For everyone ignorant/panicked over "gateway drugs" I assure you that my first intoxicating "gateway drug" was Vicodin pills, not weed. Which made me so abnormally cheerful I turned into Mr. Rogers ("It's a BEAUTIFUL day in the neighborhood!"). Plus, smoking weed doesn't physically force anyone to do harder drugs; that is the individual's choice 100%.
I get really, really tired of drug-addicts who refuse to take any responsibility for their own weakness and act like someone put a gun to their heads and forced them to do harder drugs than weed. You and YOU alone are responsible for what you willingly choose to put in your body. I'm so sick of that 12-step self-pity, victim mentality. Always someone or something else's external fault. If you CHOOSE to do harder drugs, that's your own fault, not the fault of one of the world's most benign plants.
I hear ya Will. But, the reason people think like that is because of that really good piece of propaganda (because it worked, not because it was beneficial), Reefer Madness.
Incidentally, I watched that movie after being trained as a Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor, and the behaviors they blame on marijuana are more like what happens when someone does cocaine, gets drunk, or does speed.
And no...............if you wouldn't do something normally, you won't do it while you're stoned.
Yes, I'm aware of that old "Reefer Madness" nonsense. But the fact is, a pot high is just an unremarkable, sleepy kind of buzz. It doesn't cause anti-social behavior. I've smoked pot for nearly 30 years and I have never once been in jail for anything. I do it in the privacy of my own home and I'm still a normal, law-abiding citizen who never bothers anyone. And here in CA it's legal for me to have the small, petty amounts of weed I have for recreational purposes, anyway. My deadliest habit is still cigarettes.
Actually, it depends on what kind of strain you get. If it is Indica heavy or pure Indica, it will put you to sleep (it's why they call it In Da Couch).
If you smoke a Sativa heavy or pure Sativa, it will actually give you a nice body buzz that is energizing. Actually good for mundane tasks like walking the dog or mowing the lawn.
And, you are right about the behavior of people who smoke. I used to work at a biker bar in Amarillo called Boondocks, and they would let you smoke out back.
For the customers who smoked marijuana only? They were happy, fun to be around people who ordered food and tipped pretty well.
People who smoked and drank? Some I would have to watch when they got a few too many in them. But, up until they got drunk, they were pretty sociable.
People who only drank? There were even more that I'd have to keep an eye on during the weekend, because they liked to party hard.
People who used hard drugs? If they were caught, some of the local patrons would help them to the door and tell them not to come back.
