Marijuana effect

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by scottyp

Smoking messes me up emotionally for at least a few days afterwards, and when stoned I generally am useless and very anxious and paranoid...

It just doesn't work well with me

My experience as well.

[Peleke4]

The last time I smoked weed was in high school. I didn't even have one hit at all during my college years. After graduation, I was in an awesome career and my future was looking bright... **** happened and it was all downhill from there. From that point, I started smoking out again and was a big-time stoner for almost five years. You know those anti-weed commercials? The one that really hit home with me was the one where the ad starts off w/ a kid talking about his older bro. At first, you'd get the impression that something bad happened to his older bro. It turns out, his older bro was in the basement vegging out in front of the tube. The kid then points out that his older bro didn't amount to anything as a result of weed.

I am happy to say that I am no longer a stoner. I smoke probably once every few months or so, concert event or what have you. I personally see nothing wrong with weed as long as it is used responsibly. But I used it in excess and it really slowed me down. I was living life in the present and had no regard for the future after the **** that happened. You'd think weed would slow time down, but time actually flew by incredibly fast during my mad stoner years. I do feel though that weed had benefits despite killing motivation.

During my PD self help, weed REALLY enhanced my daily NLP visualization exercises. The feelings evoked were MUCH more intense. As a result of weed, I was able to come up with different variations of NLP visualization patterns that I wasn't able to come up with sober. To give you an example of what I'm getting at, I played this particular riff on guitar literally hundreds of times sober. When I played that same riff stoned, I somehow came up with a sweet variation of that riff. I know it's been argued many times over, but for me, weed enhances creativity. I modeled after what came to me during my stoner moments and used that while sober.

I also want to to point out that weed makes sex even more mind-blowing and amazing than it already is.

[chaostheory]

i personally would have more of a problem with someone who was a tweeker than someone who was quietly getting high in his own home ( weed ) and eating cheetos.

[Chado2423]

Originally Posted by Terumoto

Learning to feel better in the moment is the only way to feel better in the long haul.

Hmmmm.. to feel better by the aid of external criteria is FAR different than feeling better from within, without the aid of anyone else, drugs or anything else but the power of the human spirit.... You speak of one of the most common misconceptions known to man... This is why people who drink feel better in the moment, yet they return to the same problems after they drink. People who smoke weed get great insights and have wonderful visions and feel good and happy in the moment, yet the problems in their life continue. This is called escapism in psychology, which is why we read Fantasy books and watch t.v. We like to dream more about the way we would like things to be, rather than to actually take the time and effort to do what is needed to make changes in our lives.

[Terumoto]

Originally Posted by Chado2423

Hmmmm.. to feel better by the aid of external criteria is FAR different than feeling better from within, without the aid of anyone else, drugs or anything else but the power of the human spirit.... You speak of one of the most common misconceptions known to man... This is why people who drink feel better in the moment, yet they return to the same problems after they drink. People who smoke weed get great insights and have wonderful visions and feel good and happy in the moment, yet the problems in their life continue. This is called escapism in psychology, which is why we read Fantasy books and watch t.v. We like to dream more about the way we would like things to be, rather than to actually take the time and effort to do what is needed to make changes in our lives.

I was talking about learning how to feel better from within without the aid of anything external. This can be achieved without drugs, but drugs only become a barrier to it if used incorrectly. It comes down to personal preference.

I stand by what I said. Learning to feel better in the moment is the only way to feel better in the long haul.

[Chado2423]

Originally Posted by Terumoto

Learning to feel better in the moment is the only way to feel better in the long haul.

I don't necessarily agree or disagree with this statement... it all depends on whether or not what strategies you are using in your life are temporary or progressive... For example if you don't have any money... it would be a good idea to get a job and to feel good about it... whereas it is a different story if you don't have any money and smoke weed and feel good about it for a while and remain broke. Also, if you are lonely it would be a good idea to get out and make an effort to talk to people more often and socialize and feel good about it.... wheras it is a different story than if you are lonely and sit back at home and drink a six-pack and feel good about it in the moment and then when you sober up realize that you are still without friends. Do you see the difference here? It isn't just about feeling good in the moment, it is about whether or not what you are doing in the moment is leading toward progressive advancement in your life, whether or not you are developing true character or not. This is a very big distinction, and a very crucial one.

[Terumoto]

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a person that was able to get a job or socialise outside of the moment.

lol, but yeah, I know what you mean. I say learning to feel better in the moment rather than just feel better in the moment, because something you learn stays with you and is a cause of growth. If you learn to feel better in the moment, from then on you will be able to feel better in the moment. Doing that with drugs, you would come back down to earth when sober and stop feeling better. You haven't learned a single thing, all you've done is artificially make yourself feel better.

[Chado2423]

^ But you can get a job without feeling good in that moment, and only feel good about your accomplishment later, of getting one... you can feel uncomfortable at a party, only to feel comfortable later that you pushed yourself beyond your current bad feelings in order to make new friends... feeling good alone at a certain moment in time can go a long way if done correctly and for the right reasons, but it isn't always a necessary component in truly progressively altering one's course. Think about fixing your car, you get greasy, you sweat, your back hurts from long hours under the engine... but in the end you get a working car, and you know that it was YOUR hard work and pushing through that pain that paid off in the end. You didn't necessarily have to feel good or bad to get your car working again.... but you had to do the work... This is why I don't agree or disagree with the statement alone. Sometimes our best work is done when we are not feeling good, and when we are struggling... and paradoxically sometimes our worst work is done when we are not feeling good and when we are struggling.

[Terumoto]

I think it's coming down to a word argument.

Feeling better doesn't necessarily mean feeling good or feeling happy. Feeling better in the moment involves accepting both positive and negative emotions and experiences. Ceasing judgment of the moment makes you feel better, whether you're happy or sad.

I'm pretty sure we agree, I think lol. I agree with what you are saying.

[Saeros]

Is there anyway to get the feeling 'high' without doing drugs ?

I want to have that feeling once but I don't want to do drug. Just curious..

[marie1901]

I joined my husband in doing it 15 years ago. It messaed up my ability to function although I would have denied it at the time. I stopped 12 years ago but husband never given up since 15 . I see someone who has so much potential gone down the drain. Creativity and ideas at 10- action at 1.

[suzuki_sx29]

Hey guys- I dont know where else to put this, and it does sort of relate to the thread... I haven't smoked a bowl in a few months; I decided I don't want to be a slave to what has become an indulgence, and not a very productive one @ that.. Anyways, I was never a hard core smoker, so I dont think this has anything to do w/ being "permafried", but... Sometimes I get in the same exact mindset as being stoned, everything from being impulsive, unmotivated, and completly letting go of myself mentally- doing whatever comes to mind and just acting stupidly... I even get "laughing attacks" and/or lose cooridination like being stoned.. If a person was to watch me objectivly, they would most likely come to the conclusion that I was stoned. I can't spur this on conciously. Also, I have done this on occasion acting drunk, and esp. when I'm around drunk or stoned people. What do you think?

[suzuki_sx29]

Oh yeah, I hope I'm not crazy!!

[tragblack]

I smoke pot every day, and I happen to be one of the users whos brains have not addled. I do not become overly depressed, although, like meditation, it causes me to look at some aspects of myself that I may not necessarily be comfortable with and must face. It doesn't make me hallucinate (which is an intensly annoying cultural misconception to most regular smokers). I have done shrooms. THAT'S a drug. My god, that was scary. Weed, compared to that is like... a big warm fuzzy hug.

I think that weed affects everyone differently, and everyone's own habits should be ruled by their own personal preferences. I personally can't stand how alcohol makes me feel, and while I smoke the occasional cigarette, it never really keeps me going back to it and I can't really stand how it tastes.

Some say that I am dabbling around in "dangerous territory," and that the only way to stay safe and sane is to just say "no" to everything, and yes, I guess that is true to some degree, but I AM smart enough to know not to do coke or heroin, nor have I had the inclination to. I just want to smoke pot in peace and be left to make my own personal decisions about how I "get high," be it through pot, alcohol, meditation, sex, exercise, poop-sniffing, etc.

Some argue, why do any drug at all?

To which I reply I am only human, and humans, back to the most primal of man, have always taken drugs. We just kind of want to do it, because it's fun, and whether or not it's particularly clean or good for us, it is part of being fleshy and dirty and stinky and alive.

And smoking weed, although harmful in it's own ways, has never killed anyone by itself. (And to anyone out there who will scrape the internet for that one story about that one guy in that one accident who smoked weed before he died, when was the last time you heard about any weed overdoeses or injuries or cancers in the everyday news?)

Hell, I could take a single bottle of aspirin and die right now. Bus might kill me tomorrow. I think eating McDonalds every once in a while puts worse things in my body.

I have lost too many friends simply because they "don't like what I do." Even while it was some of those same friends who smoked with me, they see that their lives are calling for them to go in a new sober direction and they want me to follow suit. (However, it does not seem as if this new, sober and responsible lifestyle has any rules against heavy drinking during the weekend.) In fact, I think the most hurtful thing about smoking weed is the social stigma you get as a "stoner." I do not wish to force my hobby down their throats. I don't want to keep them smoking forever. I don't care what the hell they do. But what I do care about is all the back-talking I have come under, and all these jokes against my intelligence. In conversation, all I have to do is slip up but once in my memory to have some kind of joke made about my brain cells dying in agony.

I know plenty of old stoners who are not crazy/ sick/ slow who have been smoking weed since they were teenagers.

If it affected me badly, I would surely stop, but that day has not come. My face is full and happy. I'm lean and skinny and still eating well. I have regular bowel movements. I have a good level of intelligence and by god, I am a stoner.

By the way, I have asthma. Ironically, it helps me out of an attack just as easily as albuterol does.

[Some Random Loser]

I love weed. Only had it maybe 30 times but love it. Could be years till I take my next puff, and I'll still love it.