the price you pay

[NiteTiger]

Im glad you didn't let those bastages bring you down. If they had the nerve to tell you how to celebrate your birthday, then who needs them.
I don't know what to say about finding a buddy your age to smoke with. Talk to more people at the park ? haha I don't know man.

Never let anyone bring you down, right?

I just made it clear that if you're my friend, then you're my friend, and smoking pot is part of me and what I do. If you've got a problem with that, then hey, find elsewhere to be :wink:

But finding smoker's my age, nah, doubt that's gonna happen. Can't really just strike up a convo, never know who you're talking to, ya know?

 

[the protege]

Ultimately, each person has a choice. If it were my birthday, I would have had the friends over and enjoyed the company, and then enjoyed the pipe after some had left or were getting ready to leave. If it makes people uncomfortable when I smoke, I understand, I go out of my way to make people happy.

That's not to say that my way is better, just what I would do. I agree with the poster who said that we all carry a sense of responsibility in regards to the stigmas that plague our pot-smoking pass-time. If you do smoke, and you believe it should be legal/de-criminalized, don't give people a reason to associate the normal pothead attributes to you. ie-- lazy, lethargic, dumb, irresponsible, etc.

Ultimately, this is something i am constantly thinking about when smoking or talking with others about the herb.

Hopefully no one read condescension in my words. Ultimately, I am on this board for the same reason as you..... I really enjoy the herb

 

[pico]

I smoke a joint the other day and ran some kids over with my truck. I was paranoid the whole way home thinking the cops were after me. See what happens...pot makes you paranoid.

 

[Guest]

humm. I have been around people that are brain washed by DARE and other anit-pot programs. an example of my situation: i get in auto accedent and need pain and mental drugs to cope with the pain. I was prescribed prozac, and vicadin mainly.. When a friend would be visiting me and i would need to take a pill, they would jump out of their seat and offer to get it for me with a nice glass of water to wash it down with.. 6 months later i decided to not take the pills anymore and moved over to Cannabis (never smoked before in my life). Now same friend/family comes over and instead of needing a pill for the pain or frustration, i tell them i'm going to light up for a few minutes. They give me a look like i started speaking a new language to them. And instead of offering me a ashtray (like a glass of water) they just say that "they have to take off, they need to do something"... WTF?! All of a sudden i'm the bad guy for chosing Cannabis instead of Prozac!?! Like my friends/family have stocks in the fuckin' drug companies (and they dont). After a few years of me "not giving in to peer pressure", them same friends/family start to come back around like before i started smoking. And i honestly think that they only come around due to the fact that it is almost federal legal, and you cant get introuble from association. So for me the price i paid for smoking was: I lost close relationships for a few years with friends and family. I have lost good employment opportunities (drug tests). Also public apeal from reaking like a cannabis tree farm in public domains. For some reason when people smell fresh cannabis, they think that there is a crime in progress. Its funny as hell. But Honestly, the gains i have noticed from using cannabis out weight the losses by a thousand fold. Before i introduced Cannabis into my life, I was a meat headed fool who thought the world owed him something. Now after Cannabis, I have been humbly-grounded and realize that i owe the world without thought of expectation. Hence my life long goal to feed my neighbors the freshest most wholesome foods i can..
Respec' be well to each other, one love..

Cannabismavin,

 

[PersonalSmoke]

Well before I started smoking, when I was a youngin, I was a social recluse. I had a few friends, but once I started smoking at the beginning on highschool all of a sudden I had a ton of friends, simply because all of them smoked too. So I guess pot sort of brought me out of my shell in a way. It also keeps me calm and collected. I have no temper when high.

On the other hand I think we all pay pretty much the same prices for smoking. I'm not dumb by any means but my memory turns to shit if I don't take breaks. Sometimes when really high I say some pretty stupid shit, and some other stuff too.

 

[NiteTiger]

Ultimately, each person has a choice. If it were my birthday, I would have had the friends over and enjoyed the company, and then enjoyed the pipe after some had left or were getting ready to leave. If it makes people uncomfortable when I smoke, I understand, I go out of my way to make people happy.

That's not to say that my way is better, just what I would do. I agree with the poster who said that we all carry a sense of responsibility in regards to the stigmas that plague our pot-smoking pass-time. If you do smoke, and you believe it should be legal/de-criminalized, don't give people a reason to associate the normal pothead attributes to you. ie-- lazy, lethargic, dumb, irresponsible, etc.

Ultimately, this is something i am constantly thinking about when smoking or talking with others about the herb.

Hopefully no one read condescension in my words. Ultimately, I am on this board for the same reason as you..... I really enjoy the herb

I can see your point, certainly. I'm very polite with my smoking, and do not smoke around those who find it uncomfortable, if I'm out and about. I do not bring it into a friend's house without asking them first. Even then, when they've said they don't mind, if noone else is smoking - which never happens, none of my friends smoke- I step outside to partake. When I step outside, I don't make a big deal out of it. I just excuse myself, and go. Most think I've just been in the bathroom for a while

Even in my home, I don't smoke while sitting on the couch or at the computer, out of respect for my wife, who is a non-toker. No reason she should have to put up with the smell in the curtains or couch, so I step over to the door.

However, in this case, I feel they were just dead wrong. It was my birthday, in my house, eating my food, and drinking my booze, purchased for them, since I don't drink. They're okay with all that, even though they know I don't drink, and why, but it is not okay for me to kick back and enjoy myself, on my birthday?

That is just rude, and just because it was pot is no excuse. I would never dream of making demands of a host like that.

My wife was so incensed, that the next time her girlfriends for a glass or 8 of wine, she made a point to bring me my pipe and ask me if I'd like a smoke. Yes, I was stunned

But, the folks got the message. If you're going to be a friend of ours, then you accept us both, without exception. Most involved have since apologized, once they realized how unbelievably rude they'd been.

They are not rude people, but for some reason since it was pot, it never occurred to them they were even being rude.

That was more the point of my story, that pot completely changed these people's attitudes, and they didn't even notice.

 

[Guest]

I can relate to some of you. I tend to have a temper problem sometimes. I always have. I just get so irritable sometimes... and find the slightest thing wrong with a person and focus on that.

Lately I moved back with my family, and I see so many faults with all of them. Before I was pretty much living on my own, with a lot of my own space and privacy. now its harder to come by.

I have not been smoking. But I know if I did it would be easier to just chill in this situation.

 

[foolintherain]

smoking weed has had a few negative effects on my life:

-i was arrested and suspended from my university for a year and a half
-out of love and ignorance my mom worries about me like i'm a drug addict since she's found out i smoke
-i have a great internship (my best friend hooked it up) which drug tested me the day i started and will drug test me again if i am hired full-time. so i keep my joint smoking habit secret from anyone i have a professional relationship with. i guess this isn't horrible, but i worry about losing this opportunity and contemplate quitting occasionally.
-at times mary jane has strained my relationship with my girlfriend (who only very rarely smokes).

i know there are some smart independent thinkers who post on icmag and was hoping you guys could give me a little advice. i introduced my girlfriend to smoking weed and since then she has only smoked with me (her decision) and only on the rare occasion. now, for spring break, she has gone to london to visit her best friend abroad and took a two-day excursion to prague where i guess smoke is legal. so she went to a coffee shop with her friend and got overbaked on a bong hit of good bud; the high where it's too much and you're paranoid and scared and generally not feeling pleasant. she said she wished someone had told her this could happen. this pisses me off for two reasons:
1. when i introduced her to smoking i made sure to explain it is possible to get too high, it doesn't feel good and to always err on the side of caution when trying a new form of smoking or coming across some high quality bud.
2. in the past she has busted my balls and interrogated me about my smoking habits, often telling me i smoke too much (a joint a day) and smoking is bad for me, etc.

this seems like the ultimate hipocitical move and she forgot the first smoking lesson i tried to teach her.

is it stupid for me to get pissed off about this. i feel like our boyfriend-girlfriend relationship clouds my logic and rationale, any thoughts you guys can give me i would appreciate.

peace.

 

[IwannagethighOG]

Ya I feel people who hate on others for smoking cannabis for whateva reason are basically being racist-like and are clearly ignorant of the facts.

Too hate on someone for drinking alcohole is different because drinking usually leads to irsponcibility and other rediculous acts.

If I'm havin a angry day I'll pack one up. 10 min later Im as happy as can be and I rationalize my sitution and usually say to myself, damn I'm glad I decided to sit down smoke one and get calmed down.

 

[The Uncola]

Because of the Don't Smell Don't Tell Don't Sell philosophy, I have to be more careful about choosing room mates. I also have to be careful about inviting friends to the house while growing. Although I have a ceiling fan that pulls air into the attic space- out of the grow room- I have come home to find the house reeking of weed on many occasions. (Is that a Bad thing?) And my grows are small. 3 full size plants max.

I don't have anything but peppers and tomatoes growing now, but I plan to do further grows. After all- I have a bunch of fertile seeds. It's the act of having to hide that sometimes gets to me. I have a DARE sticker on my car! It says: DARE-To Think For Yourself!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

It is your responsibility as a marijuana smoker and (I hope) as a marijuana protagonist to dispel any social stigma people close to you may hold about those, like yourself, who smoke marijuana.

The only reason some people may not approve of things you do in your private life that hurt no one (even yourself) is because of the negative image played ON marijuana.

People who drink a lot are considered funny, social and cool party animals. People who smoke a lot of pot are considered losers who do nothing with their lives.

Now, if smoking marijuana is also keeping you from doing jack shit with yourself in other parts of your life, I'd be a little concerned too, but from my experience... smoking marijuana has only made me look at parts of my life that were lacking (job, education, smoking cigarettes, weight issues) and turn them around to where I am a MUCH better person today and am always looking to continue self-betterment (thats not really a term, I bet).

So unless you're wasting your life away, just spending time on the couch, smoking weed... I'd say your best friends needs a little education and it's not you that has the problem!

For the majority, the problem with habitual weed use (or use at all) is the same as with any other substance: One is becoming dependent on a substance (in this case marijuana) to enjoy life. That is what the stigma mainly focuses on at the root. Is it wrong to need to be dependent on substances to enjoy life? That's up to the person. I tell myself it's wrong to become dependent on a substance, no matter how much it's used, and I'm still not sure if that's just because I'm a result of a society with that ever-present mindset, or if it's my actual self realizing that, and will never know.

 

[OneWingedImp]

yep thats the split your watching there, it has to do that to remain loved,
if it looks at it different it will be pressured to look different, thats the frat
deal not unlike being in other clubs. It not easy to be true, it's a choise
go along with staus quo and be like that, hehehehhehe ,NOT!
yep so check out your feelings about him not being awake now and
you missin your old buddy. I can understand that, i would be a little
observant too, so i can see what not to do, polarities, it's cool he wants that
if he'smy buddy i can understand that eh, he needs a journey thru the rabit hole to understand eh, some need that, it's cool, be compassionate and
face the feelings and your ways of lookin at it, don't position yourself
like that, brings in balance, be balance in pespective and experiance
balanced states of mind. Place for more information to come,,,,,
all good thou, thanks for sharing your self and thoughts ,,,, good stuff
peace and kindness
Eagles
-(8)=nmrk!

Thanks to you buddy. Hard to understand you sometimes, but maybe thats my fault, but cheers to you and i appreciate the reply and empathy. K+ to you.


woa isnt K+ a OG thing? Did i just do that?

 

[foolintherain]

If I'm havin a angry day I'll pack one up. 10 min later Im as happy as can be and I rationalize my sitution and usually say to myself, damn I'm glad I decided to sit down smoke one and get calmed down.

so the price you pay is being dependent/on the road to dependency on mj to calm yourself down when upset. do you agree?

isn't this a high price to pay? or does it not even matter if you just always have mj around?

 

[brah]

lol @ 'the price'

 

[NiteTiger]

so the price you pay is being dependent/on the road to dependency on mj to calm yourself down when upset. do you agree?

isn't this a high price to pay? or does it not even matter if you just always have mj around?

Is becoming dependent on prescription chemicals and their associated side effects any better?

I'll take an herbal remedy any day. If I was in a med-friendly state, you better believe I'd be dumping the chemicals I'm putting into my body on a daily basis.

 

[Guest]

Is becoming dependent on prescription chemicals and their associated side effects any better?

I'll take an herbal remedy any day. If I was in a med-friendly state, you better believe I'd be dumping the chemicals I'm putting into my body on a daily basis.

Do you have a medical ailment you use MJ for?

 

[NiteTiger]

Indeed I do.

Chronic pain in my back from a 4 story fall, as well as periodic problems with my right knee due to gunshot wound. I also find it immensely helpful in controlling my bi-polar disorder and insomnia.

 

[Guest]

My price has got to be paranoia. I really need to find a good herb with no 'noia, but I tend to get VERY paranoid even when sober.
Yeah...definitely paranoia

 

[Guest]

Strange, I was always the one that never got paranoid after smoking and would have to tell people to chill out, especially out in public. I'm alot more paranoid while sober.

I'd have to say that jobs that drug test I don't even bother pursuing as it's not worth the hassle to get fake piss, flush your system, etc...

Also being looked as a criminal for injesting a plant that people have been doing for thousands of years, but I was never one to care about what other people think of me until they try to slap on cuffs.