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[Frumple]

Nah, hammering it a bit hard, all of us, I guess. The thing you really should be taking away from it is that, mostly, we're trying to point out that poorly regulated use of drugs, especially ones that aren't chemically addictive, is very much a symptom of a poor situation, not the cause.

E: Plus some confirmation bias irritation from Gryph, I think. It can be annoying when you're generalizing from small scale specific examples to a wider group, when the wider group doesn't display the characteristics of the smaller one you observe. Doesn't help that the statistics are against what you're expressing. Your response is very natural, just of a particular sort some of us have been trained to immediately distrust (and often point out, to prevent people from making the mistakes that come along with it.).

Further edit, once it percolated a bit in the brain:

Also, when did I imply cigarettes and alcohol are good? I'm expressing my distaste for pot and drugs in general, thankfuly none of my friends have serious problems with smoking and alcohol.

Take what I wrote as a snarkier-than-necessary (with my apologizes) presentation of the sort of position you'd have to hold in order to avoid hypocrisy. If you're going to be disdainful of marijuana, then you logically must hold equal or greater disdain for substances that are as bad or worse than it (Alcohol and tobacco both fall in the latter category, with psychological addictions largely falling in the former.). Not having personal encounters with people that were influenced badly by them is not sufficient for not extending the approbation to such substances (without slipping into hypocrisy, that is.), unfortunately.

[kaijyuu]

So friggin' nervous. Can't sleep.

[Dakk]

Also, even the sources that argue for the legalization of marijuana say that it does not actualy treat any known disease, it aleviates the symptoms. Its not yet proven that marijuana prevents cancer or treats glaucoma, in fact it might worsen it a bit due to the carcinogenic effects of smoking, much like cigarettes, in regards to lung cancer.

I realize smoking pot isn't suddenly going to make your life suck in health aspects, I argue against it because it isn't the panacea most claim it to be, isn't going make anything necessarily better, and in general provokes a negative reaction to the larger part of society. Sure, that reaction is part of a problem that needs to be fixed, but society is a harsh thing, and hoping a friend doesn't suffer from that kind of reaction isn't too bad on my part, is it?

Plus, like I've said before, almost every single person I've known that smokes it doesn't seem like the kind of people I wanna be around or lead a life I'd wish for anyone I like. I'm not a purist, I just have a general distaste of things that alter my perception in some way, which is why I don't drink alcohol regulary, and the only reason I don't smoke is because I hate the smell it causes.

Yes, smoking pot isn't the end of the world, but generaly disliking it doesn't make me a crazy extreme right wing facist either.

[GlyphGryph]

Hey, don't blame me, blame all the pot black robbers I always read about in the newspaper giving me a very bad view of black people in general.

This is called stereotyping. It's dangerous, and damaging, and it upsets me when I see it, even when its against a group that it is socially acceptable to stereotype. Especially for something that you will not even know about unless it causes problems.

If you really cared about your friend, the pot doesn't sound like the thing you should be focusing on. He's clearly using it as an escape - take the advice of various skilled psychologists, and try to help him discover an activity that isn't conducive with dropping out and smoking pot all the time, one that actually addresses the underlying causes. Don't worry about the pot, worry about the fact that he doesn't have anything better to do with his time and try to help with that.

[Dakk]

Hey, don't blame me, blame all the pot black robbers I always read about in the newspaper giving me a very bad view of black people in general.

This is called stereotyping. It's dangerous, and damaging, and it upsets me when I see it, even when its against a group that it is socially acceptable to stereotype. Especially for something that you will not even know about unless it causes problems.

And this is called changing quotes so its suits your argument?
I'm sorry if the people who smoke pot I actualy know and had direct contact with seem to live long the edges of the stereotype. I don't believe in stereotypes either, but seeing them gaining shreds of truth in real life makes me real sad.

[Frumple]

Dakk, I believe I could comfortably state that the objection Gryph is making is on the point in which this

[...]the people who smoke pot I actualy know and had direct contact with[...].

became

[...]smelly potheads.

that.

It definitely seems like, while you aren't doing it precisely maliciously, or intentionally, you've fallen into the very natural, very easily occurring, psychological trap of stereotyping. It's one of the reasons some (perhaps even many) people are very on guard about that sort of psychological shift, because it's very, very, easy to miss, not notice, and internalize. Which, as Gryph notes, is dangerous, and damaging. It can have certain practical benefits, in certain cases, but it's generally not a good thing to allow to 'fester,' if you will.

So long as you're able to separate your internalized category of 'pothead' from 'the person I know who smokes pot.' you'll be in pretty good shape. Not as good as you'd be without the category, but better off than many who can't (or won't) manage that.

[Solifuge]

If you really cared about your friend, the pot doesn't sound like the thing you should be focusing on. He's clearly using it as an escape - take the advice of various skilled psychologists, and try to help him discover an activity that isn't conducive with dropping out and smoking pot all the time, one that actually addresses the underlying causes. Don't worry about the pot, worry about the fact that he doesn't have anything better to do with his time and try to help with that.

I'm going to quote this, because it seems to have been missed.

[Nadaka]

The people you know that you don't know smoke pot are the ones that are perfectly normal and they just don't tell everyone that they smoke pot.

[Truean]

If you really cared about your friend, the pot doesn't sound like the thing you should be focusing on. He's clearly using it as an escape - take the advice of various skilled psychologists, and try to help him discover an activity that isn't conducive with dropping out and smoking pot all the time, one that actually addresses the underlying causes. Don't worry about the pot, worry about the fact that he doesn't have anything better to do with his time and try to help with that.

I'm going to quote this, because it seems to have been missed.

Once again, Solifuge points out some that should be obvious to us, but is not.

People do drugs because they are either dissatisfied or bored. <--problems.

[GlyphGryph]

Now, now, that's not the ONLY reason people do drugs.

But if its often the major reason they abuse them. (The last major cause of abuse being a desire for a competitive edge)

[Gunner-Chan]

I'm not sure. Saying people do anything because they're unsatisfied and bored is a bit of a cop out. I play computer games because of being either unsatisfied or bored but that doesn't make it into a problem.

Though I really don't see how pot fits into drug abuse anyway. It's not like you can get addicted or dependent on it or anything. And honestly, as someone who's tried both, and is addicted and not planning on quitting smoking tobaco I can plainly say it's less mind affecting than tobacco.

But when did this become the pot smoking topic anyway?

[Truean]

But when did this become the pot smoking topic anyway?

Good point. Drugs and the people I see using them just made me sad/upset.... [shrugs]

I'm not sure. Saying people do anything because they're unsatisfied and bored is a bit of a cop out. I play computer games because of being either unsatisfied or bored but that doesn't make it into a problem.

Though I really don't see how pot fits into drug abuse anyway. It's not like you can get addicted or dependent on it or anything. And honestly, as someone who's tried both, and is addicted and not planning on quitting smoking tobaco I can plainly say it's less mind affecting than tobacco.

Doing anything because you're bored or for any reason isn't a problem, or if it is then I'm certainly guilty of that motivation for lots of things. It's a problem if you abuse stuff, whatever stuff is, including video games and pretty much anything to excess.

Now, now, that's not the ONLY reason people do drugs.

Never said is was the only reason.

[Vector]

My cousin smokes pot to help level off her bipolar issues.  I sure as hell wouldn't want to take it away from her.  Besides, the only person I've knowingly spoken to while she was totally stoned provided the most interesting discussion of math I've ever had with a layperson (on Apollonian solids).

I realize that this is also confirmation bias, but what I'm trying to say is that there's going to be obsessive losers no matter what and where you go (like, say, about DF?) and pot isn't such a terrible thing to be involved with.


And dudes, seriously, I wasn't saying these four people understood me completely.  They understood one or two parts of me, each.  Like my ex-boyfriend, who was the only person to ever bother picking up my body language and take care with when and how he touched me.  Other than that, he knew nothing at all--not even the slightest flash of how my mind and thought process worked, which he considered confusing, underhanded, and psychologically dangerous.

Still, I was so happy to have just that.  I don't want to have to settle for someone who can't do that much.

I imagine that for most of you, "understands my body language" isn't a concern, because most people match that.  For me, it is very, very important and rare.

[MaximumZero]

So, I got this AeroShot thing in the mail. It's supposed to be an inhaled energy...something. Anyway, I opened the thing, took a puff, and...gagged. Sure, I'm awake, but it's because the taste is that of concentrated awful. Will not buy.

[Criptfeind]

What.

You got something. In the mail. That you did not really know what. And it said to put it in your mouth. And you did?

How are you still alive at this point?