Ahigh
Ahigh
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August 23rd, 2015 at 8:47:45 AM permalink
Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Sure there are. But don't lie (not you but the industry) to me and tell me it isn't when I know damn well that it is. EVERYONE I know, and it's many, that smoke weed are addicted as hell to it.



Again, I'm not entirely sure, but you may be able to learn more on this subject. Most of the things that I don't know, I can just type in plain english questions into Google and find really good answers.

I could start you off with a few lmgtfy links if it were helpful. But i don't want to insult you.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that the Wizard himself has come out as a marijuana user (my apologies if I dreamt this up).

Maybe there are other marijuana users who could weigh in on the subject of addiction. I'm just not familiar with any addiction problems of any of my friends.

All the really big problems with marijuana that I am personally familiar with have to do with the criminal justice system.

Well, that, and just plain fear-mongering and guilt-by-assocation like how you painted me out to be "on drugs" in this post for being happy about the policy reform taking shape in Las Vegas. Right now, I'm here in Texas, and talking with folks in Texas on this subject demonstrates a completely different level of knowledge than talking on the subject in California.

I have lived my first 26 years in Texas, the next 12 years in California, and the last 5-6 years in Vegas.

Vegas is the place where marijuana use was almost completely invisible to me. There might have been four instances of being aware of people smoking marijuana in Vegas in the last 5 years.

I suppose if you want to live in a world where it's hidden from view, policy reform would not be a good thing. Walking the streets of San Francisco for 8 hours is plenty enough to see marijuana being smoked in plain daylight.

Conversely, I have never seen it on the strip anywhere. I have seen it in the parking lot of East Side Cannery ONCE. And I have smelled it in the parking lot at Caesar's Palace ONCE. And I have seen it on the Fremont Street experience ONCE (homeless guy). More recently, I saw a guy smoking outside the poker room at Binions this summer. That was the most open I have ever seen anyone smoking marijuana, and I would assume that he had a card and was taking his chances for being harassed because it wasn't much of a secret as he was sitting on the bench near where valet parking once was operated and there were five other people in that general area who were not with the guy and who weren't glaring at him or anything, but the smell was obvious.

Since the MMJ cards went up in numbers in Nevada in the last 12 months, though, it's to be expected you may see it in public from people who think that usage in public is acceptable. It is still against the law in Vegas for public use to the best of my knowledge. I would highly doubt that there is intention for people to smoke marijuana in the casino exposing people to second hand THC. That seems like that would be a deal-killer in the lawmaking process to get these laws reformed as they were in the last couple of years here.
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teddys
teddys
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August 23rd, 2015 at 8:57:03 AM permalink
I smoke (legally when I am in a jurisdiction that allows it) and I am not addicted.

I also smoke cigarettes and cigars (very rarely) and am not addicted. Actually, I hate cigars right now. I like a little bit of tobacco once in a while, maybe a couple times a year. The mini cigars are pretty good -- a small Macanudo. Does anyone really enjoy the big honking cigars?

I AM addicted to gambling, though. (Damnit! :) )

I am excited about the future of marijuana legalization in Nevada. Legalization is also going to be on the ballot here in Ohio in November.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
Rigondeaux
Rigondeaux
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August 23rd, 2015 at 9:18:35 AM permalink
I smoke most days. But when I travel out of the country I stop with no problem.

It's not physically addictive, that's for sure. So I guess it depends what you mean by addictive. If the effects are neutral, or positive and you just use it a lot, is that an addiction?

I started drinking smoothies almost every day too, about a year ago. If I go more than 2 days without one, I start to feel it and I often feel good immediately after drinking one. Am I a smoothie addict?

The stuff about testing and high doctors is kind of a false dichotomy. You're assuming that, if it is illegal, people will never drive or perform surgery high, but if it's medical they will. Like, there's some surgeon who would never stoop so low as to illegally purchase pot, but he would have no qualms about performing open heart surgery while intoxicated. But just on pot. Not on the vast menu of other drugs he has access to.

I don't see any reason to think that's the case.

Moreover there is a boatload of legal drugs that would have a much worse impact on stuff like driving, or performing surgery and which cannot be detected using a breathalyzer. So there's nothing special about pot in that regard. It's just a matter of if we are going to keep throwing people in jail for buying, selling or possessing it.
Ahigh
Ahigh
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August 23rd, 2015 at 9:29:41 AM permalink
Quote: teddys

I smoke (legally when I am in a jurisdiction that allows it) and I am not addicted.

I also smoke cigarettes and cigars (very rarely) and am not addicted. Actually, I hate cigars right now. I like a little bit of tobacco once in a while, maybe a couple times a year. The mini cigars are pretty good -- a small Macanudo. Does anyone really enjoy the big honking cigars?

I AM addicted to gambling, though. (Damnit! :) )

I am excited about the future of marijuana legalization in Nevada. Legalization is also going to be on the ballot here in Ohio in November.



I have smoked (illegally) in the past. I have had secret clearances (from work I did for DoD at Texas Instruments) where I had to go into massive quantities of details for marijuana use (pages of documents detailing my past marijuana use, and a secret agent verbally interviewing me, stalling the process of getting my clearance).

I also got to see others who were smoking marijuana AT THE TIME at Texas Instruments (I was not) get their security clearances in a matter of weeks while I waited 9 months to get my clearance while NOT having used marijuana in over 5 years. I told the truth, and they lied. I was punished, and they scooted through the system.

When I moved to California, marijuana use was much more open in my view. I went to work for Atari Games Coin-op. Anyone who knows Atari Games' history with marijuana use, it's all true (marijuana was used openly and frequently at Atari Games Coin-op). I think Warshaw was the first to be really honest with the media about the presence of marijuana at Atari Games.

The attitudes about marijuana among the uneducated on the subject is the biggest problem that I see. Ignorance just really makes people say some stupid things sometimes. If you think only stupid people use marijuana, it's because you don't have to be all that smart to not admit to using it (for fear of getting ground into a meat-pulp by the system).

Even at Atari Games, there were one or two confirmed "closet smokers" who did not associate with those who smoked openly on the northwest side of the building in large numbers for concern for their professional reputation beyond the walls of Atari (presumably). One of the two of these guys, however, smoked marijuana openly in front of our parent company WMS right before the cultural clash between Chicago and California came to a head back in 2001. A joint came out and nobody was sure if they should light it (in front of Eli) and the guy who was one of the closet smokers shocked everyone and said, "I'm not shy!" LOL.

I was staying inside for that event because I think everyone was wondering, "what happens at Asilomar when WMS finds out it's just a big party with lots of dope smoking where we come up with new game ideas?" Asilomar is where Centipede was conceived according to Dan Van who hosted the event back at the turn of the century.

And I am excited about people learning more and fearing less about this subject. It's absolutely fascinating to me.

But that tension between those that do smoke marijuana and those who fear it still seems to linger. Ibeatyouraces is not alone in his thoughts on the subject.
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Ahigh
Ahigh
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August 23rd, 2015 at 10:01:09 AM permalink
This is the "once upon atari" series from Warshaw. I've met him at events where former Atari employees are asked to speak on what it was like working at Atari (most recently here in Las Vegas at the Riviera for the CGE not long ago). But I never worked with him (I was late coming to Atari).





But the recollections of marijuana use mirror what I saw when I worked there for sure.

http://www.cgexpo.com/news.php

The above link makes reference to the panel where Warshaw and I and Stephen Riesenberger and other former Atari veterans were interviewed about what it was like working for Atari at the "Atari Alumni Panel" interview.
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petroglyph
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August 23rd, 2015 at 11:27:23 AM permalink
Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Medical marijuana is a fraud. That said, I don't care what anyone else smokes or doesn't smoke as long as I have the option to avoid it. Ask yourself this, do you want the people building your cars or doctors operating on you higher than a kite? And yes, marijuana is addictive as hell.



Of course there is fraud in medicine, big pharma, Medicare,,,, just about anywhere a quick buck can be made. Tennessee recently won a big law suit against Perdue because they had claimed that Oxycotin wasn't addictive. Tennessee is where the term "hillbilly heroin" was used often, and that state suffered the most from it's diverted use.

I phshawed MMJ in the beginning myself, thinking most were just trying to get a "get out of jail refer card", but things being what they are I decided to give mmj a try. It is absolutely medicine when used as such. And good medicine. You don't understand, and obviously don't want to. That is your prerogative to listen to the voices in your own head, but that does not make you correct.

Recreational use and medical use are different. I have used both. Recreationally for decades and I can't tell you how glad I am that in my lifetime, people have the freedom to not go to jail for something as simple and peaceful as weed.

I am aware of a person to spent 6 years in prison in Texas for paraphernalia, six years of a mans life spent in prison for paraphernalia, that is an ignorant and godless society that would take 6 years of a mans life for something so simple. Arizona, I spoke with a person who did one year for a "joint" on his first offense. Those that would imprison people for that offense, don't even belong on the same planet. Ignorant ^$*)** savages. Beyond ignorant. Sometimes ignorance can be corrected, but you "can't fix stupid".

Alcohol has destroyed more lives, families, villages, jobs and futures and caused more fetal alcohol syndrome [there is even a name for it] than all the illegal drugs combined, but there are still hold outs that refuse to grasp that they have been lied to, their whole lives, about the most peaceful mind altering substance available in the entire history of mankind.

I try to empathize with those that refuse to acknowledge that they were duped all this time. It wasn't really their fault for getting suckered in, but it is time to erase the false notions about the damage and accept the wonderful benefits in many forms of cannabis.

I hope you never end up needing it as medication, but if you unfortunately have a disease that mmj is commonly being prescribed for [namely cancer, or ptsd, seizures] I hope you can give it an honest try. It can be a miracle, and has much fewer undesirable side effects then any pharmaceutical prescription I can think of.

I didn't used to believe that there were actual addicts to cannabis, but I now know there are. It certainly doesn't affect the vast majority of users to the point they should be labeled as such. Those are the people, that were going to be addicts anyway, there are people addicted to some pretty strange things. MJ is pretty safe though, there has never been one recorded death from overdose from marijuana.

It is effective and helpful medicine for most that use it as such. I personally make it into oil and cook with it. It has surprisingly helpful benefits. Like I said, I hope you don't end up needing it for what it is prescribed for. Not everyone can use it recreationally or enjoy it either. But certainly not everyone should use alcohol. For all recorded civilization people have sought out a form of relaxation and relief, this is proven to be the the safest form and least addictive substance to date.
hailtotheskins
hailtotheskins
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August 23rd, 2015 at 7:36:11 PM permalink
I smoked buds daily for ten years. When I had to stop on occasion ( getting a better job, once because of probation) I had no problem at all just up and quitting. MJ can be mentally addictive like fast food for a fat person but there is absolutely no physical addiction whatsoever. Its all a matter of how much you like it and if you have motivation or cause to stop. Ive seen and lost people to truly addictive substances and to say bud is super addictive is kind of laughable.
Ahigh
Ahigh
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August 23rd, 2015 at 11:05:54 PM permalink
Quote: hailtotheskins

Its all a matter of how much you like it and if you have motivation or cause to stop. Ive seen and lost people to truly addictive substances and to say bud is super addictive is kind of laughable.



Vaping and marijuana use BOTH suffer from a lack of education among people who DO NOT currently do it.

On the plane trip home, I met a woman who was 51 years old and said she smoked marijuana but stopped 21 years ago when she moved to Las Vegas. Another person in my seating area asked her, "would you do it again if it were made legal?"

She said, "no I wouldn't."

After a while, though, and after I educated her on the facts, including medicinal value of marijuana, she said that she would consider it.

She did recollect how she liked it and many other things. But she also talked about problems with the company that she runs when the kids at her company are coming to work stoned and not performing as well. There were some other discussions leading up to a realization that it is still something that can be tolerated when a user is outperforming a non-user, that usage pattern is just one of many factors for the value of the employee.

There are bound to be more discussions in the future, I think. But I do encourage people to do your own research and make up your own mind. Hearing so many things that just aren't true being said is just sad, really. And it's not helping anyone to believe lies. Really it's not.

The truth is that marijuana has been demonized, and ESPECIALLY in Texas, and also (until recently) here in Vegas. It just isn't hard to find an untruth hiding in someone's brain masquerading as a truth.

No amount of fervent belief makes an untruth a truth folks.
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