The mention of alchoholism ruined the joke for me.

I knew one girl who smoked pot every day. She had the maturity of the age she started smoking.

Her non-existent family might have also had something to do with it. ...But then again most people around here had crappy families. Ah the joys of a wide middle class -- family issues for everyone*!

_{* I meant 'Most.' But that doesn't sound as cool.}

I take a large dose of anti-psychotics to make me "normal", I am well and truly addicted, its illegal to have if they are not prescribed to you, I cost the government a hell of a lot of money to stay sane.

Many people self-medicate for mental health issues with pot, over the years I have got to know a few of them, (friends of friends.) I am convinced they weren't that crazy to begin with, my experience says that if you are prone to mental health issues, it triggers episodes and relapses.

Trust me, you don't want to be mentally ill, and shouldn't do anything that could possibly move you down that path. So if you have mental illness in your family, just steer clear of the whole thing. I personally don't think it causes them, just triggers them.

That sounded a lot more anti-pot than I wanted it to, just if anyone decides to try pot because of this thread, be aware that it can trigger mental health issues.

I have paranoid schizophrenia with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. But saying schizophrenia doesn't actually define anything, other than "recurring psychosis".

I have auditory hallucinations, (no voices telling me to do stuff, mainly screaming,) visual on really bad days. Over a 2-3 months my mood slowly climbs to I get really elated and happy, and I dump down into a massive depression, and it takes all that is in me to even get out of bed, but the alternative is hospital, so I get up and function. As for the OC tendencies, its more I don't always trust what I see, like when I go to bed and I can see the door is locked, they key will be in the locked position, I need to physically touch it, for it to sink into my brain that its actually locked.

I think that about covers my symptoms, but 1200mg of anti-psychotics (seroquel) keeps the whole thing mostly at bay, to the point I can ignore the auditory hallucinations, I live with the mood swings.

The drug works really well, but then it loses its effectiveness, and the psych ups the dose, and its the same pattern every 9-10 months. 1200mg seems to be working, has for 18+ months. I am something of a medical curiosity, usually small doses work, where it takes a massive large dose, so I have been in a couple of clinical reports about the effectiveness of the drug.

The only side effect of that I suffer from the drug is they like to knock me out for 10-12 hours, and I get the anecdotal cartilage thinning.

I think that about covers it. This is the reason you don't want to be mentally ill, and pot has been linked to causing schizophrenia.

Timorg... You sound like my sister after she ate the wrong mushrooms...

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I once had a dooby and slept like a log. But I doubt it would keep working with regular usage, so I never did it again.

I could say something about heroine, too, something I've heard people say about it, people who have personally experienced the hell. But I guess I should shut up. And I should probably say to all other teachers in our school to shut up. I don't think anyone of them has used other drugs than alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and other legal stuff.

Today I was a stand-in for our teacher in health education (he wasn't feeling well ). We talked about alcohol and we sang a song by Juice Leskinen about alcoholism. I underlined the parts in the lyrics that describe the delirium caused by alcoholism, very alike something a friend to a friend of mine has experienced. I guess I shouldn't have said anything. I drink alcohol, I might even get drunk once or twice a year, but I guess I'm in no position to speak.

FWIW, there is a difference between banning drugs from the general public and banning it from children. Drugs should be banned from people that aren't mature enough to handle it, but who is capable of making such a decision? Its generally ok to categorize all children (definately under 16, probably 18-20) as not being able to handle drugs and should be lectured as such. But to label all drugs as being bad for everyone is intolerable, especially if you haven't tried it.

Drugs are bad for society. Open your eyes. Yes, alcohol and tobacco is bad for society, too, but it just won't happen that alcoholics rob cars and people to get money for their addiction.

And I will never try heroine. What one guy said was that everyone would like it! He said something like "Imagine the best orgasm you ever had, or the best orgasm you ever could have. Imagine something 100 times better than that. That's what I felt." I have no reason to not believe that. And I have no reason to not believe I could feel that, too.

That's probably the key question that leads to all drug abuse. People ask themselves this question before they decide to try it (along with the bullshit about one having to test it before one can talk about it). But after testing, the question will be a bit different. "Why couldn't I try this a bit longer? What's the difference in stopping now and stopping later?" The original question loses importance.

Sorry for telling this without experience of my own. Sorry for not bringing the drug addicts here and letting them tell these things to you. But I've heard so many of them telling these things that I see no point in it. Sure you must have heard similar authentic stories, too.

Will legalizing DRUG X make it cheaper? At least in Finland you can buy cheap illegal booze, while the legal booze is expensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_during_and_after_prohibition

In short, yes. Cheap imported alcohol is another issue which has to do with different taxes on booze in neighboring countries. Drugs are expensive because they are fairly hard to manufacture (since it's illegal), hard to import (since it's illegal) and hard to sell (since it's illegal). I'm not saying we should legalize all drugs though... But a more nuanced discussion on the subject wouldn't hurt.

No, drug abuse is bad for society.

There you go as well, assuming that using drugs will turn you into an addicted criminal.
This is simply not true.
Funny you should mention it, I haven't heard of junkies mugging people or breaking into cars to get some cash to pay for drugs in a long, long time.

I hadn't posed it in that sense, but yes, it probably is. You know how some people have a hard time giving up smoking and other people just stop without any sort of problem? The same goes for other drugs. Using it will not make you addicted.

It's not as if I've ever touched any of the stuff either, you know.

No, I haven't. Not from people I know anyway. But I do know loads of people who have given various soft drugs (to use that term) a try at some point and may still smoke some occasionally. But just as drinking a glass of beer on Friday night doesn't turn you into an alcoholic^[1], smoking weed doesn't turn you into a junkie.

There's possibly another point that I've already alluded to above. If I wanted to get weed back home, I'd know how and where to get it: there are enough shops that have a licence to sell it that it's not hard to find one. If I wanted to get some in, say, Paris, I wouldn't have a clue where to go. Presumably if I wanted to, I'd have to get to know people who know people and conduct dealings in back alleys. And I'd have to worry about the quality of the stuff I was getting.
In that situation, I'd be associating with the wrong kind of people.

In an ideal world, people would not use drugs (except for medicinal purposes). That we don't live in said ideal world should be abundantly obvious by the fact that cigarettes are sold with big captions saying they cause lung cancer, and people still buy them or take up smoking. One way or the other, at least some people will be using drugs. Now, you can try to suppress this and force these people to virtually become criminals to do so in hopes that it will dissuade them (experience should tell you this doesn't work), or you can try to go easier on these people, make sure that if they want to use drugs, at least they're doing it in a way where you can keep an eye on what's happening and where they can be sure they're getting reasonably quality stuff (as opposed to any old junk). The only concern is then whether this leads to more people trying drugs (it probably does) and whether that in turn leads to more problematic drug addicts (and my claim, coming from a country with a liberal policy to drugs, is that it doesn't).