I smoked bucket loads of green prawns as a teenager from about the age of 15 onwards. It never led to harder stuff that was readily available, in fact quite the opposite . The guys that were right into the gear and what not had a bad vibe and couldn't be trusted.
ALL of the guys who I used to knock around with are very successful lads today and have beautiful families . They are chilled , career orientated , care about other people and are healthy.
Kids are kids and are easily led ... the thing is as parents we can influence their path. Weed is not the problem.....
Select to expand quotelotofwind said..el tubo said..
I would love the opportunity to try the CBD strains that are available in the USA.
And I guess so would every Australian that suffers from epilepsy.
Yep, can totally understand and appreciate the need for medical purposes.
But most that are fighting for legalization are just druggo's that just want to be stonned out of their skulls legally.
Yeah most people try it and have a laugh smoking a bit of weed through their teens and early 20's,even the odd toke at a party later in life, but some cant stop and end up slow and as dumb as a roadie, and as bright as a shadow.
Once past the teenage/early 20's age, the older stonners, are pathetic losers that need to grow up. If they need to be wasted all the time, they are obviously troubled and unhappy with their lives and just trying to escape it, like an alcoholic does.
Pretty sad really, that they get to the stage that they feel they cant relax or function without dope. 
Agree completely. Plus as a mental health clinician of over 30 years experience, I have seen an endless parade of psychosis related to THC use, but i've seen only one or two psychoses induced by alcohol.
There is no empirical evidence or research that definitively identifies pot as a medicinal adjunct. Anything that claims to be research is pseudoscience.
Pot smoking impairs the function of the hippocampus, which is the ram for cognition, which means that memory, knowledge, the ability to calculate, etc, is impaired.
Get into your heads gentlemen. :D
I would have to say I miss it, I have a mine type of job with drug testing so I have put it down. I enjoy it , never had a problem with it as the same with many friends. Biggest problems we have would be 1 METH 2 ALCOHOL 3 MOBILE PHONES WHILE DRIVING
POT IS WAY DOWN THE LIST
Select to expand quoteBeaglebuddy said..
Let's be clear, the ditch weed people smoked as late as the 70's was nothing compared to the potent sensemilla's people are using now.
The kids now have a new way to extract / smoke weed and it makes your modern weed feel like bush weed.
All the "good stuff" is extracted and concentrated into a hard brown tinged glassy looking layer. Butane is used to extract it. End product has lots of names like glass/shatter/bho/dabs/honey oil etc.
www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/what-does-good-bho-look-like-dabbing-and-hash-oil-myths-part-one
Select to expand quoteKEARNSY said..
I smoked bucket loads of green prawns as a teenager from about the age of 15 onwards. It never led to harder stuff that was readily available, in fact quite the opposite . The guys that were right into the gear and what not had a bad vibe and couldn't be trusted.
ALL of the guys who I used to knock around with are very successful lads today and have beautiful families . They are chilled , career orientated , care about other people and are healthy.
Kids are kids and are easily led ... the thing is as parents we can influence their path. Weed is not the problem.....
My sentments exactly!!
Select to expand quotelotofwind said..mclovin said..
I don't want a beer at night very often, i also don't want to be a criminal.
Ummmmmmm, then stop breaking the law and getting off your head on illegal drugs, then you wont be a criminal anymore, simple.
there you go , acting like an imbecile as always .
Some of the young local crew around here are even starting to use weed fins. This is disturbing.
Select to expand quoteshoodbegood said..
Everyone I know who has been a bongo at an early age (say under 14) is in struggle town
This is terrible. We should make weed illegal and really come down hard.
Send dealers to jail where they become nicer people and have better job prospects when they get out so they won't have to turn to crime again.
Send kids to juvenile if they have been caught smoking it themselves. Juvenile is much better for a child than getting stoned. Especially for their future job and societal prospects.
Make the punishment for dealing so high that it sends the price of drugs up so high that criminals can't resist.
Ensure only criminals control the supply chain.
_____
Man I was stoned permanently from 14 - 18.
I wouldn't recommend, at all, but I did turn out alright. I guess. ...maybe. (I can see Malcolm's office from here). I'll emphasise I was stoned a lot. Practically all the time. Not just sometimes.
I know a few others that are the same, very impressive resumes now. And yes, I know some basket cases. Marijuana is not completely safe. D'uh.
_____
The cost of policing, processing and jailing dealers and even users (who are the victims, yeah?) is a lot.
The cost of not legalising and taxing it is also a lot.
There is a lot of money being needlessly wasted.
There are a lot of people's time and lives being needlessly wasted.
_____
All evidence points to weed being safer than alcohol.
Select to expand quoteevlPanda said..shoodbegood said..
Everyone I know who has been a bongo at an early age (say under 14) is in struggle town
This is terrible. We should make weed illegal and really come down hard.
Send dealers to jail where they become nicer people and have better job prospects when they get out so they won't have to turn to crime again.
Send kids to juvenile if they have been caught smoking it themselves. Juvenile is much better for a child than getting stoned. Especially for their future job and societal prospects.
Make the punishment for dealing so high that it sends the price of drugs up so high that criminals can't resist.
Ensure only criminals control the supply chain.
_____
Man I was stoned permanently from 14 - 18.
I wouldn't recommend, at all, but I did turn out alright. I guess. ...maybe. (I can see Malcolm's office from here). I'll emphasise I was stoned a lot. Practically all the time. Not just sometimes.
I know a few others that are the same, very impressive resumes now. And yes, I know some basket cases. Marijuana is not completely safe. D'uh.
_____
The cost of policing, processing and jailing dealers and even users (who are the victims, yeah?) is a lot.
The cost of not legalising and taxing it is also a lot.
There is a lot of money being needlessly wasted.
There are a lot of people's time and lives being needlessly wasted.
_____
All evidence points to weed being safer than alcohol.
By that logic it's time to bring back prohibition!
And we all know policy is based on evidence. 
Select to expand quotemclovin said..Bigwavedave said..
Work in my job and see the damage that smoking weed does....
Schizophrenia is not fun for those who have it
I'm assuming you have seen the studies that show weed doesn't cause schizophrenia? Yes it can trigger it early, from memory it's about 4 years. Basically if smoking weed makes you schizophrenic, you were always going to be whether you smoked or not.
Nope.
It lowers the threshold at which you can experience psychosis.
Select to expand quotebeerdead said..mclovin said..Bigwavedave said..
Work in my job and see the damage that smoking weed does....
Schizophrenia is not fun for those who have it
I'm assuming you have seen the studies that show weed doesn't cause schizophrenia? Yes it can trigger it early, from memory it's about 4 years. Basically if smoking weed makes you schizophrenic, you were always going to be whether you smoked or not.
Nope.
It lowers the threshold at which you can experience psychosis.
I thought it was only a problem for people who already had psychosis, I work at a hospital and you shuold see the damage cigs do, not to metion the big killer....sugar
It's not bad for people, it's bad for business.
It was criminalised through lobbying by big business with a vested interest in keeping it out of the agricultural industry. It is a fibrous plant which makes hemp, an important fibre throughout human history. It was a potential rival for cotton, but it had this side use: as a recreational drug by undesirable minorities, which needed to be discouraged. And it was too difficult at the time to capitalise financially on this use because it grew wild.
(Most fobbed off as 'conspiracy theories', but very credible actually.)
It will be de-criminalised now it's in the interest of business. It's only a matter of time.
The important thing is to make sure enough of the proceeds goes to educating people about it, both dangers and advantages, as the information comes out.
With the progressive legalisation real research is actually happening. This has been completely impossible to do for the last 50 odd years. We need to make sure all the information is released, not just selected results to support an interest.
And medical help for those with problems with it. There is a correlation between mental health and drug use, but the jury is out as to which is the cause and which the effect. Sometimes these people don't get the help they need and self medicate. This may work for a while but can also go bad as it is not monitored by a health professional.
It could be a desperately needed injection of funding into mental health.
The difference between those users who go on to lead normal lives with occasional use, and those who end up with problems with it, is that they are targeted as criminals at an early age and become institutionalised into a criminal life. These people need help, not incarceration.
The devil will be in the details, just so long as it doesn't get controlled by 'Big Weed' the way of tobacco, alcohol, and processed food, umm, and pretty much everything else come to think about it....
Select to expand quoteevlPanda said..shoodbegood said..
Everyone I know who has been a bongo at an early age (say under 14) is in struggle town
This is terrible. We should make weed illegal and really come down hard.
Send dealers to jail where they become nicer people and have better job prospects when they get out so they won't have to turn to crime again.
Send kids to juvenile if they have been caught smoking it themselves. Juvenile is much better for a child than getting stoned. Especially for their future job and societal prospects.
Make the punishment for dealing so high that it sends the price of drugs up so high that criminals can't resist.
Ensure only criminals control the supply chain.
_____
Man I was stoned permanently from 14 - 18.
I wouldn't recommend, at all, but I did turn out alright. I guess. ...maybe. (I can see Malcolm's office from here). I'll emphasise I was stoned a lot. Practically all the time. Not just sometimes.
I know a few others that are the same, very impressive resumes now. And yes, I know some basket cases. Marijuana is not completely safe. D'uh.
_____
The cost of policing, processing and jailing dealers and even users (who are the victims, yeah?) is a lot.
The cost of not legalising and taxing it is also a lot.
There is a lot of money being needlessly wasted.
There are a lot of people's time and lives being needlessly wasted.
_____
All evidence points to weed being safer than alcohol.
Might have been sitting in Malcom's office if you gave your brain a chance to grow when you were 14-18 !
Select to expand quotebeerdead said..mclovin said..Bigwavedave said..
Work in my job and see the damage that smoking weed does....
Schizophrenia is not fun for those who have it
I'm assuming you have seen the studies that show weed doesn't cause schizophrenia? Yes it can trigger it early, from memory it's about 4 years. Basically if smoking weed makes you schizophrenic, you were always going to be whether you smoked or not.
Nope.
It lowers the threshold at which you can experience psychosis.
All of the studies I've glanced at show it not being a cause. I'm probably only looking at the studies I like though. not one of us can know for sure because the scientist's don't currently know for sure. Lately they have said that the tobacco is a more likely cause. But that's ok because its legal for the minority who like to smoke.
Both tobacco and alcohol are both proven to be far more dangerous than weed. They are both legal. What is your problem with allowing a fairly large portion of the population to enjoy their chosen relaxation method legally? We need a reefarendum to get this changed. Not everyone who wants weed has cancer.
IMO it is such a double edge sword it is hard to stay on top of knowing whether it is helping you or harming you.
As leary said, turn on, tune in, drop out... and those that don't drop out end up becoming drop outs anyway ;)
Some good points in this thread already, namely that by legalizing you take away kids desire for rebellion and also that no stoner ever king hit anyone. Just look at The Netherlands, most locals don't bat an eyelid anymore because they see it for what it is unlike our ethanol crazed australian culture that makes it "trendy" to have at least a few each evening and ****faced on the weekends.
Props to the guy who said politicians should be in gaol, anyone who can't see that legalizing ethanol, caffeine, nicotine so that the government can make a buck while at the same time criminalizing less harmful substances and in many respects more useful substances is just a sheep.
In contrast to this though, long live politicians for their outrageously hypocritical laws on drugs that keep majority of the population sane. I couldn't handle psych wards being any bigger than they are now
Select to expand quoteLittle Jon said..
People love to hate to to infect harm on others, that's what is all about
it's called trolling bruh
Cigarettes are the true gateway drug, kids smoking cigs will always go onto something else, or are at least willing to try.
Alcohol not just can, but will cause all sorts of medical problems, including death. Compare the death rates between pot users and drinkers at any given time, not even close, in fact are there any pot deaths in your country? Alcohol is so much worse, but it's acceptable. Pot will only cause a psychosis in people who are predisposed to it, you might get a death there, but that's different. Get behind the wheel while drunk, not only can you easily kill yourself, but others as well. Get behind the wheel while stoned, and your biggest problem is driving too slow.
Nice name you have there Beerdead, I take it you don't drink beer either. Bias much? Everything you posted is extreme, too extreme, you should be concentrating on beer and alcohol, there are some real facts there, as well as a proven very high death rate.
Select to expand quotebeerdead said..lotofwind said..el tubo said..
I would love the opportunity to try the CBD strains that are available in the USA.
And I guess so would every Australian that suffers from epilepsy.
Yep, can totally understand and appreciate the need for medical purposes.
But most that are fighting for legalization are just druggo's that just want to be stonned out of their skulls legally.
Yeah most people try it and have a laugh smoking a bit of weed through their teens and early 20's,even the odd toke at a party later in life, but some cant stop and end up slow and as dumb as a roadie, and as bright as a shadow.
Once past the teenage/early 20's age, the older stonners, are pathetic losers that need to grow up. If they need to be wasted all the time, they are obviously troubled and unhappy with their lives and just trying to escape it, like an alcoholic does.
Pretty sad really, that they get to the stage that they feel they cant relax or function without dope.
Agree completely. Plus as a mental health clinician of over 30 years experience, I have seen an endless parade of psychosis related to THC use, but i've seen only one or two psychoses induced by alcohol.
There is no empirical evidence or research that definitively identifies pot as a medicinal adjunct. Anything that claims to be research is pseudoscience.
Pot smoking impairs the function of the hippocampus, which is the ram for cognition, which means that memory, knowledge, the ability to calculate, etc, is impaired.
Get into your heads gentlemen. :D
I find that you have only seen one psychosis from alcohol very hard to believe, I ve seen 1000s of raving lunatics on the Grog and I don't work in med.
# leavetheHipposoutofit
Select to expand quoteFloater said..
It's not bad for people, it's bad for business.
It was criminalised through lobbying by big business with a vested interest in keeping it out of the agricultural industry. It is a fibrous plant which makes hemp, an important fibre throughout human history. It was a potential rival for cotton, but it had this side use: as a recreational drug by undesirable minorities, which needed to be discouraged. And it was too difficult at the time to capitalise financially on this use because it grew wild.
Are you sure about that? There are varieties grown that have no THC and are fine for use. I am sure if a company saw a compelling reason to grow this they would get government approval.
I always thought this argument was used by people that wanted to legalise the THC kind and assumed that it was all the same. I guess you might be able to disguise a few plants amongst a few hundred legit ones.
Edit: It seems hemp is grown here for industrial use:
Australia[edit]In the Australian states of Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and, most recently, New South Wales, the state governments have issued licences to grow hemp for industrial use. The first to initiate modern research into the potential of cannabis was the state of Tasmania pioneered the licensing of hemp during the early 1990s. The state of Victoria was an early adopter in 1998, and has reissued the regulation in 2008.[90]Queensland has allowed industrial production under licence since 2002,[91] where the issuance is controlled under the Drugs Misuse Act 1986.[92] Most recently, New South Wales now issues licences[93] under a law, the Hemp Industry Regulations Act 2008 (No 58), that came into effect as of 6 November 2008.[94]
If it's legalised, I hope it's not allowed in public. Walking around San Francisco you can't get away from the stench of the putrid stuff.
Select to expand quotemclovin said..Bigwavedave said..
Work in my job and see the damage that smoking weed does....
Schizophrenia is not fun for those who have it
I'm assuming you have seen the studies that show weed doesn't cause schizophrenia? Yes it can trigger it early, from memory it's about 4 years. Basically if smoking weed makes you schizophrenic, you were always going to be whether you smoked or not.
Pot used to give me schizophrenia. Big time.
Albeit I'm one of those "mushrooms opened a door one day..." people and pot reignites it. Or, should I say used to.
Now it doesn't at all. No idea. Now I quite like it. Food is ****ing incredible, especially my wife's cooking. And the smorgasbord in bed later on is even better.
Perhaps because I am molting now, that's the only variable I can see. Honestly I've experimented enough the past five years, after a near twenty year hiatus, ...to have absolutely no idea. I just don't lose it anymore. My teeth don't turn to wood and nobody is a robot secretly watching me, nor does anyone start channeling super intelligent beings from the future (all full-on schizo stuff). Now I just thoroughly enjoy it. Wish I knew why. If you can catch me you can study me, but I'm mostly out at sea during the summer.
The sad thing it that, using that story about the 14-year-olds on the bus, the laws are there to protect those kids. But if one of them were caught with some pot the law would punish them.
Make sense? Nope.
We punish the "victims" more than we punish anyone else.
Select to expand quotebeerdead said..lotofwind said..el tubo said..
I would love the opportunity to try the CBD strains that are available in the USA.
And I guess so would every Australian that suffers from epilepsy.
Yep, can totally understand and appreciate the need for medical purposes.
But most that are fighting for legalization are just druggo's that just want to be stonned out of their skulls legally.
Yeah most people try it and have a laugh smoking a bit of weed through their teens and early 20's,even the odd toke at a party later in life, but some cant stop and end up slow and as dumb as a roadie, and as bright as a shadow.
Once past the teenage/early 20's age, the older stonners, are pathetic losers that need to grow up. If they need to be wasted all the time, they are obviously troubled and unhappy with their lives and just trying to escape it, like an alcoholic does.
Pretty sad really, that they get to the stage that they feel they cant relax or function without dope.
Agree completely. Plus as a mental health clinician of over 30 years experience, I have seen an endless parade of psychosis related to THC use, but i've seen only one or two psychoses induced by alcohol.
There is no empirical evidence or research that definitively identifies pot as a medicinal adjunct. Anything that claims to be research is pseudoscience.
Pot smoking impairs the function of the hippocampus, which is the ram for cognition, which means that memory, knowledge, the ability to calculate, etc, is impaired.
Get into your heads gentlemen. :D
I wish that my youngest daughters mother had chosen to smoke weed instead using alcohol when she was pregnant.
This has been covered on here before but FAE is an elephant in the living room, one which the alcohol lobby does not like to be seen. When I looked at statistics back in the very early 2000's an estimated 40% of the male jail population in the United States were there because their mothers drank when pregnant. They have a saying there, that the boys get locked up and the girls get knocked up.
If you consider that most of the damage is done in the first trimester and that many women do not realise they are pregnant until they miss their second period it is quite frightening. How many become pregnant at a party and continue to drink for eight weeks?
Examine the symptoms and without a doubt it will get your mind ticking over because everyone knows that one particular child who has no idea of personal space, consequences of actions or exhibits just plain bad behaviour.
It is typical though that a thread on weed should revert to comparisons between weed and alcohol or weed and any other drug. Most people have fixed opinions with regard to addiction and drug usage and many are frequently completely wrong.
Addiction in my experience is pretty much a mind based thing. People use mind altering substances in order to change their state of consciousness. Changing ones state of consciousness is not limited to mind altering substances. This site is probably a really good example of that in that people look to exhilarating activity to change their state of consciousness. An extreme example is wing suit flying. Other destructive activities can be used such as perverted sex which often becomes an addiction.
People look to change their state of consciousness because they are not at peace. It can be anything which is disrupting them. Anxiety about the mortgage, a dissatisfactory relationship, tied to a crap job so they look for a method of escaping from it.
And substances work. Unfortunately only temporarily and unfortunately they frequently have an adverse effect on health. They are expensive as well and tend to require more and more in order to achieve the original relief.
Possibly one of the more frightening addictions is to pharmaceutical drugs which are supplied on subscription. I have personal experience of this with a short stint using antidepressants. Somehow if it is legal it is okay.
If you have fixed opinions of addiction you should really watch this:
Yes, a good watch. But it doesn't work in all cultures, Japan and Korea and alcohol consumption for example. Hosting anyone, let alone a party of people, in ones home in such countries is largely unheard of/impossible, and so dining bars are the go, and binge drinking is the norm for too large a percentage of the population.
