<p>to "psuedointellect" who asked about the benefits of drinking</p>
<p>Note that when I say "drinking" I do NOT mean completely wasted stumbling around.. I mean tipsy/buzzed.</p>
<p>There are several benefits to drinking. People claim they can have just as much fun without alcohol, which is true, but it may be a bit harder. There are some people who are naturally social and outgoing; these people do just fine without alcohol. But many people may be a bit shy, especially when it comes to meeting new people at an unfamiliar party scene. </p>
<p>Alcohol basically loosens you up. You feel good and can act quite social, and you don't act stupid unless you over do it. Aside from being social it also feels quite pleasant to be buzzed, and that in itself can turn an otherwise dull event into a highly enjoyable experience. For example, chilling and watching some dumb movie with ur friends buzzed is much more fun than sober. If you were sober u might complain about how dumb the movie was or somethnig... but buzzed you will open up, laugh, and have fun.</p>
<p>DONT get completely drunk. You will act dumb, might throw up, do something you regret, and have a headache the next day.</p>
<p>^well said. experienced drinkers get tipsy, knowing well tha getting wasted isn't a positive experience. then again some continue to get wasted and brag about how they blacked out. real cool, brag about how you almost killed yourself. life sucks that much huh?</p>
<p>Does ANYONE care that it's against the law? Anyone?</p>
<p>FYI, "tipsy" = lowered inhibitions, diminished ability to make sound judgements, decreased stability and coordination, slower reactions, and possible lack of control. Tipsy = drunk. If you drink, at least make it only a couple std. drinks. Don't go to tipsy. Better yet, follow our laws. You don't think you hurt anyone else, but one of these days, you will, however slightly or imperceptibly to you. It's sad to see such smart people making such stupid decisions.</p>
<p>If you guys are not so worried about following the law like SaltyBruin mentioned, why not smoke pot? I of course am not encouraging that either, but it's been proven many many times that marijuana has no adverse affects unlike alcohol. The reason why it was banned was because of the farm workers back in the day who saw competing losses from hemp farmers that used hemp to make fabric (it's a stronger fabric than cotton).</p>
<p>Thus, they lobbied congress to ban Hemp under the false pretense that it was harmful and they successfully lied to congress.</p>
<p>Again, breaking the law is bad, but we're all smart enough to make our own judgments. If you're going to break the law to have a little fun you might as well go with something that actually has no harmful effects right?</p>
<p>Partially agreed. Even better that in the state of California, it's totally legal as long as you have a doctor's prescription. The problem with weed, however, is the smoke itself, which is actually much more harmful to your body than what a couple of drinks will do to your liver. Which is why I am not a fan of joints or pipes - it gets all ashy and tastes like crap and burns if you don't know what you're doing.</p>
<p>Having said that, here is why pot > booze: with booze, there's only one way to get it into your body, which is drinking it, and it goes straight to your bloodstream blah blah blah. With pot, there are many, MANY different ways to take it, some of which really do have completely negligible negative effects on your body, most notably vaporizing it, because a vaporizer heats up the buds just enough to vaporize the THC but not burn the leaves themselves, removing all carcinogenic elements from the intake process. So yes, in certain contexts, weed is much, much safer than alcohol, depending on how much you are willing to invest in your pot-smoking habit.</p>
<p>And LA has the highest concentration of cannabis clubs in the COUNTRY. There are like 9 places just along a short stretch of La Cienega.</p>
<p>So agreed, Kutibah - weed > booze. But booze is much more easily accessible for parties and large groups, and that's why people go for it.</p>
<p>I, on the other hand, need to be completely sober when I'm dancing because my moves are just too hot to handle <em>sizzle sizzle</em> and too difficult to do if I'm not in control :)</p>
<p>So artificial fun can be created by drinking when it wouldn't necessarily be there if you were sober, all right. I just wonder if it's worth having millions of people drinking responsibly when thousands of them are going to be drinking irresponsibly and killing people/themselves? Simply "Drink responsibly, stupid" works in a utopia, but in reality, some percentage of people are going to be completely irresponsible and cause accidents. It's a given.</p>
<p>"your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins."
Your nose has no business violating law that is enforced by people who have the right and power to swing through our social contract with the government. And it's usually the ones using alcohol or pot who do the literal swinging at the noses of each other or the sober.</p>
<p>I don't care how you type. I'm not holy. I think observing laws is a good thing. And I don't appreciate being spoken to like that. I'm sorry my own strong opinion hurts you so emotionally. I enjoy a heated debate, not belittling. You talk about being open-minded, having perspective (I live in a college town), chilling out - and then go on a personal and belligerent rant? I'm done with this.</p>
<p>well saltybruin you do have a right to your beliefs and there is a significant minority (the conservative christians) who will stand by you. realize that if you go around with a holier than thou attitude to the general populace it's not going to win you any friends. you may personally choose to abstain, which is fine, but lecturing your new floormates about laws and morality isn't going to go over well. best to say, no thanks, I don't drink, and leave it at that.</p>
<p>Yeah, being law-abiding and healthy. How passe. </p>
<p>Funny how some people are "allowed" to go on and on about how much they love booze and getting tipsy, while others are silenced when they profess their love of not-drinking. Yep, points for one-way open-mindedness. </p>
<p>Also using alcohol to loosen up in social situations seems like a crutch to me. In my opinion: learn some social skills and self-confidence instead of having to drug yourself. I, personally, just don't like the feeling of not being in control of my mind. But that's me. Obviously others enjoy it, but dear lord, just please do it responsibly. Far too many people have been lost due drinking. And it's not just driving. See: drunk guy who drowned in the pool at UCLA.</p>