyhippy]

227. hmm, never got hooked, never tried anything stronger....

always had someone who was around who was more than happy to share, no debarchery or deviancy, only stomach cramping giggles and a strange craving for fried pickles and a big Dr. Pepper fountain drink. Actually the experience was not dark at all, it was more like that 60's commercial for coke-I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOEU87SBTU

[achtung_circus]

230. Although I was a long-time stoner

Saturday night was the first time in over 20 years I've smoked. At my GF's farm. With a fire in the fireplace. I had some mild anxiety, but I remembered how to deal with that. We drifted off and what was supposed to be long and Tantric turned into a good night's sleep.

Next morning was ferocious, though.

I'm looking for the downside here. Maybe the interruption of my plans with the attendant waste of a perfect mango. We did eat the mango for breakfast though.

[tomreedtoon]

232. Honestly? I hated how it slowed my reactions.

I could feel the stuff (THC ingested in the system) dampening my neural response time and dulling my feeling, for about a week after smoking. I quit using it, and regular tobacco, a long time ago. For God's sake, I'm not all that competent. Why take something that makes me even less competent?

[Araxen]

233. I quit about 12 years ago due to a job..

and quit about 30 days before I got hired on and quit like it was nothing. It's not habit forming like cigarette's are. It took me 5 tries and 8 years later but I did eventually quit smoking cigarette's and I still get urges to smoke cigarette's to this day. The urges will never go away I'm stuck with those for the rest of my life, but they aren't as strong as when I first quit so they are easy to ignore.

I don't get any urges to smoke pot. It just shows how addictive cigarette's are though so I feel for what Obama is going through.

[Joanne98]

237. I never smoked it. But I watched a cop smoke it once. First he was laughing..

Then he went into the corner store and stole a bunch of ding dongs. Then, after he was done stuffing his face, he went outside and beat up a guy in a wheelchair!

It was horrible!

[readmoreoften]

258. This is your local asshole cop... This is your local asshole cop on weed...

Any Questions?

Parents don't let the asshole cops in your community smoke weed. The life you save may be your own.

[Joanne98]

263. lol

[Jamastiene]

246. There were no horrors for me.

There was only that once when I smoked with someone who had laced the joint with LSD. LSD is not my "thang" to say the least. Pot, though, OMG, I loved it. I miss it. Life sucks without it. So, maybe there ARE horrors. The horror of not having the opportunity to indulge every now and again.

[Fumesucker]

270. I doubt it was LSD the joint was laced with..

I don't think LSD would survive the burning process.

PCP however does seem to survive and it gives some truly nasty hallucinations, you probably got PCP laced pot.

[Jamastiene]

276. Those were some nasty hallucinations.

You are probably right. After that, I learned not to smoke unless I know if it's laced or not.

[noiretextatique]

265. i've smoked weed for over 30 years

and i don't believe i am addicted yet. i can go for months, even years without smoking. i did try other things, but it wasn't because of marijuana...it had more to do with the people i was hanging around at the time.
marijuana has always been manageable for me. these days i smoke a couple of times a week, but never so much that i feel too high or paranoid. also, i generally smoke at home to avoid feeling paranoid. there is no reason on earth marijuana should be illegal.

[Skip Intro]

279. I ususally experience a nice, mildy euphoric feeling, often follwed by paranoia and anxiety.

I don't know why, but it happens most times when I smoke. The "fun" part passes rather quickly, and I often find myself withdrawn afterwards, very anxious, with an extreme lack of self esteem, like I'm a disappiontment to those around me, like there's something really wrong with me, and everyone knows it but me, which increases the anxiety, sometimes to a point of near panic. Not every time, when the "fun" feeling lasts, but most times.

The thing about reefer, I believe, is that it causes intense introspection, and can uncover unresolved issues and magnify accompanying feelings. What it uncovers with me when I get to the anxious/panic/shame feelings, I'm not sure - it's vague, not quite clear. But the feelings are profoud, oftentimes rendering me speechless. Thinking about it, there is probably some underlying issue from my past, or present, I guess, that I never dealt with.

It can be scary.

Having said all that, I still smoke now and then.

I don't judge anyone for doing it, and think it should be legal.

As far as a gateway drug, well, I did try other things, not because of mj, but because I have an adventurous streak, and I do like feeling euphoric.

At any rate, it's a free country, and your mind and body are not property of the state, but your own. If a consenting adult wishes to injest a drug (or gamble or have sex for money or listen to Ozzy records backwards) it is his/her own business, and no one elses (as long as that person, or group of consenting people, are not infringing on the rights of others).

For me, the legality argument always comes down to: how the hell can the government tell me what I can and cannot do in my own home with my mind and body, and that of other consenting adults who chose to join me? Clearly, the government does not have that right. It's called freedom.

[eridani]

282. Whuzzat?!?!?

Just off to the 7/11. Did you want the Ding Dongs or the Zingers?

[wildbilln864]

284. rec #5! nt

[LaydeeBug]

285. Whenst I did, that bag of Doritos never stood a chance. nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

287. Sorry - too high to think or remember much right now

[Dennis Donovan]

291. I tried marijuana once. Next thing I knew, I was lying in the street drinking Woolite from a bottle

...and wondering where my "Daisy" went.

[Dukkha]

292. I drove on the wrong side of the street to a Dennys

and that's about it. oh, and I spent way too much at the Dennys.

[FiveGoodMen]

293. It's awful!

You relax.

You begin to feel more positively about life.

Food tastes better.

Music sounds better.

Sex is better.

And that 'gateway' thing doesn't even work. You can smoke pot daily (for years!) and still not get into any of the other illegal substances.

Just a nightmare!

[Voice for Peace]

365. and things that seemed so heavy and serious all of a sudden seem kind of irrelevent & trivial

[opihimoimoi]

295. hey Dere...Come, we go Look for da Man....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqpOgkiBQ7s

Up in Smoke

[lonestarnot]

296. What's reefer, I've smoked steaks, chicken, poke chops and bacon, but use mesquite.

[bleever]

300. I can never keep the steak lit long enough

to get a good hit.

[lonestarnot]

308. ROFLMAO!

[kcdoug1]

299. hummmmmmm

..wait, I forgot!

[davidthegnome]

303. Panic disorder changed my perspective on it

When I was 19-22 I used to smoke pot as often as I could - never often enough because I was usually broke. Mostly it put me in the mood for dancing (which I did frequently back then) - I'd talk, I mean really talk like I never had before. Normally I was very introspective, anti-social, depressed. At first marijuana totally beamed me into another dimension. God, it was wonderful, it was like I became the person, or was able to be the person, that I want to be. Or the person I hide from the world... I don't know, it was fantastic. Beyond words.

I wasn't addicted to pot - so much as what it helped me to do. And while I could go any length of time without it, I hated reverting to my normal self.

Of course I'd also been on anti-depressants for 6 or 7 years by the time I got into marijuana, and that may have had an effect, I'm not sure. What I do know is that I spent about four months, smoking at least once a day. During that time I felt good enough that I quit taking my anti-depressant, which was probably a bad idea... some time later I smoked way, way too much with a couple of friends and had a mind blowing panic attack. I'd had a beer with it.

After that, well, smoking any large amount seems to give me panic attacks now. I'm sure the psychiatric drugs I take interact in some ways, but man I miss being able to get high. My life wasn't nearly so miserable.

Of course it should be legal and regulated, for it's medicinal value if for nothing else. It can be a benefit, mentally and physically, in numerous ways. But when you get a bad case of panic disorder like I had, it can trigger what's already there - set off a nasty panic attack.

Or maybe the problem was that I mixed alcohol with it.... but in any event, panic attacks scare me to death, even after having had thousands of them. Wish I could smoke pot, envy those who can.

[FiveGoodMen]

370. I know quite a few people for whom 'pot paranoia' just ruins the fun.

For me, on the other hand, alcohol tends to put me in a depressed mood. Or amplify such a mood if it's already there.

Everybody's got to do what works for them.

[leftchick]

305. Ford And Diesel Never Intended Cars To Use Gasoline (HEMP!)

Global Research, August 28, 2005
Marijuana.com

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8...

When Henry Ford told a New York Times reporter that ethyl alcohol was "the fuel of the future" in 1925, he was expressing an opinion that was widely shared in the automotive industry. "The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumach out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust -- almost anything," he said. "There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years."

Henry Ford's first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONSTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, 'grown from the soil,' had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941.

click info

Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, designed it to run on vegetable and seed oils like hemp; he actually ran the thing on peanut oil for the 1900 World's Fair. Henry Ford used hemp to not only construct cars but also fuel them.

As an alternative to methanol, hemp has at least one glowing report: the plant produces up to four times more cellulose per acre than trees. And a hemp crop grows a little quicker than a forest.

As for an alternative to petroleum...

Hemp grows like mad from border to border in America; so shortages are unlikely. And, unlike petrol, unless we run out of soil, hemp is renewable.

Growing and harvesting the stuff has much less environmental impact than procuring oil.

Hemp fuel is biodegradable; so oil spills become fertilizer not eco-catastrophes.

Hemp fuel does not contribute to sulfur dioxide air poisoning.

Other noxious emissions like carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are radically slashed by using "biodiesel.

Hemp fuel is nontoxic and only a mild skin irritant; anybody who,s ever cleaned out an old carburetor with gasoline can confirm the same is not true for petrol.

[Ilsa]

306. Man, this is DU. You may be in the process of creating the longest thread ever. nt

[scarletwoman]

310. Saw your OP about an hour ago, decided I wanted to get stoned before responding. Fascinating thread.

I smoked pot for the first time over 40 years ago, when I was a sophomore in college. I absolutely loved it. I have always loved it from that night forward, have always considered it a good friend and reliable ally. It's been part of my life ever since.

I've done years of smoking it daily, and years of not doing it at all. I prefer to have it available, but when it's not -- oh well.

In the 40 years since my introduction to the devil weed, I've raised two wonderful, creative, intelligent, and ethical sons; traveled to many places including Colombia, France, India and Nepal; lived in many extraordinary places -- from Venice, CA in the early 70s, to the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountains in Alaska in the 90s.

I've had amazing adventures in my life, met amazing people, and have fulfilled many/most of my childhood dreams -- not to mention the totally wild unbelievable decadent fantasies I've also fulfilled.

I owe it all to getting stoned on that late fall evening in 1968, in the dorm room of some guy who told me I really ought to smoke some pot. I don't think I'd be the person I am today had I refused. I'm so glad and grateful that I took him up on his offer.

I love the way it moves my consciousness to explore the odd little, out-of-the-way nooks and crannies of my mind, where I find all kinds of fun and interesting ways of looking at the world and myself.

My sincere sympathies to those for whom it doesn't bring pleasure and joy. I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy travelling that road.

sw

[bleever]

311. Christmas in New Delhi.

An all night Ravi Shankar concert, sometime in the '80's.

About 1 or 2 in the morning, wandered around and ended up spontaneously forming a circle with some other folks passing a chillum.

Six or seven of us, all from different countries, drifting together for a few minutes in a ritual that didn't need to be spelled out.

One of my cherished memories, out of many thousands.

[scarletwoman]

312. Ah! You get it. Cool story! Wow, I haven't heard/seen anyone talk about chillums for AGES!

Bom Shankar!

sw

[bleever]

316. .

Bom Shiva!

Thanks for bringing up that memory for me, SW.

[scarletwoman]

324. Oh goodness! Thank YOU!

[The Inquisitive]

317. I struggle to tell complex funny stories when I'm high

I end up skipping parts without realizing and crack up like an idiot when I get near the punch line.

I generally smoke once or twice on the weekends these days ever since I came to NYU.

[asdjrocky]

319. Kids should really stay away from pot.

I've always told my children if they find any pot to bring it right home to me and I'll take care of it.

[LiberalHeart]

321. You trying to get a contact high?

[ismnotwasm]

323. Um

Let me think, wow. Huh. Well Um. No not that time, that was, wait--no not that time either. Man.

I did quit weed many, many moons ago, I don't recall any sweating, runny nose, body aches, psychosis, shivers, nightmares, etc. I just quit 'cause I liked to drink better. Then I quit drinking, now THAT was a motherfucker. And I started drinking way before I smoked pot. I think alcohol is the evil gateway to H.E. double toothpicks.

Hmm.



Nope. No horrors. Outside of a few friends going to jail for ridiculous marijuana charges.

Ask me about heroin sometime. And no it didn't have a damn thing to do with smoking pot. Heroin users are generally in entirely different social circles.

[RoyGBiv]

328. I got in a fight with a bush once ...

The bush won.

So I ate a Twinkie ... then decided just go ahead and have the entire box since, ya know, it was there and everything.

I made up with the bush. Wasn't a big thing really, just a misunderstanding over personal space, and it got the mistaken idea I was lighting up its cousin or something.

But the Twinkies were *awesome*.

OnEdit:

Okay, seriously. This thread turned out to be more serious than I thought it would when I read the OP.

I've had a few bad experiences ... like three or four.

One of those involved alcohol, so that doesn't count. I got the spins and started throwing up, which is interesting 'cause this is one of only two times in my life the alcohol made me throw up, and I hadn't really drunk much. But, it was the combo.

Two times involved (likely) laced herb, neither of which I knew about at the time. One I know was laced, but the other I only strongly suspect based on some info I got later. The lacing agent was cocaine both times, and that's just bad mojo.

Another time I remember a bad experience involved *extreme* paranoia and a panic attack. I have acute anxiety, which weed would normally calm, but not this time. It was environmental. I was in a bad situation I never should have allowed myself to be in, and that's probably the worst true "problem" with weed. It's very illegality is what ends up making it dangerous.

I don't partake anymore. It really does give me a severe case of the munchies, which would have been cool before puberty when I had some sort of hormonal disorder that made me not ever feel real hunger, so it was hard to get me to eat. That changed naturally, though, and now the pig-out factor is itself unhealthy. I will eat the strangest things.

[leftofthedial]

330. I was hooked immediately and it led to the hard stuff in very short order.

you know, the hard stuff. Like Doritos. Short order. Like hash browns.

[GreenPartyVoter]

361. Browns or brownies? Or both?

[leftofthedial]

363. brownies

with hash browns on top

[balantz]

334. Oh God, the flashbacks.....they're coming again.....no, no, please make it stop...

[KillCapitalism]

335. I gained some weight.

The stuff made me wolf down entire pizzas in one sitting!

[Career Prole]

336. "What dire warning would you give?"

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, friends. Life is short.

[bliss_eternal]

341. the horrors...?

Wow--interesting question. Um....well. I don't know about that. (scratching head).

Once in highschool--while smoking w/some other kids I felt very strange. Come to find out, what we smoked was laced with cocaine (so it made me feel very paranoid). That experience pretty much scared me away from such activities. lol. But I still don't believe it should be illegal.

Marijuana is so valuable for glaucoma and cancer patients. I'm sure there are other important uses for it. yet to be discovered--if this country could get it's head out of it's collective butt, where this issue is concerned.

[byronius]

342. Uhhh, I can't drink. Kinda allergic. Soooooooo......

Seriously, stuff saved me from late teenaged divorce-suicide. That and DEVO. Ask me the same questions about DEVO.

Makes me work out. And think. And write. And go to work everyday.

Save yourself from its horrible noodly appendages!!!1!!

[JonLP24]

343. QUESTION! QUESTION! QUESTION!

Reason why I did that is because my posts are always ignored in large threads. My first experience I had uncontrollable laughter and everything was colorful. After time however I was able to handle it to a point where there is little difference from me being sober and high.

By question is I can drink quite a bit with no ill affects or ability to control myself, I do have a limit though. Same with smoking, I can smoke quite a bit with no ill effects or ability to handle myself, but unlike with alcohol there is no limit to how much I can smoke. My question though given my ability to handle both why is it after I drink just enough to get drunk and I smoke enough to get sick I get incredibly dizzy and ill and need to throw up, there have been times I blacked out after smoking while drunk? That was always wierd to me and there is no website that explains this to me. And there are rappers encouraging me to get drunk and smoke weed in their songs so is it a common reaction to get sick from smoking a little bit of weed and drinking a little bit of alcohol?

[Duppers]

351. you have a very unusual reaction

and probably unusual body chemistry. How old are you?

[Duppers]

344. wanted to post something funny but

Seriously the stuff probably saved my life 33 yrs ago. I was truly suicidal and on two major antidepressants which did shit for me, except to ruin my coordination. Weed helped me to get a perspective.

I've smoked very little in the years since (my paranoid, nonsmoking hubby objects).

[unapatriciated]

345. I can tell you the horrors that "vile weed" did to my son....

during 15 long years on cy toxic drugs such as methotrexate and cyclophosrine. It kept him from anything he tried to eat (especially before and after chemo).
It tempted him to walk again and use his damaged muscles during his drug crazed abandon.
It helped put his devastated life back together after Dematomyositis tore it asunder.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmZOLcOhvcM

[Duppers]

348. so sorry. how's he doing now?

I think that vile weed has saved more lives than we know.

My aunt chose death over her chemotherapy because it make her so sick. No one offered her a simple joint!

[unapatriciated]

357. he is married and attending the Art Institute of San Francisco....

still smokes daily (medical and for fun) because he never regained his upper body muscle strength and calcium deposits can be very painful. That's his vid and a song he wrote. Most people think his appearance is due to either crack, aids or both (neither are true) and can be very cruel.


btw his doctors suggested mj before chemo. He has had the prescription drug but it is expensive, has side effects and not as affective at mj.