tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post7155286598078151192..comments2024-03-28T09:22:33.033-05:00Comments on Althouse: "There's a lot of discussion about pot right now... they all come back to the same thing for me: Dad, Dad, Daddy."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-15565474386103098262014-01-18T11:46:55.922-06:002014-01-18T11:46:55.922-06:00I wonder if this man's life would have been ev...I wonder if this man's life would have been even worse if his drug of choice had been alcohol.<br /><br />Some people want to be intoxicated. Most of them achieve that with alcohol because it's legal. But what if pot were legal too and some of them went with that instead?Freeman Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16202310075717963694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-58250497213311405322014-01-18T07:45:28.975-06:002014-01-18T07:45:28.975-06:00John Lynch, good point about the weird dreams. I a...John Lynch, good point about the weird dreams. I always ask people who have quit about their dreams and most report a kind of a dream rebound where their dreams get pretty intense for awhile. They typically do not report BAD dreams, just as you said, weird ones.<br /><br />I wonder if it is a dream rebound. I wonder if they have been going to sleep stoned, and thus, sedated, and if that sedation interferes with the brain going into normal REM sleep until the brain is no longer sedated. If this is the case, folks have too LITTLE to dream last night. Then, when they stop, they catch up.<br /><br />I have not read any studies about that, but the vast majority of people who were regular smokers and stopped using report the dream rebound.<br /><br />TreyTMinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09332611409866112824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-40051296665970471162014-01-18T00:30:08.846-06:002014-01-18T00:30:08.846-06:00Hm, let me flesh that out a little by way of a met...Hm, let me flesh that out a little by way of a metaphor.<br /><br />Ever notice how people whose loved ones die experience very similar reactions to one another? Or, for that matter, that children react very similarly when promised ice cream and then denied it?<br /><br />Now, should we conclude from this that we're addicted to the people we love? That kids are addicted to ice cream? Of course not. But we're all human, and human nature is what it is. We handle loss, anger, grief, et al, in similar ways.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-38300176091234358172014-01-18T00:26:58.546-06:002014-01-18T00:26:58.546-06:00Ask anyone who's quit smoking weed if there...<i>Ask anyone who's quit smoking weed if there's no physical dependence. There's withdrawal symptoms- irritability, weird dreams, and so on. If it's a psychological addiction, how come so many people have the same symptoms?</i><br /><br />Because addictive personalities have a lot of things in common. Deprive a gambler of the ability to gamble and he too becomes irritable, emotional, suffers sleep disruption and so on and so on.<br /><br />They're giving up something that was a big, big part of their lives. It would be bizarre and unusual if they DIDN'T experience bad side effects!Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91361108868991661092014-01-18T00:24:52.799-06:002014-01-18T00:24:52.799-06:00Yes, pot is very bad for some people. Why can'...<i>Yes, pot is very bad for some people. Why can't we admit that?</i><br /><br />I wasn't aware it was under contention. Heck, peanuts are very bad for some people; why not marijuana?<br /><br />The question is, is the fact that it is bad for some people a reason to ban it? And the answer's "no".Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-83522513783975087862014-01-17T23:37:35.809-06:002014-01-17T23:37:35.809-06:00Ask anyone who's quit smoking weed if there...Ask anyone who's quit smoking weed if there's no physical dependence. There's withdrawal symptoms- irritability, weird dreams, and so on. If it's a psychological addiction, how come so many people have the same symptoms?<br /><br />I work with stoners every day, and have for years. Marijuana is addictive in any way that matters. It has a lot of psychological effects. Memory loss is the most common, but some people get paranoid or just really stupid. I've met stoners that simply could not do anything on a day that they smoked. Nothing.<br /><br />Most people don't become addicts, or are for a short period of their lives. It isn't the end of the world if it's freely available. But can people become addicted to weed? Of course they can. Is that bad? For some people, yes it is. The absolute denial of these obvious facts is perplexing.<br /><br />Comparisons with alcohol aren't completely off base. We can admit that alcohol is bad for some people. Why not weed?NotWhoIUsedtoBehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14568355742926021406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82424547836612548702014-01-17T23:29:40.700-06:002014-01-17T23:29:40.700-06:00To address Revenant's point, he's seeing t...To address Revenant's point, he's seeing the potheads who can handle the drug. He doesn't see those that can't. It's selection bias. If they couldn't handle it they wouldn't be scientists and engineers. What about the smart kid who did drugs instead of finishing college? I've met some of those.<br /><br />I've met people that handle it just fine, but I've also met people that can't and ruin their lives. Or, more commonly, they limit their lives by building them around drug use. <br /><br />When deciding to legalize a drug, you have to look at the cost for everyone. And not just all the users of the drugs, but what's going to happen to the people around them. Maybe the net result of decriminalization or legalization would be positive, but for some people it will be very negative. It's not going to be good for everyone. <br /><br />The author of this article didn't choose for her father to smoke pot, but was obviously affected by it. This is a blind spot a lot of libertarians have. Individual choices are great, but they aren't individual in their consequences. Drug use is a very big reason why poverty exists in this country (I'd say it's the #2 reason after family breakdown). When you get down into the working class of society drug use is much more prevalent, and the consequences are much more obvious.<br /><br />Sure, people can choose not to use drugs, but many will. And we all have to deal with that, no matter how much we don't want to. NotWhoIUsedtoBehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14568355742926021406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-55029905969039845602014-01-17T23:06:10.016-06:002014-01-17T23:06:10.016-06:00It's interesting to me how many commenters dis...It's interesting to me how many commenters discount personal experience when it disagrees with what they think they know.<br /><br />Yes, pot is very bad for some people. Why can't we admit that?<br /><br />I have never met anyone who was a better person because they smoked a lot of pot. Calmer, maybe. Maybe more pleasant. But not better.NotWhoIUsedtoBehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14568355742926021406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-87185458970892244042014-01-17T23:05:36.673-06:002014-01-17T23:05:36.673-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.NotWhoIUsedtoBehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14568355742926021406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-29296585692759432502014-01-17T22:06:05.372-06:002014-01-17T22:06:05.372-06:00If pot were capable of subverting or elevating civ...If pot were capable of subverting or elevating civilization, it would long since have subverted or elevated society. The father was an asshole. It's probably just as well he didn't use alcohol instead of weed to get through the day. Stoned assholes are more bearable than drunk assholes especially for young children......Assholes are never prudent judges of what meds to take to diminish their assholery. The guy was a bad father, but I've known worst.Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07837540030934495651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-75845497191966512512014-01-17T19:49:21.443-06:002014-01-17T19:49:21.443-06:00@Tmink,
SJ, I think there is an even higher ...@Tmink,<br /><i><br /><br /> SJ, I think there is an even higher correlation between schizophrenia and tobacco use than schizophrenia and pot smoking. </i><br /><br />I don't know whether that argument counts as anti-tobacco, nor whether mine counted as anti-pot.<br /><br />The research that I've seen is full of comments about how hard it is to get accurate data about pot use in the general population. Thus, it's hard to get baseline data for use of marijuana among those who don't suffer from schizophrenia. <br /><br />However, there data that is available indicates that many schizophrenics used pot during the early stages of manifestation of the disease.<br /><br />(It was not fully elucidated, but was mentioned in the <a href="www.amazon.com/My-Brother-Ron-Personal-Deinstitutionalization/dp/1477667539/" rel="nofollow">best book</a> I've seen on the legal and cultural status of the mentally ill.)<br /><br />I do wish that better data were available. But it isn't.<br />SJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12043843405366080460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22049373652542142142014-01-17T19:24:16.188-06:002014-01-17T19:24:16.188-06:00It's nice to see, now that the advocates for l...<i>It's nice to see, now that the advocates for legal Marijuana use have gotten their way, that the truth is finally coming out in spits and cycles.</i><br /><br />At long last, opponents of marijuana legalization have a chance to tell *their* side of the story! The long decades of silence can end!Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-81394032365386279022014-01-17T19:17:59.005-06:002014-01-17T19:17:59.005-06:00I have friends that work in jobs that require a hi...<i> I have friends that work in jobs that require a high level of focus and intellectual flexibility. Exactly none of these people smoke pot, though many drink.</i><br /><br />I've known a lot of engineers and physicists who were potheads. Actually, a better way of phrasing that would be "virtually all the potheads I've known were engineers or physicists". This probably reflects my choice of friends and acquaintances more than anything else, though.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-71430986150665320582014-01-17T19:15:33.906-06:002014-01-17T19:15:33.906-06:00As to mental illness and not abuse of weed being t...<i>As to mental illness and not abuse of weed being the property, a river in Egypt and all that.</i><br /><br />The point is that the mental illness causes the abusive behavior in question. Marijuana does not create chemical dependence the way, say, opiates do.<br /><br />This person's father is comparable to, say, a man who constantly cheated on his wife or got angry and beat the kids. The underlying problem is that the guy himself is an asshole; blaming the specific means by which he expressed his nature is a cop-out.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-54158518943540566222014-01-17T18:14:27.587-06:002014-01-17T18:14:27.587-06:00It's nice to see, now that the advocates for l...It's nice to see, now that the advocates for legal Marijuana use have gotten their way, that the truth is finally coming out in spits and cycles.<br /><br />By the time it's fully legal, we will all be aware of just how destructive this drug is to society.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4091060511001781972014-01-17T17:22:19.743-06:002014-01-17T17:22:19.743-06:00If you get jailed for smoking a flower you don'...If you get jailed for smoking a flower you don't live in a free country.garage mahalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06485491995866513686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-62164506569181262532014-01-17T17:08:26.430-06:002014-01-17T17:08:26.430-06:00OK, this thread has changed my mind regarding pot....OK, this thread has changed my mind regarding pot. I have used it in the past and have little to no inclination to use it again in the future, but I can see how there are light users of the drug that are not unduly impaired by it, and their use should not be criminalized because of a tendency of the drug to create low IQ, low ambition, burnouts.<br /><br />As a practical matter, I don't want to live under a state with the power to effectively ban pot.tim in vermonthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06547980465313241972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-42099894041370336882014-01-17T17:08:16.382-06:002014-01-17T17:08:16.382-06:00I went to high school with several guys (always it...I went to high school with several guys (always it's guys) who never were able to hold a job because they couldn't make it past all the taverns on the way home from work. Their biographies would be as depressing to read as this tale. bbkingfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09837055667750129209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82953232072338906982014-01-17T16:58:51.388-06:002014-01-17T16:58:51.388-06:00It was fun when I was young.
So was drinking too ...It was fun when I was young.<br /><br />So was drinking too much alcohol.<br /><br />Neither is any way for an adult to live his/her life.The Godfatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10575359417766667457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82302652030516415622014-01-17T16:38:04.137-06:002014-01-17T16:38:04.137-06:00@Boltforge said, "Now that is awesome. Were y...<i>@Boltforge said, "Now that is awesome. Were you partaking when you made that joke?"</i><br /><br />What joke? :D<br /><br />p.s. - no, not yet. Still working.AustinRothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06257677817380704740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-6498895840541343752014-01-17T16:32:58.658-06:002014-01-17T16:32:58.658-06:00Tim in Vermaont said"
In my own life, there a...<i>Tim in Vermaont said"<br />In my own life, there are a few pot smokers. They all have jobs that are repetitive applications of training. In other words, they are pretty much doing the same things in year 20 as they are in year one. Carpentry, medical technician, retail. I have friends that work in jobs that require a high level of focus and intellectual flexibility. Exactly none of these people smoke pot, though many drink.</i><br /><br />Funny I had the exact opposite thought. I would say in the high tech field (computers and telecom), I think at least 75% of the senior management I have dealt with smokes casually.<br /><br />At my company, the CEO, CTO, SVP of Worldwide Sales, SVP of Marketing, and SVP of Global Ops all do. About the only one that does not is the CFO. <br /><br />And they are an East Coast company. Back when I worked in Silicon Valley, it was even higher (pun absolutely intended).AustinRothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06257677817380704740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-20868484275332499632014-01-17T16:28:45.591-06:002014-01-17T16:28:45.591-06:00AustinRoth said...
"Sorry, what were you talk...AustinRoth said...<br />"Sorry, what were you talking about?"<br /><br />Now that is awesome. Were you partaking when you made that joke?Boltforgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15064810503901713317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10175258291743715002014-01-17T16:26:35.659-06:002014-01-17T16:26:35.659-06:00heyboom said...
"I'm wondering what the F...heyboom said...<br />"I'm wondering what the FAA will decide is the proper detox period for pot as compared to alcohol."<br /><br />In the blood stream the psychotropic component has a half-life of about 2 days. So, 6 days would reduce the drug to about 10% of original dose. With lots of fudge factors for body mass, BMI, health, etc.<br /><br />What Colorado really needs to do is get CU to do a serious impairment study. Shouldn't be to hard to find volunteers.<br />Boltforgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15064810503901713317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-61731514218853202602014-01-17T16:23:44.499-06:002014-01-17T16:23:44.499-06:00@Boltforge
Sorry, what were you talking about?@Boltforge<br /><br />Sorry, what were you talking about?AustinRothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06257677817380704740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91884102540656194222014-01-17T16:14:18.316-06:002014-01-17T16:14:18.316-06:00Methinks the fault lies in her dad, not in the pot...Methinks the fault lies in her dad, not in the pot he smoked.<br />Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16099940931064117337noreply@blogger.com