Quote from Dajmin :

snip....

It is different, but not, if you know what I mean, I just don't like Mr & Mrs Daily Mail saying x is ok, y is bad m'ok, because it ain't that cut and dried.

Also, I would like to point out that other things are just as bad.

I have diabetes, wholey because I just to live a sedatery lifestyle and have a poor diet, at the time, I thought what I was doing was "ok", now I realise, too late, that it wasn't, and have paid the price for it.

I STRONGLY believe that the shite food manufacturers put in their foods (High fructose corn syrup anyone?) is almost as addictive and damaging as many of the drugs that Mr & Mrs Daily Mail are in shock and horror about, they also cause a heck of a lot of harm and put a HUGE strain on the national health service.

I am currently training to become a pre-diabetes (IFG - Impaired fasting glycaemia) "coach", because I truely believe that this is going to become as big a problem as any of the drug issues we have now.

Quote from Becky Rose :

So whats the big deal over legalisation?

Purely criminalisation, it gives people a chance to demonize something, don't do X because it's illegal, but it's "ok" to y because it's not.

I'm diabetic too, have been since I was 16. I had lived an exemplary life in terms of health up to that point. Never smoked, only drank once in a while, never touched drugs, ate a healthy balanced diet, plenty of fruit. That one isn't always related to health. In fact, the docs suggested at the time that the trigger for it was me breaking my wrist.

That was pretty off-topic I guess. Err...

I agree with the issue of food additives though. It all comes down to the endorphins. The world has known about sugar highs for decades, so there's no reason to believe you can't get addicted to that too. And since a lot of colourings made people high back in the day, you could say the same for that.

Don't you think that a lot of the time, the worst thing you can do is make something illegal? People go nuts wondering what all the fuss is about. Look at games and movies - one gets banned, it sells millions of copies on that fact alone. Controversy gets people interested, especially young people.

Making most drugs legal would do a couple of things. It would give the government something else to tax, and you know how they love that. It would ensure that there was some quality control. It would mean people who needed to get them wouldn't be pressured by shady people into doing bad things to get a fix.
I don't have any interest in coke (tried it once, was meh) or heroin or any recreational drugs of any class, so them suddenly being legal wouldn't make me go out and buy it. People who want it can already get it, and people who don't will continue not to.

I'm a big believer in the "forbidden fruit" concept.

Sorry, I should have pre-faced my post with late onset type 2 diabetes.

Of course, type 1 is a different kettle of fish completely, with completely different reasons why it occurs.

Good point Dan. Our diets these days should be the real concern, on the level at least of any of the scary drugs mentioned above, and probably more so because for a lot of people I imagine bad eating has become normalised to the point of invisibility. You are what you eat, as they say.

Blazing on a L now, Jah Bless!

Several years ago I had a major problem with "club drugs", but mostly ketamine, coke and ecstasy. Sure, it was fun at the time, but looking back at it I really wonder why I did it to myself.

While I don't have much against ecstasy (Although if anyone is considering doing it for that rush of serotonin, avoid pills. They can be really dirty. Pay the premium for MDMA crystals), I have a serious issue with ketamine. The "buzz" before the disassociative effect is very strange and can be immensely fun, but it leaves you feeling very, very "trashy" a few hours after. And also the K-Hole isn't a good place to be. Stay away! Use 80x salvia for essentially the same disassociative effect, but with none of the trashiness. And it's legal

Just for the record, coke and crack do the same. One hit on a pipe won't turn you into a scabby faced criminal, just like a cheeky line won't. Ignore the hype about crack, it's the same as everything else, you'll only go back if you really want to.

I smoke weed as I have done for a while, I started during my club cainer days to help get rid of the edge, and much like people enjoy a beer while they watch reality "I'm a nobhead, get me a new career!" crap on ITV, I enjoy a nice spliff nowadays. I know it's damaging, like smoking ciggies (which I also enjoy) but at the end of the day, it's my life, I like the social side of it and it's not like I go out mugging grannies to fund it.

I used to be quite anti-drugs until I tried them, and TBH I'm glad I did. It's made me into a different person, my outlook on the world has changed, and I've met some of the best friends I could have ever wished to meet because of their influence.

No way in HELL a sober me would have approached some of my friends

if i get some stuff i maybe smoke once in a month,

there was some time i smoked nearly everey day, but i had to quit cause need the car to drive to work and i dont want to lose my license

so i just smoke in holidays or on weekends bevore go out with friends and gf

first i thought it won´t matter, but then i recognized it makes your selfe into someone different you just dont want to be..

Quote from danowat :

Just because you think cannabis is "ok", or "cool", it doesn't mean it is, just as everything else, you WILL do yourself irrepairable damage, and you won't know till it's too late.

Pretty much like racing then.

From most people's perspective, actually trying to drive a car right up to its physical limits is irresponsible and selfish. Looking after your smashed up body after the inevitable accident puts pressure on an already strained health service etc etc... You know all the arguments, since as race fans you've probably all heard them from people who don't get your obsession.

Drugs? I've enjoyed a lot of them and still enjoy a few of them. Its all about assessing the risk, and consenting to the experience. That's a very 'grown up' thing to do, Tristan. You of all people should know that.

Funny thing is, as I've got older, I enjoy drugs less as a social thing, and more as a private experience. Consequently, I do them less often, but when I do, I veer towards more powerfully hallucinogenic brands. When in company, I prefer to be able to communicate clearly with others!

Are you just looking to justify your drug use?

Quote from rich uk :

Also think of the revenue of the crime syndicates and organized gangs that would loose out?

This point struck me. How is that a good thing? It just changes the source of the problem, possibly with worst consequences.

I don't know, I'm not for it becoming legal, but it's not a subject I'm either passionate, or knowledgeable about so I'll leave it at that.

Quote from Mazz4200 :

For me, i stopped taking illegal drugs about 15yrs ago and the only ill effect i have noticed is a really wierd memory. I can barely tell you what i did yesterday and i havn't the faintest idea what my own telephone number is, but i can remember how tall my first girlfriend was and the registration plate of my old geography teacher's car,

Same here. A lot of conversations I have with work colleagues these days start with five minutes of them reminding me of the time last week when we spoke about whatever it is we're discussing, but I can't tell whether that's a symptom of my damaged memory or just that I switch off when I can't be bothered listening to somebody.

My first girlfriend was 5'4". Can't remember my geography teacher's registration plate but he had a green Maxi. I remember Mr Gascoyne seeing it in the car park one day out of our classroom window and describing it as "Not so much parked as abandoned".

Quote from rich uk :

(alcohol is a violent drug as are pills, coke, caffeine)

During my near-ten year affair with pills/ecstasy, I never saw a single person become violent from it. Although it is a very common misconception that it makes people go utterly doollaly. It doesn't.

Unless hugging everyone you can get your hands on is violence.

Edit - Nor is coke really. It just makes people lively. It's when you mix a bit of chop with booze where it starts to get punchy...

Quote from Dajmin :

I get your point, but heroin is a slightly different story. It's a one-hit addiction

No it isn't.

Quote from danowat :

Are you just looking to justify your drug use?

Not at all i'm happy with my situation. But I like to talk about the drug culture as it is such a strange situation we are currently in. (well have been for the past 60 years or so) The mis-information tied with the unwillingness to listen to the other sides opinions from both camps.

To the idea that if legalized the problem will evolve into something worse and more sinister, Well yes but so could the next drug. Who knows what other drugs will surface in this modern world. As science evolves so are drugs of all nature. currently the trend is towards manmade substances, But (And this is a Lerts theory i'm afraid take this with a pinch of salt) What if say for example some crazy substance is found on a planet (Or at CERN who knows) then what could that do to society?

I am open to critisism I don't mind. Thats one reason for this thread, Documenting opinions with posotives and negatives. This helps humanity evlove and become better.

I think alot of this is down to personal choice "It's my body I'll harm it if I want" It's about freedom of society which especially in the UK has become less and less free. We are free to vote for who we like and what to believe in (I just hope it's religion which all children are taught but thats another debate, sorry.) but thats were it stops.

Anyways i'll drag it away from politics. I don't mind what you write here, but it does annoy me when people peg all users of drugs together. There needs to be some sort of recognition that not all things are bad for you in decent doses. I'll leave the over keen marijuana users to themselves they won't be in any state to lift thier hands to the keyboard let alone mug all of England

Quote :

i havn't the faintest idea what my own telephone number is, but i can remember how tall my first girlfriend was and the registration plate of my old geography teacher's car

Quote :

Same here. A lot of conversations I have with work colleagues these days start with five minutes of them reminding me of the time last week when we spoke about whatever it is we're discussing

hehe, a friend of mine says she is continually astounded at the things that I can remember that she's forgotten about, and yet can also forget a conversation whilst still halfway through it. I'm not sure how much of that is drugs, how much is because i'm older now, or my preffered explanation, how much of it is because i'm a scatty creative .

I cant actually remember my first girlfriend terribly well, I remember her hair, and that she wasnt a slight girl. I dont know her name anymore. I never saw my geography teachers car. I dont know my phone number because numbers confuse me, but I can remember my 3rd birthday.

Quote from Becky Rose :

However one thing does annoy me about the cannabis, that is the culture that surrounds it now. I never understood why people who are so into it feel the need to give themselves named like "Stoney" in online games, and paint their cars as a big cannabis leaf and so on. So you do a soft drug which may or may not have serious ramifications for you and your health, big deal? Why shout about it? It's just advertising narcotics which is irresponsible, but more importantly you just look like a twat if your life is now so shallow that the only way you can express yourself creatively is "drug user".

Well thats easy to explain, they just give a damn. So did i, not thinking at all and soon found myself regretting the decision using this name. However, its just a name and apart from that and saying "dont drink and drive, smoke and fly" i was never advertising the usage of mirijuana any further. I never felt the urge to use an big leafs on my hood nor replying at threads like this.

However, after ten years of smoking i finally gave up on it. I was more or less forced to since the guy i got it from went into another city and so i never bothered getting another "source" again. I still miss it since it has become some sort of a part of my life but at the same time, i know about the downsides which can get very unpleasant in times, so the disire for it slims again rather soon. Im not smoking since two years now, apart from last summers vacation and i feel much better now in any kind of aspect.

Regarding to legalisation or decriminalization, i think the only reason i would vote for such a step is to ensure that the stuff finally gets clean. I've only eaten coockies once simple because i soon found out that other substances had been added into stuff that are not really healthy either (sawdust, shoe polish or metal dust). These are the things i know of beeing used to "stretch" the stuff in order to make more profit out of it. And honestly, i dont want to know what else has been used for that matter.

Ever thought about why most people are doing it (smoking pod)? Because its illegal. Legalising it would take out the fun for the younger generation and perhaps they would be switching to something else simple for that reason. So only long time users really would benefit from that and i have my doubts that we would get another woodstuck or anything. It would be handed out under more or less controlled conditions, meaning at clean places such as coffee shops and only a small amount of for each person over a decent amount of time. But unless there is no way to deal with the rest of the illegal drugs i see no reason to legalise marijuana in particular for the reason described above.

After all, marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol as a matter of fact. But still, the person using it, its psychological background and reliability is determining the outcome. Give a person a handgun or perhaps a huge amount of money. What are the chances that people would either be responsible or irresponsible with whats been given to them?

Heh, I always read your name as "five hundred and ten N three D"

Quote from Becky Rose :

I'm not sure how much of that is drugs, how much is because i'm older now, or my preffered explanation, how much of it is because i'm a scatty creative .

I wondered if it was age, but nobody else my age seems to have memory issues like I do. Suffice to say I'm glad I knocked the hallucinogens on the head when I did, just in case!

Quote from danowat :

Chemical dependancy, no matter what is it, is bad, what I don't like is that some of them are socially acceptable, and others aren't, which I find mental.

A group of lads going out of a friday, drinking 10 pints of pisswasser, is more socially acceptable than someone jacking up with herion, why?, simply because one is legal, and one isn't?, they are both VERY damaging in there own way and both ruin lives.

Just because you think cannabis is "ok", or "cool", it doesn't mean it is, just as everything else, you WILL do yourself irrepairable damage, and you won't know till it's too late.

I agree 110%.
I've done my share of drugs and I don't regret taking Ecstacy in all honesty, I reallly enjoyed it but to be able to say you've been sober from drugs for x ammount of time really does mean you have the right to call yourself better than the people who can't stop themselves doing it regularly. Most people do grow up, if they don't, normally having a child makes them stop but most girls won't touch someone who takes drugs unless they TOO have not grown up.

Quote from rich uk :

Also people seem to think that by legalizing cannabis everyone would be driving under the influence.....

Personally, I wish it was a requirement for EVERYONE on the road to be driving under the influence of marijuana. Can you imagine the car accidents then? They would all be 10 mph fender benders as opposed to death crashes.

My experience in my younger days.....

Beer and behind the wheel, I was cautious, paying attention to what I was doing and caring how I was driving, though obviously not driving very well. I haven't driven very much drunk on beer in my time, but it was more than the following below.

Whiskey and behind the wheel, completely careless. Live fast. Not a care in the world. Extreme speed. I wasn't behind the wheel very much after drinking whiskey, but there were a couple of times.

Now we come to pot. Yes, I drove under the influence, and I drove a lot under the influence. On the way to school, on the way home, on the way to work (high school part time job), after work, when I picked up my buddies and we specifically drove around and smoked ($5000 audio system playing Pink Floyd + smoke = awesome!), driving home from the girlfriends house, just plain old driving around any time.

How do you drive under the influence of pot? Story time. A buddy of mine and I drove down to the city about an hour away for some stash. It's inevitable, any time you buy some, you are expected to smoke one with them. We bought in large quantities, thus we would have a lot. Roll up a big fat blunt and smoke. This one time, my buddy tells me that we have to hurry (hurry means a good bit different on pot than it does normally) because he has to get home to go to work. So, there we are on the 6 lane highway truckin home so he can get to work.

He says to me, "dude, you better get moving a bit more, I've gotta get to work." "We're alright," I say. A bit later, he's telling me to get moving again. At this time, I look down and I'm doing 25 mph in 5th gear with the car barely chugging along. This is a 6 lane (3 each way) highway with a speed limit of 65.

Yeah, imagine the death toll of accidents if everyone on the roads had to smoke pot before turning the key. Traffic tie ups? Meh, who cares! Accidents? That will buff right out, don't worry about it. Though I imagine everyone's cars would be littered with munchie wrappers though.

Quote from BlueFlame :

to be able to say you've been sober from drugs for x ammount of time really does mean you have the right to call yourself better than the people who can't stop themselves doing it regularly.

Well that's bollocks. I know the main reason I stopped taking drugs recreationally was because I no longer hung out with the people who I used to take them with. I moved to a different continent for a few years and when I came back most of my old friends had moved on.

But if I was still with the same circle of friends I'd probably still do the odd pill now and then. Actually a (newer) friend recently suggested we have a night in on the shrooms, which we both agreed was a good idea, but we haven't got around to it yet because we're both too busy.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Well that's bollocks. I know the main reason I stopped taking drugs recreationally was because I no longer hung out with the people who I used to take them with. I moved to a different continent for a few years and when I came back most of my old friends had moved on.

But if I was still with the same circle of friends I'd probably still do the odd pill now and then. Actually a (newer) friend recently suggested we have a night in on the shrooms, which we both agreed was a good idea, but we haven't got around to it yet because we're both too busy.

Well if you don't take drugs you are more capable of providing a reliable opinion and sane contribution on important AND non-important matters, you are in full control of your own body, and moral righteousness, and therefore you're a better fully functioning human.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Well if you don't take drugs you are more capable of providing a reliable opinion on matters. You are in full control of your own body, and moral righteousness, and therefore you're a better functioning human.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Well if you don't take drugs you are more capable of providing a reliable opinion and sane contribution on important AND non-important matters, you are in full control of your own body, and moral righteousness, and therefore you're a better fully functioning human.

Just need to throw this into the mix My mate went into every GCSE stoned out his face and didn't get one result under a C - He got C's, B's and A's. This is one example though, may not be the same with others. I will never touch illegal drugs, I tried it once because I was curious but wont do it again - it's pointless.

Quote from sam93 :

Just need to throw this into the mix My mate went into every GCSE stoned out his face and didn't get one result under a C - He got C's, B's and A's. This is one example though, may not be the same with others. I will never touch illegal drugs, I tried it once because I was curious but wont do it again - it's pointless.

Happened to someone else I know, probobly because it's relaxing the person they are able to perform better when not under pressure but seriously, if they were smart in the first place they wouldn't have done drugs before they took their exams :P