Southern California: advice needed.
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Not like you to talk complete rubbish. The person in question was a completely normal teenager until (as far as I can gather) they fell in with the wrong crowd and, most likely, gave in to peer pressure. There is no history of mental helath problems. I also know directly of some other youngsters (in the UK) caught up in this. Very often they experiment as a way to show off to their peers and quickly become hooked. This doesn't mean they are mentally ill. Having spoken to a couple of psychiatrists and they now clearly believe there is a strong link between taking drugs like cannabis and a growing problem with mental health issues as the drugs become cheaper and more widely available. They did not seem to think that they took drugs because they were already ill.
I've hung out with Hells Angels and other nefarious forms of life (if that isn't the "wrong crowd", I don't know what is), but I've never done any kind of recreational drugs despite having several thousand opportunities (I don't even like to take aspirin). I also don't drink or smoke, despite hanging out with hundreds of people over my lifetime that do. If they did it because of peer pressure, they lack self-respect, and I consider that a form of diminished mental capability (this is also the root cause of religious zealotry).
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
I've hung out with Hells Angels and other nefarious forms of life (if that isn't the "wrong crowd", I don't know what is), but I've never done any kind of recreational drugs despite having several thousand opportunities (I don't even like to take aspirin). I also don't drink or smoke, despite hanging out with hundreds of people over my lifetime that do. If they did it because of peer pressure, they lack self-respect, and I consider that a form of diminished mental capability (this is also the root cause of religious zealotry).
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
Sorry, but cannabis is not chemically addictive in any way. The worst that is going to happen to your relo is that his mind will become progessively unhinged, showing signs of paranoia and if he has the tendency, schizophrenia. And with the strength of todays gear that is more and more likely. He needs talking to, by experienced older people who have done the stuff and whose minds did become slightly unhinged, like me for example, and who, through vast amounts of alcohol and singing in Karaoke bars, has clawed their way back to normality. (OK, kind of normality, but you get my drift). Hope you find a way to het through to him. Really, coke or speed is better in many respects. OK your heart falls apart, and your brain developes legions, but at least you arent mad.
Truth is the subjection of reality to an individuals perception
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Sorry, but cannabis is not chemically addictive in any way. The worst that is going to happen to your relo is that his mind will become progessively unhinged, showing signs of paranoia and if he has the tendency, schizophrenia. And with the strength of todays gear that is more and more likely. He needs talking to, by experienced older people who have done the stuff and whose minds did become slightly unhinged, like me for example, and who, through vast amounts of alcohol and singing in Karaoke bars, has clawed their way back to normality. (OK, kind of normality, but you get my drift). Hope you find a way to het through to him. Really, coke or speed is better in many respects. OK your heart falls apart, and your brain developes legions, but at least you arent mad.
Truth is the subjection of reality to an individuals perception
fat_boy wrote:
Sorry, but cannabis is not chemically addictive in any way.
That is not what I'm being told.
fat_boy wrote:
Hope you find a way to het through to him. Really, coke or speed is better in many respects. OK your heart falls apart, and your brain developes legions, but at least you arent mad.
Er, not quite what I had in mind. :-)
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So why did you spend so much time with people you thought had
John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
diminished mental capability
????:wtf:
Philosophy: The art of never getting beyond the concept of life.
Because it's their issue, not mine.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
I know this is going to get me flamed but here goes, I for one do not think Marijuana should be illegal, hell I dont even think it should be classified as a "drug" per se, I mean I dont know of anyone who's ever committed a violent crime while "high", o drive-by shootings (hell they'd forget what they were doing the first fast-food place then seen) and I truly dont believe it's any worse for you than alcohol and thats legal. JMHO (let the flaming begin ;P)
"Okay, I give up: which is NOT a real programming language????" Michael Bergman
"Well yes, it is an Integer, but it's a metrosexual Integer. For all we know, under all that hair gel it could be a Boolean." Tom Welch
"Let's face it, the average computer user has the brain of a Spider Monkey." Bill Gates
Even with what's going on I still feel that making it illegal is not the answer. If people are detrmined enough to do something they will. It would be far better to legalise it so as to remove the criminal element, make it safer and earn some taxes. I KNOW that will get flamed in light of my original post but there you go.
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Because it's their issue, not mine.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
fat_boy wrote:
Sorry, but cannabis is not chemically addictive in any way.
That is not what I'm being told.
fat_boy wrote:
Hope you find a way to het through to him. Really, coke or speed is better in many respects. OK your heart falls apart, and your brain developes legions, but at least you arent mad.
Er, not quite what I had in mind. :-)
digital man wrote:
That is not what I'm being told.
It is not addictive as a chemical, more addictive as a way of life. It is not like drink, nicotine, coke, amphet etc which chemically are nice addictive.
Truth is the subjection of reality to an individuals perception
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Did you respect any of their mental capacities in any way?
Philosophy: The art of never getting beyond the concept of life.
I was smart enough not to say anything about their mental capacities.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
Sorry, but cannabis is not chemically addictive in any way. The worst that is going to happen to your relo is that his mind will become progessively unhinged, showing signs of paranoia and if he has the tendency, schizophrenia. And with the strength of todays gear that is more and more likely. He needs talking to, by experienced older people who have done the stuff and whose minds did become slightly unhinged, like me for example, and who, through vast amounts of alcohol and singing in Karaoke bars, has clawed their way back to normality. (OK, kind of normality, but you get my drift). Hope you find a way to het through to him. Really, coke or speed is better in many respects. OK your heart falls apart, and your brain developes legions, but at least you arent mad.
Truth is the subjection of reality to an individuals perception
fat_boy wrote:
your brain developes legions
Doncha just hate that? I mean, ya gotta call an exorcist, and find some pigs, and... well, it's just a big mess. :rolleyes:
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Yes, but can you blame them for doing so if that's the only legal way they can hire programmers they want at the rate they can afford?
-- Nish on sketchy hiring practices
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fat_boy wrote:
your brain developes legions
Doncha just hate that? I mean, ya gotta call an exorcist, and find some pigs, and... well, it's just a big mess. :rolleyes:
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Yes, but can you blame them for doing so if that's the only legal way they can hire programmers they want at the rate they can afford?
-- Nish on sketchy hiring practices
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Nope, sorry, you lost me on thaqt one Shog.
Truth is the subjection of reality to an individuals perception
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Trollslayer wrote:
mental health problems are more common as a result
Mental health problems are the cause, not the result.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001A large longitudinal study in New Zealand, done mainly through Otago University, has shown that there is an increased development of schizophrenia in those who take marijuana while young (young being something like under age 20, maybe more, like 22). Although most of these people did not show signs of mental illness before doing this drug, they develop. However, I believe the results of the study are not "marijuana causes schizophrenia" but instead, if you have a predisposition to the mental illness, marijuana increases the likelihood that the predisposition will develop into the actual disease. Very interesting. I think it is one of the only studies to effectively research the issue and actually come up with a quite undisputed result one way or the other. One could argue that although there were not signs of mental illness before drug use, there was still some mental illness there that caused the drug-taking, but we could still conclude that marijuana increases the risk of more severe mental illness. (marijuana usage was not the sole point of the longitudinal study, it was just one of the many statistics they gathered and analysed)
"Your typical day is full of moments where you ask for a cup of coffee and someone hands you a bag of nails." - Scott Adams
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Even with what's going on I still feel that making it illegal is not the answer. If people are detrmined enough to do something they will. It would be far better to legalise it so as to remove the criminal element, make it safer and earn some taxes. I KNOW that will get flamed in light of my original post but there you go.
A very simple way to look at it is by comparisson to alcohol. In vitually every single way alcohol is worse for you. Alcohol is legal so how come people are persicuted for smokeing weed. A recent study came up with these reults as to the relative harm of various substances: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/03/23/nalcohol123.xml[^]
