Is there anyone who doesnt smoke cannabis?

seamus

1der, I'd say you're very much turned around on the subject.

The vast majority of people who have tried cannabis or hash in any form, would have done so at college or in their late teens/early twenties. Those who smoked it regularly for a period, would also have done so around this age. In my experience, "Urbanites" and people with jobs tend to ignore it, largely because you can't go out to the pub with your mates and go outside and smoke a joint. As a teenager, getting thrown out of pubs is part-and-parcel of your night out. As a twentysomething, the guy who gets thrown out of the pub is pain in the ass. And when you hit your mid-to-late twenties and actually have money to burn, sitting in with your housemates every evening in a smoky room, puffing away on a joint and watching bad porn, kind of loses its appeal.

Wertz

I have to chuckle at people on here (and IRL) that say they've smoked it and it never had any affect on them...trust me, if you smoked dope for the first time you'd know about it.
The problem is the potency of the crap we're pawned off with in Ireland....there is very little of the substance which alters you present in the contaminated or low grade hash that makes up the majority of what's for sale or supply out there.


I respect the decision of people not to use drugs (illegal or otherwise) but I distrust the views they hold on drug use due to their abstinence. To have a semi valid opinion on an issue you should at least have minimal experience of it, if you expect your argument to hold sway.

I also protest society's criminalising me for my choice to use cannabis, especially in light of just how much the alcohol industry in Ireland gets away with and the inherent problems that their end product causes.

gazzer

I have tired hash in the past but it just doesnt agree with me.. had a panic attack the last time I had it.. Dont know if it was the hash that caused it but it was enough for me not to want to do it again.

having said that 90% of the people I know (most in the mid 20's to mid 30's) smoke it and a regular enough basis.

Pherekydes

Ciaran500 wrote:

The point I was making is that technically everything is just opinion.

I obviously missed your point: shame on me. But the study you linked to seemed to be in reply to

Clarehobo wrote:

You cannot say something is FACT unless you present facts...

Blowfish

Wertz wrote:

To have a semi valid opinion on an issue you should at least have minimal experience of it, if you expect your argument to hold sway.

bull****, you don't have to experience rape to have a 'semi valid opinion' of it.

Wertz

Blowfish wrote:

bull****, you don't have to experience rape to have a 'semi valid opinion' of it.

Big difference here; rape is an abhorrent and morally wrong act.

johnp

Blowfish wrote:

bull****, you don't have to experience rape to have a 'semi valid opinion' of it.

True. Maybe it might be better to say that if you've experienced something then you're opinion of it can be more balanced?

runswithascript

BeatNikDub wrote:

I can see it making some people quite lazy and rids them of their ambition but thats more something lacking in their personality than the drug itself.

So you believe that smoking hash can have a detrimental affect on your depression but it couldn't possibly rob me of my motivation and ambition? It of course doesn't have this effect on everyone as I've already stated but I know I'm not the only person to experience this.

Blowfish

Wertz wrote:

Big difference here; rape is an abhorrent and morally wrong act.

I was illustrating a point.

[edit] And to some, drugs are abhorrant and morally wrong.

johnp wrote:

True. Maybe it might be better to say that if you've experienced something then you're opinion of it can be more balanced?

I agree with this statement far more.

azezil

I don't smoke cannabis.

lady_j

i dont and im an artist

Wertz

Blowfish wrote:

I was illustrating a point.

[edit] And to some, drugs are abhorrant and morally wrong.

Comparable to such acts as rape, assault, robbery, murder?

Abhorrent perhaps, but drug use being morally wrong? I'm sorry that just doesn't ring true unless you're some religious zealot who doesn't live in the real world.


Again, I just can't trust the views of people who don't (and more importantly, have never) used drugs when it comes to advocating against them or their use.
They're entitled to their opinions of course, but as johnp says, there is a distinct lack of balance to their argument and for the most part they are simply passing on what they've been told, instead of what they've found out for themselves...

Dragan

Naked Lepper wrote:

Actually I want to change my last comment, instead of 25 years I think all drug users whether theyre moderate social drug users or heroin addicts on the street,should be given lethal injection after serving a 10 year sentence in mountjoy.

thatll learn them for sure.

Out of interest, do they let you at the computer once a day or once a week?

humbert

I think people should have the right to do whatever they like to themselves as long as it isn't harming others. However in this case of course society couldn't be obligated to support people who are causing harm to themselves.

Anywho. I have, and quite recently, but I wont be again any time soon. I find it have a significant and lasting stupefying effect on me and many of the other people I know that use it. It's strange though, unlike alcohol, when you're "merry" you know you're not as sharp as usual, you can feel it. After getting stoned I felt awake and alert but just seemed to keep falling behind what was going on without really being aware of it. This is a day after smoking a little. Balls to that.

stewie01

my experience with it is 3-4years ago smoked some hash wit tobacco(hate cigs) and vomitted badly for a while, got the shakes and fell asleep on the stairs. laugh lookin back at it.

went to the dam 2-3 years ago found little shop called rookies got a pure cannibas joint and happy days. €5 for a 3 hour colourful happy trip with mates and music. financially sound move.

woke up next day with loads of cash(not wasted on booze), no vomit or hangover, no cuts and bruises from fights.

i also would not hand over my hard earned to scum for shoe polish or anything else.

and i would not lump cannabis in with coke or heroine. its just not right. but i do think its safer than cigs n alcohol.

NB. education is the key ppl and respect ur elders.

Sleepy

I'm probably one of those people the OP was thinking were quite in the majority in Dublin though I can assure him we're not. I have post-graduate qualifications, a professional job and would smoke weed for may 4-6 months of a given year. Essentially, when the opportunity arises to acquire some good quality weed from a reputable source (i.e. someone I know has grown it brought it in from Amsterdam etc.) I'll purchase it and enjoy it a couple of times a week until whatever I have is gone.

Like Wertz has said, most of the soap-bar hash available in Ireland bears very little resemblence to real marijuana. It's full of all kinds of ****e and I dread to think what I was inhaling when I smoked that stuff when I was younger.

The reasons I smoke? It relaxes me better than any quanitity of alcohol without the same negative effects. It helps me to introvert in a fashion where I'm more able to spot the negative sides to my personality and figure out ways of changing them rather than just getting depressed about them. I'm better able to see other's perspectives and more tolerant because of this. Add all that to the escapism in smoking good weed and just relaxing for a Saturday afternoon while talking with friends / listening to music or attending a concert / savouring the sunshine and fresh air in a park / making love / visiting an art gallery with a heightened sense of one's self and one's surroundings is a very enjoyable way to spend my time imho.

I don't smoke around children, force others to inhale my second hand smoke, support terrorists or criminals or imho do anything which negatively impacts on another person through my usage of marijuana but because once upon a time some rich cotton farmers objected to a crop which would negatively effect their interests through it's non-narcotic uses I'm a criminal for ingesting it! I'm sorry but that makes no sense to me. This is my life and if it's having no impact on yours, I don't see how you have any moral right to object to how I'm living it.

I can say in all honesty that I believe I'm a better person for smoking.

Nightwish

I don't smoke cannibas nor have I ever smoked it.

Catsmokinpot

I know plenty of people who don't smoke, and it's their choice not to. I however do, and i still don't understand why it can't be my choice to in the eyes of the law.

But then again im just a filthy stoner in the eyes of the law :rolleyes:

Pythia

I don't and have never tried.

So Glad

Used to smoke it all the time, got sick of it, moved on. Smoke it whenever it is presented.

BrandonBlock

Used to for about 2 years when I was 13-14 then just got bored with being wasted the whole time and not being able to remember anything.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

5starpool

Never tried it or any other illegal drugs, and at the age of 30 I'm not about to start now.

Wertz

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

In fairness, you're not on here taking a moral high ground on drug use or preaching as some other posters have come across as doing.
Your reasons for not using it are admirable...however I tend to use my own moral compass when it comes to decisions on right and wrong....for the most part that makes me a law abiding citizen, except with respect to drug use.
Others will argue that I live in this state and so am bound by it's laws. I have no way of repealing these laws so must continue to break them. That's my choice and it's a choice that many like me make everyday....and in the eyes of the law we're all criminals for making this choice, yet we haven't directly hurt anyone and have not stolen from them (except for some VAT/revenue ).

As for the "funding crime" part, I'm afraid I don't subscribe to that line of thought at least with regard to cannabis. Okay, sure, a lot of it's trade is among criminal gangs....but it's the whole fact of illegality that ends up leading to that point. Catch 22.
There's plenty of options we choose as a society that contribute to crime and human suffering in other countries and other continents, many of which we choose to conveniently ignore....it's perhaps a bit hypocritical to take issue with drugs, but cheap clothes and other goods made in asian sweatshops are fine...oil drilled for in war torn regions or areas of ecological importance could be construed as morally tainted...diamonds and precious metals from certain african states and the like, nevermind the billions the west as a whole make on debts that 3rd world countries have had no choice but get themselves into, and who's whole populations suffer as a result of...
I'm way off the point here and perhaps a little on the idealistic side here, so forgive me on that.

Doodee

the whole thing surrounding the facts about cannabis is pretty stupid. The one fact is that its illegal in this country and therefore any research and studies that could be done can't. if independent studies could be done on its effects on different individuals we could probably have a more grown up view on the drug in this country.

I do believe that possession on class C drugs should be decriminalized, alcohol and cigarettes are known to cause both Health and Psychological damage in individuals, there have been plenty of studies documenting their effects and people are given the choice weither to use and abuse with these facts available to them helping their decision process. However, as we saw with the mushroom incident, the government has a knee jerk reaction to these things and the idiocy/unfortunate circumstances for one person results in dragstic measures and punishes the rest of us.

I think the drugs issue is a big one for future elections and if this country was to wise up and actually make logical decisions and make use of our third level institutions with a more educated approach to our problems the future generations will be far better off.

the alternatives are Unions, Builders and more spineless politicians.

JC 2K3

CathyMoran wrote:

Have never smoked it and never would - have the misfortune of having to take prescribed codine for severe pain and the side effects are horrible.

What the hell has Codeine, an opiate and a COMPLETELY different drug to cannabis got to do with this discussion?

Sigh....

Oh, and I smoke cannabis if it's there, done it about 7/8 times, only had good stuff about 3/4 times though. I'll do any interesting drug as long as I've spent a few months researching its effects, reading studies, if it's illegal what the average purity is and what to be aware of, if legal in a medicine how to extract from that medicine, what dosage to take, what precautions to take etc.

Alter-Ego

I smoke, but none of that resin crap, and i always know who's growing mine.

Naked Lepper

Dragan wrote:

Out of interest, do they let you at the computer once a day or once a week?

my replies in this thread have been made as a parody of the attitudes that of most boards.ie members have against drugs which are illegal in ireland, taken to extremes obviously

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

ahhh same here, i get this intense feeling of guilt whenever i J-walk or if i slip over the speed limit. I actually handed myself into the police once cause my tax was out of date but luckily they were nice and let me off as it was within 30 days, i still felt like they were going to easy on me tho

Hoops1888

Poll??

pclancy

Sleepy wrote:

I'm probably one of those people the OP was thinking were quite in the majority in Dublin though I can assure him we're not. I have post-graduate qualifications, a professional job and would smoke weed for may 4-6 months of a given year. Essentially, when the opportunity arises to acquire some good quality weed from a reputable source (i.e. someone I know has grown it brought it in from Amsterdam etc.) I'll purchase it and enjoy it a couple of times a week until whatever I have is gone.

Like Wertz has said, most of the soap-bar hash available in Ireland bears very little resemblence to real marijuana. It's full of all kinds of ****e and I dread to think what I was inhaling when I smoked that stuff when I was younger.

The reasons I smoke? It relaxes me better than any quanitity of alcohol without the same negative effects. It helps me to introvert in a fashion where I'm more able to spot the negative sides to my personality and figure out ways of changing them rather than just getting depressed about them. I'm better able to see other's perspectives and more tolerant because of this. Add all that to the escapism in smoking good weed and just relaxing for a Saturday afternoon while talking with friends / listening to music or attending a concert / savouring the sunshine and fresh air in a park / making love / visiting an art gallery with a heightened sense of one's self and one's surroundings is a very enjoyable way to spend my time imho.

I don't smoke around children, force others to inhale my second hand smoke, support terrorists or criminals or imho do anything which negatively impacts on another person through my usage of marijuana but because once upon a time some rich cotton farmers objected to a crop which would negatively effect their interests through it's non-narcotic uses I'm a criminal for ingesting it! I'm sorry but that makes no sense to me. This is my life and if it's having no impact on yours, I don't see how you have any moral right to object to how I'm living it.

I can say in all honesty that I believe I'm a better person for smoking.

Perfectly sums up my smoking life and opinions now as well. Its less harmfull then a cup of coffee or a fag and ive never EVER seen anyone do anything violent when stoned. Drink causes hundreds of people to fight each other every weekend and fags kill countless millions every year yet theyre legal....

It should only be used by people over 21 imo, it can mess with heads below that and it should only be used in moderation by anyone. It should be considerd as bad as drinking in relation to driving and it should be respected like any other drug legal or not, never used around children or dependants. It shouldnt be bought from criminals, you should be allowed grow enough for your own responsible use in your own home.

Better education is whats needed. I could never see a day when its legal but at least people that are found with small amounts shouldnt be locked up or lose their jobs.

My 2c.