alcohol vs. marijuana

[SHATOUSHKA]

ok.... this thread has been spawned by a
conversation between me and gravy train.
although i've shared my soon-to-be posted
thoughts on this issue with others, its
HIGH time i post them here.
if any of you have issues with what i'm
about to say... this is a GD message board,
post 'em.

***************************************

it sincerely bothers me that alcohol is
socially acceptable and marijuana isn't.
(and by that, i mean, socially acceptable
in the realm of most age/wealth/classes.)

in a recent conversation (tg), i mentioned
some things that i have noticed between
the use of both alcohol and marijuana
and feel that i should share it. you don't
like, you can blow blow blow me.
remember... these 'insights' are from my
personal experience in and around the
issue. also remember, that these cases are
representative of (my) typical circumstance--
that is: involving others. these cases may
or may not be true if you were alone.


#1 -- alcohol dumbs the hearing sense...
causing jackasses to become loud and overly
obnoxious in order to get a point across.

marijuana creates an inner void so damn loud
you mostly whisper or speak softly. silence
is a killer.

#2 -- when you hit your peak, alcohol makes
you wanna DO something... anything physical
or active.

when you hit your peak, marijuana makes
you wanna sit on the couch and watch tv,
listen to music, or any other general thing
other than physical activity.

#3 -- alcohol slurs your speech (this
includes typing for all you gay enough to
come online after being drunk).

marijuana does not slur your speech. moreso,
you are more careful and direct about what
you want to say... and mostly you are there
rambling some 'coded' message... prolly
being OVERLY descriptive and drawn-out.

#4 -- alcohol impairs driving... to the
extent that you are sometimes seeing double,
not noticing the lines of the road are
moving from under you... or that you are
some superhuman geek and have to drive
like a badass.

marijuana (or should i say, the FEAR of
being busted) makes you so damn paranoid
that you'll be busted that you drive like
a mo fo grandma. usually being OVERLY
careful and lame.

#5 -- alcohol makes you forget (or the
common 'black out' periods).

i've never experienced forgetting or blacking
out when under the effects of marijuana.

**********************

while i am sure there are more, i'm being
distracted from this post and cannot complete
it correctly. i'm sure some of you will
offer more alcohol-supportive banter, but
i sincerely doubt that you can alter my
feelings on the issue. especially since
most of you may have only been constituents
of alcohol only.

while this is a constant debate politically
and among other social circles/groups,
i'd still be interested in your thoughts.

another recent conversation i had about this
topic created results similarly shocking
in that marijuana use is mainly shrouded
behind smoking taboos. fair enough.
but one statement bothers me most--
the typical "marijuana is smoking and
smoking is bad for your lungs" cop-out.

wtf do you think alcohol does???


oh yes, and one more thing...
the above, i must stress, is just an average
run-through... not at all consistant in
all cases. i will allow that many people
experience different things and blah blah
blah. booooooooooooooring!
and... the above was only a contrast of
each 'drug' standing alone... certainly
not paired. but at any rate, my sister
made a comment once that really hit
the nail on the head, and for some reason,
i applaud her for it. =P

she and i were talking about dumb bitches
and how they act when drunk and blah blah
blah, and how you have a certain 'shield'
when drinking because you can cop-out
on being uninhibited... however, she
was saying that if a girl were to drink
and take marijuana -- and that same girl
were to end up getting laid by a stranger
or some other after-school special...

its the alcohol... NOT the marijuana, that caused it
(in as far as motivators go)


so, with that.... post something

[TastinGoodToo]

the fact that marijuana is illegal is absurd.

my recent crown and coke experiment left me fucked up that night and most of the following day.

if we had just passed a bong around i would have been fine.

damn you people for not bringing weed!

[KingBean]

Anything associated with hippies is a bad thing.

[ducgirl]

I'm a college student and a nurse, my peers in the first context indulge in both alcohol and marijuana frequently; it's college, that's what you're supposed to do, right? Yet, in the second context, my peers would be probably be much more stigmatized for using marijuana, although who would want a drunk nurse responsible for them or thier family? I am not suggesting that my co-workers have substance abuse problems, just a hypothetical to get at some of the hypocrisy around this issue.

Because I'm a nurse, I started out with a very anti-marijuana stance. I felt like it had to be illegal for a reason, but if you apply the same criteria to alcohol, it really shouldn't be legal either. Alcohol has no legitimate medicinal use, unless you pour it in a wound to disinfect it, has detrimental effects on health, impairs decision making, is addictive, blah, blah, blah.

I had to do some research for a discussion class last semester, and some of the most persuasive arguments for the absurdity of the "war on drugs" actually come from the ONDCP (office of national drug control policy). The US government spends billions of dollars annually, with very little of that going towards rehab or counselling, and has had a negligible impact on the volume of drugs coming into the country or being consumed.

People have the right to make bad choices in other areas. They can smoke cigarettes, drink to excess, eat too much, fail to take care of themselves in any number of ways without incurring jail time, but smoking marijuana is illegal and in many places is attached to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. It seems a bit illogical.

[zelazny]

coming from one of those countries where buying and using weed are actually legal i'd like to add that i believe drug use is many times lower here than compared to say, the us.
And i think that it makes sense to allow people to use weed if they want to, alcohol, driving, chocolate, there's all kinds of things that influence you, and the only one to decide if you want to take them are you. It's almost as preposterous as suicide being forbidden.

[TastinGood]

anyone dangerous enough to committ suicide should be prosecuted and sentenced to death!!!

there is no place for people like that in our society.

[SHATOUSHKA]

i completely agree with zela... and i find cya's
post really good.
i am somewhat stubborn.
i feel that the reason so many drugs are being
used, and being used in excess, is because its
not allowed. if the drug war were to end at
marijuana, that would be fine with me.
i haven't done any type of illicit drug in
many years. but i did not start using drugs by
starting on marijuana. in fact, it was marijuana
that was used to reverse the effects of some
other things i used. (i know, i know).

i will never say that the things i used were
stupid or dumb. nor will i chalk it up to an
adolescent rebellion. its an experience none
the less... and i'd never take it away. as
mentioned earlier, it is better to speak of
something you have experienced than to speak
ignorantly about something you've 'heard'.

out of everything i had used, marijuana was the
least of the worries. i can speak first hand
that i agree that many of the illicit drugs are
illicit for a reason. i have no problem with
this issue. my main reason for this post is
to distinguish marijuana from other hard drugs.
in comparison, marijuana is weak. (and i'm
not referring to weed laced with other hard
drugs or chemicals -- thats another issue altogether).

[zelazny]

let me put it this way, i know several people who use weed every now and then, a few friends of mine use it once a ... well.. month to relax, or another one maybe once a week.
Sure he loses a whole day from being stoned, but at least he doesn't hurt anyone, doesn't get into fights with other drunk people, and they are all able to cope with their usage, in the sense that they can just dose it in a way that does not interfere with their life.
Probably the main reason why i never tried it, i'm not sure if i would be able to stop myself from letting it influence my life too much (yeah, i know, quite anal).
On another hand, a friend of mine, whom i know is now being treated by a psych, turned out he was an alcoholic, which kind of surprised me, untill he told me that he used to drink about 12 beers daily. That's almost 4 litres, or a gallon.
In my opinion both alcohol and weed have their cons, but when one allows alcohol, or tobacco, it's hypocritical (is that a word?) to not allow weed as well.

(oh, and tastingood , suicide is a capital crime in england [img]biggrin.gif[/img] )

[Hannibal]

this is stupid
both of those are dumb as fuck
for weak fucks who can't accept reality!

[Cyalaytr]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#000000"><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">Originally posted by shatzy:

It sincerely bothers me that alcohol is
socially acceptable and marijuana isn't.
(and by that, i mean, socially acceptable
in the realm of most age/wealth/classes.)
</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am confused by this statement. I am not sure if you are refering to alcohol being "socially acceptable" because a person of legal drinking age can have a drink in public viewing without harassment or fear of the law cracking down on them. Or if you view alcohol as socially acceptable because of its wide availability.

In either case you must understand that part of the "socially acceptable part comes from alcohol being legal to those of drinking age. But as far as it being socially acceptable I would have to argue the case with many facts such as the number of people that voice their strong oppinion against alcohol and its use like MADD (Mother against drunk drives. Alcohol being so "socially acceptable" has led to it being one of the leading causes of death. Also with the number of under age drinkers that do not drink socially but more so for the "peer- pressure" and the adverse affects alcohol brings when taken in large volumes. This is one of the reasons the legal drinking age for alcohol in Colorado has risen from 18 to 21. And mind you this wasn't just recently but the change was made during the Regan year way back in the 1980's. So I am not saying alcohol isn't socially acceptable.... just more so when compaired to marijuana mostly due to it being Legal.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#000000"><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">
i mentioned
some things that i have noticed between
the use of both alcohol and marijuana
and feel that i should share it. you don't
like, you can blow blow blow me. </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Weather we like your statements or not... would that not be physically impossible?? :-)


Having experianced both sides of the debate alcohol vs marijuana I can see the attraction to both and also the cons from an outsiders point of view. it is very hipocritical for someone who has never tried either or both to sit back and say this is bad because .... or you shouldn't because.... The laws were made by the people for the people. The only way to change the laws is to vote. But I am not here to start a political campaign to win over a change of the law.

I just want to say that in the experiances I have personal seen or withnessed either alcohol or marijuana can can be bad when taken in excess or by someone not of sound mental state.

I have seen many friends killed by drinking and driving as well as seen many people sit and watch life pass them by as the smoked it away.


I loved your comparisons between the two types of people though I have one to add. Though I am not saying one is better then the other...


A person who drinks alcohol the night before to excess and has done so for a long while builds up a tollerance for it and though may get a beer gut and seem lazy will actually acknowledge you when spoken directly too

Where as a person who smokes pot on a wide basis and has done so for many years seem to stare at space and only grasp half of what you say when spoken directly to. It is as if they hear the words yet the hamster can't seem to find the wheel and if he did... he doesn't really care to go round.

I do know many many smart people prefer to take a hit of the ol pipe now and then but imagine how many brain cells would be left if they had chosen something else less mind altering.

Or how many kids and adults would be alive if someone would STOP at a reasonable level of alocohol.


I personally don't mind what a person does and would never judge a person for drinking nor the use of marijuana. A person to me is judged by their actions. I myself am a speeder. A speed freek. A person who can not get enough of the MPH weather it be on the road or on the track. By law I commit many crimes each day with the twist of the throttle. I can lay blame at no one but myself as the laws are clearly written though I choose to break them even though it is socially un acceptable to do so.


So back to the topic at hand...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#000000"><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">it sincerely bothers me that alcohol is
socially acceptable and marijuana isn't.
(and by that, i mean, socially acceptable
in the realm of most age/wealth/classes.)
</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I sympathize with the fact that smoking marijuana in the USA isn't as socially acceptable but for one moment try to imagine if it was? I know some countries have places where you can out right buy this stuff and fear no legal reprocussion. But in those countries drug use is much wider on a scale and also the types of drugs are increased from just pot to serious drug use such as cocain, heroin, meth.. etc... No weather this be because the fun ( the "I'm doing something illeagle...giggle") part is now taken away or maybe it is because with it being leagle the amount of use went up to a point where the "comfortable state they use to find in marijuana now is replaced by something of much harder (mind altering). My only con against pot is that 1 drug usually leads to another type and another type and so on. Where as alcohol in reverse only leads to more drinking of the same content. If you speak with anyone who has tried pot ask them if they currently use any other drug or have tried any other drugs? That is the part that scares me.

CYA
[img]eek.gif[/img]