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Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

news.ycombinator.com

91–100 of 105 posts

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#91

Pot affects everyone differently. If you haven't smoked, don't. If you have, great. But if you start smoking because of an online poll, you should reassess your decision making process.

> If you haven't smoked, don't. If you have, great.

Hm...

> But if you start smoking because of an online poll, you should reassess your decision making process.

What if you don't because of an online comment?

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#92
post #22

I know of no one who (knowingly) has had any negative effects from smoking weed, apart from a few who did it too often because they had nothing better to do. It is harmless in my opinion (compared to other things people can legally do). Also, I know of people who find it extremely enlightening and helps them think of new ways to solve problems.

The few times I tried it, I felt really awesome for about 10 minutes, then suffered terrible anxiety and insomnia for at least a week. I've spoken to several other people who've had a similar experience with it. Those are pretty negative effects, in my opinion, but maybe you mean permanent, physical damage, or something like that?

Some people do have anxiety, and I agree that it's extremely negative, but a lot of people don't. (I do get panicky, which is why I don't smoke, but my friends don't).

My whole point is that if you do get too anxious and freak out with it, DON'T DO IT! Lots of people don't get those effects, and would like those who do to stay out of their business!

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#93
post #73
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think too many people often confuse creativity with a controlled state of madness. Just this morning, I found myself singing "Alouette" while dancing the robot after I just got out of the shower (true story) with no explainable reason why I was doing it... I just was. Shortly after, I thought I was just being creative. Now I'm currently questioning my sanity.

You're not alone. Yesterday I improvised an opera with toys.

That 'tis brilliant! Put that online!

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#94
post #27

Do you eat marijuana? That is an entirely, if not more appropriate, question. Smoking is obviously the prominent method of use, but it seems like nobody actually ingests it, or talks about ingesting it. I've made glycerin tinctures out of it, put it on pizza, pasta, in salads, and of course... used its oil in cookies and brownies. Of course, it's a strong herb, so you don't use "too" much. I can hack fine when I eat…

I'm looking to obtain a card to ingest for minor arthritis.

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#95
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elizer, I'm going to respond to you not because I disagree with what you said, but because you stated concisely the view that's opposite the one I hold, and I figure it might be neat to provide the foil view. I don't hold my mind's current state sacrosanct. That is to say, I respect my mind incredibly, but I don't have any belief that says my mind was built the way it was for a reason, or that there's something wrong…

When is the novel coming out - title?

I self-published, since I was in high school at the time. I'd rather not say the title here, since I'd like this account to remain semi-anonymous, but if you'd like I'll gladly mail you a link to the book online.

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#96
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent points all. Anybody who wants to use social drugs should take a look at meditation and self-hypnosis, because you can get the same emotional states that you'd get with drugs through a little practice. As lionhearted mentioned, hallucinogens are the one exception.

> hallucinogens are the one exception After training myself to remember at least one dream whenever I sleep, a few hours of REM is more than enough hallucinating each day. Some might say it is better to be hallucinating while running about the real world, but I prefer the ability to instantly wake up out of a 'bad trip'.

I don't think the two can be compared. A hallucination is nothing at all like a dream, no matter how vivid the dream is.

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#97
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://beginnersinvest.about.com/od/billgates/l/blbillgatesi... PLAYBOY: Ever take LSD? GATES: My errant youth ended a long time ago. PLAYBOY: What does that mean? GATES: That means there were things I did under the age of 25 that I ended up not doing subsequently. PLAYBOY: One LSD story involved you staring at a table and thinking the corner was going to plunge into your eye. GATES: [Smiles] PLAYBOY: Ah, a glimmer o…

Knowing Bill Gates used LSD just made the drug even less attractive than it was before... I don't want to be like him. ;-)

Interesting. Apparently two people here want to be like him (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-415786940752241012).

This is deeply disturbing.

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#98
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, pot is a psychoactive drug and it does affect everyone in a unique way. In fact, all drugs are going to play with everyone's brains in unique ways. Personally, I don't hack while high, I've never found it helpful. Others will have a different experience, because their brains are wired differently than mine. If you've wanted to experiment with drugs and aren't sure how to start, here are a few tips that have h…

Drugs last a finite amount of time and then you are back to exactly who you are now. To the contrary, the best evidence shows that some drugs can cause permanent (or at least very long-lasting) changes in brain chemistry or brain structure.

I read that line as : "if you're not enjoying your experience at all, don't worry, it'll wear off after a few hours".

I don't think anyone will claim here that the worst drug abuses won't cause long-term damage, but it's not the point.

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#99
THC does not make you a better programmer, though I suppose there could be some Balmer-peak like point of intoxication out there. I did once have an interesting insight into the my mind on drugs, though, in writing a simple TI-83+ program for use in a rangefinder my friends and I decided to build while high. The final product worked exactly correctly, but when I examined the code in a non-intoxicated state, I saw that I had used some fairly elaborate trig identities, when the most appropriate solution would have simply been the tangent. That said, cannabis does tend to get me doing something right away, even if I dispense with the original work half the time. The sense of pure fascination is sometimes of great value.

Now the real question is whether LSD improves my math skills.

Re: Poll: Do you smoke marijuana?

#100
post #11

Remember, just because people who advocate keeping marijuana illegal are horrible human beings, doesn't change the fact that marijuana is a psychoactive drug and we don't really understand the human brain all that well. My own brain is idiosyncratic and doesn't always react as expected (e.g. to caffeine) and I've heard friends say that they think that taking marijuana during college might have permanently dulled the…

For someone whose main preaching is a religion of caution and skepticism, you speak with a lot of moral certainty. Why should holding a very common view (which probably not a lot of thought went into) make a person a "horrible human being"? I even allow that some of the people that disagree with us might have good reasons for doing so. Should I excise a person from the company of "the good guys" because one of his fa…

Okay, you're right. I amend my statement to read that people who support drug criminalization are either horrible human beings, or stupid human beings who haven't spent much time thinking about who their righteous opinions might hurt in real life, and who as voters are directly partially responsible for the said pain. Is that an excuse? I suppose it's better than causing the pain on purpose.
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