Captain Pedantic

I'm in the "never have, never will" catergory.

This is not because I think it's evil or immoral, though you'd be surprised - that's what some people seem to think I think. I don't drink either, or take any other sort of "substance". I don't think people should be put in prison for drugs, and I don't think decriminalising them would turn everyone druggy.

But I know what I'm like and, just as some people know they would get ill if they ate certain foods, I know full well that I'd be in the corner crying because the pattern on the curtains was looking at me. I have too much imagination as it is and am far too sensitive to things already.

Also, my mum and dad are old hippies, and how can I possibly rebel by taking drugs when my mum has taken more drugs than I ever will?

Claudia

never smoked anything (pot or tobacco), apart frm being passive smoker if my neighbours smoke.

HaysooChreesto!

Oh yeah, I've smoked some dope in my life. I haven't smoked any in at least 5 years though. I smoked some in high school for a while but got in trouble for it, so I didn't touch the stuff again until I was 25 or so. That's when I got out of the army and for the first time in my adult life, I was actually free to do almost anything I wanted. It was fun for a while. As an adult with a good job, I had fun buying different smoking devices, bongs, hookas, rolling machines, etc. There's also something fascinating about all the little rituals that go with it---filling the bong with ice water, packin' the bowl, getting 3 people on my bitchin' glass hooka--conversations, outdoor activities, eating, etc. Oh yeah, sex while on a good bud buzz is awesome.
Then my room mate met up with this guy who could get the really powerful stuff-I'm talking Cannabis Cup Winner stuff. White Widow. One hit shit. That was no fun. Sitting on the couch, barely able to talk, and just wanting to not be high anymore sucked. Not being able to come down off of a powerful pot high can be scary. It's a feeling of being totally out of control.
So I stopped and haven't ever regretted it.
I would like to see it legalized as well for various good reasons, but I don't see myself ever partaking again.

I'm surprised at how many "never have, never will" posters there are. I guess I've always assumed that almost everyone born after 1965 had tried it at least once. Go figger.

christ-on-a-stick

I voted "rarely" seeing as I've probably smoked between 5-10 times in the past year, not at all for the nine years prior to that, and two or three times max in high school.

The times over the past year have been hit-or-miss, at parties, with my girlfriend just hangin' out by the pool in the afternoon, etc. - have never purchased it.

One time, last year, I smoked some while "coming down" from using E (which I have not done for almost a year - can't mix with SSRI's.) and it was NOT GOOD. Major dissassociation.

Other than that, the few times have been pleasant but not enough to make my motivated to get my own.

Born Free

I did in my late teens and early twenties a few times, hash that is and a few times I toked it. One time I was so "out of my face" I could actually see my own face, every laugh and smile, really freaky experience and I looked very, well out of it. Kind of put me off. I haven't touched it since.

Doesn't bother me that others do, I mean there are no fights in a hash cafe are there???

Demigawd

Originally posted by David M. Payne
Lots of really good comments and observations

You, my friend, are a Great American Hero (tm). I'd buy you a round or three if I could.:notworthy

Dark Jedi

Never done it. I suppose I am odd in that I don't care to try any mind altering drug simply for it's altering effects.

That said, I have had peyote. It was accidental, as the person who had it called it "Cactus Candy" and invited me to try some. Naive young man that I was, I did.

It's awful tasting, by the way. I did not care for the results either. Life is weird enough without help from an unleashed subconcious.

Jobar

The first time I smoked was in winter 1975; the last time, last night. (Really!) I have found over the years I have been involved with cannabis that the ones who like it a lot tend to benefit from it physically. Even given that the smoke itself is bad for the lungs, there are no studies which show that people who smoke pot and not tobacco, have any increase in lung diseases over nonsmokers. (There were 'government studies' back in the seventies which showed that smoking caused brain damage; these studies took monkeys, strapped them in gas masks, and forced them to breathe pure smoke. Anoxia is indeed brain damaging...) Honest studies, and they are legion, show that regular smokers tend to actually live longer- 3 to 5 years- than their non-smoking peers. My own rather non-systematic research on this leads me to believe that the stress reduction plus vasodialation (the 'red eye' effect) slightly decreases one's chance to die from heart disease, thus increasing average lifespan.

Reefer does adversely affect short-term memory while one is stoned, but that does not persist for longer than the high. Also, it increases reaction time, so it's not a good idea to drive while wasted- but since one is aware of this decrease in performance, it is normal for a stoner to drive more slowly and carefully, so that the number of accidents directly caused by marijuana is very small. (A mix of weed and alcohol, on the other hand, is dangerous as hell.)

As I age, I appreciate the therapeutic benefits more and more. Though smoking has never done much to cure headaches for me- indeed, smoking seeds is a guaranteed way to bring on a monster headpounder- a few deep hits is one of the best cures for muscle aches and joint pain I know. It's well known for its anti-nausea properties, and practically everyone gets the munchies when high- thus its usefulness in treating victims of various wasting diseases.

Reactions to the high are very idiosyncratic and individual. I have seen a few people for whom a half-dozen hits of good weed was a perfect sleeping pill- they would literally go to sleep sitting on the floor if they could not lie down! I on the other hand, cannot sleep for about two hours after smoking; I can relax totally, but I will not actually sleep no matter how tired I am. Some get very paranoid, and nervous; some get so relaxed that they will just sit and grin. And I have met people who swore that reefer never did anything to them; they smoked for sociability.

I can testify personally that massive overdoses cause nausea and vomiting. But the amounts that takes are such that most people will never experience it.

When I was in my twenties, I was known to sometimes go through as much as an ounce every two weeks, occasionally more. (I was, in the parlance of the day, a 'serious head'.) Now, an ounce may last me two or three months or more; I no longer smoke on a daily basis, nor do I smoke nearly as much per session. Instead of trying to get blasted, a nice buzz is my preferred state.

Despite all this use, I am not an addict. I often go for weeks without smoking anything; in 1995 and 1996, I was forced by, ah, legal difficulties, to go for almost a year without smoking any. I missed it for its relaxing and analgesic properties, but I never 'craved' it.

I went to Amsterdam in 1994; walking the streets and openly smoking a joint was quite surreal for me, and reminded me that I do not live in a free country. I have been a dedicated supporter of NORML- the Nat'l Org. for the Reform of Marijuana Laws- ever since, and am elated to see that it may one day be possible for me to walk down the streets of American cities quietly smoking, without fear of arrest and incarceration. I hope to live long enough to hear an American president apologize for all the blatant injustice done to me and my smoking brethren over the many decades of the war on drugs- which is mainly a war on pot.

If you want to know the *real* reasons behind the criminalization of hemp and hemp products, read The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer- truly a tale of the dark and seldom-reported perversion of the US government by wealthy and powerful individuals and corporations in their own self-interest.

Oxymoron

I was always a dabbler, but I stopped when a particularly strong bunch of home-made cakes gave me unpleasant hallucinations. I had stopped smoking the stuff because my lungs were adversely affected.

My major motivation for smoking grass (as opposed to resin, which I never much liked) was that it occasionally led to incredible sex (depending on the crop, it seems). Do I miss it? Yes, a little, but I also feel healthier now and I would miss that more.

MollyMac

Yes but what are the drawbacks?

I love it. I've been an occasional user for over thirty years - family responsibilities and my personal finances have prevented more frequent use. I've started to grow my own.