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Cannabinoids Induce Brain Cell Growth?
Harlan writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting that researchers at the University of Saskatchewan are claiming that high doses of cannabinoids have induced new brain cell growth in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, in rat subjects. There are some interesting potential implications in regards to high doses of cannabinoids found in substances like marijuana."
WEeeeeEEEEEeeeeedddd
I mean, have you seen the complexity of some of those home-made bongs?
There's some serious brain power gone into engineering those bastards.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
...that I am going to the health club when I pop into the local coffeeshop!
i would suspect that THC spurs the growth of brain cells responsible for promoting hunger and suppressing satiety
specifically for cheetos
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
This is just my observation but when a persons health fails in old age, a key factor seems to be failure in the nervous system. I had a great aunt who lived five years after a stroke. Her body went downhill because her brain wasn't running the show properly.
So I think treatments which can help revive the brain can also help other systems in the body.
And it is the only organ which can not be replaced in some way by machinery.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Calgary -- Forget the stereotype about dopey potheads. It seems marijuana could be good for your brain.
While other studies have shown that periodic use of marijuana can cause memory loss and impair learning and a host of other health problems down the road, new research suggests the drug could have some benefits when administered regularly in a highly potent form.
Most "drugs of abuse" such as alcohol, heroin, cocaine and nicotine suppress growth of new brain cells. However, researchers found that cannabinoids promoted generation of new neurons in rats' hippocampuses.
Hippocampuses are the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, and the study held true for either plant-derived or the synthetic version of cannabinoids.
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"This is quite a surprise," said Xia Zhang, an associate professor with the Neuropsychiatry Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
"Chronic use of marijuana may actually improve learning memory when the new neurons in the hippocampus can mature in two or three months," he added.
The research by Dr. Zhang and a team of international researchers is to be published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, but their findings are on-line now.
The scientists also noticed that cannabinoids curbed depression and anxiety, which Dr. Zhang says, suggests a correlation between neurogenesis and mood swings. (Or, it at least partly explains the feelings of relaxation and euphoria of a pot-induced high.)
Other scientists have suggested that depression is triggered when too few new brain cells are created in the hippocampus. One researcher of neuropharmacology said he was "puzzled" by the findings.
As enthusiastic as Dr. Zhang is about the potential health benefits, he warns against running out for a toke in a bid to beef up brain power or calm nerves.
The team injected laboratory rats with a synthetic substance called HU-210, which is similar, but 100 times as potent as THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the compound responsible for giving marijuana users a high.
They found that the rats treated regularly with a high dose of HU-210 -- twice a day for 10 days -- showed growth of neurons in the hippocampus. The researchers don't know if pot, which isn't as pure as the lab-produced version, would have the same effect.
"There's a big gap between rats and humans," Dr. Zhang points out.
But there is a lot of interest -- and controversy -- around the use of cannabinoids to improve human health.
Cannabinoids, such as marijuana and hashish, have been used to address pain, nausea, vomiting, seizures caused by epilepsy, ischemic stroke, cerebral trauma, tumours, multiple sclerosis and a host of other maladies.
There are herbal cannabinoids, which come from the cannabis plant, and the bodies of humans and animals produce endogenous cannabinoids. The substance can also be designed in the lab.
Cannabinoids can trigger the body's two cannabinoid receptors, which control the activity of various cells in the body.
One receptor, known as CB1, is found primarily in the brain. The other receptor, CB2, was thought to be found only in the immune system.
However, in a separate study to be published today in the journal Science, a group of international researchers have located the CB2 receptor in the brain stems of rats, mice and ferrets.
The brain stem is responsible for basic body function such as breathing and the gastrointestinal tract. If stimulated in a certain way, CB2 could be harnessed to eliminate the nausea and vomiting associated with post-operative analgesics or cancer and AIDS treatments, according to the researchers.
"Ultimately, new therapies could be developed as a result of these findings," said Keith Sharkey, a gastrointestinal neuroscientist at the University of Calgary, lead author of the study.
(Scientists are trying to find ways to block CB1 as a way to decrease food cravings and limit dependence on tobacco.)
When asked whether his findings explain why CmdrTaco taked it up the ass, Dr. Sharkey paused and replied: "It does not explain the effects of smoked or inhaled or ingested substances."
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I always suspected... uhm, what were we talking about again?
Noise Is Music Podcast.
You might grow more brain cells, but all of these new cells will be dedicated to designing more complicated bongs and imagining conspiracies to unravel, so the net functional gain is minimal.
Same thing we do every night, Pinky - get baked and munch out.
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
Maybe skipping class to go smoke pot isn't such a waste of time after all...
Now that my kids have read this we can argue about, "But DAD, Slashdot says!"
My ZooLoo
Certainly that can't be in a form of inhaling. However why is that this picture is on the news? http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/i mages/20051014/wxcanna1014/1014joints.jpg
Sounds like someone just got too excited to hear the news, lite up that pipe and start posting news with whatever picture taken from pot party he/she attended.
That just proves pot smoking kills more brain cells than promotes them. I rather eat fish than inject myself with 100 times more potent form of THC into my body on daily basis, thank you very much.
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
It, like, alters your mind! Wohoa!
dnuof eruc rof aixelsid
1. Ingest a lot of this. (twice a day for 10 days, human dosages uncertain, $35/mg.)
2. Wait 2-3 months for new neurons in the hippocampus to mature.
3. ???
4. Profit!
The team injected laboratory rats with a synthetic substance called HU-210, which is similar, but 100 times as potent as THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the compound responsible for giving marijuana users a high.
..or better yet, how do I make it?
Clearly my dealer has been lying to me. He swore there was nothing stronger than his stuff. Where do I get HU-210?
bite my glorious golden ass.
I've been smoking weed for years, and every time I get nice and baked, I tend to learn things quicker, and remember vividly everything I learn while high. I'm not surprised that injecting lab rats with a twice as potent THC like substance spurred neuron generation, quite frankly I'm surprised that in the USA, marijuana still remains illegal while drugs like Oxycontin are still kept in pharmacies. Perhaps that's why studies in this nature are conducted in other countries, the government wants you to use THEIR drugs. I say free the weed, it helps perpetuate neuron growth, so why stop it? Is the government afraid that, one day, the population might come out of a sobriety induced stupor to realize that the politicians are all overpaid bastards who leech off our money to feed their expensive tastes and high salaries, while giving us nothing but bullshit in return?
US Congress will make sure this is the case. Drugs may not harm the Canadians but they do harm American people.
"a synthetic substance called HU-210, which is similar, but 100 times as potent as THC"
dang!!! who's in this team and can they hook a brother up!
The authors are far more cautious in their interpretation than some of the /. readers...but then this is not that much of a surprise.
PDF (a few MBs) http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid= 1253627&blobtype=pdf
Normally I wouldn't do the grammar nazi thing, but you must have quite a case of the munchies there!
"...we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." B.Spears 2003
Why are rats attending a hippocampus in the first place?
If this is study is true... why can't I remember where I put my car keys?
This article was posted 13 minutes too late.
... like to welcome our new dutch overlords?
...for EuroOSCON in Amsterdam !!!!
The mentioned research used 'canaboids', which is a group of componds resembling those found in cannabis(THC). It was already known that the brain uses neurotransmitters that are in the form of canaboids and it contains several types of receptor for it, just like opiates have human equivalents in the form of endorfines.
But similar results done with THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol), the main compound in hash and weed have found no evidence for this cellgrowth stimulation. So let's not jump for joy yet. One experiment/paper does not mean it has been accepted as scientific fact yet.
Besides, you can be sure that with such a hot subject and the way research is financed/politiced there will be more research 'debunking' this even if it turns out to be true after all.
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
Notice use of the word "chronic" :)
If you're just going to talk, pass that over here.
If you read TFA you'd have read that the original publication is due to be released in JCI, a peer reviwed journal that is quite high impact. Not Nature or Science, but not the Ulan Bator Journal of Basket Weaving Medicine either.
A glass of wine daily promotes health. Same thing goes for a little beer and some coffee.
This does not mean that 10 glasses of wine, 20 bottles of beer and 2 litres of coffee a day are healthy for you. In moderation, they aid health and your well-being, but in excess they don't.
Pot is likewise good in moderation to relax and to be creative.
The governments should allow adults access to any chemicals they choose to take. It should not be illegal to possess said chemicals, but it should instead be illegal to cause trouble for others if under the influence of a chemical. Common sense applied, it means you don't drive a car after smoking some pot, just as you don't drink and drive.
Actual paper can be found here.
It IS a scientific research to be published in next month's journal. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4338634.stm/ Now, I agree that exprapolating this finding to human is kinda wild.
Res publica non dominetur
This stuff isn't in your average joint.
If this was true.... Then I would've been a freakin rocket scientist and neuro surgeon now instead of a lowly 3G Unix Network Management Specialist.
*scratches head* I must be doing something wrong. Maybe the dosage is not high enough? Maybe I'm not going to enough music festivals? Or maybe the alcohol is counter-acting the growth?
Yeah. It must be the fucking alcohol. Evil man-made drugs.
Well, I'm going back to the hotel to have a beer or 3 while I think about this.
"I used to have that really cool,funny sig
"only to die a death on investigation by their pears..."
Dude you are so high, there is like nooo waay my fruit can investigate me, much less carry a license to kill.
It seems to slam short-term memory immediately after you've smoked it, but everything bounces back. I've maintained for years that my mind is more powerful thanks to the all the psychedelics I've had over the years. People will of course laugh at me, but I respectfully think I'm in the better position to be judging that. I've actually noticed a nice increase in performance, not to mention scope.
Let's just completely ignore any research that shows the negative effects of the "Chronic use of marijuana" and make a big deal about one single study that says it can improve learning memory. Sorry hippies, but the party is over.
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
So, there is some web site where I could enroll as a test subject??? In case the investigation center is too far from me, they can email my doses and the tests to perform, I'll get those back to them!
Why can't
It's terrible that kids use stuff like this to justify their habit. There's a lot of confusing stuff about pot out there but there are also mental wards filled with pot smokers, and I can personally vouch for the fact that pot worsens short term memory.
5 6
I smoked lots of it from the age of 13 to 18 and I find it much harder to concentrate and have a much worse short term memory. Me and my friends all told each other that research had been done which proved it didn't affect your brain at all, now every one of them agrees that our short term memory is noticeably worse than before.
I sought info on the web, and found out that lots of people who have smoked for a long time also feel like their memory has worsened, they say to live with it, and that it's "worth it". It's not.
http://www.hempfiles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20
"Yeah Ive been smoking for 4 years and my short term memory is deffinatly not as good as it used to be. But hey what are yeah gonna do."
"I started smoking at about your age.. actually I don't really remember
but, I assure you that after a while these effects disapear, besides its not that bad to sacrifice a bit of your short term memory for happiness. I will probably be able to answer this a bit better tomorrow.. being drunk right now doesn't help me alot..."
"im smoking weed 2-3+ times a week I have found my short term memory is pretty much deteriorate for what it used to be. when I haven't smoked for a while (2weeks+) I find it harder to concentrate on thing like test, reading etc. like now I haven't smoked weed in about 2 weeks and I have been finding it really hard to concentrate in class and on work."
Bear in mind these aren't anti-pot activists, these are pot zealots who frequent forums on pot, and actually promote it!
Yet all you (and more importantly, children) hear are the articles about how "Pot becomes a class C drug in the UK!" "THC may have cured cancer in a lab rat!" "Hemp stronger than steel!" "New evidence shows Jesus may have smoked pot!". Not to mention all the TV shows, everyone except barney the dinosaur has had an episode on pot smoking, or a pot smoking charecter.
Even the leaflets which you get at school tell you that it only affects your short term memory in the short term, it's just not true.
I think I...I heard this recently...
Oh. It was at the top of the page.
Never mind.
Seriously was I the only one who saw the headline and thought "cannibal androids had found a way to increase our brain sizes so they have more food!?!?!" before thinking "why would cannibal androids eat humans!?"
Got this 2 weird dudes @ my university, they smoke weed(in high doses) all day long. They take Advanced Math and Graphics Programming and do it exeptionally well.
So there sure is some truth in this article(research).
that i realise am God once in a while after ....
so was the case with my predecessor mr.holmes
...And in a related discovery, it was found that working on your forehead with a cheese grater induces skin cell growth.
The Erb remains illegal while other "legal" taxable drugs run rampant.
These "legal" drugs are prescribed, WE conform to the usage, procedure, or discipline; "in prescribed order"
We are resources under management.
Blaze and Learn, repeate and maintain state.
Someone can, indeed.
I'll smoke this spliff and get right on it, if I remember...
Well, Cell growth doesn't have to be a good thing. The hippocampus has an important role in the transition of short term memories into long term memories. (the thing that obviously goes wrong when you're stoned) Perhabs this reflects a compensation of the brain to malfunctioning memory.
What a surprise to click on Slashdot and see news about cannabinoids - I feel like I'm reading my own site ...
... shortcut url http://cann.com/
t ml
I operate CANNABIS.COM
Some informative pages to check out:
Lots of cannabis Research information *with sources listed*
http://www.cannabis.com/research/
TR-446 Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of 1-Trans-Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (CAS No. 1972-08-3) in F344 Rats and B6C3F1 Mice (Gavage Studies)
http://www.cannabis.com/research/tr446study.shtml
(mirror of the study published by the U.S. National Toxicity Program)
Cannabis News
http://www.cannabisnews.com/
And finally, Erowid's Cannabis Vault...
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.sh
Ron Bennett
Get doped up and more intelligent at the same time. Life couldn't be better.
Lets fund more research like this. We all know that if enough people believe something is true then it is true.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
Will you shut up and pass the twinkies?
As a fruit, I find that statement offensive!
Yeah I know, in Soviet Russia communism was first tested on humans before being tested on rats.
University of Saskatchewan?
Try getting a stoned person to pronounce it, there you have proof enough that the research is flawed.
they're getting free weed there!
See subject. And last sentence of parents post...
I think that some of the moderators completly disprove this.
"I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google"
i noticed the point of the alcohol-enduced-sig, and wanted to comment, but you beat me to it ... i've never known anyone to get high and oh, say, beat their wife, or wreck head-on at 90mph racing down roads, or even really do much of ANYTHING. the "party isn't over for hippies" ... but i do know a multiple-sclerosis patient or two that enjoy a good toke, and, and my-chemo-therapy-buddy, he likes it too ... not that i'm AGAINST alcohol in any real way/shape/form, but the evils associated therein are far more harmful to yourself, your family, your life, and everyone around you (especially when operating a motor vehicle) ... i'd rather there be 100 stoners driving 35mph in a 60, scared out of their minds, than a single red-neck drunk on jack daniels showing you exactly how manuverable his F-350 is.
you can't have everything, where would you put it?
Head Shop= Place that sells pipes, papers, vapes, and other hippy stuff.
Coffee Shop= Pot bar.
If they're really that useful, they should be extracted and put in a medical formulation. This perhaps will make people understand that even if cannabinoids have a positive effect, it doesn't automatically mean that smoking marijuana is.
A CC-licensed illustrated horror novel
They found that the rats treated regularly with a high dose of HU-210 -- twice a day for 10 days -- showed growth of neurons in the hippocampus.
210? Twice a day? Hmmm..
While we're all thinking ... think of how many cannabis users could have done so much more if it wasn't for that pesky arrest record, jail time, etc.
The penalties are what create much of the problems, not cannabis itself.
Ron
My guess is that you tend to hang out around a lot of losers then. Your dataset is flawed.
ur living proof that there is no correlation between NOT smoking dope and increased brain activity.
this just proves why it's illegal most everywhere: it makes you think...
I got my best grades at uni in the first year when I caned a fair bit of weed. It wasnt until i stopped smoking it that my grades went down.
Kinda gives a new meaning to the term mind expanding.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
Just because a drug hits the same receptor doesn't mean it will have the same effect.
Until they have a test that shows that THC causes cell growth, I will assume that nothing of the sort has been shown.
For instance, think of all of the drugs that bind seratonin receptors... LSD is one of them, but very few seratonin agonists are psychadelic.
For another example a few years back, a drug that was believed to be just another GABA binding tranquilizer was taken off the market for causing memory loss. As far as anyone knew, it should have exactly the same effects as all of the other drugs in that class (valium, xanax etc.) - but actually it had worse side effects.
Oh, brilliant! Link to a government site for info on a pot study...
</paranoid>
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
"I'm not surprised that injecting lab rats with a twice as potent THC like substance spurred neuron generation," Interesting to note that those who habitually smoke Marijuana misread "100 times" as "double".
Yes, it would make more sense if they misread it as "4 times as potent" in binary. I think the problem is that with more brain cells receiving random or mistuned stimulation, you would learn "better" but a lot of what you would learn is crap.On the other hand, I heard that old people seem to die of suffocation very often because brain cells stop functioning, I think starting from a certain age a bong might do more good than bad.
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
I bet your average college student when "exposed" to cannaboids will be ten times more likely to remember where the Fritos are.
So pot smoking leads to quick growth of neurons? And guess what, when they are forming the links or neural nets, your stoned, so they are warped. Perhaps that's why potheads sometimes turn out scitzo...
Well you probably don't have much experience with pot addicts. I have seen some friends of mine who started smoking when we were about 14 and kept doing it everyday for years. Now they suffer from very short attention span and sometimes go through very miserable times when they don't have immediate access to pot. Because it *does* give addiction: but it takes a lot of usage to reach such extremes. So, of course it's a whole different world compared to heroin, coke, etc., but saying that the "evil associated" with smoking pot are nothing is simply false. Alcohol can be dangerous, as well, I agree on this. But 100 stoners driving are *bound* to have accidents because their reflexes are so slow. So I say, do as you like with pot and everything else, but don't feel the need to justify yourself by bashing other stuff and pretending it has no effect. Because 1. you're lying, 2. you're implicitly admitting you feel guilty. Otherwise, why would you be justifying yourself?
Global warming is a cube.
Dued thatwas to fnnyy i hit the eplry butn butthen forgot wat i was gion to type hahaha
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
So, what's your excuse?
"swam me", should be "swarm me". "imparment" should be "impairment", and you appear to have one of those rare keyboards that can't produce capitalized letters.
Loser.
Because it's a plant. There should be no shortage of supply. The shortage of supply is due, entirely, to the ignorance of people writing and enforcing silly prohibition laws.
Yes. Every day above ground is a good day and God does still love you. Every day with herb is better and there's no good reason why it isn't readily available. I hope you can see the natural cycle of frustration here which is completely independent of your anti-marijuana crusade.
You'll have a valid point when it's deregulated. As long as people can be stuffed into a jail cell for merely smoking marijuana the state is creating a need for justification.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
Heck, the only growth I experience with cannabinoids is growth around my waistline!
Damn Ms. Smith, Ms. Fields, and that dastardly Betty Crocker.
Whats obviously happened here is that scientists are trying to pass weed off as a beneficial learning tool to in turn introduce it into mainstream scientific practice so they sit in the laboratories and make the most sophisticated bongs known to mankind from bunson burners, test tubes, and beakers. Heck if they're smart enough they can set up their own hydroponics labs and grow it themselves inhouse..
I wasn't getting high!
I was improving my brain! You don't understand!
That would go counter to all of the studies into the subject. The 'drug free America' guys once funded a study on this, to try and promote this idea. The results didn't go their way and they quietly buried the study.
Alcohol fucks your driving up because your risk assessment is broken. Pot does not have that issue, in fact its the opposite. People take less chances, which more than compensates for the slightly slower reactions some people have.
Otherwise, why would you be justifying yourself?
No one is justifying anything, just pointing out many commonly held myths. People believe that pot is bad for you for the same reasons that 60% believe Saddam was behind 9-11. The people promoting these myths know what they are doing. For example, want to stop teenage boys smoking? Why not lie and say it promotes tittie growth? Who wants to be 'girly'?
I always knew that was true, but I forgot.
He is correct. Drug users are losers. You apparently are still in the denial stage. I suggest joining Losers Anonymous.
Hi, my name is dreamchaser and I am a loser.
You have to look at WHY people, or in this case "cone heads" become users or abusers of any of these types of things.
When your mind would rather put together source code, or go over schematics at 3am instead of driving you off to slumberville then you can get rather desperate. You could drink, and knowingly slaughter millions of brain cells and basically ensure an early death or you could smoke, and transition(assuming the bottle is already in your hand) to something that you can get away from. The "cone head" will pursue a more efficient solution and hopefully negate any dependances probably meta cognito style in the end.
Others would try to make a life of nothingness and try to maintain that state.
So, had these "cone heads" you speak of gone with the bottle or lost sleep then I would have to say that they pobably would have done a lot less in life.
One of the things that happens to brains is that they shed brain cells as they go from birth to maturity. No doubt there may be some loss of neural plasticity, but it's also correlated to increasing cognitive development.
If I recall (this is very old stuff for me), my neuroscience teacher mentioned that young brains sometimes grow new neural connections in response to trauma. However, the results of this were not necessarily good -- it in itself might be a kind of damage.
So -- while this is certainly a very interesting result, it is neither here nor there with respect to its value to the user, until quantitative performance tests in controlled studies are done.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Before you smoke two joints
And then smoke two more
1. Yes I did, some of them are visibly underachievers, but that doesn't account for attention span reduction and addiction. Especially when I have known them since we were children and they used to have the same attention span as me. These are physical effects. :). Anyway in my country-that-I-shall-not-name weed used to be free until recently, but this didn't solve shortage problems, which are caused by its *price*. Ok it's cheap, but when you smoke 30+ joints a day... you do the math.
2. I understand your point that there would be no shortage if it were legal... even though this is not true. I was just pointing out that you can develop addiction; the fact that, i dunno, chocolate is freely available (just a scenario) doesn't mean you should be happy if you develop chocolate addiction, because it can and will make you miserable. Ok just a bit if it's chocolate
3. Every day above ground is good even though there is no god to love me. And I don't understand how my post could come through like an anti-marijuana crusade, as I have not taken any position wrt to its (or alcohol) usage. I have *no* position, to be honest, given my political beliefs (that you should do whatever you like, as long as you don't mess with me). I was simply stating that the parent post was spreading FUD. I like truth, no matter in what liberal-vs-conservative-vs-whathaveyou sauce you wish to have it.
Global warming is a cube.
Acid, LSD, Mescaline, Pyote, Magic Mushrooms, etc.. does for brain cell growth..
But I'm confused a bit... Wasn't all the propoganda we were feed saying just the opposite?
Hmmm, Oh wow, reverse psychology for teen age rebellion... cool.....
Wow man, guess that means they were cool too.
Wow Wow.... man what a bummer... if we are being told this now, it must mean its really now killing brain cells...
My head hurts.. either I'm growing brain cells of I'm killing some... which is it? Hey dude, What would Bush or Gates want?
On another note: considering the number of highly moderated "Funny" comments in this slashdot crowd.... It struck me that those without experience might not see the humor. Uh, but this is slashdot, is there anyone without some experience?
Didn't somebody say something about the decline of science, technology and R&D in the US? Maybe its time to make pot legal.
Ya, but have you seen Cheech and Chong (a stereotype of course) or anybody that's done a lot of pot over the years. There's something definitely wrong with that study.
I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt and take them at their word. Really, though, there's nothing of substance here. How are you quantifying this?
That can happen with anything and everything. It's not related specifically to marijuana.
Should we make gas illegal for people who drive 120+ miles/day? With recent price increases it's obviously creating an unstable financial condition for them. In a deregulated society they would figure it out. The habit would get cut back or they would learn to rebudget their money. People learn to set their own priorities in life. As long as those priorities are not directly harmful (for example, a habit of murdering people or shooting out windows) then the state has no business in it at all.
The only FUD being spread is the usual FUD that marijuana will make you stupid, or decrease your attention span, or turn you into a hippy. Marijuana doesn't do anything. The people themselves are who they are quite often with a good amount of assistance from the repressive policies of the state. You can say, for example, that marijuana users tend to have lower salaries than their non-using counterparts. Considering that a marijuana conviction pretty much destroys any chance at a professional career this is obviously a situation created by the state and not inherent to marijuana use.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
is that none of them are meant to be smoked.
They are supposed to be ingested. Smoking them just alters their chemistry and turns them into a poison thus making any 'good' ingredients counter-productive.
Its like trying to smoke an aspirin to rid yourself of that headache.
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
It's the asphyxiation that usually makes this happen, as pot smoke tends to be held in the lungs (intentionally by the user) than those who smoke tobacco.
Anyone remember the Nixon studies? They showed there were no detrimental effects of marijuana on the human body. Of course, the second that came to light, the study was buried under red tape, and was de-classified only recently.
As a side note, cannabis' chemicals (THC, CBD, CBN, etc.,) are shown to also coat nerve cells, and provide some form of protection. I don't remember how or why (I can't find the paper/study I read about.)
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
currently at university, i have a project where i have to draw 60 pages worth of stuff in 10 days. i find that being stoned, i can draw much, much better from my imagination. i can concentrate harder, and understand the medium a lot better than when i am sober. My drawings suck when i'm sober, but on weed, they are usually somewhat good.
The only problem with smoking weed for this project, is i tend to just space out and do other stuff instead. so i'm quite a bit behind, but the stuff i've done while stoned is far more interesting than the crap i've done while sober.
i've also noticed that since i started smoking weed, i've gotten alot better at writing songs and playing guitar.
tis a good drug.
sudo killall humans
210 is totaly half of 420. Think about it.
Alcohol fucks your driving up because your risk assessment is broken. Pot does not have that issue, in fact its the opposite. People take less chances, which more than compensates for the slightly slower reactions some people have.
:). Commonly held myths are certainly hard to take down, but hey, as long as people find it hard to turn their brain on, they will find myths an easy, prepackaged reality that suits them just fine. But it's certainly a shame that both left and right are churning out myths like there's no tomorrow. Why do 60% of Americans believe what you say? Because they find this right-wing reality easy to accept (the fact that most can't locate middle east in a world map probably plays a role, too... I mean, those countries are all the same, aren't they). Why don't they listen to the left-wing reality? Because, guess what, the left wing has been doing the exact same thing over the last decades. So... the people promoting these myths are not really responsible for the misinformation because, sure, they spread it but by now it's just become a game. Right-sided gyus will listen to this and left-sided to that, no matter what. It is *these people's* responsibility to seek truth: you know a priori that parties spread FUD .
Pot does have this issue, you say it yourself: the reactions that *some* people have. I am one of those and many people I know are, too. Honestly I have never met anyone who is quicker under the influence of pot... but I don't know *that* many potheads, either. I certainly don't drive when I am stoned or drunk.
The tittie-growth thing is pretty funny
Global warming is a cube.
I like a smoke now and again, but am aware of studies done on the strong weed available in Amsterdam (sorry, no links) that links the stuff that is 2 - 4 times as strong as the regular stuff with depressive symptoms. As I sometimes use the (regular strength) stuff to ease my symptoms, I'd be worried about 2 - 4 x stronger stuff making them worse, so 100 times as strong? I'll let someone else be the first to try that
Good luck sometimes arrives disguised as bad
This one phrase out to put his mind into action.
Man brewed alcohol, God created marijuana. Who're you going to trust, Mr. President?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Acid and LSD are basically the same thing. besides, nowadays, it's practically impossible to get, since the two guys who made the bulk of the supply for North America and the rest of the world were busted by the DEA in 2003, if I remember correctly. So good luck on expanding your mind with that.
Mescaline (often) comes from peyote and other cacti, but again supply is limited, and peyote has become an endangered species due to its popularity.
With sufficient magic mushrooms though, you can talk to "God" or your own personal reasonable facsimile thereof. Availability varies, but the latest trend is to grow your own, with spores bought over the internet, since (apart from a couple of states) spores don't contain psychoactive compounds and are legal to purchase, for microscopy purposes.
The original article says nothing about how these rats performed on tests of memory or intelligence as the headline seems to imply. I would conjecture that they do not do as well. The article only says that they seemed to be less anxious and less depressed. Big deal. You can get that with Prozac. It is not illegal, you know what you are getting from a trusted source, it is very well studied and does not usually impair cognition.
-- IV
http://www.LinuxMedNews.com Revolutionizing Medical Education and Practice.
There is a pretty well-described amotivational syndrome associated with chronic use however. See:
Performance of heavy marijuana-smoking adolescents on a laboratory measure of motivation
Lane, SD et al, Addictive Behaviors. Vol 30(4), May 2005, pp. 815-828
To say THC/marijuana is a completely harmless drug is foolish. To say it is less harmful than alcohol is entirely accurate.
When you have to struggle to remember what you and your bong bud have just been talking about, it makes sense that you'd have to exercise your brain's memory regions. Smoking pot is like walking with leg weights -- it's harder to do when you have them on, but when they come off you're stronger for the extra effort you exerted.
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
I believe genetics, excercise and diet would have way more positive effect on brain performance then carbinoids in human beings.
The marijuana using youth have obviously prioritized the research at its correct level: negligible.
To further quote the abstract: They're performing a study comparing how easily the youth are motivated by money. This has nothing to do with marijuana. The marijuana using youth obviously decided that getting paid for doing nothing was better than getting paid to do whatever the task was.
My Lord! How does this crap get published???
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
Cancer.
s risk.htm
Maybe the new cells rewire the brain, causing paranoia and hallucinations...
http://www.schizophrenia.com/New/Jan%2004/cannabi
Deleted
OK. So what do you call the place where you pop in to get a cup of Joe and a donut?
eom
The Luddites were ahead of their time.
Seriously, if we define intelligence, as the mental ability to achieve the goals you have (such as inventing a new scientific theory, earning a shitload of money, becoming a dictator in some banana-republic, scoring a lot of babes, maintain a happy circle of family and friends, or write some great software), then "stoners" seems to have a long way to go, before reaching anything I would call intelligent.
In fact, most drugs, not just cannabis, seems to reduce this ability. With perhaps a few exceptions. Caffeine seems to have positive effects for at least some people. Cocaine seems to have a short-time positive effect (but often ends badly after a few years). Nicotine seems to have a small detrimental effect, although most people seems to get by anyway.
bold words are mine, to make the statement congruent with the article's findings.
Jesus! isn't that motivation? Getting paid LESS to do nothing, MORE to do something? What do you call people who study less in school, do the bare minimum to get by? could you call them, perhaps, less motivated? I realize that this part of the article does not imply causation, but a little further into the abstract they say that the amount of THC in the subject's bloodstream correlated (r=0.52) with the amount of (extra)work the participant was willing to perform.
Yeah, like smoking more dope...
You're profiling stoners as those down and out people who are always having problems in life. 1) There are plenty of non-users who fit this social perception, 2) You don't see any good stoners because it's socially unacceptable to admit to using marijuana. Nearly 40% of people will admit in a closed study to using marijuana on a regular basis (at least once/month). I never admitted, even to a private study, to smoking cigarettes until I was 18.
It could really be America's most ridiculous secret.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
Wow, man... bummer .... and cool man...
If anything, the study shows that non-users are more susceptible to carrot-on-a-stick schemes.
0.52 is a really really really really really really really really crappy statistical correlation coefficient. It's got to be at least 0.8 to mean anything.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
Funny you should mention LSD. The UofSask is famous for being the first University in North America to work with the drug in an attempt to use it to treat psychosis. Too bad they probably ended up making the psychosis worse in those they tried to treat...
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
True. Consider brain cancer. New cells are not always helpful.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Hey, it's a joke. Don't get bent out of shape if you went to Humbolt. I know not everyone who goes there smokes pot, and I know it's a good school.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Your brain learns both by creating connections and by deleting them. If you create to many new connections you can't thnk straight. Everything gets too connected and you can't resolve your thoughts. You have to prune nodes to be able to think effciently and to focus.
Thus your comment is right on.
Clearly the only solultion is to first smoke loads of weed to build up your brains connecitons, and then huff gasoline to prune them back to a useful level. Then you will be a super genius.
Worked for me.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
For exmaple, one potential use is getting stoned out of your mind.
There was an interview on Friday evening on the CBC show As it happens with Jamie Van Cleemput, one of the scientists on the team. There is a link on this page http://www.cbc.ca/insite/AS_IT_HAPPENS_TORONTO/200 5/10/14.html to an audio file that contains the interview http://cbc.ca/asithappens/media/dailyshow/2005-10- 14-aih1.ram
Potheads are known throughout the world for their brilliance and intellect.
Maybe the stuff induces brain growth..but it could be just a big fat cancerous tumor.
That could explain a lot of things.
Favorite
ffffffffffffffffffffffffff *cough* *cough* *cough* fffffffffffffffffff *cough*
dude, I so knew that smoking was making me smarter, I mean, like , I've been smokin for years and every time I spark up I have great ideas that like, you know, are, like, cool, you know what I mean. Like that time I came up with that electronic voting system that worked with my television remote, that was like.. coool. Or the time that I figured out how to make breakfast burritos using the toaster. hehe, that was cool, too bad about the toaster though. Dude, quit hoggin the bong, I have to get to work, Steve wants me to come up with yet another version of the ipod. I think this time we will give it.. dude this is soo cool.. get this.. this time we will put a wider screen on it and call it the ipod cinema only get this dude, it won't actually play movies on the wide screen, it will dock with your new apple iTV, and get this.. it will only play back on your personal iTV... hehe, DRM is soo cool, definetly my best idea yet.. anyhow, save me some of that, I gotta come up with some other cool shit when I get home.
The reason I don't smoke pot, is because I didn't want to get into carpentry.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
you make an interesting point. everyone I know who has smoked strong smoke for long periods has had deep paranoid/depressive episodes. Like four dudes.... one of them my younger brother. He's at school at an esteemed institution a couple of hours from the canadian border and they get GREAT imports.
Every one of them, my brother included, decided to stop after that. Those initial episodes continued for weeks on end. One of the aforementioned four asttempted suicide.
My personal experience with the stuff is that I do notice cognitive benefit, but that cognitive benefit is not of value to my psyche.
I'm a firm believer in the useful threshold of human intelligence. I think there is a band - a range of intelligence "values" that are of value to humans. below that threshold is insufficient to be a productive member of first world societies, and above a certain threshold is too much. I contend that too much intelligence is actually more harmful to the quality of life than not enough.
There are studies making a direct correlation between intelligence and depression... intelligence and suicide. Look up the suicide crisis the japanese have.
I've made a similar contention about artificial intelligence.
The issue with mice is that we cannot determine the full nature of psychoactive benefits or detriments because we cannot measure, directly or peripherally, the qualitative nature of its effects on their consciousness (if it exists). I have no reason to believe that this is of benefit to healthy adults.
I can see it being of benefit to the aged who've experience cognitive decline.
un burrito me trampeó.
most people put in minimum effort to maximize the effort:profit ratio.
Then why is there a discrepacy between chronic users of marijuana and the baseline group?
And, honestly, a correlation of 0.52 is certainly significant! that's 25% of the variance in a study without a strictly controlled independent variable! Give that 0.8 figure to any statistician and he will laugh you out of the building.
Listen, I'm not trying to say that this study is perfect. I am trying to say that it, and other studies* show that chronic marijuana use has detrimental amotivational, attention-reducing, and cognitive consequences(1). Not that all of these effects are huge, or permanent(2) especially in relation to alcohol and just about every other psychoactive substance out there. But they are there!
*See:
(1)Neurocognitive insights into substance abuse: Garavan, Hugh; Stout, Julie C, Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Vol 9(4), Apr 2005, pp. 195-201
(2)Neuropsychological consequences of regular marijuana use: A twin study
Lyons, M.J. et al; Psychological Medicine. Vol 34(7), Oct 2004, pp. 1239-1250
Lysergic acid is an intermediate in the synthesis of LSD.
LSD is lysergic acid diethylamide.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
Marijuana is not dissimilar to other drugs, except in that its users seem to be rather slow witted after heavy and extended use. You know the type. Tobacco and alcohol have their disadvantages too though, so really marijuana is not too different. Except that for some reason, marijuana users have been unable to make a convincing case in favour of marijuana. They haven't won the argument at all, and their lack of success can only be explained by the negative effects of marijuana on their ability to put forward convincing and sophisticated arguments with the charisma and social nous required to carry the day. This leads me to think that marijuana is perhaps not as innocent as its advocates claim. If it was it would be legal, wouldn't it? But the bumbling ineptitude and stupidity of the typical stoner campaigner is a damning indictment of the negative effects of marijuana.
It doesn't matter whatever medicinal uses it has. If it were shown to regrow hair, prolong erections, and cure prostate cancer, it would still be treated as an evil drug. The pharmaceutical companies would find the key curative ingredients and find aritficial derivative that could be patented. Drug companies do not want people to have a wonderdrug they can grow in their own backyard. It's bad for business. Furthermore, from the conservative politician viewpoint, it would be especially bad for the War on Drugs if they were smaked in the face with all the lies about weed they have been perpetuating for decades.
The road to decriminalization of marijuana requires a fundamental shift in the prevailing attitudes of society. Showing that it's mostly harmless won't do it. Showing that it actually has upsides won't do it. Millions of people peacably demonstrating won't do it. I doubt even a group of huge corporations forming political action committees could do it -- big tobacco is already on the run, so how the hell do you expect that people promoting another kind of smoke could get very far today?
Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
Yes I have. But no, while it might have an effect, this effect can't be very big, since even you claim that "Nearly 40% of people will admit in a closed study to using marijuana on a regular basis", it can't be that big.
The fact is: most people I've come across that smoke mariuhana on a regular or semiregular basis: (a) isn't someone I would characterize as "smart" or "clever", (b) tends to focus a lot of their attention to it (as opposed to more productive things, like work, studies, or family).
This leaves us with two options: (a) Marihuana makes you stupid, or (b) Marihuana attracts stupid people. I don't know which one is most important, but I guess they both contribute to the picture.
This same article was mentioned on the (canadian) discovery channel. they interviewed one of the scientists that developed this study and one thing that the article forgot to mention is that the cannabinoid that was used is NOT marijuana. It is a synthetic version of the addictive substance inside marijuana which has been modified so that it is over 100 times more potent then just smoking up.
Therefore, its NOT marijuana.
A morning without coffee is like something without something else.
does that mean that you can get 100 times more stoned if you get your hands on some HU-210? New drug to abuse?
I find it weird that people think that pot is bad. No, really. Because people don't seem to have a problem with alcohol, which is more destructive to your body and more likely to cause depression and/or physical aggression.
Many of the same people don't have a problem with pharmaceutical antidepressants, when they increase the incidence of suicide. Oh, and homicide. And if you try and quit them, you might have seizures. But it's OK, because the people we're paying to kill people so we can drive our H2s tell us it's OK.
Many of the same people think there's no problem with coffee, which I would say is about as destructive as pot. Coffee also has many positive effects, as does marijuana.
Marijuana has a tendency to make me give in to what my body is asking for, I've noticed. Sometimes that means I overeat, but then again, I used to overeat all the time before I started smoking. Usually it means after I've been running around all week stressing out, I relax, with no excuses. If I'm repressing energy, when I smoke I start expressing it, with no excuses.
It's illegal for no good reason, and the only reason prohibition of marijuana works where prohibition of alcohol didn't is that potheads aren't violent like alcoholics.
Oh, and what's the deal with those people torturing their kids--crushing their fingers, beating them, etc.--who are only getting like 10 years? Carrying one hit of acid in GA gets you 15 years firm. Hmmm.... I'll take the drug user over the child torture artist. Really. Why don't all you start your own tribe somewhere?
Please stop stalking me, bro.
all the dopers you will ever meet are boring, no good losers who think of nothing but scoring more dope to make them even bigger losers [...] sure some people were cone heads and did great things
Why would I need to point out an obvious fallacy with examples, when you contradict yourself in your own post?
The fact is: most people I've come across that smoke mariuhana on a regular or semiregular basis: (a) isn't someone I would characterize as "smart" or "clever", (b) tends to focus a lot of their attention to it (as opposed to more productive things, like work, studies, or family).
Um, ok. So like video games are an analogy, right? And computer programmers? They don't have lives, right? Unhappy and all that?
Here's a list:
http://www.slatts.fsworld.co.uk/famous.htm
This leaves us with two options: (a) Marihuana makes you stupid, or (b) Marihuana attracts stupid people. I don't know which one is most important, but I guess they both contribute to the picture.
Marijuana, like all potentially fun experiences, attracts "stupid people." Stupid people have a right to live, too. Much like it attracts smart people. Without "stupid people," you wouldn't have many of the commodities you so very much enjoy today. Also, stupid people are worse at hiding that they do illegal things. So maybe that's a factor.
Here's my question. Should I use Xanax instead?
Please stop stalking me, bro.
ignoramus
I want my! I want my! I want my Eee PC!
And boy, that Bill Shakespeare must have been stupid.
Newt Gingrich, who you don't have to like, is on there. THE FOUNDERS OF OUR COUNTRY, for example, are on there.
Does that mean we're more of a marijuana nation than a Christian nation? BAH! MORE QUOTES!
http://www.deism.org/foundingfathers.htm
Please stop stalking me, bro.
Smoking marijuana is an issue of personal responsiblity. Thirteen-year-old kids are stupid for smoking it at all because of course it's going to affect their brain chemistry in the long run, mainly in the area of language and verbal skills. Pardon me for refusing to cite my millions of sources on this; do all the reading you want, but it's still up to you in the end to accept my claim or not. Once someone's brain has stopped developing, around 18 or so, then yeah, they can toke up like a mad fiend and probably not suffer any negative consequences. Sure, pot may be a carcinogen, but today, everything gives you cancer. /cheap shot, it's in your best interest to laugh and not be snarky :\
Marijuana is only a problem if you make it a problem. It doesn't cause anyone to skip work or school because they had to get high. People make a conscious choice to get high, every single time. It's not as if this is some demon drug that wraps its talons around your brain stem and commands you to feed its hunger. Pot smokers do not devolve into freaks waiting for their next "fix" (*cough* that's much more evident at a Starbucks at six in the morning), nor do they flip out and get irrational like tweakers--methheads--if they don't smoke.
That said, I don't even care if little teenagers want to smoke pot. I don't care who smokes pot. If it ruins your life for whatever reason, you're a moron, it's your fault, and you knew what you were getting yourself into. If you didn't know, then you're an even bigger moron, and it's still your fault. The drug doubtfully impacts crime rates, aside from shady deals leading to murder (though people killing one another is hardly exclusive to drug users, especially in the USA). It's not as if we have huge marijuana conglomerates akin to Philip Morris running ads about how you can live the good life if you do something as simple as smoke bongs. You cannot overdose--you would have to smoke a hay bale of pot to even get close, and you'd be too high and lazy after a few dozen hits to keep going, if you even made it that far. Its effects on driving ability are negligible unless you smoke massive amounts, in which case you should not drive. Obviously. Of course, this varies from person to person. As with alcohol, you have to know your limit with pot. Whether the drug is addictive or not will forever remain up in the air. I think the claim is only there to justify outlawing the drug. Like I said, this is all about personal responsibility. It is up to you, the intrepid drug user, to figure out these answers for yourself. Don't just smoke pot to get "fucked up" the way getting drunk makes you, because that only makes you a tool.
"If you want to be a successful drug user, you have to be well informed." - Groove
Well it did get picked up in Nature news. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051010/full/051010 -12.html
posted on fark 3 days ago.... move along, nothing to see here
being too stoned to answer the phone when a client is calling, because he'll know you smoke pot.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=effects+of+chr onic+marijuana+use
My medical marijuana message board had the same problem recently, we had people on there saying anyone who smokes pot is stupid but they couldn't spell either. And I even installed a SpellCheck function!
BTW, it's spelled impairment. And I'm not quite sure what "swam me" means but I assume you meant "swarm me"?
Wasn't Progessive Auto Insurance (a billion dollar company) run by a "functioning pot head"?
For those interested, my medical marijuana site is located here, click News & Discussions from the front page to go to our forums.
-Myke
Yes, certainly. Playing video games isn't exactly what I would call "productive". It's an unproductive asocial waste of time. The only positive side is that it will bring you a little bit of fun. If playing computer games start becoming an important part of your life, it's time to stop. If you are doing it as harmless recreation, who cares?
And computer programmers? They don't have lives, right? Unhappy and all that?
The difference with computer programmers and gamers/dope-heads is that computer programmers actually produce something useful for society. This in turn, could bring them some benefit, typically money. Thus it's not a "just waste of time", although if computer programming becomes addictive, and you find yourself programming late-nighters all the time without giving sufficient time for other tasks, it could be harmful to other goals you have.
Marijuana, like all potentially fun experiences, attracts "stupid people." Stupid people have a right to live, too.
Stupid people certainly have a right to live. Now, if someone was stupid, and they asked for advice for how to get the most out of life, my answer would not be "marihuana". Would yours?
Much like it attracts smart people.
I seriously doubt that. Just because you can produce a list of smart people who used marihuana, doesn't mean that smart people generally use marihuana. Nor that it "attracts smart people". Smart people generally stay away from mariuhana because (a) it's illegal (b) they think dopers are annoying.
Also, stupid people are worse at hiding that they do illegal things. So maybe that's a factor.
Most likely.
Here's my question. Should I use Xanax instead?
If your doctor prescribed it to you to cure an anxiety disorder, then most likely: yes. If you are talking about recreational purposes, I would prefer you to use marihuana.
As we all know, a brain cell is a type of nerve cell. The reason that persons with spinal cord injuries remain paralized, is that nerve cells do not regenerate. The fact that THC has been shown to regenerate brain cells in rats is indeed big news.
The response? Typical drug war stupidity. As Americans, we must all realize by now, that we are being ruled by neo-puritans who believe that hooved and horned demons reside in the bushes in front of their houses. And if you don't believe it too, then you will be dealt with, accordingly.
Never mind that they have defecated on our Constitution, they have also outlawed all research concerning Marijuana, and they intend to keep it that way. They seem to have some idealistic view that the country should be taken "back" to some unknown period of nirvana, in which we are all happy servants of God, and that we shouldn't generally "think".
It always amazes me, that a drunk will portray a pot smoker as an out of control, retarded person. I've never heard of a pot smoker who smoked a joint and crashed his car into a tree. The people behind the drug war are criminals, and should themselve be arrested, and made to answer for their crimes, especially since 1981.
May we please have a little research here, please, and a little less drug war bull piss? The Attorney General has no business dealing with it in the first place. All control of drugs and the direction of drug laws should have been placed in the hands of the Surgeon General long ago.
For God's sake, get this country out of the hands of the ignorant neo-puritans, who don't even believe in germs! Have you noticed, that you are told to proclaim that you are free, or else? I think that a majority of Americans are sick and tired of the "Freedom" that we have been "Enjoying" since 1981.
Register and vote. How many other natural drugs are being kept from us? I will quit here because I am too (*) to continue in a qualified manner. Every other post had some reference to drug war propaganda, and I had to interject. Are any of you capable of independent thought???
Michael
Ever heard of the "exception that confirms the rule"?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
If your doctor prescribed it to you to cure an anxiety disorder, then most likely: yes. If you are talking about recreational purposes, I would prefer you to use marihuana.
Xanax is a nasty drug. All I'm saying about marijuana is that it's not nearly as bad for you as most of the things we in society would have people stuffing in their various orifices.
If someone asked me how to get the most out of life, I would give an answer very different from yours, I'm sure. It wouldn't be "smoke marijuana," but I would prefer people smoke marijuana rather than use other drugs, including alcohol.
My point about marijuana attracting smart people is that recreation attracts people, period. And when you call all people who smoke marijuana stoners, or potheads, you're discounting all the people who smoke pot the way many others drink a glass of wine at night. There's such a thing as overindulgence, but that doesn't mean food should be illegal or that it's bad for you.
Everyone I've ever known that has taken antidepressants has a)gotten more depressed, and b)had a hard time coming off the antidepressants. Please, please don't take antidepressants. They're poorly manufactured chemicals in the vein of dextromethorphan, MDMA, 2-ci, and crack that are designed to create a codependency.
One of my favorite pharmaceuticals is Depro Provera (sp?): A single shot renders a woman so barren she doesn't have a period for 6 months. Hurrah for federal food and drug safety bodies, no? There's also the acne medication that you HAVE to be on birth control to take due to the birth defects it causes.
I think people who would rather pump toxic chemicals into their body than try and figure out an actual problem to their acne should be getting stoned rather than walking the streets and rubbing their personalities off on my children.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
and scored an 1190. Then I "discovered" the Mary Jane, and happily "donated" lots of time toward "studying" this interesting plant over the next two years. Then I took the SAT's again and scored a 1380.
It kinda made me wonder...
There is simply too much glass..
For exmaple, one potential use is getting stoned out of your mind.
I hadn't thought of that one. Get this man a box of Fig Newtons!
Please stop stalking me, bro.
The study is looking at one of the chemicals leeds to muscular and mental sedation, not the psychoactive chemical(s). Plus some of the plant(s) that have cananoids in them also contain stimulants (Mate for instance has trace amounts). I would be interested if there have been studies done on the people in places where some of the plants containing higher concentrations are used for food. Also before the knee jerk- weed is good for you blah blah blah starts this is just one study and untill a follow up studies are done I doubt Super Brain 5 million Now With Extra Strong Cannoboids will be avalable over the counter. However- Aloe Juce that does some of the simillar types of effects (ie help promote brain cell generation) is avalable at Trader Joes. It does taste like metal
I mean, weed leads to munchies and munchies provides nutrients, right? What was I talking about?
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Looking for studies in major, peer-reviewed journals. Not sideline, easily-politically influenced minor tracts.
If either of those articles you cite really showed what you say (your prior one didn't), it would be a tide shift in medical science's understanding of how marijuana really affects its users.
Nevertheless, it wouldn't be a problem for occassional users.
Nor an argument against legalization.
To make a general statement of truth: the problems with marijuana are political, not medical.
It seems that all the intelligent people I've met understand the the War on Drugs is a total snipe hunt.
w ho-index.htm
3 /jan/16/514528463.html?Marijuana%20Group:%20Feds%2 0Broke%20Law
As long as their is demand, there will be a market.
The fundemental question seems to be:
Is the government trying to punish marijuana smokers or educate them?
More than 60% of all drug incarcerations are for non-violent possesion of marijuana.
As a rational individual, it seems obvioius that their current tactics only succeed in punishing marijuana smokers. Actual use of marijuana is at the same levels or higher than it has ever been so as a preventive, prohibition has most definitely failed. The supply of marijuana is greater than ever and the potency is higher too. The DEA says this to scare the uninformed. They attempt to create the analogy that stronger means greater threat. In reality, stronger means that pot heads have to consume less marijuana to get high. So in reality, higher potency means healthier pot smokers. Who do you believe the DEA with their vested interest in maintaining the status quo or an independent organization of scientists and medical researchers, the esteemed World Health Organization. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/general/
If anything prohibition has made the problem worse. Prohibition tends to create a black market which opens the door for large scale criminal organizations. Examples of these are the Mafia ( very small organization until their massive growth thanks to alcohol prohibition), the Latin & South American drug cartels in the '80's, and of course the DEA.
http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.html
In fact the only voices that seem to be raised against the legalization of marijuana are those of the DEA and the penal system. That's only natural, without them maintaining their lies, their free ride is over. Even the politicians are afraid of the power of the DEA. Apparently the DEA thinks they don't have to obey the Constitution.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/200
http://www.leap.cc/ is a really interesting website put together by former Law Enforcement Officers that have seen that the Drug Laws cause more harm than good.
My more people that know the truth, the better our society becomes.
Just because you like being sober doesn't mean you have to hate those that want to smoke pot.
The United States is still a free country, right?
Laugh at my ignorance while I learn Rails - a Real ne
100 times more potent you say? Potent like hash/honey oil is?
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
Government red tape on drugs seems pretty bizarre, not that I've been involved myself. But barbituric acid (as in barbituates) used to be a common buffer agent (pKa 3.98) in biochemical research. I found a 100 mg bottle of the stuff when an emeritus professor's lab was being cleaned out. Not being interested in anything past a little pot myself and the bottle was probably at least 10 years old, I got our lab tech to call environmental health and safety to dispose of it. The university campus is in an old hippie town, so I give it a 10% chance of actually being destroyed instead of used.
I read this article on NewScientist.com a few hours ago. Marijuana DOES NOT INDUCE BRAIN CELL GROWTH. When they tried using THC from pot, it did not induce new cell growth regardless of dose or duration.
i've never known anyone to get high and oh, say, beat their wife, or wreck head-on at 90mph racing down roads, or even really do much of ANYTHING
Violence induced by cannaboid use was one of the "reasons" hemp, marijuana, was made illegel. Take a look at the movie "Reefer Madness". Yet, it has actually been shown to have the opposite effects. Instead of making people violent it makes people sedate, tranquil, or laid back. It's such a shame lies were made to made hemp illegal, especially when it's one of the most industrially useful plants there is.
FalconShould there be a Law?
And, is our world really that much better, societally, than the late 1800s? Back then, cocaine was in Coca-Cola, pot was legal, heroin was used medically, and nobody was in jail for altering their own mind.
Sure, you could say that today is much more dangerous because we have cars all over the place, but that doesn't mean that I am any more a danger sitting in my apartment getting stoned and watching the Matrix (or just sufferring from glaucoma). Sure, if I get behind the wheel and am impaired in any shape or form, stop me from killing someone (this includes being sleepy, distracted thinking about a fight with the spouse, talking on the cell phone (for that matter, talking to other passengers!), reading billboards, singing along with the radio, etc.).
The key is that there is a scale of impairment, and it should be testable; there exist video games that test impairment which should be used in dangerous work environments, because "drug testing" just shows that I had a great weekend, 3 weeks ago; it doesn't show whether I am currently able to perform the tasks I am responsible for. Pilots and drivers (bus/taxi, etc.) should be impairment tested every time they show up to work.
But even this is going to end fairly soon: I remember reading an article on here a week or so ago which said that self-driving cars are about 10 years off.
As you said, eliminate the penalties and the bulk of the problem goes away. The tax money that was being spent on apprehension and incarceration can be much better spent on treatment and medical attention. And it will certainly help the economy, because a multi-billion dollar industry will spring up literally overnight, and start paying taxes.
I can see Frito-Lay giving out pot coupons: "buy 2 bags of chips, get a mariajuana cigarette for free!"
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
n. A college campus populated with fatties.
This bothers me. I am, to put humility to an aside for the moment, a VERY smart person. I scored a 1600 on my SATs. I got 99% in nearly every catagory every year on the standardized STAR tests. I had a 4.12 GPA in High School, so obviously I was a valedictorian. I am currently working on my Masters in Theology at UC Berkeley, after graduating from my B.S. program on top of my class. I've written a book already, it's yet to be published, but I only submitted it 3 weeks ago.
This whole time, I smoked marijuana. A lot. I also smoked it with several friends with similar educational and intellectual backgrounds. We are all, no offense intended, probably smarter than you. Does this mean Pot use makes you smarter? Not necessarily, but it does mean that your argument needs a more substansial backing before other objective, intelligent people and I drink your Kool-Aid.
It's funny, my CAPTCHA is "Unfair"
In jan 2003 i did a 10 day on site medical trial. the basis was they were tesing a drug using cannaboids to be used in serious head traumas - the idea was that the drug helped stop inflammation of "something/insert medical term" and healing of the cells around the injury (something like that) when they said i'd be paid 60quid a day, with all food, sat tv, pool table (able to smoke) and about 6 guys having a laugh with the nurses, and to do with cannaboids helping medicine i could hardly say no!.
When are they testing it on humans?
"I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm."
I think the tobacco industry realizes how devastating to their several century old deathgrip (heh) on America if marijuana were freely available.
I don't as the tobacco industry would be for keeping hemp illegal as they can just as easily grow hemp themselves for one, and growing hemp is cheaper than tobacco. Hemp doesn't require any external chemical inbputs whereas tobacco uses a lot of herbicides and pesticides. Sure people could grow their own to smoke but hemp has many more uses than just smoking it. Hemp seeds are an excellent source of proteins or amino acids and much of the plant can used for food. Seeds are also a good source of oil. The oil can be used to make biodiesel, and the plant can be used to make methanol. Both of these are net carbon neutral sources of fuel for vehicles. The cellulose from hemp can be used for making plastic as well. For all of these uses hemp would have to be farmed and tobacco farmers wouldn't have a problem switching. Actually at one tyme farmers grew both hemp and tobacco, as did Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson once wrote that he thought there should be a law requiring farmers to grow hemp, but he could never propose such a law himself because he knew this would be an abridgement of farmers rights. During WWII the federal government made the movie "Hemp For Victory" to encourage farmers to grow hemp.
Quite simply hemp is a vary versatile plant and was made illegal because powerful industrialists thought it could possibly threaten them.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Ricky Williams ans Snoop Dogg have been declared to be the smartest beings in the universe...
I work in the video game industry (for a big company I shall not name...its not EA) and something about our industry is extremely great. The fact that a huge percentage of us (people who create the games, and well the people who play the games) smoke pot. I don't understand why it's such a big deal. Smoking was one of the things that kept me sane working 70-80 hour work weeks and 15 hour days during crunch. I smoked before work and drove through LA traffic (anyone who lives near or around LA knows how crappy it is). I did this for about 7 months straight of just smoking 4 to 10 to 15 times a day and it didnt have an affect on me. Infact I am in my home town right now with out any and I havent had a withdrawl once. No cravings or anything like that. The thing about pot is that is not physically addicting to people is physiologically addicting to people. People love it so much they want more of it, just like sex or anything else. Smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol is far worse for your health and your stability than smoking cheeba. I really really want to make a "Truth" ad about smoking marijuana. I want it to be posted all over the internet and all over tv. The truth that marijuana isnt as bad as eating at McDonalds or KFC. Too bad pot isn't legalized because it would be safer and free up some jail space. That wont happen because a lot of pharmaceutical companies would prolly be out of business. What needs to change is the overall view that marijuana is bad. The media has those anti-drug ads against marijuana. I think we need pro-marijuana ads. America believes what they see and hear on TV (its sad). Just about everything we see and here stems from about 10 major corporations. Sony, AOL/Timewarner, news corp, Disney, the list goes on. If anything is going to change here, we actually need to start doing crap about it, imho.
Actually, it was not an argument. It was an observation. And it's an observation I stand by, untill someone can come up with substantial good arguments the other way. Such arguments would include statistics that show that people who smoke pot regularly, have similar income, education, etc.. as non-pot smokers.
There will always be exceptions to the rule, so anecdotes are not acceptible "evidence". Alcohol doesn't make you smarter either, but lot's of clever people were alcoholics.
As to you having a book published, congratulations. But it doesn't necessarily mean you're smart. This guy has gotten plenty of books published, but..., well you get my point...
He speaks the truth. Potatoes are great.
Actually, it appears that the smartest thing to do would be to get paid less to do nothing, and then get a part-time job on the side. With two avenues of income, the net payoff would likely be higher.
in Soviet Russia, pot smokes you!
(sorry, i couldn't resist..)
We're like rats, in some experiment! -- George Costanza
It's also been shown that antidepressants induce neurogenesis. I don't remember the exact studies, but it appears that if you block neurogenesis the antidepressants lose their effects.
Of course, there are also a few studies suggesting antidepressants are little more effective than placebo to begin with, so who knows.
i've never known anyone to get high and oh, say, beat their wife, or wreck head-on at 90mph racing down roads, or even really do much of ANYTHING
Is that not one of the problems?
The use of cannibinoids for appetite suppression is dicussed here
http://www.acompliareport.com/
and
http://rimonabant.blogspot.com/
The first such drug may be available next year
The truth of Ricaurte's study was that they, "accidentally" used methamphetamine(Meth) instead of methylenedioxymethamphetamine(MDMA). Oops, wonder how that slip-up occured?! Disgusting to the face of science.
Your Momma's so fat she makes emacs look like nano!
Although you don't mention it, the first link shows only a minor 4.1 pt decrease and only for heavy current users. Moderate and former users showed an increase greater than non-users - 5.8 and 3.5 vs 2.6 pts, respectively.
Inhaling smoke of any kind is, of course, not good for your lungs. There are other admittedly less popular means of administration.
It does appear that marijuana may cause immune system depression, but the extent and ways in which it does so is still being researched. This article explores the counter-viewpoints. Another study has shown a decrease in tumor resistance with injected THC in rats, but I'm not sure of the doses. It should be noted as well that in some people, like MS patients, a supressed immune system can be a good thing.
Although psychotic symptoms can be produced by Cannabis consumption, it's certainly not typical. Just as some people have severe reactions to peanuts, some may have psychotic reactions to Cannabis. However, due mainly to heavy restrictions on studies, we still don't know much about endocannabinoids' role in the nervous system and the actions of various cannabinoids. This study suggests that endocannabinoids may actually prevent psychosis; since smoking Cannabis would cause stimulation of endocannabinoid receptors, cannabinoids may be useful in preventing psychosis. Or, it might further reduce your body's production of endocannabinoids and lead to greater psychotic effects when you quit smoking. Or something else, it's hard to say at this point. Research is still being done, however, and I certainly wouldn't suggest getting high to get rid of psychotic symptoms - in fact, I would actively advise against it.
I can't read your memory and learning study, so I can't really comment on it. Cannabinoids certainly have been shown to impair memory and learning in various degrees under different circumstances, but their role - believed to be effected in the hippocampus - may, as this article (the one the post is on) may have positive effects as well.
Conclusion: Cannabis is not a panacea. It should come as no surprise to anyone that there are both good and bad sides to Cannabis - as with all medicine, as with everything. It's absurd to pretend that there are no negative effects, but it's also absurd to pretend like we have all the answers. We have to keep researching, and we have to make sure the government allows needed research. That being said, overall, cannabis has relatively few and insubstantial side effects compared to other drugs, and it's ridiculous beyond comprehension that it's a Class I substance.
The key is that there is a scale of impairment, and it should be testable; there exist video games that test impairment which should be used in dangerous work environments, because "drug testing" just shows that
Reminds me of when I was in therapy after an accident. The therapists had me play this video game, brakeout or some such thing. One of them told me I'd have to get a certain score or higher before I was able to get a new drivers license, the one I had when I was hit disappeared.
As you said, eliminate the penalties and the bulk of the problem goes away. The tax money that was being spent on apprehension and incarceration can be much better spent on treatment and medical attention. And it will certainly help the economy, because a multi-billion dollar industry will spring up literally overnight, and start paying taxes.
Hemp, marijuana, needs to be relegalized and taxed. The revenue raised from the tax can then be used for treatment, let anyone who's addicted get the therapy they need to kick the habit. As far as injuries to others or other's property damage, do the same as with drunken drivers, which needs to be changed. Put them on trial and have a minimuim sentencing, say at least a few months in gaol, a few thousand dollars fine, and the loss of driving priviledges for a few year. Then to get a new license, make it hard to get one.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Mari-joo-wana's bad, mmmmmkay?
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
Any good statistician will demand at least 0.9. The ones who are laughing at 0.8 are laughing because you're actually believing it.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
The fact is: most people I've come across that smoke mariuhana on a regular or semiregular basis: (a) isn't someone I would characterize as "smart" or "clever", (b) tends to focus a lot of their attention to it (as opposed to more productive things, like work, studies, or family).
I don't know about you but I've known quite a few casual drug users and just as many of them are productive membes of society as those who don't use any drugs. Actually I was one of the small number of people that grew up in my neighberhood that didn't use drugs or that only used them occassionally. And with a few exceptions most are productive members of society. One person I know who occasionally smoked marijuana got their masters degree and now owns their own business. Being a lower class neighberhood this wasn't one that many went to college though some did. In college I met others who were casual users as well. I was surprised to learn that one student who was a friend smoked because she had a high gpa, was a high achiever, and was constantly busy. It almost seemed as though she didn't have enough tyme but smoking helped her to relax. There was only one person I knew who had a problem and was addicted to drugs. I met her when I started tutoring her in chemistry or algebra, I tutored both back then, and when I met with her for a session she was always drunk. She even kept a cooler with beer in it in her car and she'd run out to the car between classes to get a drink. I tried to work with her for a few weeks before I had to stop as I couldn't handle her drinking. As far as I was concerned her parents were waisting their money on paying her tuition, it would of been much better spent putting her in rehab.
FalconShould there be a Law?
They think they are soooo smart and creative and yet all they do is sit around on their asses and watch tv, munching on junk food, never getting anything done or doing anything with their lives. A good friend of mine used to have all sorts of dreams and aspirations until he became a pothead. Now all he does is work a $6/hour job, 10 hours/day, 6 days/week, and then come home and smoke weed. He has no motivation to do anything but sit there mindlessly watching tv, playing video games, and munching. This guy WAS a freakin genius, could build anything he wanted. Now he can't focus on crap. His brain is too fried. All thanks to smoking weed. So bullshit propaganda articles like this from the weed lovin' groups make me sick. All potheads out there can goto hell and die.
Amotivational... what a joke. I had serious, serious motivational problems in school. I dropped out of college, twice, both times because I was beginning to feel incapable of making myself put forth enough effort.
So, during my second break from school, I discover cannabis. When I go back to school, it's cake. A toke in the morning and I'm alert and interested by the time I get to class. A toke in the afternoon and I can just sit down and pound off all my homework. No stress, no anxiety. There are still vague worries about large projects, but it just doesn't rattle me.
FWIW, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Computer Science. I can say without a doubt that I would not have made it without marijuana's motivational effects. It gave me the power to will myself to do what I had to do (and even enjoy it). Even more important, it gives me the will do to what I truly want to do (e.g., personal projects), instead of just copping out and playing video games. You can call me weak-willed to begin with, lazy, apathetic, only using a drug to hide it, and I'd basically say you were correct. I've been a compulsively lazy bastard my entire life, but pot helps me overcome it.
Marijuana was never illegal because it was demonstrably bad for you, it was made illegal because it was perceived to be the drug of choice of poor Mexicans. Cocaine was made illegal because of the popular perception that it caused white women to enjoy the "company" of black men. Now that it is untennable to support drug laws through their original motivations, I hope truths like these will persuade America to treat drug addiction like a disease and reserve jails for people we are afraid of, not people we are mad at.
Maybe these guys are such a bunch of drugged out losers because they're your friends. Have you ever considered that disturbing hypothesis? Or maybe they've always been losers and you just hang out with losers. Anyways let me clue you in on something, your anecdotes are not data, they're anecdotes. Your argument against marijuana is fundamentally retarded, it's would be like me arguing against beer and wine because I know a bunch of guys who started drinking in their teens and did it every day for the last 20 years or so and who have fucked up their lives. That's them, not me or most other people who know when to stop drinking. You have a bunch of loser, doper friends. Big fucking deal.
Because it *does* give addiction: but it takes a lot of usage to reach such extremes. So, of course it's a whole different world compared to heroin, coke, etc., but saying that the "evil associated" with smoking pot are nothing is simply false.
No one was saying that the evils associated with pot don't exist. However if you're trying to sell the War on Some Drugs as a societal policy designed to reduce the costs to society of drug usage and addiction then spending a lot of time and money trying to get people to stop smoking dope is a waste because it is far less harmful, psychologically and physiologically than alcohol, which is legal, widely available and advertised or heroin, cocaine or crystal meth or tobacco.
Alcohol can be dangerous, as well, I agree on this. But 100 stoners driving are *bound* to have accidents because their reflexes are so slow. So I say, do as you like with pot and everything else, but don't feel the need to justify yourself by bashing other stuff and pretending it has no effect. Because 1. you're lying, 2. you're implicitly admitting you feel guilty. Otherwise, why would you be justifying yourself?
Why the fuck do you get your panties in such a bunch about people who are smoking marijuana and who are not harming anyone but themselves (and not harming themselves all that much at that)? What exactly is your problem Mr. Buzzkill? Personally I agree with the first poster, a 100 stoned hippies driving at 35 MPH is a lot less dangerous than my old boss who used to drink a couple of pints of malt liquor while driving home from work. Or the hordes of idiots who take legally prescribed painkillers such as Oxycontin or Percoset and then get behind the wheel of a car, or all of the people who take Benadryl for their allergies and then drive (here's an interesting fact that I know from personal experience. What drug do they like to use in hospitals to knock patients out when they can't sleep? It's not an opiate, or a benzodiazepene, nope, it's a 50mg dose of Benadryl.
I don't think anyone here feels guilty about their use of marijuana, it's just that they like to beat down assholes like you who post WoSD bullshit and stories about how you have a bunch of lame, dickhead friends who smoke a lot of dope and have wasted their lives.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
I dug this on friday. www.digg.com.
"What do you call people who study less in school, do the bare minimum to get by? could you call them, perhaps, less motivated?"
No, because motivation requires a stimulus; just stating that people study less in school is leaving the stimulus out of the equation. Undoubtedly, there is a reason why group A does things different from group B, and if you were a functional psychologist, you would talk in terms of reward and punishment, but that still doesn't prove anything. You still need to prove cause and effect.
So, what your study has proven is that there can be more than one type of stimulus, and that some stimuli are more effective than others. I could have told you that beforehand.
Socialists, communists, fascists and neocons take note: It's noone's business if you want to ingest steak, vitamins, peach pits, bird droppings or THC. Everyone was born free. The degree to which you let others control your lives is the degree to which you abandon that freedom.
As far as I can tell from reading at least the US Constitution, smoking hemp, and making paper and canvas out of it has always been and will always be legal. The US has been occupied by either a delusion or a foreign power since at least 1938 as far as I can tell. There never has been any power in the US Constitution to tell people they can't grow Hemp and do whatever they want with it.
How is this possible? The power of the Federal US Govt was supposedly increased circa 1938 under the "welfare clause" of the constitution, however this is simply an auxillary clause and confers no power on the Federal government. The actual and enumerated powers of the US Federal Government are clearly ennumerated and stated as such. Don't believe me? Ask no greater Constitutional authorities than than James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.
Of course, excercising your freedom might upset the tools of the Central Occupying Powers (COPs), but *hey* sometimes the blood of patriots and tyrants must water the tree of liberty.Whaaa? Several hundred comments, and still no comments welcoming our pot-smoking ultra-intelligent rat overlords?
/. and what have you done to it?
Where's the real
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
This is English. It's "marijuana". Cope.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
Ron Bennett... Very easy to look you up and make a call to the authorities. When they are knocking on your door at 4am, are they going to find anything incriminating? I want to ruin you Mr. Bennett.
I've seen both pot "addiction" and alcohol addiction up close and personal.
Really, there's no comparison between how alcohol can totally destroy your life, and pot's comparatively mild effects. And frankly, breaking pot "addiction" is easier than caffeine.
True, my pot-addict friend owns a business, and he's pretty much run it into the ground because he's not willing to put the hours into it that he should. But at least he functions. Hell, we hike and play basketball together. The only thing really wrong with him is that he's a Republican. The alcoholic lady across the street lost her husband, and is about to lose her house, when we go over to check up on her, she rarely knows whether it's day or night, she derives her entire nutritional intake from booze, and has numerous physical ailments from the drinking.
And I've seen my freind stop cold, for months or so at a time. Drunk lady can't stop for 18 freakin hours.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
When they finally legalize it, I'm going to walk the countryside planting seeds.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
MacGyver
I don't think Richard Dean Anderson is gay.
My last year of college, I took a Drug and Alcohol Abuse class. It pretty much told us that pot is no worse than alcohol, etc. HOWEVER, an interesting statistic was that most car accidents involve THC in some way (whether combined with other substances or not).
Obviously, more of the USA is toking than we are lead to believe.
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
"The number 420 is a euphemism for cannabis and its associated culture. The exact origin of the term is unknown, although there is much speculation and many urban legends about its origin. Smoking marijuana at 4:20 or on April 20 has special meaning to some." -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4:20
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
I have to do a journal article summary for my bio class and I was just wondering if any of this has showed up in a peer reviewed journal yet.
were obviously stoned when they produced this paper. I mean really, we all know how deeply a stoner contemplates his navel but never really made anything of it. Those new brain cells are being made as fast as the stoner kills off other ones. Its a zero sum game!
Your digestive tract will show you a good reason why hemp fibre is used in rope and sails. You will have a very bad belly ache that no amount of munchies will fix.
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
Being a dedicated pot-head and loving it, I have long known that marijuana allowed me to improve my brain function dispite what all the propaganda said. Why? Because I needed to think clearer because I was always stoned. When you first smoke pot you don't have this effect. But if you do it for a while, for a year or more, and you do complex math or science problems while you are high, you are then much better able to do them when you are not stoned.
This is not a joke.
But if you take someone who never smokes and then you get them baked, they will be stupid and stoned and possibly paranoid.
Just hide your stash a little better.. not in the sock or underwear drawer, they already know about that one...
-Myke
If you'll just turn your attention to the whiteboard, we'll explain the findings in...
Woah... Donuts! Sweet, dude!
What was I saying, man? Ah, fuck it. Zzzz....
</Chong>
Nice dissection of the very poor quality articles the grandparent poster uses as 'proof' of his argument. Mostly opinion pieces. There have been no definitive studies done on marijuana that give solid evidence that it causes cancer despite the 'common sense' conclusions one might make by comparing it to tobacco products. There have been some credible studies done indicating that a loss of short term memory can occur with chronic use. That said, a good friend of mine had the highest marks in the biology department during his undergrad work and his method of preparing for exams included hotknifing hashish and drinking espresso while studying. In the end he got his PhD from MIT.
I think alot of people have a problem with putting intelligence in the wrong situations. Someone who smokes pot might not want to go to school or may seem 'lazy', but this could just be something that he would of done normally, learning about math is boring to some people. Now, while this same person skipped class after class, he could probably build you a computer or fix that nasty oil leak in your car. Intelligence is not mathematics and reading. Intelligence is being able to put your brain to good use, weather it be at repairing a car, creating that little tray that folds up under the sofa, or creating a law of science. There are MANY degree's of intelligence, you cant just call someone stupid because they misspelled a word, or didnt know how to solve some complex math problem.
Alot of you are also stereotyping people in the worst ways, cheech and chong are a stereotype, they are not the most common form of marijuana smoker. They were -made- for comedy, to laugh at -while- high.
Respect the hotknife. :)
A couple of natives up in BC demonstrated the technique. I traded a phoenix t-shirt for the knowledge.
What's the difference? Completely completely nonspecific attacks. There is no case against marijuana.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
Maybe these guys are such a bunch of drugged out losers because they're your friends.
Mmmhhh, yeah, maybe.
Your argument against marijuana... if you're trying to sell the War on Some Drugs... you get your panties in such a bunch about people who are smoking marijuana... assholes like you...
It's always interesting to notice how people who are, hm, let's say "passionate" about something will attack you blindly, spitting insults and spreading bullshit. Unfounded and unmotivated bullshit, at that. Now if you can stop the name-calling for just one second and turn your brain on, will you please: 1, realize that I already made clear I smoke pot occasionally, 2. provide evidence of my alledged "war on drug". Here's a hint, you'll find it in another post of mine: "I have *no* position, to be honest", "I certainly don't drive when I am stoned or drunk", and a series of "do what you like 'cause I don't care"-lookalikes spread around in my posts.
Besides, your argument smells like the old "but they" trick. Sorry pal, nobody's buying that anymore. In your opinion *they* are wrong (hospitals, alcohol drinkers - uh oh, look who's the prohibitionist here...)? Fair enough, do you think that makes YOU any better? Do you think that what they do is of whatsoever relevance to the matter we're discussing? You know how saying goes... the one about lenses and mirrors...
Global warming is a cube.
The reason here is that unlike alcohol or most other drugs, THC and its metabolites are fat soluble, and linger in the body for a LONG time after the high wears off. A heavy pot smoker might still test positive for a month or more after his last joint.
Just about everyone who smokes pot with any regularity will show traces of THC in their system if tested. Unlike alcohol, there is no "legal limit" for THC metabolites, so anyone who tests positive after an accident will be treated as being "stoned at the wheel", even if they haven't smoked in a week or more.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
such an ass... making threats against a persons family and welfair because they don't agree with your point of view.
Not trying to make the old worn old "H" alanogy but is that really what you want. For him to lost his house, lose his family, go to jail, and made into a criminal over a slashdot post...
God I hate AC's that can't even stand behind there own comments, very well go making threats against people.
"(I) have this unfortunate condition that causes me not to believe a single thing any politician says when a mic's on.
That's why the cannabis users seem so bright and clever...
Elohim _is_ a plural. This is offtopic, but important, as this one sentence has had so much impact on our society. "Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets." is the first line of Genesis. 'In the beginning Gods created Heaven and Earth.' Elohim connotes unmitigated justice; after this verse they stop using elohim and switch to 'adonai elohim' which promptly genders it male and connotes 'mercy".
So remember you bible-whumpers out there, your god is only one of many, according to your own Book.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
This can be taken in at least two ways: MOD parent up! Get it? Huh? Huh? And of course just from the content of the post, we could assume you weren't an american. Not most of 'em anyways.
Well done.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
The addictive substance? You must be high.
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
I honestly can say I don't care if pot smokers smoke pot. They can do it all they want to. I have friends who do it and family who did it. So what. The ONLY thing that I can't deal with, is the smell.
I am sure it affects mental growth, and I'm sure the government is hiding something about it... They like to do that with everything, right. But cancer is when a piece of tissue starts to grow uncontrollably too, and if you cut yourself, your scar tissue may grow bigger than the original. It doesn't mean it functions any better. If you leave vegetables on the plant longer, they get bigger, but harder to eat. People really like to imagine bigger immediatly means better.
And once they figure out how to stop people who do it from smelling like that for a month afterward, they can go ahead and do it as much as they like.
I wouldn't consider the mad hatter mad. Just reality impaired. He sure can make a mean cup of tea.
the popular science article printed in 1938 regarding the extreme energy related benefits of hemp and marijuana was unbelievable.. and its just so weird, how that soon after that article was published, and how the article stated henry ford's car was able to run off the hemp oil, the ban on marijuana took place.. just sounds a little fishy.. let people do what they want for christs sakes.. you can't honestly think we can allow things like pot to be illegal, yet drinking be illegal.. there's nothing you can justify against that simple fact.. there's obviously another reason behind it all.. its just a matter of figuring out the truth..
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
Carl Sagan's wife if VP at NORML - she and other claim Mr. Sagan did his most brilliant work while high. I got Ds, Fs, and a few Cs until I started smoking pot. I smoked pot every day, especially before tests. I graduated college with a 3.87 GPA (4.0 system) in computer science. I work as a senior systems engineer and am the lead developer on some very complex projects. I still do my best work high! I am convinced pot helps the creative process. Sure, I could smoke pot and vedge-out. But I can also not be a lazy ass and focus on the task at hand . I think anyone can, you just need to focus. I'm not saying pot can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, if you're stupid, you're stupid; if you're lazy, then your lazy. We spend billions of dollars a year to fight the war on drugs, and 90% of that goes to catch pot smokers/dealers. End the WoD Peace out y'all
Just watch out for Sheriff John Brown.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Not really, it is mostly a myth. Take a look at the one federaly supported legal medical pot users. He is a sucessfull stock broker, IMO not a lay back and coast type job. He somkes 3 joints per day as I remember. I dislike that he says he lights up on the way home and before going to work, but seeing as how he has somehow managed not to kill a million people and himself over the years, I guess at least he seems to know what to do to be safe doing those things.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Certain types of cacti can yield quite a bit of magic juice.
The San Pedro variety seems rather popular.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.