Thread: The one difference between illicit drug users and marijuana users.

Motivation. Those who are addicted to illicit drugs such as: heroin, crystal meth, etc. are 100x motivated to get their fix. As for us marijuana smokers, (i'll speak for myself) if we can't find anyway of getting some weed, it's easily forgotten. Whenever I'm faced with a dry-spell, keeping myself occupied is the best medicine. I mean, sure, I'll go try to jew a resin hit out of my pipe every now and then, but it's nothing like going to the extreme and robbing people, killing, and cheating others to fix your "problem". We're not greedy people.

All those other drugs, including caffeine and tobacco, lower melatonin levels. I think when we do raise our melatonin levels, it makes us feel like kids, again, and have no intention of committing a violent crime.

Well put.

Originally Posted by beachguy in thongs

All those other drugs, including caffeine and tobacco, lower melatonin levels. I think when we do raise our melatonin levels, it makes us feel like kids, again, and have no intention of committing a violent crime.

Those Columbine shooters could have used some marijuana before they decided that the entire World was against them. Thinking about the people who don't smoke marijuana and commit these treacherous acts makes me want to throw up.

The number of aspirin deaths due to overdose is larger than the number of deaths due to marijuana overdose.Because there are ZERO OD's caused by pot.

You seem to be saying then that drug (cocaine, heroin, meth) addicts are greedy, out of control, will do anything for a fix and so on. This is probably the view most people have about cocaine/heroin/meth users, but when the shit jumps off is it not another stark generalization?
First you have to consider just what pattern of drug use makes one an addict, then understand just how complex addiction is.
Take these quotes into consideration:

From Drug War Crimes by James Miron

The fact that continued use rates for marijuana, which is not regarded as physically addictive, are similar to those for crack, which is regarded as highly addictive, also challenges the more extreme claims about addictiveness of drugs. Likewise, the continued use rates for other legal goods (e.g., chocolate, caffeine) are perhaps even higher.

Further evidence that addiction is far less important than typical portrayals come from the experience of returning vietnam veterans. Robins, Davis, and Nurco (1974) report interviews of veterans eight to twelve months after their return from vietnam. They find that most addicted veterans gave up their narcotic use voluntarily before departure or after a short, forced treatment period at departure. In subsequent work, Robins et al. (1980) find that although most veterans had access to cheap heroin in vietnam, only about 35 percent tried it and only about 19% became addicted. They also conclude that heroin use does not consistently lead to daily use and addiction, that addiction frequently ceases without treatment, that maintaining recovery from heroin addiction does not require abstention, and that the reason for high levels of social disability among heroin users is likely attributed to characteristics of the users rather than to heroin users per say.

From "Effects of opium, morphine, and heroin on addicts"

If a promising child with a high I.Q. turned into a dull adult opiate addict with a low I.Q., opiates might be suspected as the cause of the deterioration. The cases studied, however, pointed in the opposite direction. In a number of cases, addicts who had normal or superior I.Q.'s while addicted were found to have had subnormal I.Q.'s as children. The British Columbia researchers accordingly abandoned this line of investigation, on the ground that "the comparative psychological results were undependable." 27 The British Columbia report also noted: "We found most of the addicts very likeable people. On the whole, they were friendly, cooperative, interested and eager to talk freely and frankly about themselves. Many of them have sensitive minds, are interested in their own psychological reactions and in philosophical problems generally. They were, on the whole, not self-conscious, were self-possessed, courteous and helpful."