The drugs thread

Fad

thefly wrote: »

Thats the paper alright.


Very interesting the way they go into how deaths from drugs are reported in the news.

One year 265 people died from misuse of Paracetamol yet only one death was reported.

One thing worth pointing out is that media rarely report suicides, so if some OD's on OTC meds it's going to count as a death, but it wont be reported by the media.

Shulgin

byrnem31 wrote: »

Health wise it can be very damaging. 1 joint is like 10 cigarettes and thats what you put into your system..

I encourage all my stoner friends to invest in a vapourizer for their cannabis. The herb goes further and damage to lungs is minimal if any at all.

I`ll take cannabinoids over alcohol or tobacco any day thanks.

Tomebagel

Being under the age of 18,drugs are waaaaaaay easier to get then alcohol.

byrnem31

Shulgin wrote: »

I encourage all my stoner friends to invest in a vapourizer for their cannabis. The herb goes further and damage to lungs is minimal if any at all.

I`ll take cannabinoids over alcohol or tobacco any day thanks.

God dam it, you will turn into a tree hugging hippie if you keep smoking that stuff.

Seriously though, are you not worried about the mental health issues it may cause ?
I know alcohol is also very damaging to your mental health.

Pygmalion

byrnem31 wrote: »

Seriously though, are you not worried about the mental health issues it may cause ?
I know alcohol is also very damaging to your mental health.

I assume you don't drink?
I assume also you strongly advise others against it?

sock puppet

thefly wrote: »

Thats the paper alright.


Very interesting the way they go into how deaths from drugs are reported in the news.

One year 265 people died from misuse of Paracetamol yet only one death was reported.

The same year 28 people die from ecstasy and 26 deaths are reported.

It's figure like this that have the public scared and possibly why Mardybumbum found it hard to accept the e was safer than weed

Um paracetamol overdoses are usually suicides. It doesn't really have anything to do with drugs.

Pygmalion

sock puppet wrote: »

Um paracetamol overdoses are usually suicides. It doesn't really have anything to do with drugs.

Well whereas 26 of 28 ecstasy deaths were reported, only 4 of 30 cocaine deaths were.
Ecstasy actually had the lowest (or one of the lowest) amounts of deaths despite being a popular drug but got more mentions in newspapers than most others.

Paracetamol wasn't the best comparison to choose since it was probably almost all suicides, but the point does stand.

byrnem31

Pygmalion wrote: »

I assume you don't drink?
I assume also you strongly advise others against it?

No, I dont drink or smoke as I play a lot of football in LSL and need to be in top shape. My mates, girlfriend, and family all drink and I dont mind if others do. When I go out I drink 7-up, save a fortune and still have a good night.
I have witnessed fisrt hand the damage alcohol can do to people though. While others may enjoy it, it aslo destroys many lives. People believe that because its legal and part of our culture its not as dangerous as other drugs. But when you have see what I have seen caused by alcohol, it might chage your opinion. Rapes, murders, assualts, mental institutions, family seperations are some of the experiences I hear on a weekly basis all caused by people who all had problems with alcohol.

Corkfeen

byrnem31 wrote: »

God dam it, you will turn into a tree hugging hippie if you keep smoking that stuff.

Seriously though, are you not worried about the mental health issues it may cause ?
I know alcohol is also very damaging to your mental health.

Generally the health issues it triggers are genetic and to be perfectly honest its an extremely mild drug in terms of damage. And theres plenty of examples of succesful people with no mental issues who smoke weed, Richard Branson for example. Also 1 joint is not equal to 10 fags, I think you may be slightly misinformed....

byrnem31

Corkfeen wrote: »

Generally the health issues it triggers are genetic and to be perfectly honest its an extremely mild drug in terms of damage. And theres plenty of examples of succesful people with no mental issues who smoke weed, Richard Branson for example. Also 1 joint is not equal to 10 fags, I think you may be slightly misinformed....

Keep smoking it so if its that harmless.

thefly

sock puppet wrote: »

Um paracetamol overdoses are usually suicides. It doesn't really have anything to do with drugs.

What are you basing that on because that sounds like opinion and not fact.


The majority of deaths occur from misuse. People accidentally overdosing not realising how dangerous they are and mixing with alcohol so on so on.

thefly

Corkfeen wrote: »

Generally the health issues it triggers are genetic and to be perfectly honest its an extremely mild drug in terms of damage. And theres plenty of examples of succesful people with no mental issues who smoke weed, Richard Branson for example. Also 1 joint is not equal to 10 fags, I think you may be slightly misinformed....

#1 very good point

#2 that one's been doing the rounds for years

lou91

Tried a bit of head shop stuff, wasn't impressed.
I hate smoking anything, but I do sort of want to try weed brownies. Mostly just because I really love brownies though...

mardybumbum

thefly wrote: »

It's figure like this that have the public scared and possibly why Mardybumbum found it hard to accept the e was safer than weed

It's not scaremongering which has affected my opinion, but the admittedly little knowledge I have on both drugs.
I will try and read the paper during the week and reply then.

sock puppet

thefly wrote: »

What are you basing that on because that sounds like opinion and not fact.


The majority of deaths occur from misuse. People accidentally overdosing not realising how dangerous they are and mixing with alcohol so on so on.

You're talking about alcoholics. It's very rare for a normal person to accidentally overdose on paracetamol.

SarahBeep!

Fad wrote: »

Having never tried weed, more out of reluctance to take drugs bought in Ireland than anything else, I cant say it for sure, but from what I have been told, weed in Ireland is almost always sprayed with something to make it heavier (I have heard fiberglass mentioned, and that genuinely worried me)



Side effects of lots of legally prescribed drugs make people aggressive too, it depends on the person. The thing about coke/and stuff along those lines is that it has years and years of research behind it, mephedrone and all that muck doesn't.

If people are supplied PURE drugs and are told what dosage levels to follow, everything would probably be much safer. If people ignore those levels, that's their call.

Fibreglass isn't even the worst of it.

Pure drugs, much safer?? Not in this world. You're sent home from the doctors office with morphine or a sedative and they like the feeling it gives them they're gonna take it whenever they want.

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

No problems with them wanting to regulate it a bit; they could have done so reasonably if they had put any sort of effort into it. Slapping a ban on everything without any research, on the other hand, was just a foolish knee-jerk response that pandered to the vocal "ALL DRUGS ARE EVIL AND ARE KILLING AND RAPING OUR PRECIOUS CHILDREN" minority.



Oh wiat....Joe says drugs are bad? Well then they must be!
I was wrong; ALL DRUGS ARE EVIL AND ARE KILLING AND RAPING OUR PRECIOUS CHILDREN. ALL HAIL THE HEADSHOP BAN! RABBLE RABBLE something about Clontarf RABBLE. :mad:

Ginja Ninja wrote: »

I'd somewhat agree,weed for all the long term effects doesn't have as high an odds as turning people ito douchebags as alchohol does.I've seen/heard of a lot of people doing a lot of nasty things when they drink after a bad mood,but never about people who got stoned

These drugs aren't around long enough for there to be long term research. Same with pretty much every drug. Just because the drug itself has been around for thousands of years(the statement some people use to say there are no long term effects) doesn't mean there's been research conducted.

I've hotboxed at parties simply because I happened to be in that particular room, not because I wanted to get stoned.
I hit the pub every weekend, more so when college is in session, with my friends but I know my own limits.
People say they know what to expect from alcohol where are drugs effects everyone differently.
Alcohol has different effects on everyone just like everthing else. I can drink spirits all night and stay clear but a few pints of snakebite and I'm well on my way. The lads I go out with could be on pints all night but one round of shots and they're all twisted.

I think every teenager should read Go Ask Alice. It's a diary of a teenage drug used. Written over 40 years ago it's still relevent today. I totally related to it and only found out just how old it was when my mam said she's read it when she was my age. IMO, it should be fitted into the second level curriculum somewhere. It's pretty short, about 170 pages. Took me three sessions to finish it though because it gets kinda heavy. I remember at just past the half way point I decided I needed to finish it and I'll never for turning the last page. Sitting in my room at 4AM balling my eyes out. Everyone can relate Alice to someone they know. I think everyone should take a few hours outta their lives to read this...It may very well be a book that saves your life some day.

Konata

Another book that shows the true horror of drugs and heroin in Dublin is Rachel Keogh's biography. It's a fascinating book, I found it really informative and emotive aswell.

EuropeanSon

Or, instead of reading books, you could try some and see where it takes you...:D

Konata

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Or, instead of reading books, you could try some and see where it takes you...:D

Not really the best philosophy... Heroin is the most addictive substance in the world. The vast majority of people who try it for the first time become addicts. Best to be clued up at least before you decide to dabble - to know the consequences of your decisions.

EuropeanSon

Hotaru wrote: »

Not really the best philosophy... Heroin is the most addictive substance in the world. The vast majority of people who try it for the first time become addicts. Best to be clued up at least before you decide to dabble - to know the consequences of your decisions.

I thought most people would realise the green smiley meant I wasn't entirely serious....

I thought you were on about weed anyway.

Konata

EuropeanSon wrote: »

I thought most people would realise the green smiley meant I wasn't entirely serious....

I thought you were on about weed anyway.

My bad, thought you were happily advocating drug dabbling >_<

Eh no, I clearly said the book was about heroin.

catthinkin

Hotaru wrote: »

Not really the best philosophy... Heroin is the most addictive substance in the world. The vast majority of people who try it for the first time become addicts. Best to be clued up at least before you decide to dabble - to know the consequences of your decisions.

no nicotine is more addictive

Pygmalion

catthinkin wrote: »

no nicotine is more addictive

Than Heroin?

Grand so.

EuropeanSon

Hotaru wrote: »

My bad, thought you were happily advocating drug dabbling >_<

Eh no, I clearly said the book was about heroin.

Drugs and heroin, you said. I presume nobody ever has heroin without having had something softer first.

I've only ever had a few puffs of a few joints (of weed) myself anyway, a few months ago. I might try it again, but I'd never make it a regular thing.

Konata

There are many arguments about whether heroin or nicotine is more addictive. It's generally accepted that heroin is, due to it causing much, MUCH more physical harm than nicotine. Take a look at this chart - Heroin and Nicotine have different levels of the factors used to determine addictiveness, Heroin seems to come out worse though.

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Drugs and heroin, you said. I presume nobody ever has heroin without having had something softer first.

I've only ever had a few puffs of a few joints (of weed) myself anyway, a few months ago. I might try it again, but I'd never make it a regular thing.

Well the book is about heroin addiction but yes, Rachel has tried and suffered with pretty much every drug there is.

jumpguy

Hotaru wrote: »

Source for that please? Would make interesting further reading... Also, nicotine has an intoxication level of 2? Nicotine intoxicates more than caffeine?!

Jay P

Hotaru wrote: »

There are many arguments about whether heroin or nicotine is more addictive. It's generally accepted that heroin is, due to it causing much, MUCH more physical harm than nicotine. Take a look at this chart - Heroin and Nicotine have different levels of the factors used to determine addictiveness, Heroin seems to come out worse though.

Very interesting stuff. But what does reinforcement mean?

jumpguy wrote: »

Source for that please? Would make interesting further reading... Also, nicotine has an intoxication level of 2? Nicotine intoxicates more than caffeine?!

Ever heard of a nicotine buzz? Usually the first cigarette of the day makes you a bit light-headed.

Ginja Ninja

jumpguy wrote: »

Source for that please? Would make interesting further reading... Also, nicotine has an intoxication level of 2? Nicotine intoxicates more than caffeine?!

"intoxication" is the effect of the drug on the person

Low value: caffeine,you stay awake more and feel slightly pepped up

High Value:Alchohol,you can't see straight,mood/personality changes,body function is altered and you lose control of yourself,

Heroine,people go into a stupor,they can become unresponsive,unable to feel[emotion or sensation,I don't know how you'd explain either tbh]

if that helps?

Also,Proof that weed is "healthier" than alchohol [it's still bad for you,but feck it like]

jumpguy

Jay P wrote: »

Ever heard of a nicotine buzz? Usually the first cigarette of the day makes you a bit light-headed.

No, but I'd imagine caffeine would have a worse effect, the first time you have it anyway.

If "tolerance" means what I think it means (which is: how quickly the body takes to build up a tolerance so the drug's effects are lessened) then I'd expect caffeine to be much higher. People don't feel the effects half as much as the first time they had it after a while.

I know obviously the problems caused by caffeine and nicotine aren't worth making a huge fuss about, but the results are unexpected...

Jay P

jumpguy wrote: »

No, but I'd imagine caffeine would have a worse effect, the first time you have it anyway.

Well, no. I used to smoke, and I drink quite a bit of coffee, and I've never had any kind of effect from it that would be similar to the effect of a nicotine hit.

If "tolerance" means what I think it means (which is: how quickly the body takes to build up a tolerance so the drug's effects are lessened) then I'd expect caffeine to be much higher. People don't feel the effects half as much as the first time they had it after a while.

And I'd disagree again if the emboldened (what a word!) line is referring to caffeine, which I'm pretty sure it is. With caffeine, the effect is relatively minute, so I wouldn't even notice any kind of difference in the physiological impact it imparts on my body.

Though I will admit, this is all personal experience, not scientific fact.