[Leoman]

Cold Iron, on Mar 30 2009, 09:51 PM, said:

It all depends on what kind of weed you're smoking

Are we talking THC content? Dry versus sticky weed? How does this affect withdrawal symptoms?

As for my apparent narcissism, I have certainly NEVER heard of anyone experiencing such severe symptoms such as you described. I think it can be agreed that slight paranoia occurs for some users, but "severe withdrawal from society, psychosis as well as hearing voices, and all of you stopping to care for your families"? This doesn't strike me as typical withdrawal symptoms for marijuana, more along the lines of withdrawal from far heavier drugs. Though it is important to note I did read what you said about how some of those others had other conditions and addiction, you're still mainly attributing this stuff to pot.

[Cold Iron]

I said we stopped caring enough, which is true as soon as you flip someone off to go smoke. Yes the dude with psychosis was on meth as well and the dude with withdrawal was on LSD as well and there's a smattering of ecstacy throughout but the weightloss and nausea, the short term memory loss, the fucked up dreams, the lung damage and the general disconnecting was all weed. Even the guys on the heavier drugs would have come off better if not for weed. Weed helped the guy with withdrawal stay withdrawn and brought on the guy with psychosis' problems a lot worse than when he was just on meth.

I also know another dude who assaulted his fiance in his sleep 2 weeks before the wedding, and it was put down to a weed induced psychotic episode, he then went on withdrawal medication to help him quit.

This post has been edited by Cold Iron: 31 March 2009 - 04:26 AM

[Leoman]

Ah. I know exactly what you're talking about with the weightloss and nasea when ecstasy is part of the equation.
As for what you attribute basically to marijuana, I couldn't agree more. Those three points (memory loss, fucked dreams, lung damage) are all what I would consider possible effects of not just withdrawal, but use of the plant in general.
When you bring up disconnection from society, I know how you feel. I guess I have always felt that it wasn't the drug itself, but the fact that it is indeed illegal, and the fact that you're smoking it makes you a criminal that sets you apart from the "normal" people.

And when someone is using meth, even if infrequently, I would find it hard to blame their psychosis on weed.

[Cold Iron]

Leoman, on Mar 31 2009, 03:33 PM, said:

And when someone is using meth, even if infrequently, I would find it hard to blame their psychosis on weed.

He had a history of meth use, got off it, and replaced it with weed. This was actually when his psychosis came out, hearing voices and having delusions. Ended up stealing a thousand bucks or so from the liquor store where he worked and they charged him. He defended himself with "it was for a drug problem" and he got convincted and sentenced to jail time. He then told his parents (he was about 21) and they got a lawyer for the appeal which got him out of doing time, ended up with only community service. His brother told me he has stolen at least $6000 from his parents as well, and more from the liquor store that they couldn't pin on him.

[Leoman]

Well from what I know neither of us are practicing medical professionals, so of course either of us could easily be wrong. Going back to what I said in my first post "I don't think that marijuana alone causes problems such as you described, but can certainly exacerbate other pre-existing symptoms", I have a strong belief that weed was not the sole antagonist on this guy's mental problems, and acted as more of a spark.
Either way, that is indeed a sad state of affairs and I hope the best for him.

[Cold Iron]

Glad we reached a resolution.

[Leoman]

Quote

If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on. --Terence McKenna

Just thought I'd post that, I love McKenna.

[Cold Iron]

I can accept it from a purely libertarian pov. But there are no purely libertarian governments in the world, especially not the US.

[Leoman]

Yeah the concept is awesome, but cannot be put into practice here, basically.