About halfway through, I couldn't stop thinking about how I use these same reasons to explain WoW addiction...
WoW addiction is just a symptom of the real problem, not the cause! ;_;

>>2674530

Yes, exactly. WoW is not addictive; if anything, the force behind obsessive playing is peer pressure, the pressure to level up your character and get phat loots like the big shots on your server. Just slow down and play when its convenient. Same with weed.

I play WoW, but I haven't touched it more than three or four times in the last month. I'm really behind, my main is only 73 while my guild is raiding Naxxramas, plus I need to power level fishing up from scratch for the sake of my cooking achievements, but I recently got an XBox 360 and my free gaming time has gone to that. Provided, I still keep the house in good order and get my work done when it presents itself.

Likewise, I recently started smoking weed. Only three times have I lit up now, and I haven't really gotten that high. Maybe I need to hit more of it harder, I don't know, but I feel absolutely no compulsion to do it again. If I'm with my friends and someone offers me, I'll help 'em smoke that bowl or joint but I haven't even bought any of my own weed yet. I'm still more interested in spending my money on games and miniatures, more permanent entertainment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X153PsvxVo4

This makes no fucking sense. They aren't even driving. If anything, it should have been an anti-acrylic PSA. Using acrylic is what makes you kiss your brother!

I couldn't help but think while reading the text in red "God damn drug addicts just can't do their drugs in their own house." And also, "Why does it matter if kids know the truth about drug use, drugs ruin lives. If they knew the truth more lives would be ruined then saved."

And that's why I didn't read your actual paragraph.

TL;DR: OP tries to validate his drug habit.

Stop your whining.

people need to learn to respect other people's autonomy. i want to eat red meat, smoke tobacco, and take cocaine every now and then. none of this shit is healthy, but it's my choice. if i decide to kill myself one day that would also be my choice. (of course i don't see that happening since i've always been a pretty happy person)

WoW IS additive: Cheap sense of accomplishment, mind numbing distraction.

>>2674774

I've smoked weed 3 times and that's it, but I guess I knew better than to care about the younger generation and how they are taught to perceive reality. But by saying that I sound pretentious or high-horsey SO I CAN'T WIN, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The human face is doomed.

>>2674500
I totally agree with this man. Since I've started college I smoke weed almost every weekend (chronic even) and I still manage to keep up on all my school work. Shit, I even wrote a few papers while still high and I managed to whip out A's for them. This whole thing about being above the influence is bullshit. I'm doing way more with my life than some people I know who don't smoke weed.

>>2674840

>>face

Well, there went my last scrap of credibility.

>>2674793

Whatever makes you feel superior.

>>2674842
That being said, I'm not advocating smoking marijuana I'm just saying that it didn't make me a total loser sitting at home listening to shitty music all day. On the contrary, I'm doing more with my life and free time now than I ever was... but that can be a result of being in college. (Pre-Pharm major here btw)

>>2674882

Exactory, vewy good.

My friends got me into smoking every now and then, and one of them has tried acid. Or, he wants to... I dunno, but that's just his personality. He's said a few times, "Yeah, I'd do heroin." My other pal and I think it's really stupid and hope he doesn't, but he's adventurous like that.

OP should consider sociology as a major.

>>2674793
Haha three cheers for WoW!

Also allows for quick weight loss: I got slim quick while playing this game. Former semi-fatty.

>>2674943
I think other types of recreational drugs are fucking retarded. I stick to smoking weed. If it's synthetic I'm not touching it.

even if there were a statistically significant correlation between cannabis use and being a fuckup, smoking it still shouldn't be prohibited. when an adult does it, it's their own choice.

>>2674744
Way to make conclusions about things without even bother to seek out evidence. Conclusions can never be accurate without an understanding of all angles of the issue.

>>2674977
that seems like an arbitrary way to decide what's harmful and what isn't. lsd is relatively safe but synthetic, while datura and opium are both natural. datura being highly poisonous and opium being physically addictive.

hnkbu

Are all anti-drug people also pro-lifers?

Its the same concept /facepalm

>>2675047
Great. You beat me to the same point I was going to make. Natural things are not necessarily safe.

>>2674744

Hold on a sec, (this is the OP) I only just realized what you said.

>>I couldn't help but think while reading the text in red... "Why does it matter if kids know the truth about drug use, drugs ruin lives. If they knew the truth more lives would be ruined then saved."

At first I thought that was your own stance, but when I re-read it I think you actually intended that as the impression you got from my headline. If that's the case, you could not be more wrong. How do you even get that conclusion? The title implies we should stop ATI, or at least speculate why they don't focus on the real issues. I don't think drugs ruin lives, people who use them irresponsibly ruin lives through their own doing, and teaching kids this truth might encourage more of them to take charge of their own responsibilities and not blame it on drugs.

>>2674782
this is the truth.
it doesn't matter that pot is harmless or that heroin ruins lives. adults are adults are adults are adults.

I dont understand what the entire hangup is about weed. I am an adult in canada (30+) and I have smoked weed recreationally for decades.
Everybody I know smokes up now and then and most of my friends are professionals with average lives, it really isnt a big deal. its like anything else, if its something you partake in responsibly, its fine, if something you do turns into something you are, then you have a problem and need to fix it. Sure I know a few burn outs but with their personalities if they didnt smoke weed they'd hinder themselves with some other obsession.

>>2675112

What is the real reason that non-weed drugs are illegal? If I understand correctly, the biggest barrier for marijuana growth and ownership in the United States nowadays is the undeniable fact that it can be grown easily and, now this is where I don't have all my facts straight, but I've been told that apparently leads into a potential economic crisis. Like, if anyone can grow it anywhere then it will be easy to not buy it from a store... or sell it to the wrong people... or, fuck I don't know. Maybe they're afraid textiles will go under if we make stuff out of hemp.

As for other drugs like coke and acid, I assume these are all illegal because of how harmful they are. If anything, though, the illegal trafficking that occurs due to outlawing these substances is more harmful than the actual substance use! It's just like Prohibition. The mob would not have nearly as much power in the US if Prohibition never happened. What is keeping us from realizing this similarity?

I smoked weed for 4 years. After the first 2, it became everything to me. It's all I thought about. It never hurt me or anyone around me physically. It did however do ireparable damage to my reputation and my faith in my own self-control. You think you'll only take the drug to escape those days that are bad. Pretty soon any day without the drug is bad. Addiction 101 from my own experience. I've been clean for almost 6 months and it's better than any high I ever experienced. Yes, even that first one. It's better to me because I'm not wasting my every thought and penny on the shit. It's not the drug that's bad. It was me, devoting my life to it that was bad.

When I was a little kid, the only exposure I had to weed and drugs was the propaganda of the early 90s. Until I was about 12, I always thought, "Pfft, I'll never touch weed. Why do people even get started? It's stupid, it floods your brain with undrainable liquid and makes you forgetful. It's not worth it. I pity pot smokers."

Now I realize the error of my ways and enjoy a good smoke now and again. What I'm afraid of is if other kids today never stop thinking like I did and fuck shit up for everyone, blowing things way out of proportion and passing harsh laws that cause greater problems than if the product was freely distributed.

>>2675204

Taxes! That's what I was trying to say, people will still grow and sell it underground to evade taxes. But, more of it will be out in the open and cheaper, making more people willing to buy into the legal trade.

>>2675236

I'm proud you were able to admit that. If it doesn't do anything good for you, by all means avoid the stuff.

>>2675204
i don't know. i guess it could be cultural inertia. marijuana, coke, lsd, and similar drugs have been prohibited for so long that people see this as natural and justified. i think the ad campaigns: dare, just say no, ect, are effective. not because they deter people from using drugs, they don't do that. these propaganda campaigns justify the war on drugs and make prohibition seem right.

>>2675296

Not everything that's effective is right.

>>2675294
Of course it's amazing in the beginning, but it just got to the point that I was smoking to tune my anxieties out. I wasn't laughing or having a good time, I was half-awake watching tv, free from my thoughts. Money wise it was just no longer manageable. Plus I stopped caring about anything that wasn't me getting high. My grandpa died in his bed right in front of me and I was too high to feel anything. Nothing that happened mattered to me except me toking up. I don't know, I know it isn't the drug's fault. It was just the dependency I suffered.

I smoke weed regularly, as in once a month. I Don't do it every day like a lot of people, and I don't spend all my money on it. I grow it all myself so that if I don't have any- I cant smoke any. I have other things to spend money on. Same thing for shrooms. Basically, I treat it like a hobby to indulge in from time to time, but it doesn't rule my life or wallet. The government tries to tell people all drug users are worthless, petty, and irresponsible when it's just the junkie morons lacking self-control who have no job and suck dick for their drug of choice.

>>2675329
totally, it's not right. it's not even effective if judging these campaigns based on their stated aim of getting kids not to use drugs. these propaganda campaigns are effective at making prohibition and the war on drugs seem justified. i'd imagine the average person thinks i, an adult, should not be allowed to use heroin if i decide i want to.

straight A "gifted" and "talented" stoner here:
I like to get high. I don't have life problems. I'm not depressed. I just wanna get high. If you've got a problem with that, fuck you and let me live my life how I want.

>>2675491
that's cool if it works for you. Personally I found that I wasn't living a life at all though. My life consisted of:
1.getting weed.
2.smoking it.
It wasn't anyone else who made me realize it was a waste of time, it was me.

>>2675236
>>2675397
>>2675540
these are me. I agree that Above the influence is utter bull shit. The ads are always good for a laugh and that's about it. I feel like you have to try it and realize it's not for you. If you never get the feeling that you should stop, then by all means keep doing it.
tl;dr the opinion of a former pothead: The ads are only good for a laugh.

>>2675444
While your situation is commendable, I really don't think "once a month" is "regularly". That's 12 times a year. 12 cigarettes annually don't make a "regular" smoker, 12 drinks a year don't make a "regular" drinker.

what about me? i had a 4.0 last semester. mostly all As throughout college. just got accepted into a competitive law school with a fatty scholarship. i also smoke weed everyday.

>>2675947
What about you? You want a cookie? Are you female? Because you're asking us all to look at how special you are for something most smokers are capable of doing in silence.

I blame all of my problems on my poor early life decision to be "above the influence."

>ATI once said that teens who smoke weed are three times more likely to commit suicide.

Don't you just love it when bulldog group blatantly ignore confounding to pump up their arguments?

>>2674707
GREAT JOB, MTV.

YES, WEED NOW TURNS YOU GAY, AND ON TOP OF THAT, ITS A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE THING.

I find them funny, keep'em around imo.
>>2674707
If you think people take comercials like that super seriously then you've got another thing coming (God I hope people don't). Besides it was fucking funny ass comercial

As for me, I've never touched the stuff, and I don't really care about the culture surrounding it, or really anything about it, I just know the smoke triggers my asthma like crazy so I don't like it in my house/near my windows. Other than that, well hey, its your thing. Smoke/sniff/drink up, just don't die on my property, that isn't shit I feel like explaining.

Also
>>2675204
I'm not sure what "magical hemp" products you've seen, but personally, everything I've come across that is hemp made is irritating to the skin and generally uncomfortable. I know that it can be made into A LOT OF SHIT, doesn't make it good shit. Not trolling you, just stating.

Yay marijuana!

Favorite plant EVAR!

Why thank you Mr. Sloth, I'd love to!

Goody goody yum yums!

It's funny because there was a study proven that ads like truth.org and abovetheinfluence actually subliminally encourage tobacco and drug usage.

I have no problem at all with natural occurring drugs(cannabis, shrooms, etc), except opium but I'm positive there's a correct medicinal use for the plant.

>>2674882
>Pre-Pharm major

Someone has probably already noted this, but yeah.

>>2674977
Why are they "fucking retarded"? I suppose you got brainwashed by DARE and bought into the whole chemicals = evil natural = ok. You gotta try this datura I've got. You'd love it it's all natural.

OP, I am honestly convinced that these groups who make anti-drug commercials are completely in their own reality and actually believe their wild eyed tales of how weed is just bad or maybe even worse than heroin. Their propaganda is completely outside of anything rational and the problem is that kids or anyone who has tried weed knows this for a fact. Ever seen the one with the kid deciding to outrun a vicious dog? Ya, I have never met a pothead in my life that will get high and decide that that is a fine and dandy idea. This only creates a bigger problem, because these kids have experience and know for a fact that the anti-drug position is wildly offbase, they start to think "well, what if what I am been told about weed is a load of crap, then how can I trust them about <insert much harder drug>" It actually gives people incentive to actually try other things. It blows my mind that the vast majority of the money spent on these propaganda campaigns goes toward weed and not meth or other such which are clearly much much much more harmful. Weed is no more of a gateway drug than caffeine, tobacco, or alcohol is, and for these people to keep clinging on to this obviously fail logic says a lot about their intelligence