mot---

[Nick]

Actually, the PROVEN consensus is that the gene causes you to have an 'addictive personality', not that it makes you like alcohol or drugs.
They've actually found the genes responsible.

http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=&article_id=218392744

[ldsbeaker]

you can assume we are "weak" if you like.
thats what many people who dont have a real knowledge of addiction assume

I wasn't implying that at all. That would be way elitist, and condescending. I don't want to come off like that at all..
And you are totally correct. I don't have a real knowledge of drug addiction.
As far as a "gateway". I would tend to think that people who are into drugs are going to need a bigger and bigger high as they acclimatize to the high that they get from the drugs they use. It just so happens that those drugs go from cheapest and easiest to get to expensive and harder to get. (for the normal user)
I don't know, maybe I'm way off. whatever. Good discussion though.

[blunttech]

i have a totally addictive personality and while ive given up illegal drugs it still shows in my everyday life. i have a serious caffeine addiction and i tend to go 150% on anything i do. this holds true for good things as well as bad things.
if i could take some kind of treatment (if there were such a thing)that would allow me to drink socially and do recreational type drugs i would turn it down.
i really enjoy waking up feeling good and clear headed and ambitious to do things. ive learned how to have fun without some substance. something that was difficult for me as a teen

[Nick]

Here's a question, something I've always wondered:

What's the point?
Why do it at all?

There are easier and cheaper ways to feel good.

[Mot]

are you asking me why I smoke weed? Because where I live its not only easier(I'm not 21 for another month) and cheaper then drinking. It lasts me a lot longer then buying a 6 pack of beer. I can focus and get into my school work a lot more eagerly when I smoke a little. I enjoy the feeling. It's not even a felony here, most Portland cops just ask you to throw it away or write you a ticket. It's also a fun social event, my friends and I sit around and discuss politics, the world, our feeling etc while we smoke. Of course I'm well aware we could do the same thing without smoking and we do, but sometimes its nice to have a nice calming feeling, especially after a long day of school or work. It's not like I'm stoned all day everyday, I usually just smoke a little at the end of the day or if I have a lot of mundane studying to do. It also makes my mind start churning and my creative juices start flowing.


Would you think any more or less of me, if I replaced weed with beer/liquor? If anything I'm far less of a functional person under the influence of alcohol.

[DarkWing6]

What about nicotine or caffeine? Those are both drugs but people seem to think that since they are legal, it is ok to do them while it is not ok to do other drugs.

And them being legal may be part of it. Weed is illegal so it is partially the rebellion and once you have crossed the line of legality then it can make others easier.

Don't take my stance the wrong way. I am not saying that everyone that smokes pot is gonna be a coke head and that pot is the only gateway into harder drugs. I am just saying that once people have crossed into illegal drugs, usually starting with weed cause it is easy and not really all that bad (I wouldn't use but we all agree coke, heroine, etc are in another leage), they have opened themselves up to other things.

[Nick]

I'm not judging anyone, I'm just asking.

Yeah, my friends do the same thing, we just pop open a bottle of wine instead...and we've probably been doing that since we were 14 or even younger, who knows. Nobody's ever gotten drunk off their ass, so it was never a major deal.

Having never been 'high' on weed, I don't know what it's like, and I have no intention of finding out. It's not a legal issue, it's probably more cultural than anything else.

Truthfully I've never run a cost analysis of how much it costs. For wine, figure fifty dollars a bottle. For beer, I don't drink anything lite, I'm usually drinking Yuengling or Guiness...so it probably is expensive. If I'm having a bad day, I have a shot or 3 of Jack Daniels, and I calm down a little.

When I want to relax, I get laid. My girl gives me a massage, and we can relax in the hottub. I feel great for hours. Anyone who knows me can tell you I'm a total moron when I haven't had sex.

Same thing, different methodology. For me, it seems less risky. I don't have to associate with a 'criminal element'. I don't have to go to a drug dealer.
It's actually healthy in most respects. It's what I grew up with.

[blunttech]

are you asking me why I smoke weed? Because where I live its not only easier(I'm not 21 for another month) and cheaper then drinking. It lasts me a lot longer then buying a 6 pack of beer. I can focus and get into my school work a lot more eagerly when I smoke a little. I enjoy the feeling. It's not even a felony here, most Portland cops just ask you to throw it away or write you a ticket. It's also a fun social event, my friends and I sit around and discuss politics, the world, our feeling etc while we smoke. Of course I'm well aware we could do the same thing without smoking and we do, but sometimes its nice to have a nice calming feeling, especially after a long day of school or work. It's not like I'm stoned all day everyday, I usually just smoke a little at the end of the day or if I have a lot of mundane studying to do. It also makes my mind start churning and my creative juices start flowing.


Would you think any more or less of me, if I replaced weed with beer/liquor? If anything I'm far less of a functional person under the influence of alcohol.

sorry man but this cracks me up. youre 20 years old and dont have a clue what the effects of smoking weed or abusing any substance will have on you when youre 30 or 40. you have many years ahead of you. what you are at 20 is not what you are at 40

[DarkWing6]

Oh and Mot I would not recommend studying under the influence. Your mind remembers things the best when you are trying to recall them in the same state that you studied them, so technically if you studdied for a test after smoking a bit then you would do better on the test if you smoke a little before that. This can be true with anything, how tired you are, mood, etc. Just food for thought.

I guess if you studied after smoking then it wouldn't be all that bad for you to take off with a plane full of people while you were high. :D
(this statement is a joke, but the first paragraph is true)

[backtrail69]

Yea, I am 19 and have never tried Pot or other Illegal drugs. Drink occasionally like...once a month or once every 2 months. I just do it socially.

I never thought that smoking pot was a very social thing to do when you are hanging with your friends. I know people that have progressed from pot to harder stuff, but I also know people that smoke weed very rarely. It is all how you do things. I am not considering heroin and harder shit to be something anyone should ever try IMHO.

When I went to Canada last month (since I am 19) we hung out in a bar and had burgers and drank some beer, it was a great time. It just very important to only make it a social event and not a way to make your problems go away etc.

[schmidty]

sorry man but this cracks me up. youre 20 years old and dont have a clue what the effects of smoking weed or abusing any substance will have on you when youre 30 or 40. you have many years ahead of you. what you are at 20 is not what you are at 40

I was gonna say the same thing.... give it 10-20 years.

That being said...nothing is black and white in this subject. All drugs (including caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, etc) are very different and everyones addictiveness (is this a word?) is different.
To the original Q "Is substance abuse a natural progression???" In the general case, taken all other variable as equal, I would say so. A 15 year old boy would be more likely to progress from some other "lesser" drug to the usage of crack cocaine rather then going from stone cold sober to crack head.....but that kind of reasoning is silly since so many other factors play into the situation.

It's like in high school physics when the teacher tells you to ignore air resistance and friction and all that good stuff. That's just stupid...but it makes things so much simpler :D

[CleanAzzE30z]

I never liked weed and did it very few times before diving right into crack and powder coke. Then fast forward 7 years to get that whole scene away from me. I never did weed, but Ive done K, coke, rock, H, meth (smoked and sniffed), acid, salvia, E, lots of PCP smoked and sniffed, GHB, and I think thats it. ALso never got into smoking. Ill smoke if Im drinking and only on weekends. averaged out Ill go through phases and when Im smoking a lot, itll be like 4-5 cigs a week. SOmetimes I go for months without smoking. Now Im basically battling alcoholism and thats it. As a predictable junkie I replaced coke with alcohol and its tougher to kick than coke cuz #1 I cant just lose the numbers to my "dealer" with alcohol and be ok. Coke isnt on every billboard in town. All my friends drink, my parents drink so its tough. #2 I have to look for coke to get it. Alky is everywhere and it finds me. Oh and to me "weed" isnt a drug. Ive never seen anyone on skid row due to weed or steal a car for weed or suck a dick for weed. I used to call pot heads pussies for being into such a "waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles" drug. But you guys are the smart ones cuz its not like youre stealing from your mom to get weed. And you dont withdrawal physically off of weed like the tortuous withdrawal off of coke. Hats off to you guys.

Mariano

[WillisE30]

As a matter of fact, I don't know any one that is "addicted" to weed.
There are so many factors in life that lead to drug usage.

My college roommate from freshman year qualified as psychologically addicted to weed. He flunked out of school halfway through his junior year because all he did all day was get stoned and do nothing. There are a million factors that influence someone's drug use, but I was just bringing him up as an example. He got a DUI three years ago and saw the light thankfully, but even he would tell you he was addicted to pot in some capacity.

As for drugs I've done quite a few and would say I agree with Mariano about alcohol. It's a motherfucker to get away from, for me it took coming home from school and having all my old friends question who I had become. I remember waking up one Sunday with a hangover and thinking that I had to do something to change who I'd become. I still drink socially but it's been ages since I've finished a 1/5th by myself.

[PiercedE30]

Wow a civil thread on r3v.

I agree with the others who state that weed is a "gateway" drug. While I do not know the chemical aspects, nor am I going to argue if addiction can be hereditary, however, I do have lots of real life experience. I grew up with the "wrong" crowd. I grew up with the metal group in Junior High and High, and they generally were the "bad" kids who drank and smoked weed. Unfortunately, I always saw the progression. Booze -> Weed -> Tweek/Heroin/Coke. It was a natural progression, once they got to weed, it was a believe that weed was not that big of deal, so it became experimental to try the other, harder drugs. I must say in the end, I quit talking to most of my "friends" who got way too caught up into the hardcore drug lifestyle, and ended up in "rehab" or jail. Disappointing.

Trent, I am in complete agreement with you on this one. It was the same where here. When I was in HS, I did smoke a LOT of a pot. Hell, I was into all sorts of things. It went from weed, to prescriptions (mainly uppers), to ecstasy, to hallucinogens, then finally to LSD, coke, and some other shit.
It fucked me all up. I was actually addicted to X for a while at the end of HS, and for a time after. I HAD to do it every single weekend, or even a couple times a week. I know it was a physical addiction, but damn, I needed it to get through the weekend. Yea, I battled it and won, which I am damn proud of too. Then the hallucinogens, speed and shit.
I'm lucky my family was supportive of me when I crawled home to my parents and was finally able to clean myself up. If it hadn't of been for them, I don't know where I would be now. I'm only 21 and I know that I will be paying for the shit I put into my body in 5, 10, 20 years. Hell, I can't even hold my hand out without it shaking already. I can only think of what it will be like when I get older.
But, sorry for the rant.

[James Crivellone]

sorry man but this cracks me up. youre 20 years old and dont have a clue what the effects of smoking weed or abusing any substance will have on you when youre 30 or 40. you have many years ahead of you. what you are at 20 is not what you are at 40

I know many people, who are in the 50 - 60 range who smoke weed and they have zero health issues, are very successful, and have families. So to respond to that comment, yes, he does have an idea what it will do in 20 - 30 years.