Occasionally, when certain acquaintences bring it over (maybe 3 or 4 times a year)

Having already 'fessed up to drinking bhong water, I might as well acknowledge that I did inhale, and did experience euphoric sensations.

In my final year of high school I did not smoke. I got a part time job. I failed that year.
I repeated my final year the next year, started smoking - rapidly reaching a 4 to 7 days per week rate - and passed.
I continued to smoke at uni, not every single day but most days, occasionally drying out for a few weeks, sometimes going through phases where due to depression I was into the bhongs-for-breakfast behaviour. This is not a good way to manage your life. :p Nevertheless, my marks continued to rise, my final year was straight As, I wrote my honours thesis with a bud-loaded tobacco pipe on my desk, and got a "clear first" which got me a scholarship to do a PhD.
The PhD was written in phases of smoking and not smoking, which were about equally productive. I do not like to get really wasted, just a little to get things flowing. The effect seems conducive to rearranging ideas in new ways, but can really mess with your ability to write a grammatically correct sentence.
I have learned not to go to work (as in paid work) stoned. If anything slightly out of the routine happens, it is such a bloody hassle. And it is an inefficient way to enjoy your stash.
However, in the event of an emergency, I have been able to pull myself together and handle the situation, probably not at 100% of my capacity, but enough. As a senior resident in a dorm I twice led responses to fire alarms and once handled a first aid incident in this way.
Since leaving uni, I've been traveling, working, or both. I sometimes enjoy a small smoke after work before going for a stroll in the park. Hiking and sitting by a stream is also very much enhanced by smoking, as well as the previously mentioned activities of musical appreciation and eating.
For the last two years, I haven't touched the stuff, but that's because I've been in Japan and (a) can't get it and (b) the consequences of being busted are very severe.


For most people, occasional cannabis use has only a temporary mental effect. However, long term daily use can lead people into the "withdrawal trap". You get baked and don't do whatever it was you were supposed to do that day, your life gets crappy, so the next day it becomes more attractive to get baked again ...
Furthermore, for people with an existing mental illness or even a disposition to mental illness, cannabis can trigger an acute episode. "Reefer Madness" is 98% BS, but there is a grain of truth buried in amongst it.
Medically, inhaling smoke is bad for your lungs and mouth. Cancer, emphysema, that kind of stuff. A bhong filters out a lot of the bad stuff. Better yet, an aromatherapy vapouriser just delivers the good stuff without the bad. Also good is eating cookies, except the dosage can be hard to judge. I believe cannabis relaxes your immune system.
While there appears to be little or no chemical addiction, it is both psychologically habit forming and just plain fun. If I want to give up or go dry for a while, I have to run out or entrust my stash to a friend. If it is in the house, I find it very hard to resist temptation.


In the long run, smoking cannabis almost certainly HAS shortened my life expectancy. But I read a good line in response to that. IIRC it was by Luciano de Crezenso.
What'll it be? 85 years on the straight-and-narrow, or 80 years with frequent visits to cloud nine and playing with the pixies deep in the magic woods?

as in all things, moderation is key. too much just makes you a bum.

Never tried it, probably never will...but I'm pro legalization (with regulations similar to alcohol.)

I have to say, I find it really hard to believe that the majority of those who voted have never tried it. Unless we have a secret Mormon conglomerate on here. But even then.

Reality is for people who can't handle drugs.

I haven't voted yet, but I've tried it. Maybe I should vote.

I think I'll get a snack first though...hmmmm...I'm hungry. What was I gonna do again?...oh yeah, get a snack cause I'm hungry, then something else, but first...maybe a little nanna nap...ZZzzzzzz...

Funny, I used to agree with you. I also thought "everybody smokes it" Strange how when I got out of the circle of those who did, how many there were that knew nothing about it and/or never tried nor wanted to try it. Still amazes me.

I do see what you're saying. But...I was referring more to people here, on the Cellar.

What Blue is saying Classic is that she has always thought we were all a big bunch of potheads. ;)

Exactly. Sort of.

interesting in light of the very first post, in which LJ says he thinks more people have tried it than not; and that CellarDwellars are a bunch of nerds.

:)

I think it depends somewhat on your age, your circle of friends, your interests, your location, etc. When I was a teenager, certainly no one with any claims to coolness ever refused pot. It was ubiquitous.

The whole point (back then) was not just to get loaded; it was to expand your conciousness; to think in ways your parents didn't; to enhance creativity and attempt to reach Nirvana by chemical means; and to have fun, of course.

Things have changed.

i think it's funny that it used to partially define me. i was pot. and now...i never smoke.

Ohhh, gotcha. Well I smoked so much in my youth that I'll, probably be termed a "stoner" for life.

Boy have they ever!

It used to totally define me, in fact, my life revolved around it. All my "friends" did it, my income was derived from it, my personality and entertainment were all based upon it. I was conscious of it 24/7. Getting it, smoking it, not getting caught with it... It completely absorbed my life.
Once I stopped, most all of those "friends" didn't hang around anymore and were replaced with others. My time and money went to more productive and lasting outlets. The paranoia left me and I didn't cringe at the sight of a cop. My entire outlook on life and my drive changed completely.
I don't dislike those that do it, in fact some of them I envy. For me though, its a dead-end road that sucks the life and motivation outta me.
Lotta great memories that I wouldn't trade for the world, but thats where its gonna stay, a part of the past.

that's pretty much a definition of addiction (whether or not cannibis is physically addicting or not). So, I'm glad for you, because if you can't control [insert substance here]; it controls you.

I tell you what disturbs me more though, and I realize this is a bit off topic: I have many young friends in their 20s who abuse alcohol worse than I ever abused anything. Their whole social life revolves, not around being in a social setting and having a few drinks with their friends, but getting totally smashed several nights a week. I mean passing out, puking smashed. It's sad to me, not to mention gross.

always preferred cannibis to alcohol, which is probably why I've stuck with it throughout my life.

That, and I never want to grow up. :)