Lonelygirl15

Oh, yes, like in "Half-Baked".

Partahy!

Pizza, funyuns, Doritos, ice cream, Hershey bars...

PolkadotConfederation wrote:*looks around hoping Jo will come save her from the insanity*

*sees that Jo isn't here and cries*

*goes off to talk to her drug-free friend, Hannah*

Lol, Kassia you are the best.

longlostposter wrote:Oh, yes, like in "Half-Baked".

Partahy!

Pizza, funyuns, Doritos, ice cream, Hershey bars...

Now, I want to be at that party.

Kassia, why do you have pot-head phobia?

consideration wrote:Edited: What the hell is going on with the forums?

what do you mean, Mary?

longlostposter wrote:Kassia, why do you have pot-head phobia?

Maybe because I dissaprove of the use of any drug. It fucks with your mind, and your body, and it's not a lifestyle I wish to pursue. I have lost countless people close to me because of drugs or because of drug-related events, and I care enough about myself and the people around me to know that it is not an okay thing to do.

longlostposter wrote:

consideration wrote:Edited: What the hell is going on with the forums?

what do you mean, Mary?

I tried to edit a post, but it submitted it like I had quoted myself.

PolkadotConfederation wrote:

longlostposter wrote:Kassia, why do you have pot-head phobia?

Maybe because I dissaprove of the use of any drug. It fucks with your mind, and your body, and it's not a lifestyle I wish to pursue. I have lost countless people close to me because of drugs or because of drug-related events, and I care enough about myself and the people around me to know that it is not an okay thing to do.

You've lost people due to pot????

There's a world of difference between pot and other drugs.

PolkadotConfederation wrote:Maybe because I dissaprove of the use of any drug. It fucks with your mind, and your body, and it's not a lifestyle I wish to pursue. I have lost countless people close to me because of drugs or because of drug-related events, and I care enough about myself and the people around me to know that it is not an okay thing to do.

It's all about finding a balance. If you can't be responsible and take care of yourself and others, then it will definitely ruin your life.

Juli---the people I've lost to pot didn't actually die. They just stopped being friends with me.

Siddy---My philosophy is this: If it's extremely bad for your health (both physically and mentally) then it isn't an okay thing to do.

PolkadotConfederation wrote:Siddy---My philosophy is this: If it's extremely bad for your health (both physically and mentally) then it isn't an okay thing to do.

Ahh, well, it looks to me like you don't want to be our friends because we do it.

I can respect the opinion above, however, I don't agree with it. I don't feel pot is bad for you.

PolkadotConfederation wrote:Siddy---My philosophy is this: If it's extremely bad for your health (both physically and mentally) then it isn't an okay thing to do.

I respect your opinion, and I love you to death, but pot has never been bad for my health. If you smoke and drive, then you're a dumb ass and you have no excuse, but otherwise pot is pretty mellow. I knew a guy who died of cancer recently and while he was undergoing treatments, he could hardly eat. If he smoked before, though, he could eat all he wanted. And, frankly, pot pretty much saved my sister from severe depression when therapists couldn't help her.

Effects on the Brain

Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to organs throughout the body, including the brain.

In the brain, THC connects to specific sites called cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells and influences the activity of those cells. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. Many cannabinoid receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement4.

The short-term effects of marijuana can include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate. Research findings for long-term marijuana abuse indicate some changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term abuse of other major drugs. For example, cannabinoid (THC or synthetic forms of THC) withdrawal in chronically exposed animals leads to an increase in the activation of the stress-response system5 and changes in the activity of nerve cells containing dopamine6. Dopamine neurons are involved in the regulation of motivation and reward, and are directly or indirectly affected by all drugs of abuse.

Effects on the Heart

One study has indicated that an abuser's risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana7. The researchers suggest that such an effect might occur from marijuana's effects on blood pressure and heart rate and reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.

Effects on the Lungs

A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers8. Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses.

Even infrequent abuse can cause burning and stinging of the mouth and throat, often accompanied by a heavy cough. Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers do, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, a heightened risk of lung infections, and a greater tendency to obstructed airways9. Smoking marijuana possibly increases the likelihood of developing cancer of the head or neck. A study comparing 173 cancer patients and 176 healthy individuals produced evidence that marijuana smoking doubled or tripled the risk of these cancers10.

Marijuana abuse also has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because it contains irritants and carcinogens9,11. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke12. It also induces high levels of an enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form—levels that may accelerate the changes that ultimately produce malignant cells13. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which increases the lungs' exposure to carcinogenic smoke. These facts suggest that, puff for puff, smoking marijuana may be more harmful to the lungs than smoking tobacco.

Other Health Effects

Some of marijuana's adverse health effects may occur because THC impairs the immune system's ability to fight disease. In laboratory experiments that exposed animal and human cells to THC or other marijuana ingredients, the normal disease-preventing reactions of many of the key types of immune cells were inhibited14. In other studies, mice exposed to THC or related substances were more likely than unexposed mice to develop bacterial infections and tumors15,16.

Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use on Learning and Social Behavior

Research clearly demonstrates that marijuana has the potential to cause problems in daily life or make a person's existing problems worse. Depression17, anxiety17, and personality disturbances18 have been associated with chronic marijuana use. Because marijuana compromises the ability to learn and remember information, the more a person uses marijuana the more he or she is likely to fall behind in accumulating intellectual, job, or social skills. Moreover, research has shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on memory and learning can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off19,20,25.

Students who smoke marijuana get lower grades and are less likely to graduate from high school, compared with their nonsmoking peers21,22,23,24. A study of 129 college students found that, among those who smoked the drug at least 27 of the 30 days prior to being surveyed, critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning were significantly impaired, even after the students had not taken the drug for at least 24 hours20. These "heavy" marijuana abusers had more trouble sustaining and shifting their attention and in registering, organizing, and using information than did the study participants who had abused marijuana no more than 3 of the previous 30 days. As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level all of the time.

More recently, the same researchers showed that the ability of a group of long-term heavy marijuana abusers to recall words from a list remained impaired for a week after quitting, but returned to normal within 4 weeks25. Thus, some cognitive abilities may be restored in individuals who quit smoking marijuana, even after long-term heavy use.

Workers who smoke marijuana are more likely than their coworkers to have problems on the job. Several studies associate workers' marijuana smoking with increased absences, tardiness, accidents, workers' compensation claims, and job turnover. A study among postal workers found that employees who tested positive for marijuana on a pre-employment urine drug test had 55 percent more industrial accidents, 85 percent more injuries, and a 75-percent increase in absenteeism compared with those who tested negative for marijuana use26. In another study, heavy marijuana abusers reported that the drug impaired several important measures of life achievement including cognitive abilities, career status, social life, and physical and mental health27.

Hey, Mary, do you know who my avatar is?

oh, those weird numbers after certain words are links to external sites. I copied that from somewhere.