For me at least it was the other way around. I started drinking and smoking ciggs when i was about 15. After that I tried MJ and other drugs. Still addiction is just an excuse for the weak minded. Although I still drink, because it's socially acceptable and my clients demand it most often, i quit doing everything else. Coke, MJ and Cigs all lost their apeal for one reason or another. Vodka is my only lover these days. I'm studying to be a master mixologist though so at least it's going some where! I have bar managers offering me work left and right and that's definately a good thing!:cheer:Cr1msonKing said:
It would be a stretch, yes, which is why I prefaced my language with "practically." I suppose I could have said "almost" or "virtually," but "practically" is short-hand for "for all practical intents and purposes." Semantics aside, it's easy to find a pattern you want to see but you must consider negative evidence when the pattern does not occur. Since very, very few people who try marijuana ever try hard drugs, how is the gateway a good explanation if it almost never happens? For instance, research conducted and published by the RAND Corporation Drug Policy Research Center in 2002 developed mathematical models which offered explanations of why some people try marijuana, then hard drugs, but without any gateway effect from marijuana. See here and here. "The study [which 'examined the drug use patterns reported by more than 58,000 U.S. residents between the ages of 12 and 25 who participated in the National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) conducted between 1982 and 1994'] demonstrates that associations between marijuana and hard drug use could be expected even if marijuana use has no gateway effect. Instead, the associations can result from known differences in the ages at which youths have opportunities to use marijuana and hard drugs, and known variations in individuals' willingness to try any drugs."Maxtro said:
One thing I want to add to this discussion is this line of thinking is flawed and it's the same flawed reasoning I've heard about other drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine. Death is not a good measuring stick. Death is the ultimate negative consequence of any behavior, but there are many negative and sometimes permanent consequences drugs can inflict which are not death. You can fry your brain into swiss cheese with ecstasy or cause serious internal damage with cocaine, but yet just because you didn't die doesn't mean it's safe. The motto of "everything in moderation" is also flawed reasoning, because the very definition of how dangerous is a drug ought to be the full range of consequences when you do not abide by moderation. Granted, marijuana holds up remarkably well under this framework, but for the sake of precision and persuaveness you should refine your argument. Overall, marijuana is not good on the lungs; not quite to the devastation of tobacco but only because stoners don't get stoned nearly as often as cigarette smokers smoke. Marijuana does also temporarily weaken the immune system and if you smoke while sick you stand at a heightened risk of pnuemonia. These risks do evaporate with the introduction of vaporizers, however, the vapors of which are pure THC and all the other hundreds of chemicals, and tar, are left behind in the bud. Marijuana has been shown to cause serious vitamin deficiencies but above the threshold of 60-70 joints a day, which of course nobody realistically achieves.supam said:
Look dudescribblec said:
dont listen to this guy....he looking for a cop-out cuz really he was already a lazy-fck b4 he started smokingscribblec said:
No, if anything it promotes weight gain by heightening and magnifying the sense of taste. You know, munchies.scribblec said:
Sure, when you're high you're sleepy, and if it's the weekend and you have no life obligations to attend to (for example, work), you might on occasion spend all day being stoned, but the motivation is back in full by the next day or two. For this reason I actually don't think it's a good idea for young teenagers to smoke weed, because when you're young you're still developing your sense of life priorities, life motivations, and what constitutes a good time. But once again, weed does not instill apathy into your characteristic personality. What about all the people who lead very successful, productive, white-collar lives?
There is some evidence heavy smokers may experience mild withdrawal symptoms, but it's less addicting than caffeine. Some people may develop psychological dependence if they incorporate weed as a cornerstone of their identity, but then it's simply a matter of cutting it out of their life. It's unlike tobacco or alcohol whereby stopping cold turkey results in physical sickness or possibly death. In fact, weed can help people stop smoking tobacco, because it satisfies the tobacco cravings without creating an additional craving. (At least, it did for me. I've been clean for three years.) It stumps me why many stoners keep smoking cigarettes and why many dual stoners/smokers stop weed in favor of just smoking.
Maybe for one or two nights, but otherwise no. If anything, weed does somewhat inhibit REM sleep and so you don't have as many dreams.
i defnatly wasnt a lazy ****er before i started smoking but its good to see u know me better then me....Killer_Demo said:
scribblec said:
Appetite and metabolism are totally different.
Deep Dish said:
