Reaction to a comment posted to main thread so I won’t misplace it

Argh. I just posted a reply and lj ate it.

> We’ll try again.

> I think watering down the definition of ‘addiction’ is a bad idea, as it ultimately means > that the word becomes useless.

> Lacking cravings or feelings that you *must* have pot to function or to ever be happy
> again or something like that, it’s not an addiction. In your other post you mentioned that > smoking pot slowed down your thinking for weeks afterwards. Are you sure about that?
> That’s one of those things that are often cited as fact by anti-drug sources, but no
> research really backs it up (chronic pot smoking can slow down your brain, but it picks
> back up after 1-6 months off..and that’s chronic like every day, most of the day..not an
> occasional joint on weekends) and a fair amount of research refutes it. That said, it’s
> entirely possible you have an idiosyncratic reaction to the stuff. It’s not as if it would
> be your first idiosyncratic reaction to something. So if that really is the case, you’ll
> have to do a cost/benefits analysis on it. Just makes sure you’re using real data and not
> disinformation for that analysis.

It’s pretty clear that given my lack of cravings, and my ability to ponder the matter dispassionately (more or less) that I’m in no way physically addicted, and that herb is nowhere near as addictive as it’s legal counterpart (cigs). I find that kind of funny..

As for the slowing down thing: I can sense it. It’s not a huge slowdown.. it’s not like I become a gibbering idiiot – it’s just fractions of a percent for each time I smoke. But right now at least I need those fractions of a percent – I’m juggling many projects, almost all of which require me to be smarter than the average bear – and almost all of which require me to be smarter than the average bear in a _different_ category. We’ve got analog electronics, programming, particle physics.. I’m learning large chunks of new material every week, and of course I have to keep working to keep myself fed.

I do think that weed has some long term effects, because all the people I know who have been chronic weed abusers (read: addicts ;-)) have been noticably slower than other people – and in one case, noticably slower after than before. However, alchohol does more damage – far, far more – so I guess if people have to be addicted to something, I’ll choose weed every time.

Similarly, E. is proported by many studies to be totally harmless – but everyone I know who uses E. regularly seems to have lost 20 points of IQ..

At the same time, I want to rationalize my use of weed because when I smoke alone or in small groups of people (as opposed to at parties for example) I do genuinely enjoy myself. ANd it’s not like I smoke a joint and then sit in front of the TV for hours – I still do productive things. But I don’t think that I learn as fast – I may be able to program somewhat better stoned (although I’ve only tried it a few times) but I’m not nearly as good at system administration, design, or a number of other things.

On the other hand, weed has led me to many nonintuitive ways of visualizing the world that have been very helpful, and has led me to many personal insights. So I don’t know. Anyway, it’s not likely that not using it is going to hurt me in any way aside fromt he enjoyment that I might miss out oon derving from it.

I don’t know. I will ponder this issue more. Maybe I’ll go back and look at my journal to see how long it’s been since I smoked.

[perhaps I should regularly log when I smoke in my journal, if I resume. Then I can look over it to detect patterns. Yes, this is acknowledging a illegal activity in a public place, but on the other hand, it’s a activity that I do not feel should be illegal – and if arrested for it, at least I’ll get the satisfaction of saying to the judge something like this:

—————————————————————————————-

Your honor, we have a problem here. The purpose of the criminal justice system is ostensibly rehabilitation – but I can tell you that no amount of time spent in jail will make me feel regret for inhaling the smoke of a burning plant, and no fine will make me feel that I should not smoke it. This is not the voice of addiction speaking, this is the voice of sanity. Jail time will only make me feel resentful towards a system that is doling out a punishment for a crime that, as far as I can tell, hurts no one – not even myself.

I am, as far as I can tell, a productive, taxpaying member of society. I build useful software and develop useful hardware. I am making serious inroads in making electric vehicles practical for use by Joe Sixpack. I write music that others enjoy and give it away for free. I am a positive force in the world I live in. Marajuana does not appear to have reduced the positive force I exert – on the contrary, I think it sometimes affords me insights into the projects I am working on that I would not have sober.

If your honor can tell me a reason that makes sense to me that I should not smoke marajuana – that I should look on this behavior as undesirable – I will stop. But no sentance that doesn’t involve a rational explanation of why this action is wrong will cause me to stop, or feel regret or remorse. You can lock me up for a hundred years – depriving the U.S. government of a hundred years of my taxes, and the world of a hundred years of whatever positive force I might exert – and I will feel no differently about this crime at the end of the hundred years. I am not a child – you can not change my mind by forcing me to sit in the corner.

You will likely tell me that you are obliged to pass sentance on me not because of your own personal feelings but because of the obligations of the job – that you are not free to decide whether or not to pass sentance. This is a lie – you are lying to yourself. No man or woman is obliged to do his job – that is one of the good things about capitolism. You are free to resign today – or to take actions that even if morally right, would get you fired – i.e. not passing sentance. If you find behaving dishonorably – condemning others to a fate you do not agree with – to be worth avoiding having to find a new job, then I feel sorry for you.

If you agree with this fate, then surely you can give me a rational explanation for why smoking marajuana is wrong.

As a side note, if every man and woman would refuse to do tasks that are dishonorable, even for pay, the world would be a far, far better place to live in. And if every judge refused to pass sentance on people for crimes which hurt no one, soon the laws making those actions crimes would be removed, for the world needs judges.

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5 Responses to “Reaction to a comment posted to main thread so I won’t misplace it”

  1. anonymous Says:

    physically addicted, and that herb is nowhere near as addictive as it’s legal counterpart (cigs). I find that kind of funny

    *I’m sure you know its all about money. Of course I’m from socal where we almost have a non smoking state. (We’ll get you and your “right” to smoke. Bahaha! I’m such a fucking facist sometimes) So you have 3 of these industrys at work. The machine that is the “war on drugs” which makes billions of dollars by seizing property and cash directly, and the tobacco companies that make billions by selling addiction and the pharmaceutical companies that make billions sell you derivitives of the same drugs the war on drugs is stopping. This isn’t news, you know it all too. 🙂 Becuase its more profitable this way.

    As for the slowing down thing: I can sense it. It’s not a huge slowdown it’s not like I become a gibbering idiiot – it’s just fractions of a percent for each time I smoke. But right now at least I need those

    *Have you considered smart drugs? 🙂 Some of those are just as fun. B Complex injections? Pure oxygen? Try a little something to clear out the blockages in the synapses the thc causes? I dont mean in addition to, i mean instead of. 🙂

    I do think that weed has some long term effects, because all the people I know who have been chronic weed abusers have been noticably slower than other people – and in one case, noticably slower after than before.

    *There will always be addiction because addiction is absorbtion. When absorbed you are away from misery. Since the world will always contain misery, escapes from the misery will always be present.

    Similarly, E. is proported by many studies to be totally harmless – but everyone I know who uses E. regularly seems to have lost 20 points of IQ..

    *Only 20? 🙂 Ive got a special place in my heart for the candy raver e freaks. I think they give whatever they touch a bad name. You got millions of americans smoking crack, but noone posts about how cool crack is. Meth same thing. I think E is included in that category, except people think it is cool.

    At the same time, I want to rationalize my use of weed because when I smoke alone or in small groups of people (as opposed to at parties for example) I do genuinely enjoy myself. ANd it’s not like I smoke a joint and then sit

    *I’m telling ya, branch out. Theres plenty of ways to get mildly euphoric without the adverse side effects.

    On the other hand, weed has led me to many nonintuitive ways of visualizing the world that have been very helpful, and has led me to many personal insights.

    *Was it the weed, or was it the ritual of the weed? Did the drug put you in the state of mind, or did you go to that state because that was the time to take that journey? There are plenty of people who smoke who dont have any brighter view on the world than your average closed minded conformist. It is my belief that the drug doesn’t show you anything or help you to find anything. But the act of looking, and the enhanced belief that you are more likely to find something allows you to. Call it enlightenment placebo effect. 🙂

    (snip)
    sentance on people for crimes which hurt no one, soon the laws making those actions crimes would be removed, for the world needs judges.

    *Capitolism is about getting paid. Your taxes go to keep million locked up in jails. You dont have a choice but to leave the country. We all make sacrifices of our own freedoms to preserve self. Some rationalize it saying that they can do more good than evil with the power they have, and some dont rationalize it at all because they dont care. Take me. I left California for Iowa. Theres just as much corruption and crime and stupidity here as there is there. My voice, my money, my work are all coopted by the same power structure that oppresses me. What can I do about it? What can anyone do? Short of armed revolution which would innevitable lead to the same situation again in time, and would ultimately benefit the same war profiteers who get rich when we fight for oil, not much. 🙂 Maybe I’m pesimistic, maybe I’m full of shit? The only solution I see, is to strike out on my own, away from the confines of any government and create my own utopia. So basically were all screwed as long as we live anywhere on the planet. Wait, who owns antarctica? 🙂

  2. jcurious Says:

    If I had to “choose an addiction” I think I would stick with cigs since it in general just attacks your health.. and not your ability to function/reason/etc…

    just my two cents

  3. sheer_panic Says:

    Um, nice theory, but not quite.. 😉

    Cig smoke contains carbon monoxide, which most definately causes brain damage.

    Anyway, the whole point is that weed is nonaddictive, which is why I can have this nice conversation about whether I want to continue it dispassionately, having not smoked for more than a month, and without suffering from immense urges to smoke it.

    I was never more than a cig-or-two-a-day guy, and I still sometimes get urges to smoke a cig.. cigs are addictive. Weed is not. I speak from personal experience.

  4. brassratgirl Says:

    >But the act of looking, and the enhanced belief that >you are more likely to find something allows you to. >Call it enlightenment placebo effect. 🙂

    I can buy that this may sometimes be a part of the experience, speaking as a usually non-smoker who has been hanging out with hippies my entire life. You can get something from just being there.

    At the same time, though, it is a powerful drug that is partly powerful because it has diverse reactions, even in the same person — you may get a different experience every time; “enlightenment” one day, paranoia the next, ho-hum after that, which is I think part of what turned S. off.

    As for what you can do about corrupt power structures: revolution is hard work, and not really as romantic as it seems. You can: figure out exactly what it is you dislike the most; work to change those pieces; work to change other people’s minds; work on intellectual solutions (what would replace capitalism?); conciously not support the structures that you disapprove of: don’t like big oil? take the bus to work, take a motorscooter, buy an electric car, don’t buy things in plastic packaging, recycle everything, heat your house with gas, put solar panels on your roof. Etc.

    If you seriously want to create a utopia, read The Blithedale Romance by Hawthorne, about a commune in the 19th century, and then read about the experiences of communes in the 1960’s, and then read the webpages of The Farm, in Summertown, TN., and try not to repeat everyone’s mistakes. That’s my best advice 🙂

    p.s. how’s Iowa? hope you guys are doing well…
    — phoebe

  5. brassratgirl Says:

    Ah! My dear! You’ve become a hippie for sure! Having long discussions about the meaning of pot… *hrmph.* 😉 It’s one the hallmarks, you know — right up there with the male’s tawny tie-dyed coat and the female’s patchwork, right up there with the commonly observed cry of “the cops, maaaan”, right up there with the items* of the frisbee and the semi-scary health food wrapped in old plastic bags. Ah, the Hippieus Naturalistic! I am glad it is not a dying breed.

    *for as the hippie naturalist Cee. Darwyn observed, the hippie cannot exist without numerous props, preferably as many as can fit in a VW bus.

    p.s. I like your little speech though. Very well-written. Plus, if you want a sure-fire way to get out of jury duty, you can always whip it out. “Yer Honner, I’d like to take this opportunity to say something about the drug war.”

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