Everyone has valid points here. This is especially valid IMHO. I believe there's a reason it's illegal and it has absolutely nothing to do with it being a danger to society. If that were true, alcohol would be illegal again. Most everyone in prison for violent crime, or crimes of oportunity, was under the influence of alcohol when they commited the crime(s). In relation to Op: Phelps could face criminal charges: report | U.S. | Reuters give me a fuckin break! this is rediculous!
re: Phelps could face criminal charges: report | U.S. | Reuters Boy that'll hurt... What a stupid waste of time for everyone. I'm sure this Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has more important crimes he should be investigating (shoplifting, expired registrations, broken turn-signals) than a past-weed experience caught on camera only because some dude was famous. What a jerk.
Yes it's a gateway drug in the sense that by smoking pot you're trying an illegal drug. This is true for anyone that has smoked pot. I've known many potheads that never tried another "drug" after smoking weed, even many years later. I've also known many others that tried all kinds of drugs, but maybe that's their personality type anyway (Eg, they would've tried anything regardless of if they tried weed)... and it's impossible to determine that connection. Then again, not all drugs, quantities, and experiences are equal. Here's my experience with the gateway drug theory, FWIW: I was "straight edge" until I was 21 years old (well, started when I was 14 years old), when I started drinking caffeine again. It was about what I remembered it being when I came back to it. I had alcohol for the first time when I was 22. It was about what I expected it would be. Then I smoked weed for the first time when I was 24. For years I told myself I never would, ever, but I had some really good friends who I respected talk me into it. I'm so glad I did now and think I was a huge prude/wet blanket in retrospect (why vow never to try something that I know for certain has no chance of killing me?) I was so shocked at the wonderful/positive experience, how my mind responded to it, and felt so betrayed by "role models" / D.A.R.E. / media / education / society about what weed was about that I decided immediately "not all drugs are bad" was a better general blanket theory. I haven't tried much else since then, but I'm open to the idea of most natural drugs, illegal or not, but I'd do a crapload of research into it before trying any. So yes, it's a gateway drug in my case in the sense that it made me think, "If I've been lied to about weed, what else have I been lied to...", not so much, "Yippy weed is fun, I bet crack's a lot better".
I fail to see how they can prosecute him for anything marijuana related based on a picture. Murdering someone, yes. Smoking weed?
Right! From what I've seen (or haven't seen), the actual bowl is not visible, nor does it look like there's smoke in the bong. For all we know, Phelps was just posing with a cool looking bong!
I want to know who the fuck was that took the pic and sold it to that British tabloid. The fact that a foreign publication published the pics is proof the person "shopped around" for the highest bidder. My opinion is, unless your a cop responding to a call, if you're there, seemingly okay with what is going on at the time you took the pic, you should have your mug posted all over the world along with the accused.
Yeah, it's a bogus situation. It's a non-issue that's been blown way out of proportion in order to distract the masses.
Kellogg had no choice but to drop Phelps. Regardless of how you feel about the legal status of pot, it's presently illegal and Kellogg's image is very squeaky clean and family oriented. They couldn't have kept him on without tarnishing that.
have you ever smoked weed? did you wake up the next day and say to yourself "I feel like doing heroin"? Testimonials are not science, if they were then me saying the weed is harmless would be considered factual, you saying its harmful would also be considered factual (assuming you’ve tried it and it did have negative effects on you) and that’s not how it works. Theirs is no scientific evidence that marijuana is harmful. The act of lighting it on fire and inhaling the smoke is, but that applies to any combustible product, a vaporizer solves that argument. Just because you enjoy weed doesn’t mean you can’t be calm, collected or logical person. I wouldn’t consider myself the exception, I’d say I’m the norm. The problem is that in your country Marijuana is taboo. Its not ok for a successful person to come out and openly admit to using it regularly or enjoying it at all, look at what’s happening to Phelps’s right now! Dude does something that absolutely incredible, that has never been achieved before by anyone, but suddenly he can’t be a role model for anyone anymore because someone snapped a picture of him with a B? That erases the fact that he dedicated his life ad trained and prepared for something he was passionate about and excelled at it more so then anyone in the world? Bullshit. Maybe Pots not the problem. Maybe some people are naturally driven and intelligent and because of that will prosper well other are simply lazy or dumb, and a plant doesn’t change that. How do you know you won't say the same thing about alcohol j/k, Your right, everyone is different. I can smoke almost daily unless I’m sick or really busy temporarily and it doesn’t have any adverse effects, but when I drink, especially in the last couple years, sometimes I get hungover, it use to be very rare, but now I’ve woken up even after just a 3-4 beers and some wings and felt like shit. I’ve been so hung over where I can’t do anything but drink OJ, and puke and lay around in my underwear. I don’t think a substance should automatically be labeled bad because it has an negative affect on certain people. There is a group people who can’t and shouldn’t drink, when they do they can’t stop and they get out of control and it always goes bad. I don’t think we should make alcohol illegal because those people should not drink, if they really want to they will drink anyways. Most of us are far from responsible when were drunk ourselves, but most people know their limits for the most part and understand that there is a time and place and the difference between a casual beer at dinner and getting pissed on a weekend. You shouldn’t punish everyone because a select group of the population can't conduct themselves like the rest. In every other facet of law we don’t(at least not to this extent) why weed? I don’t even think comparing marijuana to alcohol is a good example. When’s the last time someone woke up pantless in a wet ditch because of weed? I’ve seen crazier stuff happen with booze. MJ is considerably safer and less detrimental to society in essentially anyway. Booze is better compared to cocaine IMO, both can become psychically addictive, MJ can’t. Given enough of either most people become douchebag’s, and both make you think you’re a hero and give you artificial courage which doesn’t help you in most situations. From what I’ve seen people can atleast control themselves better on coke then they can drunk though. I can’t disagree with you namelessentity, but that’s just further proof that its this whole argument is bullshit. I could replace pot with coolaid in your situation and IT would become a gateway drug! Not because its harmful or bad in anyway, but because if you lie to people and convince them it is, when they finally figure it out for themselves they no longer trust their peers.
it hurts to laugh but damn that stoned kid had me rolling when he got up and sceamed. and the "will this be forever" is always a thought when you get super blazered for the first or second time. but phelps.. could the numbcock had been a little more discreet about doing this?? i mean c'mon, hes going to give a bad image on marijuana and its chances of being legal. marijuana is not a gateway drug. ive smoked it and i never moved on to harder drugs. its just propaganda
It's not like he was standing in Times Square with a bong. He was at a party (or friend's house? who knows?) and some idiot snapped a photo. $5 says the one who snapped the photo wasn't even part of the smoking circle. I think it's the other way around. It puts the issue on the newspapers, in the discussions all over the place. And it's hard to say stoners are lazy good-for-nothings when everyone was so proud of this kid a few months ago. It's hard to imagine a better spokesperson for MJ! PS - Cool avatar.
i dunno... i hope it brings better judgement of marijuana to the masses yea really, if the guy was smart he couldve made a pretty penny selling that image to tmz or other media outlets..
The term 'gateway drug' is only a media manipulation to keep pot illegal. Thier PSA for the guv. The true fact is that if a person is going to use H or meth to extreems, even rabbit shit would launch them on that path. addiction is not a matter of someone doing something to excess. it's a matter of personality (or lack thereof), a genetic predisposition to obsessive compulsions, environmental/socio-economics. there's no one pat answer to addictions. trhe only thing that pot has that connects it to the use of heavy, hard drugs, is that it's illegality is appealing to the rebellious nature of the addiction proned personality of those that are most at risk of being a junkie, whether it be of meth or smack. In the sense of "gateway drug", alcohol is just as, or even more relevant to the potential addict.
You might, but I don't know that it would be necessarily fair to say. I don't know you personally, but it seems like your a pretty successfully, reasonable, happy guy. You might look back on the time when you smoked at think to yourself that maybe there was some stuff that you could have done differently, but don't you think there's anything now in hindsight that you might have done differently at points in your life when you didn't smoke? We all have regrets, its human nature, I'm sure you could come up with alot of possitives about that time in your life to if you tried. Our experiences in life shape who we are, you would not be the person you are today had you not smoked weed.
Sorry to keep bumping this thread, which has also gone a fair bit off topic at this point, but here is an EXCELLENT video I just watched that came out recently. The Union the first 30 minutes have scientists and doctors and political figures discussing the same things we have just discussed.
