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This is sort of a hard thing to write about. Not because I'm afraid to write about it, but I fear that I may leave out details. I've written this a few times, but a twitter engagement with a former popular community member and team manager inspired me to write about my experiences.
I grew up religious. Mormon to be exact. Never did any drugs, played a lot of video games and music, and was generally ignorant about the world around me. My head was stuck in fantasy lands of harry potter, or Zelda, or Ender's Game. Due to the fact that I was always "out of my mind" thinking of things unrelated to my life in a way, I was a slacker in school. In fact, I was a slacker in a lot of ways. I cared more about video games and books and music that I straight up didn't care about any other aspect of my life. Literally.
When I was 22 (ish) I started smoking pot for the first time. Needless to say, it changed my life. I know a lot of people suggest that marijuana makes you smarter or makes you more open to the world, but I don't necessarily agree because it's relative to the person using it. It changed my life for the better because I was trapped in my own ignorant world. When I smoked pot, it opened my mind in the sense that maybe my religion and schools had been lying to me about drugs, because it didn't feel bad. I didn't feel addicted, and there was no negative side effect when "coming down" off of it. It made me question the whole world I had built in my head and it essentially destroyed it.
Again though, with that being said, marijuana doesn't actually "help" anyone. In my case, it was part of an event that changed my life - it in itself did nothing to improve or make my life worse. I spend a lot of money on weed actually each month - about $20 a day. It's not cheap here, but the method I get it is extremely easy, and risk free on my part. I don't need it, but I use it anyway. Sometimes it helps me get into a different mindset, but I don't always need that mindset to write music or play video games. I don't even need a different mindset to start with, but I value options, and finding the ones that work the best for me.
I've done other drugs. Mushrooms are pretty crazy. Seeing shit in the walls but understanding that my brain was creating it was fascinating to me. I also gained an extreme sense of humility after doing mushrooms. It's a an odd drug, and not one I recommend to most people especially if you've never done any psychedelic or at least marijuana.
DMT is far and away my favorite psychedelic. I've never taken it in exterme amounts, so I've only experienced a slight version of a DMT trip that a lot of people talk about. I saw the world around me manipulated like mushrooms, while others will be taken out of this reality completely. The few times I've done it though have been thought provoking. Seeing images on the floor that could mean anything, and trying to translate what they mean. The fact that i see the similar images every time is what makes me want to do it more. It has consistency and feels like it's trying to tell me something.
Those are my experiences, but have friends with different ones.
For example, I had a friend who use to do mushrooms all the time. Pretty smart dude, EXTREMELY talented musician, and genuinely cared about the people he loved. One day, he decided he was going to go on a journey. I'm not sure why, but he felt like he must go. So he walked to Oregon (I live in Idaho), or thought he was walking to Oregon. He ended up in California in a mental hospital that he submitted himself to. He came home and was fine for a bit, then one day decided to overdose on another drug (Not mushrooms).
I have another friend who smoked pot for years, and recently stopped. He's actually against smoking it because he's convinced (much like others) that it made him lazy. What he refuses to acknowledge is that he was lazy to start with. Pot didn't make him lazier - his mindset did. The fact that he's not lazy now proves nothing because he could have changed his mindset, he didn't want to admit it was him though.
I have a brother who has smoked pot since he was 16. He's 35 now, turning 36 this year. He has a masters in physics, and enjoys his profession as a poker player. He dropped out of high school, became a drunk, then turned his life around.
The point is that drugs are neither good nor bad - They are relative to the person using them. There are tons of examples given on both sides, and to me, that means it's a neutral element. Marijuana, or mushrooms, or DMT, or Heroin are all tools. When used in a fitting matter, they're extremely useful. But when they're abused, they can essentially cause destruction - But only because the person using them is destructive.
 
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I am the person he was 'arguing with'. Although I don't think it was a real argument.
I wasn't going to reply, because the kneejerk reaction I already got was enough to make me uninterested in the conversation. But the only thing that came to my mind about the blog that I feel should be expressed is the fact that drugs cause different reactions to different people. Its unpredictable what a drug will do to you. Some people take drugs and just enjoy life and are successful. Generally they are moderate drug takers and probably stay in a controlled environment. Things like Crystal meth, and Heroin I don't see how anyone can justify being supportive of taking them. Not only because of the disgusting image they create, but because when you inject yourself with them you honestly dont know what you are putting into your body. Its mixed up with all sorts of shit and the chemical make up of that type of drug is never the same.
When I smoked pot (a number of times) I had weird paranoid episodes. Pot is something that I would happily sit in the same room as someone smoking regardless of the odur and I wouldnt judge the person at all. On the other hand, pot is 99.99% of the time going to be a form of pot and not mixed up with all sorts of stupid shit like rat poison.
The initial statement I made was that I was going to donate to someones stream until I saw them smoking pot. Instead of donating, I just sat and watched their ads. I don't like the idea of giving cash up front to someone who was promoting something that has a 'random' effect on people. Because of an experience I had with a friend. He smoked pot everyday for years and will tell you some pretty bad shit about it. Its enough for me not to 'endorse' that habit or hobby or whatever you wanna call it. The streamer was good, adblock went off and I am still in his stream (about 4 hrs later).
The knee jerk reactions I got on twitter however were a little overboard. If you weren't so nice about it all and made this blog, I probably would have just ignored everything and moved on  Kneejerk reactions are generally reactions of those who haven't thought things through properly (I am not saying you didnt think things through). I did not ever say that we should not support this streamer because he smokes pot, and thats how it appears it was taken. I have not named the streamer
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On June 14 2013 00:15 FXOBoSs wrote:I am the person he was 'arguing with'. Although I don't think it was a real argument. I wasn't going to reply, because the kneejerk reaction I already got was enough to make me uninterested in the conversation. But the only thing that came to my mind about the blog that I feel should be expressed is the fact that drugs cause different reactions to different people. Its unpredictable what a drug will do to you. Some people take drugs and just enjoy life and are successful. Generally they are moderate drug takers and probably stay in a controlled environment. Things like Crystal meth, and Heroin I don't see how anyone can justify being supportive of taking them. Not only because of the disgusting image they create, but because when you inject yourself with them you honestly dont know what you are putting into your body. Its mixed up with all sorts of shit and the chemical make up of that type of drug is never the same. When I smoked pot (a number of times) I had weird paranoid episodes. Pot is something that I would happily sit in the same room as someone smoking regardless of the odur and I wouldnt judge the person at all. On the other hand, pot is 99.99% of the time going to be a form of pot and not mixed up with all sorts of stupid shit like rat poison. The initial statement I made was that I was going to donate to someones stream until I saw them smoking pot. Instead of donating, I just sat and watched their ads. I don't like the idea of giving cash up front to someone who was promoting something that has a 'random' effect on people. Because of an experience I had with a friend. He smoked pot everyday for years and will tell you some pretty bad shit about it. Its enough for me not to 'endorse' that habit or hobby or whatever you wanna call it. The streamer was good, adblock went off and I am still in his stream (about 4 hrs later). The knee jerk reactions I got on twitter however were a little overboard. If you weren't so nice about it all and made this blog, I probably would have just ignored everything and moved on Kneejerk reactions are generally reactions of those who haven't thought things through properly (I am not saying you didnt think things through). I did not ever say that we should not support this streamer because he smokes pot, and thats how it appears it was taken. I have not named the streamer
Yeah, I avoided saying why we got into this discussion specifically because I didn't think it was important whether or not you were supporting by donating to him. Even if you donated BECAUSE he smokes pot, I would have disagreed and still made a similar knee jerk reaction. An activity like that in my experience should not be used to judge whether or not someone is smart, or going somewhere in life or what have you. It's simply an activity they participate in.
I realize why argument is faulty in that it IS opinion, but at the same time, I think that while it is opinion, it can still either be uninformed or ignorantly formed based on select experiences, instead of taking ALL experiences.
I wouldn't endorse a streamer that smoked pot because he simply smokes pot, but neither would i because he doesn't. As an atheist, I would donate to a christian streamer, provided he has an attitude I agree with about it. If it's one of those "It's the only answer to creation" type of people, then I won't donate simply because they refuse to acknowledge other answers, and that seems straight up illogical.
I guess what I'm getting at is that generalizations like that are dangerous, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't as bad as I thought it was, which it wasn't.
EDIT: I guess what I'm getting at is that I believe it's more important to know WHY someone is doing something, and not the thing itself. The reason why they do it tells more about them then the thing they're doing. That's why I think it's bad to suggest that making a decision based on someone DOING an activity instead of their REASON for doing it. Some people wear nice clothes because it's cool and in - others do it because they understand society is going to give them more credit for their words if they're dressed in a certain fashion.
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Again though, with that being said, marijuana doesn't actually "help" anyone
glaucoma, anxiety, painkiller.
There are very good users of cannabis. I learned a lot about my mind from cannabis, and it was not just because it caused me to question my inherited beliefs, though it certainly did that. It showed me how to relax and enjoy myself and appreciate little things.
For me the downside is that people get addicted and they start using it to kill downtime instead of taking some responsibility and going without it. I've pretty much quit myself for my breathing, and it's fine.
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United States1655 Posts
On June 14 2013 08:13 Japhybaby wrote:Show nested quote +Again though, with that being said, marijuana doesn't actually "help" anyone glaucoma, anxiety, painkiller. There are very good users of cannabis. I learned a lot about my mind from cannabis, and it was not just because it caused me to question my inherited beliefs, though it certainly did that. It showed me how to relax and enjoy myself and appreciate little things. For me the downside is that people get addicted and they start using it to kill downtime instead of taking some responsibility and going without it. I've pretty much quit myself for my breathing, and it's fine.
I feel like in general Drugs are just one of those things you can learn from but you don't need to keep using to *keep* the lessons. I cannot do them. I go fucking crazy. I am addicted to MOAR NOW!
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EPT
