Recreational pot use big winner in election

[RN0441]

My son would trade or sell his ADHD medications for marijuana. What a mess that all was. Doctor said he had a very slight case of ADHD. This was at age 15.

My son said he used marijuana for anxiety also. But as his psychiatrist said, it relieves anxiety instantly when you smoke it but the whole situation CREATES anxiety and the marijuana itself can create anxiety also. For my son it was a gateway drug. I smoked a lot of it in my high school days and I've never been against it but am against it for MY SON. Never heard son complain of anxiety until puberty.

 

[BusynMember]

The psychiatrist is wrong. Like all drugs it may relieve anxiety in some people but also like all drugs people react differently to it.

I had severe anxiety, panic disorder and even mild agoraphobia as early as childhood. Many phobias too. Pot scared me. I felt so dream.like and paranoid that I thought I was going crazy. I have no doubt some people like the feeling of disconnection from reality and the slowing of the brain. But it caused me more anxiety.

Pot is a drug and no drugs react the same for everyone.

 

[PiscesMom]

I am very much for legalization. And for decriminalization of all drugs.
But there are two issues here being conflated - like, should drug x be used, and should drug x be legal/ decriminalized.
Before the drug war, we had cough syrup made of morphine, for example. You could buy drugs at pharmacies. Making drugs illegal does not stop demand. Before alcohol prohibition, people drank beer. During prohibition, because of smuggling, it had to be concentrated into hard liquor. And now beer and wine is popular again. It is the same for other drugs - coca leaves become cocaine, which becomes crack, etc.
All it does is put the mentally ill, and addicts in jail. It bars many people from getting help they need. It creates a huge underworld, gangs, violence. Instead of ad wars, like alcohol companies, they have deadly turf wars. Children are out selling drugs, even in the US. But - they don't sell alcohol!
In Colorado, teen marijuana use is lower than the national average!

People use drugs. They always have and always will.

 

[ctmom05]

I am also all for legalization; partly for the legal issues mentioned by PiscesMom & partly because I am a multiple time cancer survivor .. .. .. I believe certain strains have medicinal qualities

 

[jetsam]

the effects of pot are so different for everyone that I feel that it is totally related to the individual . also i believe any mental illnesses play a part in how those individuals react to it. there is no one answer. I was a teen in the 70's. the use of pot was huge in my circles. Most of my friends used it including me. Some of them went to other drugs, but probably would have used other drugs anyway because that was there makeup. Some used it only recreationally and kept it that way. (still using pot to this day but nothing more). They became successful and remained so to this day. My brother is now retired after a very successful career as an engineer and he used recreationally. However my other brother has a drug problem and never achieved much in life and will need to work till the day he dies. My husband tried pot in his teens, did not like the way it made him feel (paranoid) and never smoked again. Throughout my life i used it recreationally here and there (alcohol always made me very ill) Never smoked when I was pregnant, or anywhere around my children ever ! When I had cancer I used again for pain management. I could always walk away from it. haven't used it in years now. But feel I could do it today and then walk away again with no problem. My son has ADHD that was diagnosed when he was very young, we also feel that he has some other mental illness (i highly suspect a personality disorder) that no dr would commit to and they tried many medications throughout his early years that never worked. When he was 14 he started smoking pot. He claims it calms him and wouldn't dream of stopping! unfortunately he , as you know, went on to harder drugs...heroine. He goes through periods of not doing hard stuff, but he ALWAYS smokes pot. My friends have children who use pot, and are college students getting good grades, getting good careers, maintaining relationships, etc.. Its the individual. as someone else said, not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic either. I don't see any difference between pot and alcohol so I don't see the difference that legalization would make except maybe teaching kids about it like we do about alcohol








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