Smoking weed - what’s your take on it...

[Notcontent]

I don’t know much about it but on balance think it should probably be decriminalised. However, it is addictive and it obviously can have a negative impact on people’s lives and mental health. It does seem very prevalent around my part of London - I feel like I can smell it in the street all the time when I am out and about.

It's been legalised in my state. Yesterday I drove past a weed shop that had a big picture of Trump outside and the words 'Build the wall.'

Other than that I've noticed no discernible difference in life.

I personally do not indulge. I have no friends or associates that i know of who indulge and i would not wish to be in an atmosphere where its noxious fumes are present. I an reluctant even to take prescription drugs. I also dont like being in the company of drunks.

It can't get you high being around it!! Ffs.

Never had a problem with it until my partner chose smoking it over our relationship. We had a newborn baby and he'd just leave us each evening to sit with his friends until the early morning and not return until late afternoon. If he did come back that night he was outrageously high and dysfunctional, slept through baby crying who was lying by his side. He lost his job, wouldn't get a new one nor help with anything. He became obsessed with it, borderline addicted and his dependance on it tore our family apart. I resented him and the drug, I was sleep deprived, mentally and physically drained and in a state of despair. I do however appreciate that there are worse drugs out there and that is has invaluable qualities in terms of medical use s.

Don't forget the unintentionally hilarious propaganda film Reefer Madness (1936), even the trailer is kind of fascinating

I hate it, having worked in a prison I’ve seen far too many young lives destroyed by various drugs. I also loathe alcohol and tobacco too. Essentially if it causes a problem and is addictive like that and it’s unneccesary then why do we even have it?!

All the boring stoners laughing at my daily mail link would do well to recognise that it was reporting on the biggest research study since the 1980s undertaken by John Hopkins university which found that second hand cannabis inhalation showed in urine dips and tests of cognitive function up to a day after exposure in some cases. Or were you too high to read it?

I smoked for years and have ended up with severe anxiety. I would feel anxious,smoke, feel more anxious, smoke more until I eventually gave it up. I still have anxiety.
But that's why I think it should be decriminalised, if I could have safely bought strains suitable for me, it would have helped not hindered.
And you can't get high from breathing in someone else's fumes....

I have found it less addictive than tobacco and alcohol tbh.
I regularly stop for a while, have managed 10 years without.
I don't drink because I can't handle it, but when I could I was very addicted, and I smoke tobacco to which I'm addicted.
At the moment I smoke a joint every night, but will be stopping during major school holidays.
I think it depends on the person tbh as to whether it's addictive or not.

Yes I am addicted to nicotine (vaping now) not been addicted to alcohol luckily, but I do drink. I am addicted to caffeine. Not mentally so much as physically. I bought decaf tea bags once and the withdrawal was vile! But all those are socially acceptable. I did smoke weed in my teens and 20's but never got addicted and gave it up when I just used to fall asleep on the sofa every night. It being illegal doesn't make it hard to get hold of, just makes it hard to know what you're getting.

It can't get you high being around it!! Ffs.

If your replying to me,,well i have no idea if it can get you high or not if in the presence of the fumes. I simply do not like the smell nor do i wish to breathe it in though i probably could do with getting "high" now and i can as i can be a boring bastard at time. Its bad enough inhaling the air that is polluted with other substances which i cant avoid.

"However, it is addictive and it obviously can have a negative impact on people’s lives and mental health."

This is not true. I disputed this. For some. Not for everyone. It depends if you have an addictive personality, to start off with.

All the boring stoners laughing at my daily mail link

This is the level of debate. It is possible to dislike cannabis, not use it and be in favour of legalization. If you think that anyone who agrees with legalization is a stoner, you're wrong and clearly struggling with critical thinking.

I believe this correlates with Daily Mail use. Not occasional use, chronic use. I suggest you seek help to give up. There are other less harmful tabloids you could use to ease into sobriety.

Not just addiction. Talk to any mh professional and they will tell you it is far more common than popularly perceived for someone to have an adverse psychiatric reaction to cannabis. It's a psychotropic substance.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits I can't take anyone seriously who cites a DM link as evidence as they mangle everything to suit their agenda whatever the original source material says, doesn't make me boring or a stoner. It was recently listed as an unreliable source because is stuffed to the gunnels with bullshit. nym.ag/2XEHWyj

Also, the 1980s was long before the more worrying skunk stuff was around, but it's okay to believe it if you want and if it supports your theories. Personally I'd like to read something a little less contentious and up-to-date

Actually I do think it should be legalized but I also know that it is not harmless, even in small quantities, and I would vehemently oppose people being able to smoke it in enclosed public spaces or around children. Plus, stoners are boring. Really fucking boring. And they stink.

and as mentioned ad nauseam here and elsewhere the current consensus seems to suggest that weed triggers underlying MH problems rather than causing them

It's legal where I live. The smell in the streets downtown is noticeable, sometimes unpleasantly so. I very seldom smell cigarette smoke but can guarantee to smell weed within five minutes of leaving home. I don't really care what people smoke, it's their choice, but why should everyone have to put up with the smell? It seems to be much more persistent and pervasive than tobacco smoke.
I have smelt it coming from the open windows of passing cars, which I think is a more serious problem (although nobody seems to care about drunk driving here either).

My view comes from the horrible horrible effect it had on one of my sons. Triggered a very serious anxiety problem (had shown no signs at all previously.) Ended up needing emergency mental health treatment.

The few people here who have mentioned that it had the same effect on them ... has it had a long term effect ? (He no longer drinks or goes anywhere near weed but still has significant problems with anxiety.)

All the boring stoners laughing at my daily mail link would do well to recognise that it was reporting on the biggest research study since the 1980s undertaken by John Hopkins university which found that second hand cannabis inhalation showed in urine dips and tests of cognitive function up to a day after exposure in some cases.

A lifetime of experience has taught me it's better to laugh at the Daily Mail before believing it ...

I'm wary of people who post newspaper summaries of academic research, because on more than one occasion, going to the source reveals the conclusion of the study isn't as the headline would have you believe. In this case ...

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/extreme_exposure_to_secondhand_cannabis_smoke_causes_mild_intoxication

includes a couple of caveats that make the research less applicable to everyday life ...

“The scenario we looked at was almost a worst-case scenario. It could happen in the real world, but it couldn’t happen to someone without him or her being aware of it.”

Which is all a bit moot anyway. We return to the circular logic that if cannabis is illegal because it's dangerous, then by that token, alcohol should be more illegal as it's more dangerous. I have no problem with people who don't want cannabis legalised because that's their personal opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It's when people start to try and justify that opinion - almost invariably leading to hypocrisy - that it can be contentious.

Basically anything with an effect is bound to have side effects. The argument isn't that cannabis is harmless, but that criminalizing it is more harmful than not.

hub.jhu.edu/2015/05/15/secondhand-marijuana-smoke-study/

I used the mail because it wasn't widely reported in 'woke' corners of the press but here's an outline referencing the study.

Yeah, except I've said I agree with it being legalized, theuser. I think all drugs should be. I'm against unfettered public use though and object to the popular characterisation of it as harmless.

Really fucking boring. And they stink.

Is that a peer reviewed assessment or just, y'know, your opinion?

I'm not sure anyone on this thread has said that cannabis is harmless.