talkmagic.co.uk

weed is not addictive. It makes you laugh, then makes you want to eat, and just chill the f**k out and stare at a shadow on the wall for a couple of hours... talk absolute b******s and everyone thinks your talking sense, then if you smoke to much you fall asleep in the loudest room at a party and crash out on a spring bed with no matress and wake up with art all over your body..

Weed will never make you hyper and raged..

I actually said canabis 'contributed' not 'caused' his death. I am not blaming canabis alone as you are trying to make out.

Of course i know that on saturdays nights, more than 9/10 A and E addmissions are due to alcohol influenced behaviour, (1)but alcohol isn't the issue here, Beard is worried about the possible dangers of drugs and (B) alcohol is more widely availible and used by far more people so the laws of statistics say there will be more incidents involving alcohol.

As for canabis related deaths (not ODs, as i NEVER said you CAN OD on cannabis). try these links:

BEARD - Please do not look at these links if you think it might upset you

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/arti ... article.do

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... tab120.xml

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/arti ... 25!7001!-1

The last one is percieved health risk of smoking cannabis

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/arti ... 25!7001!-1

There was also a local lad who killed himself last year in front of his family because he thought he was invincible while high on cannabis. He was 14 years old.

Okay Micheal- so you say cannabis is okay, I say its bad, can we just let the matter lie now with a difference of opinion? The point of my first post wasnt to get into an argument about drugs of any description, just to offer my observation that sometimes people arent greatful for help offered by friends or for a second chance at life and I think thats a really sad thing.

Mods please lock this once and for all, my experience was has obviously been taken personally, which I did not intend.

Neither did i state that you can OD on canabis but point taken I will ammend my post

Now can we have it locked please Mods?

I disagree...This is a good topic and is being well discussed by all. I don't think that this should be locked.

Guys...

I don't usually involve myself in threads which deal with religion, politics or..well..drugs; they always tend to become volatile affairs, due to the (natural) glut of differing view-points.

However, that doesn't mean that I find no merit in such posts.

This thread has strayed significantly from the points raised by the Original Poster, and some of the comments here possibly aren't particularly helpful to his concerns.

I realise that it's difficult not to respond to certain expressed-views, but it may be more beneficial if everyone who posts past this point referrs directly back to the very first post, before clicking on the Submit Button.

If you have advice for Mr. Beard, and his prediciment, I'm sure he'd appreciate it, without having to wade through a tone of semi-relevant perspectives

Rob

Beard, talk to your friend, leave leaflets and phone numbers round his house and , most importantly i think, listen to him. there are a lot of drug users who can quite reasonably get on with their lives and not become a media caracature (sp?) of a junkie or psychopath.
oh my god this thread has stressed me out, would someone please skin up.

it wasnt the hippies that caused the disruption in the kids these days by the way, that's a generation away...it was the punk generation that did it...

anyway, mr beard - a good percentage of people who smoke do not try anything else, (I'm basing this on years of experience of dj'ing in different clubs, talking to bands, punters - as well as my own experiences), and do not reach for a knife or turn aggressive...

they become lazy, forgetful and cheery in equal amounts...but they also become a little more creative, relaxed and...i forget...did i mention creative?

and let's not pick on lozey eh...

someone said previously "those that use it generally defend it", i reckon that's because they've got a more balanced view on it...and for most people that do use it, just enjoy it the same as having a few beers on a night out...but without the hangover next morning...

so, mr beard, have one little chat with him before he starts smoking, check to see if he's under pressure, stressed/worried about anything..or merely cutting loose for a short while...

Topical today in the UK. I'm always very sceptical of people who claim that cannabis ruins lives, drains motivation, leads to worse things etc. Given the number of top politicians who have had to come out and admit that they've smoked it (including the ex-president of the US) it really is a tough argument to make.

As far as I can tell the worst thing about it is that most people take a much more addictive and harmful drug along with it (i.e. tobacco). I'm not going to stand up and say that I think people should smoke dope, but making people who do criminals in a society which funds itself from sales of alcohol and tobacco is hypocritical on a level I can't find words to describe.

To reply to the original post as this topic has strayed somewhat..

Chris, I dont think its important whether he smokes weed at all.. I think the most important thing is the company he is keeping.

If his friends are smoking weed occasionally and nothing more, dont worry, at most he will take up smoking weed from time to time or regularly.

If he is hanging around with social degenerates that are likely to try to get him to try crack cocaine.. then its an issue.. or if he starts pilling it on a weekend, a hobby I find hard to understand.

Its the company one keeps that often determines how far one will go.

I.D wrote:
Its the company one keeps that often determines how far one will go.

totally agreed on this one. I would not be worried if they guy smoked the odd joint, even if he did it on a daily basis, unless this continued for a prolonged period. I would show your concern definitely, but at the end of the day, you say he's a smart guy, you have to let him make his own way in life and hope he chooses the right path.

I smoked continuously for about three years, like 4 or 5 times a day (whilst holding down a job and without committing any crimes apart form the obvious) I was depressed, I didn't have a social life, and I was bored off my *rse and the weed just made everything easier and made me happy whilst I was high. Then one day I made some friends, I started going out, enjoying myself meeting girls, and suddenly cannabis didn't seem so important anymore and I became happy without the need for chemicals once again. I am an occasional smoker now, and believe for all the bad it does, if used in moderation it does a whole lot more good. But that is kind of straying from the point

I realise this is old, so how is your friend doing now? are you still concerned?

I'll vote for any politician (even a Tory) who admits to sniffing glue as a kid!

Everything in moderation Beardy old chap. Everyone knows people that smoke weed, some regularly some not so regularly some to excess. Personally I get perplexed by folk that can't function without a joint, it's always been very much a take it or leave it thing for me, but I did go through a year or two when I was guzzling pills and coke most weekends. Nowadays I rarely bother, mainly because I can't be having with hangovers that still nibble at me well into tuesday.

Most of my mates have now done the whole uni/travelling thing and have been settled into 'proper' jobs for a year or two and it's interesting to see how opinions have changed. When we were at school we used to sit wide eyed in front of the anti drug pamphlets that told us if we took cocaine we'd end up robbing our mothers and die in squalor within months. Now with a bit of life experience most of them would happily take a line if it was put in front of them and think no more of it until the next christmas or birthday.

I guess the point I'm making from experience is the same as what a lot of others have said here, it's not the substance per se that's the problem it's the person and their natural proclivities and circumstances. The best thing you can do is express mild disapproval and let your mate get on with it.

Anyone over 25 who still smokes 'joints' needs to look at their life.
This sort of behaviour is fine for students and layabouts. It's all part of a phase. The kids that are so cocky and boastful about it cry like babies if they ever get nicked for it and aren't so 'tough' and 'street' then.

I think it should be compulsary for the surviving burnt out hippies from the 60's to visit all secondary schools to show these kids what they'll become - if they live.

Lord Freddie wrote:Anyone over 25 who still smokes 'joints' needs to look at their life.
This sort of behaviour is fine for students and layabouts. It's all part of a phase. The kids that are so cocky and boastful about it cry like babies if they ever get nicked for it and aren't so 'tough' and 'street' then.

I think it should be compulsary for the surviving burnt out hippies from the 60's to visit all secondary schools to show these kids what they'll become - if they live.

well, i take a little umbrage at that lord freddie sir...muskets at dawn...

only kidding...but...kiddies, if you're reading this, do not dabble with drugs ever...especially the legal ones...

well, if i take a look at my life, as someone who partakes fairly regularly, i can:
hold down a respectable job
look after my family
perform in all senses of the word
design/create magic "things"
read alot, learn alot and generally get on with my life without bothering nor harming anyone else...
and thoroughly enjoy myself, relax and explore my own mental capacities...

i think drugs are a very personal thing, and i truly hate the double standards of people who drink and or smoke, yet are against all the other drugs...combine the death rates of heroin, ecstacy and a couple of others, and the ALL pale into comparision against booze and fags...

stick that in yer pipe and dont smoke it!

its like saying having one "cheroot" will turn you into a black veined vulture hovering over old frail women and being sick on passers by...just as ridiculous as saying everyone who has a drink on a friday will turn into a wee-wee stained alkie and push someone under a train for their chips..

and as bill hicks said, if youre against "pot", take all your good music from the 60s, and burn it...and chuck me on the pyre whilst you're at it..if you can lift me...

well this certainly is a decent discussion, whichever way you look at it