weed....the destructive seed

[ayurveda]

Hey everyone,

I have been smoking weed for a little over a month now, I didnt really start until i got into high school . I started off slow but as time went by i was smoking a lot. At least everyday. At first it was just fun, me and my buddies would get high and just be stupid laughing at whatever. Ive also tried shrooms and x a couple times. Now when I smoke I seem to have a lot of the problems that people describe on here. Emotionally unstable, feeling depressed would describe it better. I get very paranoid and irrational about my thinking. Social anxiety overwhelms me and I have a very hard time wanting to talk to or listen to someone when Im high. If i do listen I dont really think of anything to say to further carry on a conversation. I feel dumb, and I know deep down im actually a very intelligent person. Basically to sum things up ever since I started smoking heavily I feel very disconnected from the world and everything in it, particularly people and I just get lost in my own thoughts. These thoughts are usually negative thoughts about myself.

My question for you guys is, whats your opinion on the effects that drugs have on you even when you are not on them. Because while the feelings I describe are very intense if ive smoked weed, they seem to linger even when
I havent smoked. I can definitely feel them the day after. Do you think that the effects of drugs can be present whether you are on the drug or not?

I ask this because I use to be a very joyful person who could enjoy the present and plan my future. I use to love meeting new people and conversation was a favorite past time. I want to say my drug use could be playing a huge role in my personality change but as I said even when im not
on drugs the effects still feel there. If you guys could be so kind as to answer my question Id really appreciate it. I want to quit using drugs, and I know I can but I need some motivation. I just want to be my old self again.

[ellion]

Drugs Do stay in your system and have an effect on the brain and the nervous system for a long time after the peak experience has diminished. Some drugs more so than others. Usually the come down from a drug is the worst feeling. This can be in the first couple of days after a big hit however the repercussions can continue for weeks. Because of there horrible feelings people often take more drugs to make themselves feel better again. This is the slippery slope to becoming dependent on drugs. The more you abuse your body and mind with drugs the worse you will feel. Stop using them and your will improve. Take exercise and also exercise your mind.you will feel yous self again soon

[pixx]

Weed has calming outcome at the beginning of use but once you have used it regularly it diminishes in power, so you need more to get some effect. Reason 1 for stopping: you are spending more money than you should. Spend your money on something constructive that makes your life better.

Once it is used regularly chemicals stay in fat tissue degrading slowly, this produces a contra effect when is not used, the things that bother you are just enhanced so if you are not using it they are there and if you are using it they are amplified. Result you likely get angry if you are not smoking. Reason 2 for stopping: its not weed, its your problem you wish to avoid.

After a long time you will develop anxiety due the lack of sleep and more contra effects you do not actually want unfolding. Reason 3 for stopping: you are degrading your physical health. And withit your mental health.

Instead of seeking dumb state, try to get active first, do some sport, adrenalin is of equivalent action, then concentrate on the REAL PROBLEM and DEAL WITH IT and GET RID OF IT. And if you wish to have a cool time, after some months of cleaning up (yes for weed you need at least 3 months to clear traces), you can enjoy it for fun sake occasionally. No point for weed if you are going to get depressed, as it was in the beginning.

What bothers me with your post that you are seeking other chemicals than weed, so you are definitively seeking a hard path. With this I detect you have already a serious problem, not with weed or x or whatever else you tried but with something seriously in your own real life.

Do not ask me how do I know. I've seen too many kids dropping of school, loosing friends, and ruining their life because they did not know when to call it OFF.

How to do it: First avoid all chemical variants, they are far more dangerous. Try to dilute your smoking schedule by not smoking on workdays, so you can concentrate in school and get some results while you can, so move it to weekend. And then work it out to skip weekends by getting some activity, so you can stay healthy. And finally try to avoid these weed weekends altogether. With gradual discipline you can get results of getting back to normal and on the way you may solve the problem that is bothering you.

[voodoo scientist]

Marijuana will physically stay in your system for just over a month, and your professional/academic performance and state of mind will be affected for at least two weeks after smoking. Working memory and attention are especially impaired, which are pretty much your two most important attributes in school. That means for about two weeks after you stop taking marijuana, you will be in a state of mild withdrawal (that you almost certainly won't recognize as withdrawal givens its portrayal in pop culture) and won't really 'feel like yourself.' MDMA and mushrooms, and all other drugs (medicinal or recreational) work the same way, but I'm not familiar with how they are metabolized.

Take a two week clean break. Don't substitute your smoking for alcohol, nicotine, caffeine or other psychoactives. You'll be completely fine, aside from whatever unrelated problems you might have going on. Drug policy is one of the greatest expressions of the main cultural problem of modern Western society: conformity expresses an inability to cope with ambiguity, and can lead to overuse of the legal highs such as coffee, alcohol and cigarettes, while rebellion expresses an inability to cope with contradiction, and can lead to an overuse of the illegal highs such as MDMA and mushrooms. I believe it's so normal for people your age to be highly engaged for or against drug policy for precisely this reason.

[pert -5]

voodoo scientist, loathe am I to get into a debate with you, but I just can't agree with these remarks I quote:

Marijuana will physically stay in your system for just over a month,

It CAN stay in your system that long, but such matters depend on dosage and frequency.  If you smoke pot one time at a party and don't touch it ever again, it won't be in the ole' body juice for a month.  (Maybe it is at a molecular level, if so I stand corrected.  But you would certainly not fail a drug test after a week, following this scenario.)  If you smoked daily for three years, two months, and seventeen days, then it will show up in your system for over a month.

and your professional/academic performance and state of mind will be affected for at least two weeks after smoking. Working memory and attention are especially impaired, which are pretty much your two most important attributes in school.

Hmm, where have I heard this before?  Oh yeah, liza123 used to espouse such beliefs.  voodoo scientist, you're not studying the same books as...  *shivers*  Sorry voodoo scientist, I'm hate myself for even suggesting that. 

[pixx]

just noticed that original post was in june nearly 2 years ago..... did not notice it when i replied originally. it would be nice to hear from ayurveda what has happened in the meantime

[voodoo scientist]

voodoo scientist, loathe am I to get into a debate with you, but I just can't agree with these remarks I quote:

Marijuana will physically stay in your system for just over a month,

It CAN stay in your system that long, but such matters depend on dosage and frequency.  If you smoke pot one time at a party and don't touch it ever again, it won't be in the ole' body juice for a month.  (Maybe it is at a molecular level, if so I stand corrected.  But you would certainly not fail a drug test after a week, following this scenario.)  If you smoked daily for three years, two months, and seventeen days, then it will show up in your system for over a month.

and your professional/academic performance and state of mind will be affected for at least two weeks after smoking. Working memory and attention are especially impaired, which are pretty much your two most important attributes in school.

Hmm, where have I heard this before?  Oh yeah, liza123 used to espouse such beliefs.  voodoo scientist, you're not studying the same books as...  *shivers*  Sorry voodoo scientist, I'm hate myself for even suggesting that.  

First, a urine test is indirect and imprecise. A proper blood test will reveal the marijuana trace up to a month after consumption - if research has been carried out investigating the effects of limiting one's consumption to 'just once at a party and never touching it again,' I am not aware of it, but you may very well be right about the effects under those circumstances.

Secondly, while you are welcome to counter my claim that marijuana impairs working memory and attention, or my claim that these are the primary attributes necessary for successful academic work, you can't just compare me to a doofus and expect to make some sort of point.

[pert -5]

First, a urine test is indirect and imprecise. A proper blood test will reveal the marijuana trace up to a month after consumption - if research has been carried out investigating the effects of limiting one's consumption to 'just once at a party and never touching it again,' I am not aware of it, but you may very well be right about the effects under those circumstances.

For all practical concerns I am right.  I won't dispute that a test designed to find THC won't find it if it looks really hard, but even the tests used by probation officers won't test positive under such conditions.

Secondly, while you are welcome to counter my claim that marijuana impairs working memory and attention, or my claim that these are the primary attributes necessary for successful academic work, you can't just compare me to a doofus and expect to make some sort of point.

I apologize again for that voodoo scientist.  Bad, bad joke...

I am coming from experience when I say that pot doesn't affect your mind for two weeks.  Four hours is probably the maximum duration of the prominent psychoactive results of cannabis use.  Anything beyond that might be measurable in a clinical setting, but not in practicality.  (Factors such as tolerance are obviously a consideration, but even those of zero tolerance would be hard pressed to maintain 'symptoms' for four hours after initial ingestion.)

Working memory and attention, also, are not necessarily attenuated, but subject to increase when under the use of cannabis.  Marijuana does not make you smarter, I'll admit that.  But if you are predisposed toward learning and science, then marijuana will not deter you from such pursuits.  It can actually give you a more intrinsic understanding of academia.

[voodoo scientist]

In regards to the question of urine versus blood test, you are right only in the sense that he probably will not be discovered by authorities. However, this is irrelevant; we are speaking of the negative biological effects of marijuana, not the legality.

I do think I understand where you're coming from on this now. It's certainly true that some individuals can develop tolerance as well as train themselves to function better while under the effects of marijuana than they otherwise would. It's true that primary symptoms disappear after only a few hours. Consuming marijuana certainly doesn't make you smarter, on this much we agree. However, the conclusions still don't follow.

Any particle that is in your bloodstream will affect you, regardless of whether there are enough to bring them above the threshold for the consciousness to pick up on them. The perceived absence of primary symptoms is irrelevant, it's simply a matter of probability and pharmacology: the ingested drugs won't go inert, can only bind to certain receptors and will not be fully flushed until 'their time is up,' so to speak, so there's zero probability that they won't have an effect.

In the context of psychoactive drugs, think of consciousness like a nose: there has to be 'enough' particles in the atmosphere for the smell to become something one is aware of, but even when there less than 'enough,' one still breathes it in.

[pixx]

Couple of days ago I watched Zeitgeist - a third release. There I have picked up an interesting viewpoint that in short terms says: We treat some substances as addictive, whereby such substances on their own are not addictive it is our susceptibility that makes them addictive. I believe this is worth pondering and sharing as a thought.

[Enigma]

Marijuana is like peanuts.  Perfectly safe for a majority of the population, but harmful and destructive to a small subset with preexisting conditions. 

[pert -5]

We treat some substances as addictive, whereby such substances on their own are not addictive it is our susceptibility that makes them addictive.

Correct.  It is the propensity of the individual that determines the rate and magnitude of indulgence.  Even with substances which become physically addictive, there are those who can refrain from using easier than some others.  Also, each psyche is unique and has its own "wish list" that it wants to be fulfilled by the reagent.  Hence we have one person try marijuana and is disturbed by it, while another likes it quite a bit.