BONG HITS

[NDIrish]

Hookah,

Im 26...I was there not too long ago. To answer your question, no, I have never tried it. Back in the day, I was captain of the football team, etc, etc, etc...point being, I was expesed to it a lot, around friends. I am not sure why, but I didn't want to try it right away. Lot's of my friends did. I forget who said that the gateway theory was not true...let me tell you, the majority of friends who smoked started using other things...acid, etc. I had two friends die...one from an overdose of cocaine, and the other was on crack. The one on crack was into bodybuilding before he started...It was incredibly sad to see him wither away (literally)...when he died, he weighed 119 lbs...before, he was 180, pure muscle. So, I guess it is safe to say that I am extremely jaded when it comes to this topic.

All I can say is that you will probably feel a lot differently about things when you have children....it is amazing how your entire viewpoint on life changes...

So, to answer your other question, yes, I would make weed illegal also. There may or may not be evidence to support its addictiveness, but again, I can tell you from experience (actually this time with a relative) that it can be extremely psychologically addicting.

[Hookah Smokin Caterpillar]

Anything can be psychologically addicting ND, and I know people that killed themselves after quitting pot; but thats not the point. Pot isn't a gateway drug I don't think; it comes to me this way. This works for me fine because I thought about this a lot before I ever smoked a bowl.

My mom was overprotective so I was never able to get into anything, but you know what drug I always wanted to try before I started smoking pot? Acid... Isn't it funny how I wouldn't touch the stuff now and I never even tried it?

Smoking weed is ok as long as you follow a few rules:
1. Never smoke it alone
2. Never pay for it (always smoke other people's weed)
3. Don't own a pipe, bong, ect.

works for me.

[NDIrish]

Hookah,

Being overprotective would probably have that effect...I think there are other effective ways of getting your children to stay away from drugs...thats another topic though

Everyones opinion on this topic is formed by their frame of reference. You havent had any seriously negative things happen as a result of drugs...I have....friends dying, lost friendships, etc...I hope those things never happen to you...honestly....but if they did, you might see things differently.

[EJ]

I follow joshbcool's weed philosophy!!!

Damn, josh... yer a smart dude!!!

thanks

[Biz]

NDIrish, I know both sides of the coin. My father (who is in prison) had (or maybe still has) a drug problem. My best friend and a few other friends actually overdosed on acid, luckily they're all still alive. Many people in my Mother's life have had drug problems. A lot of them are dead. But I think just as many are dead from alcohal as there are dead from Heroin. I know many people with drug problems, and you know what, they're weak. I'll tell them all that to their face too. Some actually admire me because I don't do drugs.

Regardless, from knowing each side of the coin, I still think legalizing will end many problems. I won't even go into detail of that, but you can imagine.

And don't worry about your kids smoking weed. Weed WON'T kill anyone. And chances are, just about everyone tries it once. I'm not saying you should allow this, but don't take it to the heart, if it becomes a problem however, then you should definetly step in....

[klif]

removed

[Edited by klif on 11-07-2000 at 04:39 AM]

[Biz]

Okay, please give your reasons on why you DON'T want to legalize drugs... What could possibly be worse than what's happening now with the drug problem?

[Biz]

Well you may have removed your post but I already read it

[Ninjagod]

Well if i were worried about our children then lets deal with alcohol which kills 500,000 a year or ciggarettes which kill 1,000,000 PLUS 50,000 innocents. Or high fat foods which kill a million a year. Why start with pot which kills 0!!! In fact all outlawed drugs kill much less people than the legal ones. It is all about money and rights. Let adults choose. Do not pretend to know what is best for me.

[Mickey Finn]

HIT THE DIRT MOTHER PHUCKERS!! THIS IS A CYBER BUST!!!

I am an undercover DEA agent and you are all under arrest.

You have NO rights you bunch of stoned out trolls.

I have traced all your ISPs and installed surveillance equipment inside your residences.

Package up ALL your drugs and send them to:

DEA, care of
Mickey Finn
1313 IandI Lane,
Hallucination, Nevada, 69691

Failure to comply will result in the arrival of a DEA death squad and a trumped up “three strikes” prosecution to be levied against any accidental survivors.

[Edited by Mickey Finn on 11-07-2000 at 10:41 AM]

[Evilution]

I know some people that shouldn't smoke weed, they get stupid and just stare at the wall. I know other people who act fairly normal but maybe just laugh a little more than usual. I think it depends on the person. For this reason I think it should be legalized and the choice should be left up to the individual. Is that such a radical concept?

[NDIrish]

I agree, wholeheartedly, that I cannot determine what is best for you. You decide what is best for you, with one exception. When those actions affect others. To say that drug abuse is a victimless crime is absolutely idiotic. Just watch cops on a Saturday night.
If I could take all the the addicts, and throw them on an island by themselves, and let them shoot up, and smoke, I would be more than happy to do that, and legalize it on the island....but, we dont live on an island. The things you do, like it or not, affect others.

Legalize only marijuana?

- There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug. There is not one reliable study that demonstrates marijuana has any medical value.

- Marijuana is an unstable mixture of more than 425 chemicals that convert to thousands when smoked. Many of these chemicals are toxic, psychoactive chemicals which are largely unstudied and appear in uncontrolled strengths.

- The harmful consequences of smoking marijuana include, but are not limited to the following: premature cancer, addiction, coordination and perception impairment, a number of mental disorders including depression, hostility and increased aggressiveness, general apathy, memory loss, reproductive disabilities, and impairment to the immune system.

- The Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U. S. Public Health Service have rejected smoking crude marijuana as a medicine.

- Medical marijuana has been promoted for "compassionate use" to assist people with cancer, AIDS and glaucoma. Scientific studies show the opposite is true; marijuana is damaging to individuals with these illnesses. In fact, people suffering with AIDS and glaucoma are being used unfairly by groups whose real agenda is to legalize marijuana.

AIDS: Scientific studies indicate marijuana damages the immune system, causing further peril to already weakened immune systems. HIV-positive marijuana smokers progress to full-blown AIDS twice as fast as non-smokers and have an increased incidence of bacterial pneumonia.

Cancer: Marijuana contains many cancer-causing substances, many of which are present in higher concentrations in marijuana than in tobacco.

Glaucoma: Marijuana does not prevent blindness due to glaucoma.

- Marijuana is currently up to 25 times more potent than it was in the 1 960's, making the drug even more addictive.

- Americans take their medicine in pills, solutions, sprays, shots, drops, creams, and sometimes in suppositories, but never by smoking. No medicine prescribed for us today is smoked.

- The main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC (Tetra Hydrocannabinol), is already legally available in pharmaceutical capsule form by prescription from medical doctors. This drug, Marinol, is less often prescribed because of the potential adverse effects, and there are more effective new medicines currently available.

- While a biomedical or causal relationship between marijuana and the use of hard drugs has not been established, the statistical association is quite convincing. Twelve to 17 year-olds who smoke marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than those who do not. Sixty percent of adolescents who use marijuana before age 15 will later use cocaine. These correlations are many times higher than the initial relationships found between smoking and lung cancer in the 1964 Surgeon General's report (nine to ten times higher).

- Major medical and health organizations, as well as the vast majority of nationally recognized expert medical doctors, scientists and researchers, have concluded that smoking marijuana is not a safe and effective medicine. These organizations include: the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, National Sclerosis Association, the American Glaucoma Association, American Academy of Opthalmology, National Eye Institute, and the National Cancer Institute.

- In 1994, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that marijuana should remain a Schedule I drug: highly addictive with no medical usefulness. The court noted that the pro-marijuana physicians had relied on non-scientific evidence.

These are all facts folks...

Here are some questions that nearly all legalization proponents like to stay away from...

Should all drugs be legalized?
Who will determine which segments of the population will have access to legalized drugs?

Will they be limited only to people over 18, 21?

Will cocaine, heroin, LSD, and PCP be made available if people request them?

Who will sell drugs, the government, private companies?

Who will be liable for damages caused by drug use, and the activities of those taking drugs?

Who will collect the revenues generated by the drug sales?

How will a black market for cheaper drugs be controlled?

Who will bear the costs to society (health care, addiction clinics, etc) of increased drug use?

How will absenteeism and loss of productivity be addressed by business? Who will bear the costs of lost productivity, consumers, stockholders?

Will the local drug situation in a community dictate which drugs are sold where?

How will society care for and pay for the attendant social costs of increased drug use, including family disintegration and child neglect?

Who will bear the costs of the expansion of social service and welfare programs that may be necessary to care for increased drug addicts through drug legalization? Would taxpayers bear this expense through increased taxes, would funding for other programs such as education be reduced?

Will people still need prescriptions for currently controlled medications, such as antibiotics, if drugs are legalized?

Will legal drugs require prescriptions?

Can anyone, regardless of physical or medical conditions, purchase drugs?

How will we deal with the influx of people to the United States who will seek legal drugs?

Can we begin a legalization pilot program in your neighborhood for one year?

Should the distribution outlets be located in the already overburdened inner city?

I would love to hear some realistic solutions to these problems/questions. People that support legalization are usually the type that have no idea how to address problems like these. Lets hear the specifics of how to implement a system for the distribution and sale of legalized drugs ...not "I like to smoke...legalize it, man...". How will you implement these programs? who will control them? will they be taxed? Who is responsible for paying for the health care costs? etc....lets hear some solutions.

[Evilution]

Regardless of your propaganda, me smoking a little weed is NOT hurting anybody. If I know some dirty hippie living out in the woods who grows a little bit, and a buddy of mine brings some into town, I but a little and smoke it, who's getting hurt? That's bull.