I know I rarely post in the Lodge, hardly ever, but I have a topic I wanted to discuss. I know Doyle's been onto this before, but I feel this is an interesting discussion and I'd like some viewpoints...

Lately I find that I resort to these methods of satisfacion more and more often. I never used to drink heavily in my teens and I used to scoff at the "cool kids" who were out drinking. But the past year, maybe longer, I've started to get drunk more often, as a way to enjoy an evening and just hang out and do crazy stuff. I've never seen myself as a big drinker but now that I think about it I've been drunk every weekend for at least once a week for the past month at least, maybe more.

It's probably the general concensus that it's very negative to get drunk regularly, but sooo many people do it and come out fine, so it's very hard to argue against once you realize how enjoyable everything is when youre drunk.

And tobacco, another bad thing. I've never been a smoker either but lately, like the past month I've started to take a cig every now and then for social purposes, when hanging out at work or whatever, and since i learned to inhale properly I'm starting to like the kick I get from it, I feel relaxed and at ease... Probably smoking no one can say is a good idea becuase you WILL be addicted, no doubts about it...

Probably getting baked is even more controversial, even though it shouldnt be! fewer people die from cannabis than from alcohol or tobacco and yet they're legal... I had a very staunch viewpoint on cannabis as a dangerous gateway drug, but then I tried hash when I was too wasted to say know and I found it to be amazing... Overnight my idea about cannabis changed 100%, and I've smoked twice since then with only nice effects, I sat with a friend just eating candy on my bed for 2 hours. And it's not addictive, and its not dangerous if you keep it under control.

So, I ask you, what are your thoughts on these three vices? What's so wrong with using any avaliable means to feel good and relax and hang out? I'm only 20 still, it's not gonna harm me in the long run but I know there's a big risk of a downward spiral, but as long as that doesn't happen, is there any harm done? Obviously I'm pondering this myself so I'd like to hear some thoughts...

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moderation is key~

the smoking tobacco though, don't even start, quitting is a bitch and trust me, u may have just have a few smokes here and there rite now, but that will change, and you will start smoking more. just stop now. trust me on this one.~

the weed, well there's certainly worse shit out there than a bowl of dank, here in the US at least it is illegal though, so take that into consideration. You will run into blow, and acid and coke and shit down the road if you hang around people who are in to the culture, it just happens. i never liked that stuff and neither did my friends cause that crowd was kinda fucked up, so i would avoid all that heavy stuff~

Look.... if u can do without anything, no weed, no drinking, no smoking, then more power to you cause that's awesome, if you are gunna do anything just know that minus the nicotine, the other two aren't that bad. just be smart enough to know to keep it to that and to even keep that in moderation~

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Wait for the paranoia to set in as well as the zombie get nuthin' done syndrome.

Not true, I've been addicted to weed for 25 years and now i'm struggling to give up. 14 days clean now. I forget things all the time, like opening a web browser and forgetting what website I wanted to go to or forgetting what part of a SSX course i'm on. Fortunately I haven't fallen victim to paranoid-schizophrenia

I also smoke tobacco but I will deal with that when I sort the weed problem

All drugs will get you in the end, they will make a misery of your life and those you love.

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Some of my Architectural renders

I'm completely against drugs exept weed. Most people will beleive that I smoke it allot; but the truth is that I've never even tried it (also note that i'm 18). In my opinion, they should legallised weed just to keep the other chemical crap drugs out of the street. I've always been with ppl that are smokers and I'm sick and tired of ppl smoking cigarettes. Alcohol... well i have NO problem with that lmao.

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Take my advice, I don't use it anyway...

Wow guys, thanks for the insights! Maybe I am a bit more naive than I think.

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All I can say is less people die from weed, but it is illegal so less people will try it and there are worse things than death.

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I don't smoke full stop. Never have, never will. Because my dad was a smoker, and he got my mom into smoking and now she doesn't have the willpower to stop and I can't even afford to smoke tobacco let alone weed. And my brother is now practically a chain smoker and it used to be just a now and again thing. (Bear in mind at one point he was practically nocturnal - also bear in mind that I'm 18 myself)

Now I won't deny that I like a good drink now and again because I can, but even then my mom doesn't want me to turn into an alcoholic hence the 'now and again' I mentioned earlier. One of these days I would love to just go out and get myself happily drunk in the Giffard but no. Someone doesn't want me to have a social life.

But yeah, all I'm saying is that I only ever do the alcohol and even then it's a rarity. I'd never do weed because it'll get me even more paranoid than I already am - and the schizophrenia would drive me almost to the point of suicide - and I'd never smoke because my dad died from a smoking-related cancer.

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Leader Of The Lefty Parade!

Yeah... Getting stoned is probably a very bad idea if you already have problems with paranoia/depression. I know a guy at work who smoked his brains out when he was living in Barcelona, even though he had psychic problems, he recently had a psychosis and is now a pretty broken person, something's missing from his personality.

As you say smoking cigarettes is definetely the worst part, but it's so nice. I've decied that this packet will be the last one i buy myself. Smoking is a bit pointless too becuase it doesnt get you high or drunk and the kick i get form it will wear off pretty soon. And its addictive as hell.

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Poor guy. *hugs for the guy*

And anywayz, yay for you deciding to quit! *hugs*

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Leader Of The Lefty Parade!

He's a real nice dude, and even though this is a bit cruel, he's very fun to be around because he just doesnt have a care.

Oh and deciding to quit and quitting are to different things haha. I smoked four cigarettes today.

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I don't do anything myself. I can only speak from experience which is that my younger brother's been smoking weed since he was 15, and it led him to all sorts of harder shit and now he's a completely different person than he was when I knew him growing up. That's a tough thing to watch, you know?

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that kinda said to hear gondee but i hope u feel better about it

but really back in 07 i useto smoke weed 24/7 until i had the badest tripy out ever it was bad ,that i could'nt feel my hole body and i thought i was going to die that night my friends call the hostpial track and then they came and said i'm alright i'm just tripy out really raelly bad. yo i was crying out tears so don't do weed it kills.

after that day i feft it for 7 days and after those days i promisted myself and GOD i will never ever smoke WEED agian eeeeeeevvvveerr aaggiiaann. so don't blaze everly weeked with ''G's or B's'' ok it kills so don't let it come to this or die becouse will all be missing u just remember that.

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Its really interestin to hear all this...i'm startin university in a couple of weeks and i've had all the school talks over the past 5 or 6 years but all the effects never really seem real until you hear real stories. I guess being a brit alcohol is a major problem - dunno what it is about living in this country but everyone drinks to relax and the past 5-10 years has seen a drinking epidemic amongst young people. So many people binge drink here and nobody feels ashamed cause everyone seems to have lost their self respect together.

It's a real shame and whilst i drink a lot sometimes, i can say hand on heart i've never made myself sick and i've never had a hangover - yet i've felt the effects of being drunk. The sad thing is if you say that to someone over here they'll tell you you've never been drunk til you've had a big hangover. Personally i'd rather not abuse my body and keep my dignity.

As for smoking, i made a promise to myself as a kid to never smoke and i've stuck to it. The way i see it is it damages your body and thats all it does. People say it makes them relax when all you're really feeling is the relief from your nicotine addiction. If you cut out that addiction or better still if you never get that addiction in the first place then there's absolutely no benefit from smoking.

Unfortunately i've caught myself romanticising with the idea of smoking weed a fair amount over the past few years, thinking that i'm missing out on a cool experience or something. I guess every teen thinks about it but so far i've not touched it. I'm still undecided whether to chance it or not.

I've had experience with all three of these things. Tobacco, just quit now. It's not worth it.

As for alcohol, to me it's all about moderation. Both in the frequency of your drinking nights, and the intensity of your drinking nights. I think when you're younger once a weekend is not too excessive, although I do think it's not necessarily a good thing. I think it becomes a problem when you can't have a good weekend without getting drunk one night. About the intensity of nights, the danger with alcohol is that one bad night CAN kill you. Chances are you'll stop before then, but still alcohol can be very dangerous.

As for weed, I love smoking, but it's far too risky at school. Also, you need to be very careful about not becoming addicted. I know there is no chemical addiction, but some people become emotionally dependent upon marijuana. My best friend from high school smoked a lot junior year, and by senior year he was high almost every day. Last summer he was high every day we hung out, and now he's on the verge of dropping out of school. We're no longer friends.

So basically, if you're going to smoke pot, you need to be very mindful of the frequency of your highs. But the good thing about weed is, you can't smoke too much in one night. You might fall asleep, but to overdose from thc when smoking is essentially impossible. So when you do smoke, get high as a kite. But if you feel that you can't control yourself, just stay away from it.

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Sarah and Joanne are wrong- this stays in here until it's proven.

There is a physical as well as a mental addiction to weed. It stays in your blood system for 2 weeks and remains in your body fat for 2 months. I am getting physical spinouts daily where i feel stoned and I gave up 2 weeks ago. I expect this to go on for a while.

Not true, beyond what Hot Legend said above (which I've heard of but not encountered) I've had a number of overdoses over the years I've been addicted. What happens is that I get extreme shivers and heart rushes where I feel like my chest is going to explode, worse than coke, acid or speed. The best thing to do is wrap up in lots of blankets, sit in front of a heater and try to calm down.

Basically Addicition is a disease and given the long time I've been addicted to weed, it is going to take me a long time to recover.

Ironically all my best times at SSX were done stoned, problem was that I getting nuthin else done in my life. I've given away my TV now so I've stopped playing video games.

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Some of my Architectural renders

<cough, cough>

... wait, what were we talking about?

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"I'm the bullet crack in your diamond pimp cup."


PD~

YES! PD~ FTW! Pame, it's imperative you post here, Dogg.

And I will post on topic later...

<asshole mode>
Is that what happened to your baseball career?
</asshole mode>

(Seriously, totally kidding. )

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^ Doh~



you're harsh man~lol

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You may not realize it yet, but that decision was even better than your decision to stop smoking weed.

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Are you a patriot? Then spend 1 hour reading this site.

Actually, I don't smoke. I have before, yes... but it didn't really make me feel great.

And if you must know, I struck out 10 in 3 innings today... yes, 10. I K'd up 4 in the first inning because the ball kicked away from my catcher on one of them.

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"I'm the bullet crack in your diamond pimp cup."


PD~

AAA

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Touche. That's definitely one way to shut me up.

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Even thou I did it for different reasons than you're thinking. Good to see you haven't changed, just more subtle.

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Some of my Architectural renders

PD your back weclome back the big tricky showoffer

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