Perception of Marijuana as a 'Safe Drug' Is Inaccurate

[rachelbean]

We must do it different in California. I've almost never met anyone who smokes it mixed. Most people use pipes, bongs or vaporizers, or just rolled, but I've never smoked it mixed or known anybody who did regularly

[Sælir]

We mix it here.

[Robert_S]

I used to make a spleef to conserve the weed, keep my tolerance down, and not have to deal with paraphernalia.

Blunts are far more common. Pipes, one hitters and bongs are more more common still.

[MrFungus420]

I don't think it is often smoked alone, wasn't in the old days anyway.

With the exception of the idiots that do blunts (emptying a cigar and refilling it with pot), I have never seen them mixed.

What "old days" are you talking about? I've been smoking pot since 1986 and have smoked with literally hundreds of people. I've smoked a blunt on 4 occasions and never smoked any pot that was just mixed with tobacco.

[MrFungus420]

I don't think it is often smoked alone, wasn't in the old days anyway.

Depends what you mean by 'often', and what you mean by 'the old days'. I've smoked alone every day for the last 30 years or so, and I can name oodles more like me.

If you're ever in Michigan, look me up.

[JimC]

This is so true. If I hadn't taken up the vile weed at University, I would now be a billionaire with a Nobel Prize, married to Jennifer Hawkins...

[hackenslash]

I don't think it is often smoked alone, wasn't in the old days anyway.

Depends what you mean by 'often', and what you mean by 'the old days'. I've smoked alone every day for the last 30 years or so, and I can name oodles more like me.

If you're ever in Michigan, look me up.

Dude, you were always on my list.

[hadespussercats]

Except the article doesn't state anything new. It is not safe for some adolescents, particularly those with genetic or psychological issues already identified. Shocking

Those psychological issues aren't already identified, generally. That's the rub-- you don't know if you're one of the unlucky few that pot makes crazy until... you've gone crazy.

[JimC]

It is commonly believed here that the average strength of street dope is much, much higher now than it was in the 70s, due to efficient selection of high THC yield varieties by growers, so any bad effects to susceptible individuals may be worse...

[Ian]

Except the article doesn't state anything new. It is not safe for some adolescents, particularly those with genetic or psychological issues already identified. Shocking

Those psychological issues aren't already identified, generally. That's the rub-- you don't know if you're one of the unlucky few that pot makes crazy until... you've gone crazy.

My 21-yr old cousin wrote something about this on her Facebook page a few weeks ago. She linked an article which discussed the dangers of marijuana on people prone to mental disorders - which she is; she's been diagnosed with some kind of schizo disorder.

And JimC is right - marijuana today is much more potent than the stuff people smoked back in the 60s and 70s. Conversely, LSD back then was more powerful than what tends to be available today.

[hackenslash]

It is commonly believed here that the average strength of street dope is much, much higher now than it was in the 70s, due to efficient selection of high THC yield varieties by growers, so any bad effects to susceptible individuals may be worse...

As always, common belief is incorrect, or at least here it is.

most people here are smoking extremely low-grade resin, with most of the rest of the majority taken up by low- to middle-grade green.

The best shit is, as always, the really high-grade resin, but that's very expensive. This is the crap I mostly smoke.

BTW, I still routinely get the highest grade, mostly because of my circle of friends.

[JimC]

It is commonly believed here that the average strength of street dope is much, much higher now than it was in the 70s, due to efficient selection of high THC yield varieties by growers, so any bad effects to susceptible individuals may be worse...

As always, common belief is incorrect, or at least here it is.

most people here are smoking extremely low-grade resin, with most of the rest of the majority taken up by low- to middle-grade green.

The best shit is, as always, the really high-grade resin, but that's very expensive. This is the crap I mostly smoke.

BTW, I still routinely get the highest grade, mostly because of my circle of friends.

We used to smoke very ordinary green, hash only occasionally...

Haven't smoked any for years, so it's hearsay, but I hear it a lot...

[Pappa]

It is commonly believed here that the average strength of street dope is much, much higher now than it was in the 70s, due to efficient selection of high THC yield varieties by growers, so any bad effects to susceptible individuals may be worse...

As always, common belief is incorrect, or at least here it is.

most people here are smoking extremely low-grade resin, with most of the rest of the majority taken up by low- to middle-grade green.

The best shit is, as always, the really high-grade resin, but that's very expensive. This is the crap I mostly smoke.

BTW, I still routinely get the highest grade, mostly because of my circle of friends.

Also, just because higher grade skunk is available, it doesn't necessarily follow that people are getting more stoned. They may just being smoking less and getting similarly high.

It must be better than smoking the boot polish and glue that frequently ended up (probably still does) in resin.

[Jason]

There is no tobacco in marijuana. They're two entirely different plants.

If you're trying to claim that marijuana contains carcinogens like tobacco does, then you need to do some reading:

Smoke from tobacco and cannabis contains many of the same carcinogens and tumor promoters [20,21]. However, cannabis and tobacco have additional pharmacological activities, both receptor-dependent and independent, that result in different biological endpoints. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in smoke are pro-carcinogens that are converted to carcinogens by the enzymatic activity of the cytochrome P4501A1 oxidase protein (CYP1A1 gene product). Benzo [a] pyrene is converted to its carcinogenic metabolite diol epoxide, which binds to specific hyper-mutable nucleotide sequences in the K-ras oncogene and p53 tumor suppressor [22]. Recent work by Roth et al. demonstrates that THC treatment of murine hepatoma cells caused a dose dependent increase in CYP1A1 gene transcription, while at the same time directly inhibiting the enzymatic activity of the gene product [23]. Thus, despite potentially higher levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in cannabis smoke compared to tobacco smoke (dependent on what part of the plant is smoked), the THC present in cannabis smoke should exert a protective effect against pro-carcinogens that require activation. In contrast, nicotine activates some CYP1A1 activities, thus potentially increasing the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1277837/

Few people I've known ever smoked their MJ pure, that's why the fags are called 'joints'

Funny because few people I've ever known mixed tobacco and marijuana unless they were smokers (of tobacco) to begin with. It has no bearing on the health implications of marijuana anyway as it's the evil tobacco introducing those nasty carcinogens.

[Jason]

It is commonly believed here that the average strength of street dope is much, much higher now than it was in the 70s, due to efficient selection of high THC yield varieties by growers, so any bad effects to susceptible individuals may be worse...

My dad claims you old fogies used to smoke the leaves. What's up with that? The buds contain 90% more THC, or more.