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Author Topic: Get off my lawn!  (Read 83713 times)

Patrick

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #450 on: 25 Mar 2008, 12:01 »

@idiolect: You're not really answering the question that Jon's implying. Was the guy an asshole before he ever started lighting up regularly, or was it a new development?

Also realize that people change a hell of a lot between 12 and 25. I am not the same dude I was a year ago, you might want to keep that in mind just by itself. Until you can narrow things down to one variable only, I'm still going to say that the 'research' is invalid.
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0bsessions

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #451 on: 25 Mar 2008, 12:43 »

Oh, fuck! I figured it out!

I started turning into a narcissistic douche bag at around the age of seventeen.

I lost my virginity at around the age of seventeen!

Sex makes you a bad person, guys! One happened and the other happened, so they must be connected!
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Ozymandias

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #452 on: 25 Mar 2008, 12:47 »

I find it hard to believe there was ever a time when you weren't a narcissistic douchebag.
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RedLion

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #453 on: 25 Mar 2008, 18:57 »



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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #454 on: 25 Mar 2008, 21:21 »

I note they didn't poll independents, that would be interesting to see.
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ruyi

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #455 on: 25 Mar 2008, 23:13 »

@idiolect: You're not really answering the question that Jon's implying. Was the guy an asshole before he ever started lighting up regularly, or was it a new development?

I believe that was here:

What I was suggesting, and honestly, what I really do believe to be true, is that he was *generally* more of a jerk after he started smoking up every day, and he was especially a jerk *about* pot.

We have no way of knowing if this is true or not, so there's no point arguing about idiolect's judgment in this situation.

Simply speaking, you're wrong. I'm willing to bet either you didn't know the guy very well before he started smoking or you've never really thought about what he was like before/are so jaded towards pot that you refuse to believe he's not a cunt of his own volition. I am so confident in this statement that I am willing to guarantee you that you are 100% bullshit wrong on this without ever having even met the dude myself.

As far as the car crash, well, no one was arguing that then, but yeah, I think I would. All those stories you heard about as a kid about people smoking pot and thinking they were Superman? So much shit. Yes, pot impairs you. If the dude dozed off at the wheel and crashed, I'd believe it. Pot doesn't make you drive around like an idiot, being an idiot makes you drive around like an idiot. The latter part where he fled the scene only had to do with pot in the vague sense that he was aware he was going to get busted. If the dude got caught, he would have most definitely gotten some serious shit heaped on him. I'm pretty sure the dude would've gotten in the same accident with or without the pot since the guy sounds like an utter tit.

My diagnosis? You don't have the slightest real knowledge of pot. You seem to be utilizing decades worth of propaganda that school and G.I. Joe PSAs grind into you in order to rationalize the fact that you seem to just have piss poor judgment when it comes to who you associate with and would rather blame a plant than admit it. Stop hanging out with morons and twats and this problem will go away.

Jon, I like you. Please be nice!
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ledhendrix

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #456 on: 26 Mar 2008, 01:28 »

Every time i come into this thread i try and think of something to say that might be worthwhile. Then i think, well fuck everything has been said already and people are just going to have to agree to disagree. Then i think thats a bit of a defeatists argument and would like to say something blunt like *woo fuck yeah weed*. Then i think thats just stupid because people will just be like *fucking idiot*. So hear i am now saying that i smoke weed, sometimes quite alot, sometimes not. I like the feeling it gives me better than alcohol, i can actually stay up and have a sensible conversation with someone rather than just being like *FUCK YEAH LETS TALK REALLY LOUDLY ABOUT CRAP AND HOW GOOD FRIENDS WE ARE*.

 I'm not saying there isn't a place for alcohol, i do like it, it's just that i would rather smoke Cannabis. I've seen people drinking alcohol that are normally excellent people, but when they have a lot to drink they will start fights with people. The same person smoking cannabis more resembles a teddy bear than anything else. I don't think anyones going to agree about this situation but oh well. If people don't drink to much it shouldn't be a problem but sadly some peoples idea of "fun" is going out and getting shit faced until they can't remember anything and are a danger to other people. Similarly, smoking to much weed at once is probably not a good idea if you are out and about in the town/needing to drive home, but staying at home and smoking a lot of weed will probably just make you fall asleep, whilst if people stay at home and drink alcohol, they can drink to much, get alcohol poisoning, get incredibly stupid ideas etc.
 My reasoning is a little weak towards the end but i'm sure you get the jist of it.

tldr: I like Cannabis. I think its better than alcohol, lets agree to disagree and everything is good in moderation.
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idiolect

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #457 on: 26 Mar 2008, 02:26 »

Thanks ruyi, that's about what I would have said.

I am curious about one thing though -- are all you guys who spend a lot of time around pot saying that you've really never met someone who became more of a douchebag correlative to becoming more of a pothead?  I've seen that so frequently, discussed that so frequently with other people (who themselves regularly smoke pot), seen that in people that *I* smoked pot *with* way back when, that I find that hard to believe.  I'm totally willing to believe that might have as much or maybe even more to do with the cultural ramnifications of pot being illegal for so long (i.e. it going "underground") than it does with the actual chemical effects of pot, but the chemical effects of pot are not the only thing one has to worry about when thinking about whether or not becoming a regular pot smoker has a negative effect on your life.

Also, I still don't think people should drive while stoned.  I mean, even aside from my own opinions about it, it's at least safe to say that there is a debate about whether being stoned impairs your driving, and so why risk it?  If there's even the tiniest chance that you might be wrong, then you are risking people's lives, which is really not "worth it."  If it turns out that somehow the debate is settled and I'm certainly wrong, then it shouldn't have been any skin off of your back to not drive stoned, because really, how often are you in a situation where you just can't possibly get around driving stoned anyway?


One more thing: to respond briefly to some of the personal attacks -- First of all, my friends aren't morons.  My friends are actually pretty awesome.  If this is just so terribly unbelievable to you that you absolutely must know how it could possibly be true, I suppose I could begin to list ways in which my friends are awesome for you.  Secondly, my conclusions about the accident being because of the pot wasn't some abstracted thing where I heard about some accident and thought OH LORD JESUS IT MUST BE THEM DRUGS.  I mean, I was physically inside a car that crashed into another car and it was awful and I'm really glad none of us got hurt.  The driver of the car was acting in a way that he generally acted specifically when he was stoned, which I know because for a handful of years *I* smoked up with him.  The next morning, he himself said that he was never going to drive stoned again.  And just for the record, he never "thought he was Superman" when he was stoned, because like you said, that just doesn't make sense -- what he DID do was think that stupid things were hilarious, and he realized that he could in fact DO stupid things, thus increasing the hilarious.  I suppose you can not believe me if you want, but don't presume to know positively what happened otherwise.

My diagnosis? You don't have the slightest real knowledge of pot. You seem to be utilizing decades worth of propaganda that school and G.I. Joe PSAs grind into you

Alternatively, isn't it funny how you can't even suggest to a pothead that pot may not be the best thing since sliced bread without them deciding that you must be brainwashed by the government?  Hmm.  I think that's kind of a jerk thing to do.  Were you that much of a jerk before you started smoking pot?

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a pack of wolves

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #458 on: 26 Mar 2008, 05:00 »

I've known a few people who've acted like more of a dick as they increased the amount of weed they smoked. One of them was me. The thing is, it wasn't the weed itself exactly that was the problem. I didn't do anything as dumb as crash a car or as obnoxious as light up in a van without asking people first, but I did become intensely boring and selfish and I had some bad mood swings. But weed didn't make me boring and selfish, I was being a boring and selfish person and therefore smoking weed all the time instead of doing interesting things. The mood swings were a result of the weed but they just made me depressed, not a dick. I've known other people who at one point were very interesting and active and then just descended into getting stoned all the time and being dull and just sitting around whinging. But again I don't think it was the drug messing them up, I think it was them messing themselves up and getting stoned all the time was a symptom and facilitator of that, but not the cause.

And seriously, someone who thinks it's a great idea to drive around yelling at people and then crashes their car is a wanker regardless of the drugs that are in them. I just hope the accident shocked them into not being a wanker anymore.
« Last Edit: 26 Mar 2008, 05:02 by a pack of wolves »
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #459 on: 26 Mar 2008, 05:48 »

In my experience people don't start actually being insufferable dicks until they get into cocaine.  I've known many a jovial, friendly, and intelligent weed smoker who started to enjoy nose candy a little too much and ended up turning into a total tool.

Come to think of it, cocaine is the only drug that I've ever seen actually turn people into legitimately worse people.  I mean, I've had some friends act like idiots while drunk, but I can't say I remember anyone whose actual motivations and loyalties changed due to the stuff (though I'm sure it's possible).  Cocaine on the other hand is perfectly capable of turning otherwise perfectly fine people into genuinely shameful parodies of themselves.

There is definitely a vicious circle that can arise from extended patterns of smoking weed combined with consistently thoughtless behavior (which can sometimes dip straight into total-dick-move territory).   That sort of thing is true about anything though ... sex, driving, having new friends, playing in a band, etc.  It's always the thoughtless behavior that contributes to and is contributed to by whatever factor plays a role in the specific situation, and ultimately causes the problems.  Anyone who keeps a healthy level of respect for themselves and the people around them is probably going to be fine no matter how much weed they smoke.
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Patrick

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #460 on: 26 Mar 2008, 06:09 »

me being wrong

I believe that was here:

example

Ah, thanks Cathy, I stand corrected.

Also, I still don't think people should drive while stoned.  I mean, even aside from my own opinions about it, it's at least safe to say that there is a debate about whether being stoned impairs your driving, and so why risk it?  If there's even the tiniest chance that you might be wrong, then you are risking people's lives, which is really not "worth it."  If it turns out that somehow the debate is settled and I'm certainly wrong, then it shouldn't have been any skin off of your back to not drive stoned, because really, how often are you in a situation where you just can't possibly get around driving stoned anyway?

Eh. I'm pretty certain you're not going to be convinced until you've actually tried to do something stoned. Because seriously, it doesn't affect your mobility at all. If anything it makes you hypersensitive to tiny motions, and it really does seem to have a time-slowing effect, because damned if it didn't feel like an hour driving the mile and a half home from where we lit up.
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Jimmy the Squid

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #461 on: 26 Mar 2008, 06:24 »

Whenever I get stoned my extremities feel really heavy and sluggish. My head also suddenly seems to increase in width and weight. Basically what I am saying is that if you got into a car being driven by me while stoned you would probably die. This is helped by the fact that I don't know how to drive but my point remains valid!
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jhocking

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #462 on: 26 Mar 2008, 06:45 »

seriously, it doesn't affect your mobility at all
One might make the point that a person who is stoned isn't in the best state to make such a judgement.

Also, why is Firefox thinking "judgement" is misspelled?

Patrick

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #463 on: 26 Mar 2008, 07:18 »

I managed to not get burned/disfigured/killed by searing-hot fry oil.
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Barmymoo

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #464 on: 26 Mar 2008, 14:34 »

I'm intrigued by the graph in RedLion's post. Does it mean that a little over 30% of Democrats believe every Wednesday that marijuana is ok?

Maybe I'm not very observant, or maybe the weed that people I know smoke is less strong than in other places, or maybe they just don't smoke very much, but the few people who I know get stoned regularly never seem very different when they've had a joint. Their eyes are a bit more sluggish and they smell of cannabis but I can't see any visible difference in their behaviour. Having said that, I wouldn't get in a car with them (I wouldn't anyway, but that's not the point).

I will probably end up being DD in lots of situations in the future, because I'm one of those dull people who doesn't drink, smoke, take drugs or do anything like that. I do go to parties though. Also I love driving, but it might be a bit less fun when there are several drunk people trying to distract me.

It might not be a good idea to mix other drugs into this conversation but in terms of behaviour alteration (rather than health implications or illegality), is cocaine or cannabis worse? I know it's more illegal, but I've always assumed that's to do with the expense and therefore other criminal behaviour caused by it, and the health damage. Wrong?
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idiolect

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #465 on: 26 Mar 2008, 15:19 »

Eh. I'm pretty certain you're not going to be convinced until you've actually tried to do something stoned.

Guys, I don't know why you keep assuming that I've never done these things. 


Because seriously, it doesn't affect your mobility at all. If anything it makes you hypersensitive to tiny motions, and it really does seem to have a time-slowing effect, because damned if it didn't feel like an hour driving the mile and a half home from where we lit up.

As far as I'm concerned, when you're flinging a multi-ton metal object around, it better damn well feel like it is.


Also, why is Firefox thinking "judgement" is misspelled?

Because it's actually spelled "judgment."  I only found this out recently while writing this essay that uses the word "judgment" a bunch of times in it, and I still have to stop and think for a split-second in order not to put the "e" in there.
Edit!  Apparently it's spelled "judgement" in British English, and "judgment" in American.
« Last Edit: 26 Mar 2008, 15:28 by idiolect »
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BrittanyMarie

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #466 on: 26 Mar 2008, 15:32 »

it doesn't affect your mobility at all.

How it affected you isn't necessarily how it's going to affect others, though, not to mention the fact that people do have the tendency to think they're better than they are at things. I mean, just because you felt that it didn't affect your mobility doesn't make it true.

Besides, this idiolect person clearly said that driving stoned might or might not impair your driving; since there's still that shred of doubt, why would you risk it? Personally, every time I've gotten high I've felt light and airy, and paying attention to things other than "OH WOW YOUR HAIR IS SO SOFT" and "OH WOW THIS MUSIC IS EPIC" and "THIS IS THE TASTIEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER TASTED" was really really difficult. I could focus really hard one one thing at a time, but you have to focus on tons of things when you're driving. Other cars, pedestrians, traffic signals, speed limits; I'd probably run a red light and then giggle about it.

That person also said that they have smoked in the past, so I'm guessing they have tried to do something while stoned.

So basically, anecdotal evidence is shit! My experience, Jimmy's experience, Patrick's experience, Mr. Onewheelwizard's experience, a pack of wolves' experience... all our experiences with weed affected us differently, so any kind of "driving while stoned is ok/not ok" based on your own assumptions is obviously not going to work.
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a pack of wolves

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #467 on: 26 Mar 2008, 15:36 »

It might not be a good idea to mix other drugs into this conversation but in terms of behaviour alteration (rather than health implications or illegality), is cocaine or cannabis worse? I know it's more illegal, but I've always assumed that's to do with the expense and therefore other criminal behaviour caused by it, and the health damage. Wrong?

A friend of mine refers to cocaine as 'twat powder'. It's well known for making many people be utter arseholes with a really mean, selfish edge when they're on it, even those who're extremely pleasant drunk, stoned, k-holed, tripping or anything else. Other people it just makes have a damn good time. But in general there's much more to be wary of them with weed.
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #468 on: 26 Mar 2008, 15:51 »

I used to be an enormous pothead. I don't think I ever drove stoned, and I don't think I would ever want to. Wait, scratch that, more recently I did drive stoned, true, I was driving my friend's car because he was far worse off than me, but the fact remains that I didn't notice that the E. brake was on until we were halfway back to his apartment, and I had some trouble staying in my lane. So I know that its a bad idea at least for me personally, and for some others. I once rode in a car with another friend who was high while I was sober, and I thought I was gonna die several times because he was in slow motion while driving. For instance, we were turning onto his street and there was another car driving the opposite direction, and he turns RIGHT in front of it, nearly causing an accident. I've ridden with him on other occasions and he doesn't act that way while driving.

I agree on the douche-bag part though, weed doesn't change anyone's personality to my knowledge. My good for nothing older brother was good for nothing before he started heavily doing drugs, and he's still a good-for nothing older brother now that he's clean, though at least he is trying now not to be.
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Patrick

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #469 on: 26 Mar 2008, 16:26 »

it doesn't affect your mobility at all.

How it affected you isn't necessarily how it's going to affect others, though, not to mention the fact that people do have the tendency to think they're better than they are at things. I mean, just because you felt that it didn't affect your mobility doesn't make it true.

Like I told Old Man Hocking, the true litmus test is to see whether or not you accidentally injure/disfigure/kill yourself while working with 350-degree (Fahrenheit) oil.
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Scandanavian War Machine

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #470 on: 26 Mar 2008, 16:36 »

i don't think that's a very accurate test. i'm almost positive i'd burn myself sober just because i have pretty clumsy hands.

and secondly, if i was stoned i'd be like "fuck that. i'm not doing that." and go play video games or something.
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #471 on: 26 Mar 2008, 16:37 »

Alright, let me jump into the drug discussion.  There are two things that should be probably said right up front just for full disclosure:

1) I am a foaming-at-the-mouth Libertarian which means I believe that the Government has no business whatsoever telling someone what they can and can't put in their body.  I believe the war on drugs should be ended immediately and anyone in jail for non-violent, drug-only related offenses should be released with a sincere apology.

2) I don't do drugs.  Hell, I don't even drink enough to be worth mentioning.  A six pack of beer lasts six months in my fridge.

It wasn't always like that though.  I used to party hard.  I tried everything that got put in front of me and hung with people who did the same.  I was on under the influence of something almost every single day. It was very rare for me to go to bed at night completely sober.  I had a lot of good times, I have very few regrets, and I lived through it just fine.

Not all of my friends did though.

I guess about '91 I started realizing I really wasn't being too smart.   That if I continued to do what I was doing, I'd probably end up dead or in jail.  So I started making a series of decisions that distanced me from that life.   Some of those decisions were drastic, some not so drastic, but the end result was that by oh.... '94ish I was completely removed from the 'scene' I had been running in and I never went back.   My friends didn't necessarily follow my path and our lives are very different now.    For example:

I had this girlfriend when I was 18.  She was beautiful.  She was also an amazingly talented artist, was smart and funny, and basically just a blast to be around. 

Then she got into heroin.

The last time I saw her she was living in a shit hole apartment, had a cup full of needles soaking in bleach on the back of her toilet, was dating/fucking a cab driver just so she could get rides, and was working in a Korean massage parlor giving $30 hand jobs to make her money.    Is she dead? In jail?  Got AIDS? Get clean and straighten her life out?  I've got no idea.  No one has heard from her in years.   

I had another friend who got hit by a drunk driver and it messed him up.  A year and a half later the court case finally settled and he got a check for about $25k which was supposed to be used for some plastic surgery to fix some scars he had from the accident.   To celebrate finally getting the money, he bought an eight ball of coke from his scum bag cousin.  We had a good time.  I tooted lines of an Armored Saint album cover with him for a week.

Six, maybe eight months later he had spent every penny of that check, had sold everything he owned, and was living in a sleeping bag in the woods.  He got his money for more coke by mugging people.   That's when I lost touch with him.  I have another friend though that said he showed up around '98 claiming he was clean and trying to put his life back together.   So my buddy let him crash at his place.  The next day he stole everything in the apartment while my buddy was at work and disappeared.

Another friend has never stopped smoking pot.  To be fair... he's got plenty of issues that have nothing to do with smoking weed.  The last email I got from him said "Hey... I got married and bought a house."  He was very excited about 'finally starting to act like an adult' and working 'a real job'. He's 36.   Now... I'm not going to pin his lifestyle solely on weed, nor am I even going to suggest that there is something wrong with staying single and not owning property.   Different strokes for different folks.   But you got to admit, by 36 most people have accepted the fact that they live in the really real grown-up world.   

Then there is my best friend.  He actually did the fewest drugs of all of us.  BUT... He got a little desperate for money and agreed to assist with a little interstate crystal meth commerce.   What he didn't know was that it was a setup from the beginning arranged by a guy we knew who turned snitch to get out of a one year sentence for third time pot possession.   The guy who delivered the meth was a DEA agent.   He ended up with a sentence for 8 years federal on a felony drug rap for a first time offense, while another friend ended up getting ten due to some prior misdemeanor convictions.  He pleaded that down to two years in a 'boot camp' but got popped on probation violation almost as soon as he was released and ended up picking up a second felony conviction and doing the rest of his time.  Now, I'm told he's living with his parents, working some shit-hole minimum wage job, terrified of picking up a third strike, hanging out with Mom and Dad every night.    He turns 40 this year.

There are other stories too:  Guys who dropped or flunked out of school (I probably need to raise my own hand in that group), ruined relationships, jail time, hospitalizations, material loss, girls who turned to stripping or tricking, and even a guy who became convinced that trash cans were bugged because the government was spying on him so he would cross the street to avoid them.   None of us grew up in the hood, we're all middle class white kids.  Every problem any one of us had, we brought on ourselves, no doubt about it.

Now, I'm not trying to preach or lecture.  Seriously, have a good time doing whatever it is your doing.  I just want to share what youthful drug use looks like with 15 or so years of perspective on it.   You fuck around with any of it long enough and someone is going to have something bad happen.   So be careful with it, ok?

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onewheelwizzard

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #472 on: 26 Mar 2008, 18:33 »

And this is where I rant about how just about every one of those problems could've been avoided by ending drug prohibition and integrating illegal substances into current medical and psychiatric practice (or at least more supportive addiction treatment programs).

I personally think that a large portion of destructive potential that drugs have is due to the fact that users of drugs are defined as criminals.  The vast, vast majority of drug users are not criminals except by virtue of their drug use, and yet that definition is enough to turn someone into a career criminal with just one jail visit (sometimes not even that is necessary).
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #473 on: 26 Mar 2008, 18:51 »

Not only that, but decriminalizing marijuana alone would save so much manpower and money for fighting slightly more important problems, like, say, trafficking-in-persons, murder, grand theft, the various degrees and forms of assault, robbery, and a whole slew of others.
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Hat

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #474 on: 26 Mar 2008, 20:17 »

I had a dream last night where I did cocaine and then I wound up owning a bank somehow.
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RedLion

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #475 on: 26 Mar 2008, 20:20 »

I would think that you'd be more prone to rob a bank after snorting some coke, rather than own one.
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #476 on: 26 Mar 2008, 20:22 »

Unless it was a snowbank.
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #477 on: 27 Mar 2008, 07:53 »

A Wet Helmet,

The thing on the folks you knew is that that seems like they lived a full lifestyle of that. Basing your life around any variety of stuff can and will likely ruin your life. I'm only twenty-four and most of the habitual users I knew as a teenager have already managed to fuck up their lives beyond repair.

One guy I knew was dead by twenty. He either ODed or someone dipped his needles in battery acid. I never got a clear answer on it. Guy was a sweet person, but hung with a wrong crowd and it did him in.

His cousin, who I was much closer with, had actually gotten away from it. He grew up in Lynn, MA, which for anyone who's spent time in New England, is infamous as one of the single worst cities in the entire area to live in. His parents made the smart choice and got him out of there in his mid teens. Unfortunately for him, his friends ended up following later and he fell right back into it and spread a bit of it around our suburban NH town. Last I heard, he's in jail for close to ten years over a hostage situation. I knew this dude pretty well and I can guarantee something like this would've happened to him with or without the drugs, though. He was always a rather sheepish and go along with the crowd kind of guy. He continued to follow the wrong one and it got his ass in jail.

Some people get out of it, some people don't, but nine times out of ten, it's the crowd mentality and the lifestyle that does these people in. A drink ain't gonna kill you unless you take your first one with a bunch of alcoholics (Though I honestly can't even say that fully, as my first drink was with three borderline alcoholics).
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #478 on: 27 Mar 2008, 08:23 »

Because it's actually spelled "judgment."  I only found this out recently while writing this essay that uses the word "judgment" a bunch of times in it, and I still have to stop and think for a split-second in order not to put the "e" in there.
Edit!  Apparently it's spelled "judgement" in British English, and "judgment" in American.
huh, thanks.

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #479 on: 30 Mar 2008, 15:23 »

None of us grew up in the hood, we're all middle class white kids.  Every problem any one of us had, we brought on ourselves, no doubt about it.

What?
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SonofZ3

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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #480 on: 30 Mar 2008, 15:32 »

Apparently middle class white kids can't have alcoholic or abusive parents, or if they do they bring those problems on themselves like all the others.
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Re: Get off my lawn!
« Reply #481 on: 31 Mar 2008, 05:35 »

I read it as more of a pointer that the media perception of drugs is often "only poor kids with no hope and no future do drugs" which is totally bullshit. Then the second part was admitting that it wasn't someone else's fault.

I read somewhere (and I can't remember anything about the article except the general premise so I can't link to it) that there is believed to be far more abuse and drug use in middle class families than was ever known before, because it tends to get hushed up. Families with a steady income and children with good grades at school are less likely to be involved with government agencies like social workers and the like, so problems don't get discovered by the state and therefore are not included in statistics. Also, there is evidence that middle class people have better health in general, so they'd not be seeing doctors as often and therefore issues with drugs might not be noticed (sorry, can't find anything to cite this to but I think it was a survey we studied in Sociology). I don't know how much this applies to other countries than the UK but I'd imagine it does to varying extents.
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."
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