Quitting smoking.

[Sky]

Problem with testing is that it's an invasion of privacy. I can't believe NORML & co can't get their shit together behind that defense. If I toke this weekend, in the safety and privacy of my own home, it'll be a good month before the traces are out of my system. Meanwhile, I could get blindingly drunk and be just ducky.

I'm all against any kind of intoxication in the workplace, when I was manager at wellymart, I sent home a coworker...then went over to his house after to toke up. You just don't do that shit before or during work hours, period.

But I'm robbed of all responsibility by these silly and frankly anti-american prohibition laws. Ah, well. I've given up all hope of sensibility or freedom based on personal responsibility, it no longer exists in american culture.

[SnakeCharmer]

My brother had to prove that he didn't smoke before he was hired by an American company. And this was in Canada. They knew perfectly well that they had no right to ask him to do that but they let him know that if he refused he wouldn't be hired.

If I am putting someone on my payroll, I've got every right in the world to ask them if they smoke pot.  And drug test them if I have the tiniest suspicion.

I'm hiring them, not the other way around.

But yeah.  Pot.

Anything that gives you bitch titties, shrinks your testicles, makes you impotent, and paranoid, GIVE ME MORE OF THAT!!!

Edit:

I can't believe NORML & co can't get their shit together behind that defense.

Oh. The irony. 

A marijuana advocacy group lacking the motivation or ability to do something.

[Tebonas]

Prefix: I don't take any drugs whatsoever. I don't even smoke or drink alcohol.

With that out of the way. You hire them for their work. If it doesn't infringe on their work, you have no say at all what they do in their spare time. If you want to have a say, you'll have to pay them for their spare time as well.

Of course, if what they do in their spare time makes their work suffer you have every right to fire them guess. Its completely irrelevant what the reason is, though.

[OcellotJenkins]

Anything that gives you bitch titties, shrinks your testicles, makes you impotent, and paranoid, GIVE ME MORE OF THAT!!!

[Reg]

My brother had to prove that he didn't smoke before he was hired by an American company. And this was in Canada. They knew perfectly well that they had no right to ask him to do that but they let him know that if he refused he wouldn't be hired.

If I am putting someone on my payroll, I've got every right in the world to ask them if they smoke pot.  And drug test them if I have the tiniest suspicion.

I'm hiring them, not the other way around.

But yeah.  Pot.

I was talking about cigarettes actually. It was a nicotine test. Apparently they got a discount on their health plan as long as they didn't hire smokers.

Of course my brother was in Canada so he wasn't going on their health plan anyway but still the company chose to violate Canadian law by forcing him to take a blood test.

But whatever. Gosh I sure wish us Canadians were as free as you guys.

[Moosehands]

If I am putting someone on my payroll, I've got every right in the world to ask them if they smoke pot.  And drug test them if I have the tiniest suspicion.

I'm hiring them, not the other way around.

But yeah.  Pot.

Anything that gives you bitch titties, shrinks your testicles, makes you impotent, and paranoid, GIVE ME MORE OF THAT!!!

My mother used to have a pretty significant methamphetamine habit (snorted, not smoked like me (such a happy family!)).  At the time, she had a job overseeing inmates at a federal prison and was subject to a drug test every 3 months.  Her and all her friends had the same opinion of pot that you do, and never touched the stuff.

Meth is undetectable in urine after about 3 days.  Drug testing is a ridiculous, ineffective activity that really only screens the least harmful way humans make themselves giggly other than spinning around in a circle with their eyes closed.

[Mrbloodworth]

Anything that gives you bitch titties, shrinks your testicles, makes you impotent, and paranoid, GIVE ME MORE OF THAT!!!

WTF were you smoking? 

[Sky]

WTF were you smoking? 

A bong full of delusion.

[SnakeCharmer]

Nah, that's for pot smokers that believe it's the magic cure all medicine and has no harmful side effects.

Denial is not a river in Egypt!

(edit: I hate remembering something semi-funny after the fact)

[stray]

That'd be a very tiny percentage of pot smokers, McGruff.

[slog]

I quit on October 30th, 1998 and haven't smoked since.  I started a week cold turkey, then my wife made me use the patch for a few weeks.  I was driving her insane.

A lot of it truly is behaviour modification.  I stopped going to bars, since everyone reeked of cigarettes.  As a smoker, you don't realize how repulsive you smell until you quit.

[Selby]

Anything that gives you bitch titties, shrinks your testicles, makes you impotent, and paranoid, GIVE ME MORE OF THAT!!!

You know, the D.A.R.E. officer who lectured us in 6th grade used to say that this would all happen to you if you abused marijuana.  Of all the potheads I know, not a single one ever grew boobs or had their wangs fall off.  Are we sure it isn't just a side effect of eating junk food all the time and getting overweight?

The reason it makes people paranoid is because they are afraid of doing 5-10 for possessing a joint ;-)

[Llava]

The one girl I know who smokes pot regularly does have pretty... ample boobs.  She's thin as hell, too.


.................

[lamaros]

Denial is not a river in Egypt!

LOL GOOD ONE!

[NowhereMan]

A lot of it truly is behaviour modification.  I stopped going to bars, since everyone reeked of cigarettes.  As a smoker, you don't realize how repulsive you smell until you quit.

On a more general note, I hadn't really noticed the extent to which the UK has become smoke free until I watched the Wire recently, hadn't seen it so I've started on the first season. It took me a while to notice why things seemed somehow odd until I realised it was not only were there lots of people smoking but that people were lighting up inside buildings. I've actually come to think of smoking as something you do outside and certainly not in public places, granted I've never been a smoker but it seems weird that I've had that level of mindset change in just under a year of it being kicked out of pubs.

Also the prevalence of overweight people made things seem mildly strange, not in a particularly noticeable way but....

[Sky]

Nah, that's for pot smokers that believe it's the magic cure all medicine and has no harmful side effects.

Did you move to Dashland where everything is black and white?

You do have a valid point about NORML. I was an active member in the 80s, but left because of the apathy, but mostly because they were too pussified to admit they just wanted to smoke pot and kept going on about hemp fabric and seed oil and such nonsense.

[SnakeCharmer]

Look.  I'll concede that some people can handle it (smoking pot responsibly, if there is a such a thing).  But from my experience, most people can't.   I've seen far too many friends (and family - most notably my brother) with way too much potential toss their lives away as a result of pot, or it leading into other drugs. 

I'm have a more militant outlook on it because I saw first hand what it did to my brother, and by extension how it affected my parents for the better part of 15-20 years.  Weed led to coke which led to my brother becoming a dealer which led to my brother being arrested multiple times for multiple offenses.  My ex-best friend, whilst baked out of his skull, 'forgot' about his 18 month old daughter (I was her godfather) who wandered out to the pool - you can guess the rest.

So, yeah, I do have a black/white outlook on "harmless" weed shaped on seeing nothing but bad from it.  The only people who don't see the harm in it are the people smoking it.  I've got an intense personal hatred towards it, and will never be convinced otherwise.

[Tebonas]

One of my fellow students in evening school went from being a somewhat good student to not finishing school thanks to not caring and showing up anymore. (from Pot, I saw, smelled and was offered it repeatedly).

But then I meet drunks all the time who do the same thing and get ME drunk when they breath at me as well.

Not the same as somebody drinking a good wine to some exquisite meal once in a while, though.

[Sky]

Ah. Pot absolves your brother and friend from personal responsibility. It's the drug's fault. Gotcha.

There is a such a thing as responsibility, just like you don't drink and drive. Your best friend was a loser, smoking pot while he was supposed to be watching over his kid. Your brother is a loser for dealing and not straightening up his act after getting busted the first time. The people I know who smoke only smoke responsibly, the same way someone would drink responsibly.

It's personal responsibility, not the drugs. That's hard for some people to face, it's easier to blame the drugs.

Geldoned: Moosehands can relate how a drug can fuck up your life. Meth is seriously awful stuff, I saw a lot of that when I was on the west coast.

[Rasix]

Blockbuster video used to do hair testing.  Just saying.

TipTop Nursery (plant store) tested urine.  I was the designated pisser for about half the place.   A plant store attracting stoners? Whaaaa?

As to SC's reefer madness tale: read what Sky wrote.  My uncle the heroin addict, my junkie cousin, and my twice in prison cousin have no one to blame but themselves. 

Edit: It was annoying to work with people who were baked on the job, but they did a good job watering plants.  No on the job accidents the entire time I was there.  Heh.

[CmdrSlack]

See, personal responsibility only applies when it's something like being poor or homeless. Those people CHOOSE to be that way.

But people who smoke pot? Totally suckered in by the devil weed. 

[Llava]

So, yeah, I do have a black/white outlook on "harmless" weed shaped on seeing nothing but bad from it.  The only people who don't see the harm in it are the people smoking it.

Just about all of my friends did or do smoke pot.  I've yet to see a single harmful result.  In fact, those same people have been more negatively affected by actions they've done while drinking alcohol.

My anecdotal evidence counters yours.

I don't, never have, and likely never will smoke pot.  I see no harm in it.  I see harm in irresponsible, stupid people abusing it, just like if they chose to abuse alcohol instead.  Or MMOGs.

[Special J]

I really don't consider weed any better or worse than alcohol.  They can both be abused and ruin lives; and they can both be fine when in moderation.

I do know if I see one person all liquored up and one high as a kite; that the former is more likely to do something colossally stupid.

[Signe]

Don't believe anything SnakeCharmer says.  He works on a boat.  Pot is an herbal remedy and can only do good things for you.  If you don't believe me, ask God.

Srsly, man.

[Sky]

Well, don't paint the rosy clouds with unicorns. There is the smoking hazard inherent in all smoked materials. But hey, it's my body, and it's waaaay less than cigarettes unless you smoke pot like a fiend. But if you drink in moderation, the health benefits outweigh the detriments, I feel the same about marijuana. Stress is fuckin' dangerous.

[Signe]

Shuddup, you!  I slightly wobble by my post.

[Sky]

I was just trying to spare you SC's tirade of the deadly consequences of ghastly marijuana :P

[Tebonas]

[Selby]

I can't believe this fucking thread turned into a cross between Reefer Madness and a bad episode of Dragnet (where Joe Friday lectures on the evils of LSD and marijuana with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other).

People who have addictive personalities and end up abusing drugs are going to abuse them regardless of the drug unless they control their addiction.  Low level "gateway" drugs are more symbolic of the personality rather than some inherent evil in the drug itself and often used as crutches and excuses to prevent personal responsibility.

People who toke up and live responsible lives are NOT something you can pick out, because they have their shit together unlike meth-heads or potheads living in mommy and daddy's basement forever.  Same as someone who drinks a beer or two after work.

[SnakeCharmer]

Ah. Pot absolves your brother and friend from personal responsibility. It's the drug's fault. Gotcha.

There is a such a thing as responsibility, just like you don't drink and drive. Your best friend was a loser, smoking pot while he was supposed to be watching over his kid. Your brother is a loser for dealing and not straightening up his act after getting busted the first time. The people I know who smoke only smoke responsibly, the same way someone would drink responsibly.

It's personal responsibility, not the drugs. That's hard for some people to face, it's easier to blame the drugs.

Geldoned: Moosehands can relate how a drug can fuck up your life. Meth is seriously awful stuff, I saw a lot of that when I was on the west coast.

I never said a thing about lack of personal responsibility.  We're responsible for everything we do.

Including using an illegal substance with harmful direct and indirect side effects.

My anecdotal evidence counters yours.

It's not anecdotal evidence when you see it first hand.  Like I said in my earlier post, some people can handle it, most can't.

So, after all is said and done, I'm out of this thread since an argument or debate of pro-pot people and anti-pot people never goes anywhere.  And I'll do it without firing a single snarky shot across anyone's bow.

[stray]

One side of the debate here isn't even that "pro pot" really. They just happen to find your "anti" sentiment unreasonable.

[Abagadro]

It's not anecdotal evidence when you see it first hand.

That's pretty much the definition of an anecdote.

[NowhereMan]

I LOLed

[Sky]

Like I said in my earlier post, some people can handle it, most can't.

Most people. Really. Should we tally up how many ways you lose this minidebate?

Addictive personalities and just straight up stupid people can't be helped by prohibition, only by counseling. Meanwhile, perfectly responsible adults can't grow a fucking PLANT in their backyard for personal and responsible enjoyment in the privacy of their own house.

You so utterly fail, it's time to learn a new debate angle on the subject. Because we don't legislate by the losers, otherwise alcohol would be illegal due to overdosage and secondary deaths (DUI and etc).

[Selby]

One side of the debate here isn't even that "pro pot" really. They just happen to find your "anti" sentiment unreasonable.

Exactly.  I am one of the few who thinks it should be legal who doesn't like to smoke it at alll.  I don't like the smell and don't really like the idea of a potential carcinogen in my lungs (which may or may not be proven due to government reluctance to do an honest study).  Especially considering I don't get any benefit from it.  But that doesn't mean it should be illegal.

Because we don't legislate by the losers, otherwise alcohol would be illegal due to overdosage and secondary deaths (DUI and etc).

And we all know how well that worked out the last time they tried it.