Say No To Pot » General

Jail Time

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:58:48 +0000

Unfortunately, people make too many assumptions on how I feel about the legalization of marijuana. Marijuana does not need to be legalized because it tells our youth that it’s okay to do one more drug. So instead of saying it’s okay to drink, we are also saying it’s okay to drink and smoke pot. Why would we want to add-on another drug? We can’t make alcohol illegal; it’s just way too late for that now. If it wasn’t and we could switch the two drugs then I would actually support that idea. Let’s face it, the addicts are the ones that get behind the wheels of a car and run over a family. The two drugs together are much more deadly than each one separately. But, if we want less deaths, and less problems with addiction we can not say “Hey kids, while you’re drinking go ahead and fire up a joint too.”

Being an addict, I’ll be the first one to say that we’ve screwed it up for all of the “normal people” in the world. We are the ones that run over people, hurt others and generally do bad things because we drink and use too many drugs. But, that’s the way of the world. Sometimes the bad apples ruin it for everyone else. I guess you could say the same for the health care industry. If it wasn’t for those people who got sick all of the time then it would be cheaper for the rest of us.

I am also firmly against putting “most” people in jail for selling drugs. The judges need to send people to rehab and not prison. Just because I don’t think we need to add another drug to the “OK LIST”, doesn’t mean I feel people should be put in prison for selling drugs. Each case needs to be evaluated separately and fairly.

Legalize Weed

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:13:58 +0000

The problem isn’t making pot legal for all the “Normal People”. The problem is making it legal for all of the addicts. I remember that I really liked going to weddings and concerts. Because it was okay to get really drunk or stoned because everyone else was “doing it”. So making marijuana legal for addicts gives them the green light for a wedding everyday. Let’s face it the liquor store makes most of its money from the alcoholics. So who really gets hurt by making marijuana legal? Alcoholics and addicts are different because they “Crave”. This is what sets us apart from other people when it comes to using certain drugs. I’ve always said that we already have one drug legal that is terrible (alcohol). Why should the government make two drugs legal? I think everyone has heard the term “pothead” before. This term was created to describe someone who smokes marijuana all of the time. THC the active ingredient in marijuana gradually causes the brain to “slow down” in some areas. The strange thing is that the addict rarely notices that this has occurred. However; the people around him or her will notice the slowdown. I personally had this happen to me, so I know what it feels like to have other people laugh and call you a “pothead”.

These are the “pothead” effects that I experienced:

1. Slowed speech.
2. Slowed movement.
3. Trouble reading (My eyes could not stay focused on pages.)
4. Short Term and Long Term memory problems.
5. Trouble learning new material.
6. Did not mature into adulthood as expected.
7. Felt less than other people.
8. Depression
9. Anxiety
And the list goes on…..

These are some of my direct effects from smoking marijuana. Medical marijuana is a complete joke. Go see a psychiatrist and see if he or she would ever recommend marijuana for a patient. I was personally told that “Let me give you something that will help without all of the side effects of marijuana”. This is the real truth about the drug. The side effects are too many to count. Have you ever felt really paranoid when smoking marijuana? No, I’m sure that has never happened to anyone before……..

Drug Addiction Reality

admin — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:23:34 +0000

According the Office of Supplied Studies, in a study done in 2001 (cited at bottom), an alarming percentage of US citizens are drug abusers. The reality isn’t that they all die from drug addiction. Another study done on DrugWarFact.org explains that only 17,000 people die from drug abuse yearly. This same study pointed out that about 3 million people in the US have serious drug problems.

So we have all the studies, but what do they mean? Drug abuse doesn’t kill? The reality is that drugs may destroy your life easier than end it. What you do is see the reality behind addiction. I see it as something that destroyed my life. I watched it destroy others. This piece is more a road map than a path to healthy living. It just points out what you need to know.

Understanding:
Drugs don’t kill everyone, but they do destroy many lives. The proof is simple, or seems simple-the US government has been at war with drug abuse for decades. Someone, somewhere cares about how youth lives are being destroyed.

Seeing the Reality:
The reality may be you won’t die. However, couldn’t it be said that even the basic addictions can kill you, if not immediately, but eventually? When a heroin addict uses a needle, and then passes it on, what pictures of AIDs do you see? It’s not lecture; it just means more than dieing. Your life changes as you watch the destruction.

Watching the Destruction:
It might destroy your life. You may not die: you may become homeless or insane, you may get a vicious disease, or you may lose all relationships. What matters is playing this tape all the way to the end. You will need to take action on your own soon.

Taking Action:
Taking action is about putting down the drugs. It’s a philosophy many of us can use: choosing to make the right choice. Youth addiction may be paramount, because more and more drug addicted teens are growing up in a world where you can buy a bag of weed for the price of two movies.

Making a Choice:
It’s still up to you. It’s a choice. What matters isn’t lecture, philosophy, or opinion. The drug addiction reality may seem far away. It won’t happen to you. It doesn’t kill that many people every year. Drugs only rob people of their careers, their health, and their family. The drug addiction reality is that too often people forget, only to be reminded when something bad happens.

Sources:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association,
Drug War Facts, http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm#illicit

Can You Beat Drug Abuse and Addiction by Yourself?

admin — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:11:51 +0000

Drug addiction can begin anywhere. A father uses drugs and his son or daughter sees him. A friend invites you to join them in smoking a joint. A boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t just buy you alcohol, but also “helps” you with your pill addiction. The problem isn’t that we all understand drugs are dangerous, but that so many try to defeat drug addiction on their own.
The leading health site Mayo Clinic offered five risk factors for people who become dependent on drugs: personality, social environment, anxiety and depression, genetics, and types of drugs.
That’s only part of the story. With millions who use illegal drugs on a daily basis, there has to be more problem factors. Let’s begin by exploring personality problems.
Personality:
The rates of people who suffer from depression using drugs is considered high in both government and private studies. Simply put, this is a classic example of why people use drugs. It’s also proof to some degree that defeating drugs on your own may be too hard. If you suffer from a worse condition like schizophrenia, which already has high suicide rates, defeating drugs on your own could be impossible.
Social:
Many use drugs to fit in with a certain group. And it isn’t always the young peer groups. In many ways society is becoming more accepting of active drug users. This all depends on the person and comes down to theory. But if this is the only problem, if you only use drugs to fit in and have no mental or physical problems, it may be possible to defeat drugs. The danger is in starting you become physically addicted, especially with the harsher drugs.
Type of Drug:
Some drugs will be tougher to “kick” than others. This isn’t theory at all. Cocaine, for example, has far more addicting aspects than marijuana. On the other hand, some “legal” drugs like cigarettes or pain pills can be just as addicting to certain people. Heroin addicts, cocaine users … the type of the drug doesn’t always fit in with the personality. However, when it starts changing how you live on a daily basis, when you have to get one or you think you’ll die, the only answer is coping, medication, and the help of professional doctors. Some drugs are simply too hard to kick on your own.
So what does it all mean? This isn’t meant as a scheme of studying why we’re addicted to drugs or how to defeat them. The drug epidemic has been a problem for decades. People are still dying. But many addicts are also successfully quitting drug use, sometimes on their own. The safest bet is to seek professional help in the beginning. Or, not trying highly addictive drugs in the first place.

Your Potential

admin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:35:02 +0000

Drug addiction and alcoholism is a disease. This disease is something that is genetically inherited from our ancestors. No one chooses to become an alcoholic or an addict. Alcoholics and addicts (like me) are generally really nice people. What sets us apart from “normal people” is when we use alcohol or other drugs we develop the phenomenon of craving. There is a point at which someone who has the genetic make-up can successfully stop using drugs/alcohol and not develop the disease. Unfortunately, most of us don’t stop before reaching “the point of no return”. Once this has happened, the individual can no longer successfully use drugs or alcohol.

I had a great time using drugs and alcohol when I first started using them. But eventually I no longer got very much enjoyment from them and felt I had to use them to feel “normal”. As you can tell from the name of this website and the other statements I’ve made, my drug of choice was marijuana. Most alcoholics and addicts have a drug of choice; this is the “standby” or one they cannot go without. Most of the people I meet in AA stated that their drug of choice was alcohol. There were several times when me and my friends tried to get cocaine or other drugs and were unsuccessful. But, marijuana was always there and it was our drug of choice.

By age 25, marijuana was no longer working like it used to. Really all I wanted was to be comfortable in my own skin. My psychiatrist stated (years after I got sober) he thought I eventually would have switched over to pain pills. I guess he took note of all of the statements I made regarding how this type of drug made me feel. Pain pills were definitely one of my favorites because of the energy and overall good feeling they gave me. I used to tell my friends that I could be at work “Smiling” as I was taking out the trash.

If you’re an addict like me and you’re pretty young, the odds of me convincing you that you have a problem are pretty slim. It’s very difficult to convince us addicts that we have a problem when the drugs are still working for us. After you finish reading this article I would like for you to take a few minutes and really think. Look back on your life. When you were 10 years old did you think this was how your life was going to turn out? Are you living up to your full potential or is something holding you back? This was the case with me. In my early teens I was on the computer all the time and at age 16 I had a bulletin board system running at my parents’ house. Once I started using drugs and alcohol heavily, I lost all interest in the thing I loved the most (the computer). I was definitely not living up to my potential and I definitely didn’t think by the time I was 25 that I would be smoking pot all day long and using other drugs just so I could get through the day. Take some time to think. Think back to when you were 10 years old.