September 24, 2006
Reefer
I just realized some things about the guy who lives across the street. He smokes pot pretty regularly, he's straight, and he's not attractive but his friends are even uglier. Never mind the last three items because I want to talk about the first.
I've never done illicit drugs. I haven't smoked pot. I've never even gotten high off sniffing markers or whatever. At most, I've only ever gotten drunk.
In highschool, there was this stoner kid who used to color the entire palm of his hand black with one of those giant markers in business class. And then he would sit there with this hand over his mouth and nose through the whole lecture. He never struck me as being particularly bright either before or after.
I went to a part Friday night and someone turned up with what they said were "P brownies." My first thought was that they were made with urine. My second thought, which was not long after the first, I swear, was that they were the kind of brownies my mom threatened to make for the chuch potluck once when the old birds in the congregation made her mad.
Indeed, they were brownies made with pot.
I declined the offer of the brownies.
I guess they're made by cooking up regular brownies and just pouring in a bunch of pot. The old queer who made them said something about there being leaves in them before I wandered off to do something else.
From a medical perspective, marijuana is probably one of the most harmless illicit drugs there is. I'm not a doctor, but from what I've read on the topic, if I were forced to make a choice to snort cocaine or eat a pot brownie, I'd probably go for the brownie.
I wonder if it makes the brownie taste funny. It seems like pot leaves would be dry and bitter to eat.
I am curious about drugs. I wonder what's so special about pot. And I wonder what it would be like to take ritalin or adderall. I wonder about ecstasy and nitrate inhalants, too.
But the reason I've never tried any of those things is mostly because I'm scared of them. I don't like the idea of ingesting something for the purpose of messing up the way my brain works and perceives reality.
I do drink alcohol, which messes with a person's brain, and I find getting very drunk very unpleasant. Getting slightly drunk is nice, though, and I think that knowledge is what fuels my curiosity about drugs.
I mean, for the most part, the drugs listed above are not very harmful or addictive. They're mostly drugs that lots of people use recreationally without apparant lasting effects. It would seem that their health effects could be compared to alcohol.
Except with alcohol, you worry about your liver, which can regenerate, whereas with things like ampetamines you worry about your brain, which cannot regenerate. Folks having psychotic breaks are real buzzkills. Ya know?
There have been periods where I refused to drink alcoholic beverages because of how it makes you drunk.
I'm sure that I am not missing out on any significant life-changing experience by not having ever used drugs, but that does beg the question of "Why not" when the situation presents itself.
I must say that at the moment, I really don't have a good answer to "why not." But I will likely continue to decline any such offers because they still give me the wiggins.
Posted by Flibbertigibbet at September 24, 2006 11:56 AM
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I was told once how to make them (although I've never had any) ... THC is fat soluble, so you simmer various portions of the plant in butter, and use that butter as part of the recipe. I'm not sure why you would leave part of the plant in the recipe ... it wouldn't contribute significantly to the effect, and from a culinary perspective strikes me as similar to forgetting to take the bay leaves out of your stew.
As for the answer to "why not", the early morning paramilitary raids documented by Radley Balko in response to, among other things, trivial marijuana usage would be enough to deter me, but if that weren't enough, mandatory sentencing guidelines are also a downer.
Go ahead Flibby and smoke a little weed and have a drink. Lite a candle and some incense. Put on your favorite music and dim the lights. Now, sit back in your easy chair and close your eyes. Just let the music carry you away to places you have never dreamed of. :-)
I can think of a great reason why not: many employers conduct drug tests these days and it can take up to three months for the drug to leave your system.
Aside from that, I would urge you not try any of the other "illicit drugs" you mentioned. They're a lot more dangerous than most people realize. They carry with them the danger of addiction and overdose. Pot on the other hand is not physically addictive and it is virtually impossible to experience an overdose.
I've never tried pot brownies before, but I do know people who have. According to them, it does indeed make the brownies taste "funny." They say the high from pot mixed with food is significantly different from a conventional high.
Your post raised some questions for me so I spent some time on wikipedia. Apparently not only does pot not cause lasting damage to the brain, it’s actually an anti-inflammatory and a neuroprotective.
There are certainly recognized risks associated with illicit drug use that extend beyond the physiological such as those you guys have mentioned. But those things are just risks.
People at the party I was at managed to acquire, cook, transport, distribute, and consume marijuana without event.
Ayn Rand took low doses of amphetamines for years without suffering a psychotic break, although the actual affects short or long term are likely items of debate.
Risks aren't guarantees.
But I am working on another post that addresses this and other issues.
Thanks for the comments, guys!
Well, your statement was that you didn't have a good answer to "why not?". If you were looking for a "here's a single, comprehensive statement that demonstrates once and for all why you should never smoke pot" statement, you probably set your sights too high. Like most things, you do the risk/reward analysis based on the objective risks, the potential rewards, and your own values. All anyone can contribute to you is point out the risks and rewards, which describes the responses you got.
As far as I can readily foresee, I am not going to smoke pot or do any other illicit drugs.
The reason is the one I gave in my post: they freak me out.
I'm not comfortable with the idea of me using drugs. The reason for this emotional response is, SaltedSlug, is because I HAVE done a risk/reward analysis at least subconsciously and it's not worth it.
While "drugs 'give me the wiggins'" may not satisfy you in terms of explaining my in/action on this topic, it is sufficiently overarching to answer the question.
As stated earlier, I am working on a post right now that discusses this -- at least tangentially.
If people contribute relatively minor risks like employer drug testing or police raids, then it invites counterarguments like "that's just not likely to happen."
It's as if I had asked, "Why shouldn't I cross the street?" and then people respond with, "Someone might run the red light and squash you!"
I am not unclear as to why people have commented the way they have, I am merely pointing out that such responses are unnecessary -- much like comments explaining why those responses have come.
One interesting aspect of the discussion to me is that pot is of the drugs I listed the one I'm least curious about. I'm far more interested in how adderall would affect me.
Actually, I'm going to write a quick post on why I don't use drugs, just so as to satisfy the question posed in this post.
