I'm High

[The Niggardly King]

i want some

 

 

This.

 

I'm getting some medical herb called "Herijuana" for my birthday on Wednesday, though.

 

It's okay, have something planned for the day, though. It's not the kind where you're just gonna wanna sit there and do nothing for the day.

[The Niggardly King]

People make such a big deal about pot. I smoked so much for so long that I treated it the way most folks treat coffee. Legalize the shit and get over it.

 

Fuck yeah, this dude here... he makes a lot of sense.

[The Niggardly King]

People do the same thing with alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, antidepressants, and pain pills, and all of those things are legal and equally or more dangerous.

 

 

[Lt. Al Giardello]

Tzar for President!

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS!]

I guess I just don't understand how irresponsible use of legal substances = marijuana should also be legal. This is coming from a pot smoker, by the way.

[The Metal Maniac]

Because it's hypocritical of the government to say that one potentially dangerous, mind-altering chemical is not to be used, while another potentially dangerous, mind-altering chemical is for sale at your local supermarket. Furthermore, the high costs of being caught with pot in the states seems, to me, absurd.

 

That and the totally wrong propaganda BS they had going on in the states around the time that pot was banned makes me think the government really needs to re-visit the issue. I mean, they made a movie about how smoking pot was going to make you kill people, and had newspapers with absurd headlines about how hash was giving your son the bloodlust.

[At Home]

It's kind of apples and oranges with prescriptions and actual drugs. I don't think that argument really holds a lot of water. There would be a lot of problems with just simply legalizing it. For one, weed is a gateway drug, and when you legalize it, although crime and arrests go down, use skyrockets, which leads to other drugs. Not to mention for those who complain about the number of arrests and shit, that's mostly for effect. They know that it's going to come from another place. Arrests are meant to help shift the demand curve left. As the demand for drugs is largely inelastic (that being, changes in price don't affect the demand much), changes in the supply curve are ineffective. However, shifts in the demand curve are more drastic in the long and short run.

 

[The Metal Maniac]

Yeah, but here's the thing - is weed *really* a Gateway drug?

 

What I mean by that is...well, lemme put it this way: Where does someone go to buy pot? A drug dealer. What do the sell? Lots of other drugs too, probably. So now you've got someone going to the only place they can go to get weed; and that same person is now offering them crack, acid, whatever else. Sooner or later that person may try something.

 

Now, consider that vs a scenario where weed is purchased through legal means. Like, let's say you just had to go see your doctor or whatever. What does your doctor sell? Well, now he sells weed, and probably Tylenol and bandages and stuff too, but he doesn't sell heroin or coke, I'd wager.

 

I'm not gonna argue that for some people, yes, trying pot will make them want to try other things. That said however, I think that the "Gateway Drug" effect is exaggerated, because of the environment you have to be in to get pot in the first place. I really don't think that your average Joe, trying some new legal pot to help him relieve stress, is gonna finish his joint then run out into the streets looking for a crack dealer.

 

It'd probably also be wiser to go the decriminalization route rather then straight legalize. For a while, at least.

[Lord of The Curry]

I've only ever done weed, hash and 'shrooms and I've yet to find a weed dealer in my lifetime who's tried to offer me anything chem-related. I'm sure they exist though.

[The Metal Maniac]

I probably shouldn't have actually used the phrase "offered" - the point I was trying to make is that, by being in any part of the illegal drugs lifestyle (sorry, I can't think of a better phrase), the chances for you to acquire other drugs skyrockets. Not to say that one day your dealer is gonna ask if you want crack outta the blue (but he might, I dunno) but I mean, you'll be in the company of other druggies, God only knows what they're on, what kinda shit they're in to...know what I'm saying? Once you're on the inside, it becomes easier to get anything. Put weed on the outside, and is it still a gateway?

[Retard Girl]

how they got to the gateway theory is that, if you look at, say, all the cocaine users... they all started with weed, most likely. but looking at all the potheads... how many of them have gone on to coke, crack, (insert white powder here)?

 

not that there will ever be any "hard numbers" on the subject, because seriously, how mant people are going to answer a survey "yup, i do crack and speed and meth WOOOO!"?

 

plus, decriminalization will take the potheads out of jail, so there is more room for real criminals. like baby molesters and rapists and theives and murdurers...

[BrokenWings]

Perhaps the misinformation about marijuana may be what leads it to be a gateway drug. People try weed and realise it's not nearly as bad as it's made out to be via the war on drugs and believe the same may be said of other drugs as well? Just a thought.

[Matt Young]

i want some

 

 

This.

 

I'm getting some medical herb called "Herijuana" for my birthday on Wednesday, though.

 

It's okay, have something planned for the day, though. It's not the kind where you're just gonna wanna sit there and do nothing for the day.

 

 

Ohm I'm definitely not going to sit there and do nothing all day. It's my fuckin' birthday! That being said, I got my eighthlast night and tried some of it. A third of a bowl or so had me stoned as fuck. Great feeling.

 

I was going to add more to this, but collectively, Metal Maniac and Curry basically said what I was going to say, while BrokenWings made a valid point that I hadn't considered.

[At Home]

Weed is absolutely a gateway drug. There's no use debating it. Don't rely on rhetorics to be your main argument.

[Lt. Al Giardello]

When I smoke weed I don't think of doing other drugs... Unless you call eating a 5 dollar pizza from Little Ceasers a drug!

[At Home]

Oh that is most definitely a drug.

[The Metal Maniac]

Gimmie some more info on this "gateway" drug stuff. I will freely admit that my knowledge on the subject is essentially limited to TV commercials and stuff I thought about while high.

 

What is it that makes weed the gateway drug? Like, how is weed inherently different that it makes you want to use other drugs? What % of weed smokers go on to use crack? What % don't?

 

I still don't think that the decriminalization of pot would lead to massive quantities of people searching the streets for heroine (again, I won't try to dispute that it would have such an effect on some people), but you seem to know something I don't here, so fill me in.

[Matt Young]

A popular theory is that, after smoking weed for some time, people want to move on to something stronger, claiming weed is too mild. My theory is that those people need to smoke better quality weed.

 

I've done shrooms twice, years ago. Other than that, I've had no desire to try any hard drugs. Would I try acid if it were available? Yes. But I had that desire before ever smoking weed.

 

People who are stupid enough to try crack, coke, meth, etc. are going to do that whether they smoke weed or not. It's just that knowing people who smoke weed makes it more likely that they will come into contact with people who use other stuff.

 

Don't blame the drug. Blame the individual. Weed itself doesn't make people use hard drugs. It's a great thing that has many benefits. You wanna attack a substance? Attack alcohol. For all its good qualities, that's the thing that has caused me and countless others a lot of problems, and it's both readily available and praised, as well as abused by a much greater percentage of the people who use it.

[Lt. Al Giardello]

I've tried extacy, cocaine, and mushrooms... I did extacy and cocaine because it was offered to me for free, not because I smoked weed and thought "hey this high isnt working out, I gotta try other shit". I had my experiences with it in High School, and haven't done it since.

[Lord of The Curry]

Homer said it best when he called alcohol the cause of AND solution to all of life's problems.

[Lt. Al Giardello]

Yeah I've A LOT more people get fucking drunk and fiend for cocaine... I have yet to remember a time where a friend of mine smoked a joint and wanted to snort cocaine or smoke crack.

[DrVenkman PhD]

Homer said it best when he called alcohol the cause of AND solution to all of life's problems.

 

I don't recall that line from The Odyssey.

[Retard Girl]

about statistics and all... people can get stats to say whatever they want, so it's pointless really.

[At Home]

[Copper Feel]

Homer said it best when he called alcohol the cause of AND solution to all of life's problems.

 

I don't recall that line from The Odyssey.

 

Awesome. Conversely, I would really like to read this work.

[Burning Pirate Ship Sex]

about statistics and all... people can get stats to say whatever they want, so it's pointless really.

 

No, it's not. What is meant by that statement is the startling number of people who interpret statistics without having any kind of numeracy.

[Matt Young]

Homer said it best when he called alcohol the cause of AND solution to all of life's problems.

 

I don't recall that line from The Odyssey.

 

Curry speaks the truth. Venk's line was just plain funny. Quality shit.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

It's kind of apples and oranges with prescriptions and actual drugs. I don't think that argument really holds a lot of water. There would be a lot of problems with just simply legalizing it. For one, weed is a gateway drug, and when you legalize it, although crime and arrests go down, use skyrockets, which leads to other drugs. Not to mention for those who complain about the number of arrests and shit, that's mostly for effect. They know that it's going to come from another place. Arrests are meant to help shift the demand curve left. As the demand for drugs is largely inelastic (that being, changes in price don't affect the demand much), changes in the supply curve are ineffective. However, shifts in the demand curve are more drastic in the long and short run.

 

This is a good argument, but for me the issue of drugs and legality boils down to the question "Is it the government's job to protect you from yourself?" I don't think it is.

 

I disagree that the demand for drugs is inelastic. Do you think demand has risen as recently as say, the past century? I'd say so, and the fact that marijuana was criminalized in that time period is no coincidence.

[At Home]

I'd say that it is the governments job to do that. Maybe not phrased that way, but ever since FDR, the role of the government has been expanding.

 

The demand for drugs is inelastic because people get addicted, and drugs become economic necessities for those addicted. When the price goes up for the drugs, they often don't have the power to quit, and sacrifice other things in order to get the money. Oftentimes, this leads to crime in order to pay for drugs. Even the reverse is true, that if the price goes down, there isn't much of a change in demand, only slightly. The inelasticity of the demand curve for drugs is a pretty widely accepted sentiment among economists. That's why fighting the supply of drugs is less effective than fighting the demand for drugs.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I don't think fighting either side of the drug situation is effective. Has spending Carl Sagan Billions done anything to curb drug abuse in general? Philosophical reasons aside, isn't the financial toll and strain on the prison system convincing enough to decriminalize a drug no one's ever overdosed on?