<p>For me personally, it’s pretty disheartening when I learn about very bright students smoking pot. It indicates to me that they are weak-willed in caving in to peers and are associated with unmotivated people. The first thing that pops into my head is not “oh, they know how to have fun.”</p>
<p>I know I’m no longer a high school student, but my current lifestyle was developed while I was a sophomore/junior in high school. Sunday - Thursday academics and other school related work are on my mind. Friday - Saturday with the exclusion of Saturday afternoon partying and having a good time are on my mind.</p>
<p>In high school and college, weed and especially alcohol are not a big deal. It is the more serious drugs that become a problem cocaine (huge in the college scene), shrooms, etc.</p>
<p>I bet a lot more people would be okay with it if it was legal. Do you guys not jaywalk either just because it is illegal?</p>
<p>Again, not all people who smoke are unmotivated…</p>
<p>While this is true for a large segment of the people at my school, there are many people who drink/smoke and take AP classes. 20+ people have gotten into Michigan so far during EA. I’d say at least half of them do one or the other.</p>
<p>Also, AvidStudent attends Dartmouth. I’m sure all of his classmates were unmotivated in high school and continue to be in college. I mean, they smoke, you know…</p>
<p>Against smart people wasting their time with weed and alcohol. But Hey, leaves more openings in colleges for people who actually care about their well being and future.</p>
<p>To all the people saying that the number of smokers would increase significantly if weed were to be legalized, no. Not even close. People drank before Prohibition, continued to drink during it, and drank just as much after its repeal. </p>
<p>Actually, on second thought, I’ll concede that there might be a slight jump–there’s probably a number of people who’ve only held off because of its illegality or had difficulty obtaining it–but it’d probably return to around the same number (between 15-20 mill. per annum, if I remember correctly) after the novelty of its newfound licit status wears off.</p>
<p>But why exactly does smoking mean I’ve given into peer pressure? Plenty of people asked me to try it before I did, and I only did after researching it on my own and deciding it’d be beneficial for me to do so. There’s a theory that one of the driving forces behind human actions, one of the most powerful desires a person can have, is the one to explore the areas inside one’s mind with other substances. Our fascination with drugs isn’t as a result of “peer pressure,” but because they’re there, and they’re fun, and we’re naturally curious animals.</p>
<p>My point wasn’t that all people who smoke are unmotivated. It’s that those motivated students who do began by associating with unmotivated students.</p>
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<p>Really, this is the same way it is for me. I can’t possibly understand the allure of getting high and looking/acting/feeling like an idiot unless it’s to gain entrance into some exclusive social clique. It truly is a disheartening prospect to see someone go that route. </p>
<p>I hate to say it because I’m sure it’s not <em>always</em> true, but in my experience when I meet someone who smokes pot, it’s usually a signaling that we can’t be friends. They are almost always rude, superficial and completely uninterested in anything pertaining to human progress. Life’s to be wasted for them, I guess–very hedonistic.</p>
<p>@wiz, did you even READ the link from one of my previous posts that I’ve referenced twice now?</p>
<p>Yeah, I have; actually, I read it before you showed it to me. How about reading this one, instead of referencing three-year-old studies?</p>
<p>[Marijuana</a> lung findings unlikely to change minds - latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-marijuana-20120111,0,6874458.story]Marijuana”>Marijuana lung findings unlikely to change minds)</p>
<p>Ok, you can choose not to be friends with someone who smokes if you want. I respect your decision (though I feel you will be missing out on some really cool people :))</p>
<p>What annoys me, though, is your superior tone. You are not better than other people just because you have made a different choice on this particular topic. People who smoke pot, even the ones without motivation, are not universally “bad people”. Though I have begun to realize that there is no use in arguing with you because we all have different morals.</p>
<p>Don’t be daft, you know as well as I do that if you type “2011 dangers of marijuana” into the search bar, you’ll get all the up-to-date results you need…</p>
<p>And the link you provided once again makes the mistake of comparing a blunt a week or so to long-term and daily usage of tobacco. It then goes on to list even more dangers:</p>
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<p>Do you guys even bother to read the link you’re posting?</p>
<p>@sean Let me respond to your post with something that I thought I made clear earlier in this thread…</p>
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<p>Confirmed for elitist prick.</p>
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<p>In college things change. Alcohol becomes something that (if used maturely) is just a social venue. In high school, I see it as something kids who are unruly, immature, irresponsible whatever word you want to use to describe ‘those kids’ get wasted and potentially get caught. As for weed, I’d say (though I’m not in college yet) that it’s similar, but nothing nearly as strong of a change. </p>
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<p>Most of these analogy arguments are just wrong…
J-Walking has nothing in common with weed and doesn’t share anything with weed relevant to discussion other than its illegality. </p>
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<p>No, I think there will be a SURGE in users. The very fact that I could see myself smoking pot means that a ton of people will lol. More of a joke, but seriously, I imagine that if it’s illegal, 99% people will have used it once before HS graduation and a good chuck will smoke on a semi-regular or regular basis. That’s a lot. </p>
<p>Enough people smoke pot as it is, and it’ll just boom if it’s illegal. It’s easier to get, less looked down upon, and there are less social implications. What reason is there to not smoke anymore, besides the ‘morals’ of not indulging in mind-changing substances? We all know how ‘morals’ are in America… </p>
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<p>I was nodding my head up until you said “with other substances”. What?? Lol… that’s a strange theory.</p>
<p>@dfree, seriously.</p>
<p>@Wiscongene, I still don’t know what you’re trying to get at. This. Is. Not. Blatantly. Wrong.</p>
<p>And, by the way, we’re not everyday smokers. I’ll mention, again, that I’m a weekend drinker and once every few weeks smoker, and so are the vast majority of my friends. I don’t hang with the everyday crowd–though I do have friends who do smoke almost every day, and they’ve done perfectly well in life–and I haven’t experienced a decline in my pulmonary function, my ability to use my brain, or breathe well.</p>
<p>@CrazyPluto: [Amazon.com:</a> Intoxication: The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering Substances (9781594770692): Ronald K. Siegel Ph.D.: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Intoxication-Universal-Drive-Mind-Altering-Substances/dp/1594770697/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Intoxication-Universal-Drive-Mind-Altering-Substances/dp/1594770697/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)</p>
<p>^^^ You are getting flak because you sound self-righteous.</p>
<p>“History shows that people have always used intoxicants. In every age, in every part of the world, people have pursued intoxication with plants, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. In fact, this behavior has so much force and persistence that it functions much like our drives for food, sleep, and sex. This “fourth drive,” says psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel, is a natural part of our biology, creating the irrepressible demand for intoxicating substances.”</p>
<p>Wow… I know he has a PhD and I don’t, but that sounds like crazy BS. Um… I think people do drugs cause of either 1. they have no direction in life, 2. they are bored and have nothing better to do, 3. their environment is drug heavy so they are easily pressured into it, 4. they are bad at making decisions. </p>
<p>I find it weird that the author is claiming that the real reason is 5. we have an innate “4th drive” to try illegal substances lol… that seems like a very bad conclusion and tbh I think the author is high lol. Until this book becomes cited in psychology textbooks accross the country, I don’t buy it.</p>
<p>Think about it… would we have the Bible if our infinitely less sophisticated predecessors (and no, I don’t think there was peer pressure back then) didn’t want to keep taking 'shrooms? Bushes don’t talk unless you’re tripping balls, bro.</p>