Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

The reason I usually give for not doing drugs: I live in an imaginary world enough as it is.

I'm just holding out until they invent soma.

My stance on the whle marijuana thing: The government is just trying to look out for the health of its citizens. That's why we have warning labels on cigarettes, and nutritional info on cigarettes.

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Pot is America's number one Cash Crop.
Nother Story

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I am very much against the legalization of marijuana. They say it makes people change a lot. This is true, and that's because it lowers your IQ.

Many people with relatively high IQs start smoking pot, and they continue, thining it's harmless. However, as long as you are using pot, you will get, to be honest, dumber and dumber. I have a teacher who has worked with kinds who started out with average or a little less than average IQs, and became literally mentally retarded over the years from marijuana use. Mental retardation means to have an IQ of about 70 or below.

A scary thing is that secondhand smoke from marijuana can damage one's brain as well. If you are in a room or a car with someone who is smoking it, it can have nearly as much of an affect on you as it has on them.

People say marijuana is harmless because they can't feel the effect it's having on their brains. It's sad that 25% of the population uses it.

Any scientific source to back up this claim? Because to me, it just sounds like media-perpetuated heresay.

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

Well piano man, I can tell you personally that it's not all too false. I've seen some of my friends that were quite smart, until they started smoking. Marijuana basically did make them dumb.

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As in, they took IQ tests before they started and then again after, and the results were noticeably lower after they had been smoking pot? Or they just SEEMED less intelligent?

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

Noticeable drop in grades, lack of caring for school, more frequency to skip classes, doing dumb things that they usually never did. I mean, it's not like I was running test on them or anything, but you could easily see the difference.

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Well, that's probably because they were habitual pot smokers; they smoked every day for years and only cared about getting another dime bag.
The people I hang out with only use it once and a while, like once or twice a month, and they're grades have stayed the same; In fact, one of them has gotten noticeably... smarter... of course, thats probably because he takes Adderal...

Either way, pot is not as bad as those SLOMMING commercials say it is.

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Was "Was "I have a teacher who has worked with kids who started out with average or a little less than average IQs, and became literally mentally retarded over the years from marijuana use. Mental retardation means to have an IQ of about 70 or below." not enough?

I'd prefer an actual study--something printed and peer-reviewed. Otherwise, it starts sounding too close to something someone on another forum I go to keeps saying, which is along the lines of "I know gay people are evil because I met one once and he knew he had AIDS but tried to have sex with me anyways." Yeah, yeah--different can of worms...but same basic premise. The sample is very small, the methods for data gathering are not published (was she actually giving them IQ tests?), so the conclusions are therefore questionable.

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

PianoManGidley's right. Anecdotal evidence is very often wrong, which has been demonstrated numerous times. That doesn't mean that it is wrong, but there's only one way to know for sure.

- Kef

Reminds me of an episode of Scrubs, druggie comes in just to get some painkillers. I want it illegal, but kept in some kind of Bat-Cave thing only doctors who wear masks and fight crime at night can get it.

Also - Who needs drugs? I've got the internet.

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I don't see why marijuana shouldn't be legal. Other than the issue of the government dictating what you can and cannot do to your body, it's a pretty harmless drug.

I can tell you first hand that it's not a harmless drug. I've seen what it can do to people.

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Most of the frequent marijuana users I've known were pretty much complete space cadets, and I can't help but notice a connection there.

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Of course it is, but one of the reasons why its illegal is because you can't put a patent on it. Since the government couldn't patent it, they had no use for it.

Now Tobacco, the government couldn't let that money-maker get away. Without tobacco, theyre probably wouldn't be a United States today. but thats for another thread.

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Well, what does it do? From what I've seen it has no negative effects (other than the possible throat abrasions), both mentally and physically. None of my friends who use it have changed. The only time they're different is when they smoke up. I know people who smoke up before big math tests because marijuana helps them on logic tests like that and, of course, they get 90s on their tests.

Actually, I cited one of the mental effects earlier.

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Were they space cadets before they started smoking?

My friends in high school that smoked weed weren't the brightest bulbs to begin with, and I'm sure smoking didn't help much. They haven't done too much with their lives.

College was a different story. Everybody I knew did it. EVERYBODY. They were engineering students mostly. There were no dummies in that group. It was a nightly activity for some, a weekend thing for others. There was no negative impact on their lives, and most have now gone through grad school and beyond, or onto really good careers.

I now know a number of film students in a graduate program at a major university who probably smoke weed weekly. And if there's any career path which weed can help, it's definately that one. Those are some creative, talented people.

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Listen to the Black Crowes.

Well, as much as I hate taking a side, I feel I can contribute here...

When I was partaking in marijuana, here are some aspects of it that might further the discussion:

-Bravery. I could easily do things then I would not do now. Being on this drug gives you an amazing feeling of invincibility. You can command a situation with ease and not worry about what others think of you.
-Excitement. Living the lifestyle of a stoner is undeniably fun. You meet alot of very interesting people, have alot of memorable adventures, and can constantly feel a feeling of general excitement.
-self-discovery. When you're high, you forget about your outside senses and just burrow deep inside your own mind. This can give you alot of time to think. Although, things I would generally think about weren't the stereotypical trivial drible everyone associates with being high, some of it was kind of interesting.
-Fun. I'm not going lie, everything (even school) is funner stoned.
-Stress. Getting it, stashing it, and where to smoking it can all cause stress.
-Intelligence. Personally, I noticed no drop in my intelligence. My grades where still straight A's and I always completed my work on time.
-Money. It's pretty friggin' expensive. Especially on an annual income of $0.
-Mental Dependence. Sometimes it feels like you have to be high to have fun (this has nothing to with addiction). I noticed before I quit (I'd been using it for a year, 5 grams a week at it's heaviest) that if I wasn't high I had nothing to do. This is probably partly due to where I live be hella' boring, but my point still stands.
-Safety. If you're gonna use drugs, this is probably one of the safer ones. No physical addiction, no crash, no OD.
-Easily caught. You reek after one drag.
-Mental Fatigue. After long-term heavy use, you can really start to feel down. After I quit, I definitely noticed a improvement in my mood.
-Smell. It smells VERY good.
Family. Nothings worse then making your mom cry after she notices you're stoned.
-Coolness. I've had this debate before and I just tohught I'd say that only a small majority of posers smoke weed just to be cool. The sensation of being high is so ineffably amazing, it's easy ot undertand why anyone would actually smoke dope.

Anyways, that's it. Please, don't think of me as some big stoner, because I'm not; I haven't touched a joint since November. Also, I don't see why Marijuana shouldn't be legal, but I'm not supporting it's legalization.

Yep.

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How'd you like to be my right hand man? The pay is good, but you lose dental.

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Sure, my teeth are onion skin yellow anyhow.

Anyways, back to the debate...

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Disclaimer: this is a considered opinion. I offer it for what value is evident to you. This is not authority, and I am not the boss of you.

So the medical student take on MJ is that it causes 1) eye irritation; 2) is mentally addicting (far less physiological addiction than smoking); 3) when taken for long periods causes "demotivational syndrome".

All that bravery and fun you were having while hi? It gets used up. The feelings are driven by dopamine (and others) distributed with exquisite precision within your head. When your body says: *enough! take out the dopamine receptors!* (and it will/does), then comes the space cadet; and yes there is a causal relationship. Thus the popular stereotype of "burnt-out hippie" isn't far off. There is no clinically demonstrated medical benefit in spite of popular acclaim; you pretty much just get yourself good and "mellow". Mellow enough to not care as much about pain, and mellow enough to compromise your judgment when the dealer comes around with harder stuff.

"Yea, ok. That sounds great! Give me some of that.": *look, mom, now I'm smoking ice!*

The upshot of it is: if you want to start orbiting death, early on -- start weed; you're judgment will cloud (further), and you'll take more drugs -- further burning off the good feelings and remaining judgment. BUT you won't die immediately, and the ride may even be fun for a while. It will shorten your overall life and quality-of-life, however -- be sure. The end will be much worse than the beginning is better. As well, which may not matter to you if you are already engaged in this life -- it will bring misery on anyone who loves you; either because of resistance and shame or because they'll follow you and burnout/die too.

So, should it be legal? No; not unless we encarcerate all participants. That's one strategy a body uses when it fights certain infections, or cancers. Wall it off, let it die of its own excess, clean up the remains, rebuild in the void left behind.

The other strategy a body uses is antibodies -- which cause attack by chemical pattern recognition. Kin to traffic cops who only give speeding tickets using radar guns. Or drug cops who only take down drug dealers using undercover operators. That's more the strategy of keeping it illegal.

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Too big to be my avatar, but I like it.

1) Small side effect. Bloodshot eyes can be fixed with some Visine or will go away after a couple of hours.
2) You can become psychologically dependent on ANYTHING. As long as you're not abusing marijuana, getting off of it is as easy as not buying anymore. It's easier than giving up pants/shorts/skirts/whatever covers your legs.
3) People under 18 tend to be affected by amotivational syndrome more than matured adults. Abusers will suffer from this, but people who use it normally and are of an appropriate age shouldn't worry too much.



That feeling is the result of the THC (delta-9-tetrahdryocannabinal (be proud of me, I managed to spell that without looking)) found in cannabis. When you smoke your joint, the smoke enters your lungs and the THC gets absorbed. The THC travels along the tubes until it reaches your brain where it seeks out the CB1 receptor and binds with it. The CB1 receptor is known as the cannabinoid receptor. So why is this receptor there? Well, barwhack, it's because your body produces a chemical called anandamide which also binds with the same receptor.



That is, if your stoner friend is an idiot. We've already asserted that drugs don't destroy your ability to think, so anyone who was smart when they started the drug will still be smart. This person will be smart enough to know how to conduct himself in a drug deal. Even if your drug dealer popped up when you were smoking some Jane (how did he know you were there? How did he know you were smoking? How did he know you were smoking at that time?) you can still easily assert yourself and take control of yourself. Weed can focus you like Ritalin wishes it could.

Source: Wikipedia and various medical websites

eh, almost...
Really? Can that be backed up by 'Wikipedia and various medical websites'?

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You do know that any idiot/fundamentalist/authoritative figure can go onto Wikipedia, edit an article, and link sources to it from a website that thinks exactly how he does?

Second, he didn't mean that all drugs don't do that, Just Jane. But I'd rest, if you can find us a source,(Other than Wikipedia), that supports your claims, then we can believe it.

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Light users benefited from use of Marijuana, while chronic users/abusers suffered.

I don't see why marijuana would affect your intelligence if it doesn't kill brain cells (Dr. Christine Hartel, Acting Director of Research, National Institute of Drug Abuse, cited by the State of Hawaii Dept of Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division in memo of Feb. 4, 1994.)

RLY?
Here's one from today on CBS:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/ ... 6434.shtml
This one is about a newspaper that was trying to get Marijuana legalized, but then they changed their minds and stopped:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07040203.html
Really? Then how come the link you posted says that it does affect intelligence (or at least, if used enough)? If it really doesn't kill brain cells, and if destroying brain cells are required for decreasing intelligence, then no amount of marijuana should affect intelligence, which contradicts the article you used to support your original claim.

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