Originally posted by Lina
Here's my question, though. It obviously does kill brain cells more than cigarettes or more than jogging or blah blah blah, because we've all met these daily pot smokers who sound RETARDED.
I didn't say it killed less than jogging, but I did say it kills less than tobacco. Nicotine is extremely toxic and passes into the brain, as does carbon monoxide. It kills less brain cells than tobacco since people tend to smoke much less weed and therefore take in much less toxins. Of course, if someone is smoking huge amounts of weed, they will be getting more toxins than tobacco users and therefore be killing more braincells.
THC is NOT toxic, which means it does not directly kill braincells.
I've come across several people who sound constantly stoned, even if they haven't smoked in a while. That slow laugh, those random comments out of nowhere that only they find funny. You can't possibly deny the rapidly-formed damaging effects of pot if used constantly. Are you?
Likewise, I know people who are doctors, lawyers, and phd's who do quite a lot of weed all the time and have been since high school.
Also, these damaging effects you speak of, what are they? Within a few days the person is pretty much back to normal, within a few weeks the difference is almost undetectable, and within a few months they are back to what they were before they did anything (even long term heavy users).
I've done an awful lot of weed in my life (not something I'm either ashamed or proud of, just stating a fact) and I'm much smarter now than I used to be.
I think the amount one does has a lot to do with it. If you take enough of anything for the long term (ie. Asperin) it'll fuck you up somehow. That goes without saying.
I know a guy who was injecting heroin several times a day for just over a year and he is one of the smartest and quick-witted people I know (and his vocabulary is much bigger than mine too). His last injection almost killed him, he od'ed and was in a semi-coma for 3 days (which is why he stopped), he could think but he couldn't see, hear, or move. He said he feels he almost died of dehydration. I'm not convinced that even hard drugs make you stupid, I've seen too much evidence that this is not usually the case. One of my co-workers has been doing LSD several times a month (some times more often) for the last 8 years and he is very quick and very coherent. So when you tell me you know of people who got burnt out on mj, I'm not very convinced, I'm much more inclined to think they are just idiots and didn't have much to begin with.
I do know one chick, a friend of ours, she has done obscene amounts of every drug imaginable since she was 12, and I do mean obscene. She did lsd DAILY from the time she was 15 till 17 (free from her drug dealing boyfriend), like 5 hits a day at times was not unusual, every day, in school, during exams, all the time. She once did 11 hits in one day, starting that morning, and then the next morning she took more. This is more in one day than I've done in my life. She was also a coke addict for a year, an alcoholic for 6 months, done loads of weekly administered K, mdma, speed, schrooms, crystal meth, lots and lots of weed, she even used to sniff glue when she was 13 (which is known to destory one's brain). She also did large amounts of whatever she was doing too, often mixing many drugs together. She's also attended many many "drug parties" (which is basically a few people get together and buy lots and lots and lots of different kinds of drugs and then start snorting/popping on Friday night and keep doing pills and lines, over and over and over, till Sunday afternoon (not eating, not sleeping, just snorting and tripping for the whole time)). That's fucked. Anyway, she seems kinda whacked/insane (because she is so sped up all the time, even when straight), but she is very very far from stupid, if anything, she just thinks so quickly that people get tired trying to keep up with her, and she's always like this and always was (even as a child). She's also a doctor. She's stopped the daily hard drug use, but she still smokes weed every day and get hammered on booze on the weekends (something even I won't do). I figure she'll get some sort of mental illness or some sort of heart problems later on in life, but she's not stupid at all.
Obviously, done in moderation, pot is fine, even beneficial. But I think it's damaging to the cause when pot-smokers claim it isn't any more harmful than anything else. It cheapens all their good points.
It is always compared to tobacco and alcohol, and it is so obviously not nearly as bad as these, therefore, what was the point you were making? How does stating such facts "cheapen" the good points?
Satori
