Study Suggests That Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than Thought

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Just don't go smoking those pjs.

 

 

What do you mean? Of course my pjs are smoking - blue and white flannel stripes with a green t-shirt --- can't get much more smoking than that! :P  And when you add in the pink bedsocks, well all I can say is 'hot to trot'!

 

 

PS - Stop distracting me - I'm doing transcription typing work and I need to get it done as soon as possible, but then one of your posts pops up in the corner and I have to come see what it is! :)

Edited June 23, 2014 by nunsense

[NotreDame]

I understand and appreciate the difficulty in explaining the highly subjective experiences of drug and alcohol use. The ambiguity of the word "buzzed" is not helping though. (People I hang out with tend to refer to a buzz as when you get a little stupid and/or happy, or maybe I don't know because I haven't "crossed that line" into hangover territory). I think the concrete examples you touched upon are more illustrative and useful, even though they weren't exhaustive.

 

I think every activity you could ever do "affects your reason" to some degree. What you call a jovial, relaxed feeling is a chemically-induced change in your psychic state. If you're elated from drink you may find it more difficult to dwell on your problems, suffer some coordination and cognitive impediments. You could spin around really fast and have the same effect as drinking a glass of wine or two, although it wears off quickly. You could do extreme sports or hop on a roller-coaster for an adrenaline rush. Sometimes a concert can "blow your mind." Thing is, in an elated state you perceive things differently and the decisions you make in that state will be effected by the dominant emotion/mental state you're experiencing. Conversely, stress, competitive sports, sleep deprivation (all these things I've listed are typically not sinful, yes?) Can also affect your reasoning and judgement. You've probably seen how athletes can be overly violent and aggressive "in the heat of the moment."

 

I guess the point I'm attempting to make here is that you cannot say that participating in activities wherein your reason becomes affected automatically constitutes sin. All sorts of activities can give you "less control over your passions" as you phrase it. Hell caffeine use can make people a little edgy. Obviously marijuana affects someone's judgment, that almost goes without saying, however the degree to which it does is dependent on a number of other factors. I guess where we mainly disagree is that you believe any and all circumstances affect a person's reason to a degree that is sinful whereas that is not my belief based on my experience. 

 

I don't know why my experience, and others who have had similar experiences, tend to get written off so easily. I acknowledge that people have done or thought stupid things under the influence of mj that they would not have done otherwise. I know people who have been adversely affected. But somehow I never achieved the level of stonerdom that makes my experience valid. "Youngster I've smoked more joints than days you've been alive yada yada and let me tell you . . ." seems to go a far way in these discussions, which I find unfortunate. Perhaps your experience with the drug is strongly tied to partying, binging, and debauchery but mine has not been. I'm a really boring person who hates partying and has no exciting stories of revelry to share with you fine folks. I was usually that annoyingly responsible buzzkill. Not to say I've never done anything stupid under the influence, I have, but they're the same vices I struggled with sober. I don't believe the drug made it any harder to avoid sin.

 

I understand and appreciate the difficulty in explaining the highly subjective experiences of drug and alcohol use. The ambiguity of the word "buzzed" is not helping though. (People I hang out with tend to refer to a buzz as when you get a little stupid and/or happy, or maybe I don't know because I haven't "crossed that line" into hangover territory). I think the concrete examples you touched upon are more illustrative and useful, even though they weren't exhaustive.

 

No, my examples aren't exhaustive because I have a job and a life.  "Buzzed" isn't so ambiguous and your friends nailed it with "stupid-happy."

I think every activity you could ever do "affects your reason" to some degree

 

OK, how about "impairs your reason"?  Is that better? 

 

I guess the point I'm attempting to make here is that you cannot say that participating in activities wherein your reason becomes affected automatically constitutes sin

 

I said that was my understanding, I don't think I said it was a fact or church teaching...  But would you agree with someone who said "it's not automatically wrong to drive drunk because you don't know if you'll hit anybody"?  But all this is just my opinion and what I live by.   I never said it's church teaching or whatev's.   I'm not sure what an Aquinas or a Garrigou-lagrange would say on the subject. 

 

I don't know why my experience, and others who have had similar experiences, tend to get written off so easily.

 

I wasn't writing off your experiences.  You said you've never been drunk. This means objectively that you lack any experience not just w/ the effects of alcohol, but you lack a frame of reference for interpreting your experiences with marijuana.  So when I say "the effects of alcohol are different from the effects of other drugs because..." there's no writing off of anything.  You have no relevant experience to comment.