December 30, 2023

Toxic.

There's a WaPo article with the headline, "How to give up smoking weed (or other toxic habits you’re tired of)/Quitting marijuana, cigarettes and alcohol was tougher than the writer expected. She shares what works and what didn’t." The last line of the article is: "When I gave up toxic habits, I had room for something more beautiful to take their place."

And the comments are loaded with people resisting the notion that marijuana is "toxic":
"Again, the Post treats addiction to alcohol and nicotine the same as the use of the non-addictive cannabis. Why the lie? Why the supposition cannabis use by adults is 'toxic'? I don't use any intoxicants. Haven't for more than three decades. Cannabis is medicine."
"On what planet is smoking weed a 'toxic habit'? Spare us. Weed isn’t the problem, YOU are the problem."

"What is the basis for referring to marijuana — something that is prescribed to certain people — as 'toxic'?"

"Toxic" just means harmful to your health. The word is used pretty casually these days — including figuratively, in expressions like "toxic masculinity" — so why get so excited?

There's an insistence on a medicine/intoxicant distinction, but isn't that about using something to treat a health problem as opposed to using it to get high? Are marijuana users these days into denying that their purpose is to get high? They'd be okay with normal, but they are worse than normal, and they need a substance to get where they'd be naturally if they were not — in some way — ill? Is getting high just a collateral effect as they strive to get well?

70 comments:

wild chicken said...

Weed is a sacred cow these days, like tattoos or transitioners. You must watch what you say, at all times.

Joe Bar said...

Am these people that believe marijuana has no ill effects are delusional. Read Alex Version's book, "Tell Your Children." Marijuana use has definite deleterious effects, particularly on young people.

I am not against legalization, but I believe that it needs to be controlled, and the truth needs to be spread.

Old and slow said...

Marijuana enthusiasts are delusional fools. So called medical marijuana laws were never anything but a ruse to get to legal recreational marijuana. They made liars of the medical profession, and codified blatant dishonesty.

I believe that it should be legal, and it should also be roundly looked down upon and discouraged, as should alcohol use. Ironically, nicotine (minus the smoking part) is probably the least harmful of the three, and also the most disparaged.

n.n said...

Puff the hallucinating draggin'. Oh, and sequester the carbon deposits, the ashes of a habit, for one. That said, #NoJudgment #NoLabels, except with single/central/monopolistic redistributive change schemes.

Dave Begley said...

Legalizing pot is one of the main platforms of today’s Dem party. Why bring more pain and heartbreak to people? Don’t we have enough problems already with alcohol?

Alex Berenson has written a book about all the problems the “new” pot has caused.

A couple of years back I dated an active alcoholic. She’d call me up in the middle of the night and tell me these fantastic lies. I might have married her if he wasn’t a drunk. So, I had to breakup with her.

Why create more disfunction?

AlanKH said...

"Teens who were heavy marijuana users -- smoking it daily for about three years -- had abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory and performed poorly on memory tasks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine® study."

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/624239

Howard said...

Every molecule is subject to the dose determined medicine-poison spectrum.

Levi Starks said...

Feeling really good and relaxed is just one of those negative side effects medicinal weed users have to live with.
Marijuana legalization used to concern me until I realized that all the people sitting at home getting high were no longer competing with me economically for the goods and services that I find important.
There may be a time when weed usage is something that I’ll decide is right for me, but hopefully it won’t be before I turn 80.

Jay said...

In my experience, the first symptom of weed addiction is an angry paranoia that someone wants to take their "medicine" away. How can anybody claim with a straight face that long term weed use is not toxic?

hpudding said...

In what way is cannabis toxic? It’s one of the few known medical or recreational substances for which a lethal overdose does not appear to even be possible. The word does not appear to be used for metaphorical effect.

The only thing hospitals are seeing more of is when people consume too much and can’t stop vomiting. Ironic, since that does tend to be the body’s way of contending with toxicity, but it’s not clear if that’s the reason for the reaction. It could be a neurological mechanism.

Cannabis does challenge the conventional paradigm of setting distinctions between medical and recreational substances, but reverting to the mindset of the Reefer Madness days is hilariously outdated and not useful as well. Normalcy is also a funny concept to presume. Is someone more or less “normal” before experiencing a wonderful work of literature or art? More or less “normal” before a good work-out? Life is meant to contain experiences that enhance as much as they “normalize” or reinforce normalcy. ;-)

Jake said...

I know some people that get real grumpy if they don’t smoke weed at least once a day. Not sure if that qualifies as an addiction but, gotta be close.

traditionalguy said...

Self medicating is an admission that one is sick. My question to daily users is when
Will it cure you. The day that you die?

JRoberts said...

"Marijuana legalization used to concern me until I realized that all the people sitting at home getting high were no longer competing with me economically for the goods and services that I find important."

I agree, to a point. What concerns me is when I'm sitting in my car at a traffic signal and my car starts smelling like pot because the person driving beside me is smoking a joint. It's more concerning when the traffic signal is at the entrance of a freeway.

iowan2 said...

All the addictions steal time.
Heroin is not that toxic. But chasing the high, is the problem. The time and thought process of finding the product, finding the money, finding time to get high, and finding the time to come down (recover). But after recovery, the physical cravings build. Then you need more time. You became a slave to the addiction and have forfieted free will for the high.

Adrenaline junkies is the right term. That high steals time. Just a more socially acceptable addiction.

Are you an addict. If it pushes things out of you life. mYes.

n.n said...

[Toxic] feminism, and other class-disordered "diverse" ideologies. #HateLovesAbortion

Enigma said...

The unspoken issue here is that MJ absolute REEKS. One nickname is "skunkweed" -- and both users and areas where they used will reek for a very long time. Visit any blue city and sniff the air in public spaces (e.g., train stations and bus stops). I'd guess everything from Reefer Madness to inclusion on Schedule 1 followed from MJ's smell rather than its medical and social dangers. Who wants to live next to an open sewer or garbage dump? Those smells are not much worse than MJ's second-hand smell to a non user.

After the left went hard to regulate second-hand tobacco smoke, ban all sorts of tobacco ads, and punish drunk driving a generation or two ago, I await the left turning against MJ in 20 years. The old hippie stoners who got it legalized must die off first.

rcocean said...

Lots of people, rich people, are making big money from Big MJ. So, they're selling it as something good. They've done an excellent job of labeling Tobbacco as bad. And the they've switched from selling wine/beer as good thing (2 drinks a day is fine, it helps your heart) to bad (even a small amount is bad, no more then 1 drink a day).

It says a lot about the Republican Establishment, that the Speaker of the House, John Bonehead, went directly into hawking MJ. No doubt he'll be doing Viagra commericals with Mumbles McConnell soon.

So, MJ is still being pushed. Even though its obviously bad for you. Just like all mind altering drugs. Its funny how little reseach is being done into its bad side-effects, or its impact on driving accidents or ER visits. And there seems to be little worry over the long-term effect on people of 20-30 years of MJ use, or the higher potency of 21st Century Pot.

That aside, I know several friends of friends, who have more or less given up on life and just sit around smoking pot all day and watching TV. It seems to mellow some people out to the point where they don't want to do anything, and can barely get off the couch.

Bob Boyd said...

Marijuana legalization used to concern me until I realized that all the people sitting at home getting high were no longer competing with me economically for the goods and services that I find important.

Interesting take. Hadn't thought of it like that before.
Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, you're probably paying their way in life with your taxes.

FleetUSA said...

Never tried weed personally, but I understand it is no longer the mild substance it once was. The potency now is apparently very high. This a measured fact.

Hence, the old arguments for weed need to be modified.

It's like saying whiskey is ok but if most of what would be available is 120 proof the facts have changed.

stlcdr said...

When democrats mock republicans when they defend the 2nd amendment: "oh, noes, don' take mah gunz!".

When republicans even mention weed/marihuana/whatever you want to call it these days: actual democrats "don't take mah weed, man!"

hpudding said...

"Teens who were heavy marijuana users -- smoking it daily for about three years -- had abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory and performed poorly on memory tasks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine® study."

Ah. Yes, well there does appear to be that. For which we can apparently explain the TikTok phenomenon. ;-)

But the substance has been around for thousands of years. Other medicines and sacraments have been as well - including alcohol and even tobacco (among Native North Americans) but generally the downsides were evident by then. People aren’t stupid. I’m confident that if there are more problems with weed they’ll be discovered eventually with additional research. But I don’t consider “insufficient social/psychological conformity” to be a downside, let alone a medical concern. Is it?

Alcohol’s not good for developing brains either. The repeal of the prohibition amendment was America’s answer to whether its social “harms” weren’t outweighed by its social benefits.

Without alcohol pre-modern Europe wouldn’t have been able to hydrate itself - such was the extent of waterborne illness. So there goes Western civilization. And there is good evidence that the human mind evolved to select for those who could deal creatively with a taste for fermented fruits as opposed to the primates who were disturbed and repelled by only finding berries past their prime.

Anyway, I think that’s the extent of my statement of the day on the matter. I’m a bit of a teetotaler for the most part - (it gives me headaches). So whether my observations of New Year’s Eve revelers changes my mind this year as opposed to any other remains to be seen… In approximately 36 hours. Hope your mocktails are as good as mine for ringing in 2024!

Meade said...

I tried to warn you all in 1936. No joke.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/lawrence_meade

Old and slow said...

Cannabis is not toxic, this is true. However, it is by no means harmless for many people. I know this from long and extensive experience both as a user for many years and by observing others. I believe it should be legal but discouraged. Just because something is not prohibited by law does not mean that it should be socially acceptable.

hpudding said...

Finally - a fun trivia fact of the day: Alcohol is explicitly forbidden in the Quran. It’s haram.

THC is also interpreted by Muslim scholars to be impermissible on the same basis. But their jury is out on sanctioning “use” of the other cannabis components, of which there are many. This seems to be at least part of what complicates any analysis of exactly what cannabis does and how it’s “good” or “bad.”

For CBD they seem to be ok, as it appears to be neurologically inert.

Make of all that what you will.

And thank Raphael Mechoulam for being the one to actually do the research necessary for breaking the veil of ignorance (niqab?) on the pharmacology of this strange plant.

I now leave you to contemplate the social benefits of outlawing dancing and music. ;-)

Iman said...

Intoxicating blasts of stupefaction?

or

Stupefying blasts of intoxication?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

The reason it was “harder than she expected” is because modern marijuana is highly addictive because it is bred to contain 3000% more THC than the pre-legalized types. All the anecdotal “not physically addictive” stories are based on the old weed, as are the very few studies done in controlled experiments.

It’s highly addictive now. Worse, the edibles craze makes it super easy for non-smokers to get addicted. And worst of all, if you’re careless about where the edibles are you can easily poison your dog. Just one THC “gummie bear” is enough to put a medium sized dog into a seizure and will outright kill small dogs.

You can look up recent studies that show the new weed is in fact addictive but also has not shown any medical benefits beyond the original use of amelioration of nausea (especially post-chemotherapy), increased appetite and relaxation. There is no evidence it relieves pain. But as someone who has experienced lots of live music with and without the euphoria weed can induce, there really is no enhancing effect to weed. One last anecdote. A very close friend spent the 1970s as a weed and cocaine importer and eventually became addicted to heroin. This person recently quit smoking marijuana after several attempts and told me it was harder than quitting heroin cold turkey and comparable to quitting cigarettes cold. In my youth I would partake of weed and then abstain and several years ago I stopped and also felt an extremely strong desire to resume, unlike any other abstinence I’d experienced. Months later the urge to smoke would strike.

It’s unfortunate that the current government encouragement to smoke marijuana is coinciding with the re-engineered THC content. It is inducing psychosis in young men (and I wonder why I haven’t seen studies of similar effects on females). When CA closed bars and restaurants during COVID the weed dispensaries were open the whole time. They loosened the rules for home delivery. We are living in strange times. All the stoners I knew from playing rock are straight and all our grandchildren are using the shit like crazy.

wild chicken said...

"Lots of people, rich people, are making big money from Big MJ."

The stocks have been absolute dogs lol.

Sebastian said...

"On what planet is smoking weed a 'toxic habit'?"

S/he said "without evidence."

Just checking on the hierarchy of prog idols here: are we still allowed to question the environmental impact of growing MJ?

RigelDog said...

Went to a concert last night where apparently the majority of the attendees had only made a two hour stop on their way to Lourdes, so many there were sucking medicinal herb smoke in a desperate search for wellness.

David53 said...

I smoked cigarettes for 15 years. Quitting was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I smoked pot every day for 4 years when I was a teen, quitting was easy when I joined the military. I was a heavy drinker, 6 to 8 drinks a night. Quitting cold turkey wasn’t hard but I’m not normal. Today’s pot isn’t like it was in the 60s, I tried some last year, it almost incapacitated me. Maybe getting old had something to do with that too. Weed is definitely toxic to me.

Joe Smith said...

Try Dry Herb Vaping...you don't combust the material.

Maybe not healthy but has to be better than burning material and smoking it...

Iman said...

“A couple of years back I dated an active alcoholic. She’d call me up in the middle of the night and tell me these fantastic lies. I might have married her if he wasn’t a drunk. So, I had to breakup with her.”

There’s your problem right there, Begley. Threesomes seldom work out.

Just asking questions (Jaq) said...

It’s funny to learn that there are people who imagine that only a substance that has a lethal dose can be considered toxic, so water is toxic and a psychotropic substance that builds up in your brain is not.

Kakistocracy said...

As someone once said: ‘it’s easy to quit — I’ve done it thousands of times’.

loudogblog said...

A few years ago, I went to the local supermarket. There was an SUV parked in front of one of the entrances letting people off. The driver of the SUV had the window down and was smoking pot.

Anytime you set something on fire and put the smoke into your lungs, you're risking your health. Plus, you shouldn't drive while impaired.

Yesterday, I saw an ad on YouTube for a mail order cannabis delivery company. They kept restating over and over that "cannabis is legal!" (Which it technically isn't. It's still illegal at the Federal level.) Then they had a guy dressed as a cop saying, "Yeah! Cannabis is totally legal now! I'm going to go home, pop a gummie, smoke a joint and get high as shit!" Seriously.

Joe Smith said...

'Puff the hallucinating draggin'.'

If you hallucinate when smoking weed, then there is something else in your weed.

NKP said...

Depends on the meaning of "toxic". If something harms you or leads to you harm others, I'd say it's "toxic".

Anything can be addictive; just ask Joni.

You can make it through these waves
Acid, booze and ass
Needles, guns and grass
Lots of laughs...


I also believe any addiction can be overcome, if you come to an honest understanding of the consequences and refuse to keep paying the price. In my life, I continue to make progress...

30-year, three-pack-a-day habit - Gone
50+ years of Mai Tais, Margaritas and Martinis - Gone
120 lbs of 'extra me' - Gone
30 years of 'We've Got Tonight" debauchery - Gone

Hardest was losing the weight. The others you can do 'cold turkey'.

Maynard said...

I am not sure how relevant this personal example is:

I completely quit smoking pot in 1980. I voted for Republican Ronald Reagan for the first time in my life in 1984, after previously supporting George McGovern and Jimmy Carter.

Maybe that is why legalizing MJ is a high priority for the Democrat Party.

gilbar said...

when gilbar had his brain injury (24 years ago, next March 5th)..
The doctors told him that he had to quit drinking.. And quit smoking pot..
One was EASY.. The other was HARD..
gilbar is VERY happy that he's been able to keep away from both.
He is ALSO SURE, that IF he was to smoke one Joint today, he'd be smoking for the rest of his life.

i've NEVER woke up in the middle of the night, craving a drink.. this happens with pot about once a week

Leland said...

Maybe WaPo could find readers that have heard of Chemotherapy. Nah, forget it, they are WaPo readers insisting their newspaper reinforces their cocoon.

hpudding said...

It’s funny to learn that there are people who imagine that only a substance that has a lethal dose can be considered toxic, so water is toxic and a psychotropic substance that builds up in your brain is not.

That’s not the quote but it is remarkable the concern-trolling that people display toward weed when even 5 extra-strength Tylenol tablets daily push the limit of what will destroy a human liver. (Less when combined with the common substance alcohol). So the lack of a lethal dose is remarkable when applied to illicit substances given how common such a thing is among even non-prescription let alone prescription drugs. “Psychotropic” is not some magically evil property.

The anxiety over weed is all about a perceived association with decadence or non-conformity and has been ever since American doctors were told by the government 60 years ago to remove it from their medicine bags and make sure it didn’t get into the hands of Mexican migrant workers just chomping at the bit to rape white women while high. The founders were big fans of hemp and likely influenced by its “non-conformist” effects, especially the author of the Declaration. Freedom and conformity don’t go together well. Self-described patriots should take note.

Jamie said...

"What is the basis for referring to marijuana — something that is prescribed to certain people — as 'toxic'?"

Where is Crack when we need him? This question - how can something be toxic if some people are prescribed it medically? - seems to me akin to the insistence that anything "natural" is superior to anything "artificial." For heaven's sake, chemotherapy is a race between cancer cell death and whole-body death. LOTS of prescribed drugs are toxic. Dose is everything. In the environmental remediation biz, we used to say "dilution is the solution to pollution" - same principle.

And a strong second to whoever was commenting on the nature and harms of any addiction, above - no matter how innocuous the substance or activity to which you're addicted, if you waste your life chasing it, it is harming you.

William said...

I've had lots of bad habits, but most of them never rose to the level of addiction. I was a binge drinker in my twenties and, after some heavy events in my forties, a heavy drinker. The urge just faded away in my fifties. I had the habit but not the addiction. Cigarettes were a different story. They were tough and almost physically painful to give up. Years afterwards when I saw a movie with Bogart taking a satisfying drag, I would get a strong urge. Cigarettes were a definite addiction....I developed an arthritic knee and had to give up jogging. Jogging was, I guess, a positive addiction, but I had to give it up. That was kind of painful. The secret to happiness is running around in circles for forty minutes to an hour. It works every time. No jogging. No guaranteed happiness. Giving it up was traumatic.....Food is also worrisome. If you consume as much BBQ as your heart desires, you will get fat and die young. If you don't consume BBQ, you will have a severely diminished life, albeit a bit longer. It's a conundrum to which there is no easy answer.

gilbar said...

Joe Bar said...
. Read Alex Version's book, "Tell Your Children."

for a fun read, try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Your_Children%3A_The_Truth_About_Marijuana%2C_Mental_Illness_and_Violence#Criticism

The basic gist is: "stoners say this book is Totally Bogus man!!"

Narr said...

Humans have evolved the ability to enjoy intoxicants for the potential benefits they bring, while being fairly successful in the main at minimizing the potential harms.

I drank heavily for fifteen years, and smoked two packs a day for six, and got high AOAP for much of that time. The first two were becoming too expensive and counterproductive, so I quit. Actually I quit tobacco because I got extremely sick for a couple of weeks and more or less lost the craving; the booze just gave me hangovers that got worse over time, so on my 30th b.d. I swore off for several years. Now I go months without thinking about it--in fact I don't think I've had any alcohol since last year at this time.

I still like a good pipe or gummy buzz, especially for music appreciation.

Deirdre Mundy said...

So Marijuana is LITERALLY THE ONLY ORGANIC SUBSTANCE ON EARTH that can be burned and inhaled without the smoke doing lung damage?

The fact that users continually make this argument lends credence to the 'rots your brains' warnings.

I wish that cities would enforce anti-smoking laws against pot. People who want to consume in public ought to be required to stick to edibles.

Tina Trent said...

Glad to see you're well, Gilbar. I've heard that you can use directed audio waking-sleep performances to feel a high while sleeping. Don't count on me for the technology, but I've heard of it. I have severe, clinical insomnia, but I avoid the pills or the In Our Time/Hardcore History reruns until the occasional day three or four. I get a lot of listening done, and other strict sleep hygiene rests my body as I age, and it helps. I've watched the whole internet, and it's a great necessary work skill sometimes.

All my devices but for my main computer are held together by clear plastic mailing tape. It's a luddite challenge to me to keep them limping onward until they expire. Glass shards and all. So there's highly likely some far more advanced audio stuff out there. Ask Joe Rogan.

Narr said...

I've been around substance users and abusers all my life, but nobody I know has died from inhaling too much pot. Can't say the same for the ones who drank too much booze, or who gobbled pills.

Anyway, it's as amusing now as it was decades ago to watch a society awash in and bloated with powerful chemicals tsk tsk about cannabis. Half the country can't make it to lunchtime without ingesting dangerous drugs (as prescribed).



khematite said...

Don't know if it's still in use after so many years, but "getting well" was for many years a slang term for a drug fix (typically heroin).

rcocean said...

"I've been around substance users and abusers all my life, but nobody I know has died from inhaling too much pot. Can't say the same for the ones who drank too much booze, or who gobbled pills"

I've never known anyone who died from too much alcohol. They got drunk a lot. Some even Joined AA. But overdosing on wine or whiskey and dying that night. Nope.

But of course drinking a lot over years and years will cause medical problems that can kill you. Not everyone. But many. I suspect the same is true of MJ.

And I doubt statistical samples of ONE, are of much use.

Craig Mc said...

"I can give up any time I want."

gilbar said...

thanx Tina, but i've made it this long (24 years, next march 5th), i'll (probably) last a while longer. But i have cravings for pot all the time. No desires to drink (well, little desires. I do miss mixing cocktails, but that's about it).

I just laugh when people say "pot isn't habit forming"
I've heard that from MANY people that haven't gone a day without getting high since they were 20.
As a fellow stoner succinctly put it, back around 1978..
"I could quit Any time i want to.. I just don't want to"

The Best Part of pot is it makes you not notice/not care that your life is going NOWHERE.
No career, no girlfriend, no family.. No Problem! This is Killer Weed!!
Think about That next time you wonder why the democrats want you stoned.

Yancey Ward said...

Marijuana is going to be our Soma.

Yancey Ward said...

You want to know when the Left turns on marijuana- it will be when it is sold by Altria and Philip Morris and all the other international cigarette companies for billions in profits.

rcocean said...

Gilbar: Agree. I've seen real life examples.

Goldenpause said...

Inhaling any kind of smoke is harmful. Denying this fact is an example of magical thinking. Funny that cannibis users would deny the undeniable.

Creola Soul said...

The big gotcha here is that in 20 years the marijuana users will be suffering emphysema and other lung ailments but there will be no “Big Tobacco” to sue. They will, and should be, on their own.

James K said...

My view on drug legalization is similar to my (and Milton Friedman's) view on immigration. Neither goes well with a welfare state. People who get addicted to psychotropic drugs end up being a burden on the state. Effectively the state subsidizes their failures. Get rid of the welfare state (some chance!) and people can do what they want (and come here to work).

Joe Smith said...

'The Best Part of pot is it makes you not notice/not care that your life is going NOWHERE.
No career, no girlfriend, no family.. No Problem! This is Killer Weed!!
Think about That next time you wonder why the democrats want you stoned."

You are ignoring the millions of people who are successful, wealthy, and happy who do like the occasional puff, including the richest man on earth...

YMMV...

Narr said...

I've never known anyone to die from a single night's drinking, rcocean, and didn't say that I have, but you do you. That goes for all the comments as if I'd claimed that pot has no downsides too.

I have been close to people who are habitual, longterm pot users. The ones who drank a lot and gobbled pills instead, or also, fare much more poorly in regard to wealth, health, and longevity.

But who am I going to believe, you people or my lying eyes?

iowan2 said...

30-year, three-pack-a-day habit - Gone
50+ years of Mai Tais, Margaritas and Martinis - Gone
120 lbs of 'extra me' - Gone
30 years of 'We've Got Tonight" debauchery - Gone


You have done well. Identified parts of you life that did not make you happy, or, caused you concern, then took action.

Lots of people have a much different "bottom"

recovering addicts have a dark sense of humor, so here are few things that make the rounds.

I saw a suggested epitaph

1990 gave up smoking
2005 gave up drinking
2015 gave up debauchery
2020 gave up red meat and carbs

2023 Died Anyway

And of course a Quote from Mickey Mantle as he checked himself into Betty Ford

"If I knew I was going to live this long, I would taken better care of my body."

This kind of summarizes the addicts sub-conscience thoughts. While most claim not to have ever considered suicide. Most welcomed the thought of being rescued from the downward spiral, by simply not waking up.

iowan2 said...

Stop with the idiocy of thinking you can't overdosing and dying of alcohol poising.

Dozens of college kids die of alcohol poising every year.
Lots of alcoholics sequester themselves with all the booze they can manage, and drink themselves to death in a matter of hours. Alcohol is a depressant. Just like morphine, it will depress and stop respiration.

boatbuilder said...

If you smoke a lot of weed, you can convince yourself that it is not an "intoxicant."

Alcohol also has medicinal uses. As do fentanyl, oxycodone, and morphine, mushrooms and toad secretions.

Don't kid yourselves, Dudes.

boatbuilder said...

As the comments above demonstrate, people can become psychologically, and physically, addicted to just about anything--including food, exercise, sex, psychotherapy, and golf. (OK, golf is a personal addiction).

Just because people are fragile doesn't mean that the things that people enjoy should be prohibited.

boatbuilder said...

"But as someone who has experienced lots of live music with and without the euphoria weed can induce, there really is no enhancing effect to weed."

You don't really expect anyone to believe that, do you?

Amadeus 48 said...

My brother-in-law:

People smoke weed to feel as good as I feel all the time.

NKP said...

Defeating addiction is understanding the anything less than COMPLETE commitment does not work.

You must stop NOW! Next Tuesday or the day after your birthday bash only means you're thinking about it. There is no such thing as I'll have just one.

I quit smoking after a conversation with my doctor about results of a physical exam. He'd given up talking to me about smoking years before.

He noted I was in remarkably good health thanks to being one of Mother Nature's Favorite Sons, not because of any effort of my own. He was a friend and said it with a grin. I grinned back but I was insulted to the bone.

By the time I got to my car I KNEW I would never smoke another cigarette. I AM the Captain of MY ship and I will stay on course no matter how hard or from what direction the fucking wind blows.

Footnote: For months after quitting I ALWAYS had an unopened pack of unfiltered Camels within reach. Any smoker can tell you, there is no panic greater than realizing you're "out". Interupting an all-night study session at 4 a.m. to drive to a truck stop on the edge of town when it's 20 below is normal behavior. No decision required.

Couple of years ago I was doing about 100 on I-10, miles and miles from anywhere in West Texas, when for some reason, tapped my shirt pocket and realized I was out of smokes. I laughed. But not right away. It ain't ever really over...

Meade said...

I’m Amadeus 48’s brother-in-law? Cool!

Rusty said...

Had to quit drinking because of AFib. "Well. Why don't you smoke pot?"
I'm on beta blockers and have a resting heartrate of 50.
Don't think I need to get that any lower.
hpuddin'
Before I graduated high school six people in my class were dead. They either OD or were murdered for dealing. They all started out dealing and using pot. There are some people who simply live to get high and pot isn't high enough.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Marijuana is addictive. It's obvious to anyone who's done it. There's some serious denial about something that people do compulsively and have withdrawal symptoms when they stop.

The crazy dreams, the anxiety, and the irritability exist. I guess "addictive" is a bad word so people deny that marijuana is addictive.

Holy shit, just own it. Stop lying. If you like it, leave it at that. It's your life.

The problem with addicts isn't the addiction, it's the lying about it.