Aspergers and Drug Use

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Well, the fact is that those who abuse drugs are breaking the law so basically, they shouldn't be the ones to whine about "tolerance to this and that blahblah".

Some people spread BS like marijuana is illegal because the mexicans brought it in(America).
NO! Marijuana and other drugs are illegal because they harm you. The hashish is getting more potent every year(higher THC percentage) and psychiatric institutions recieve more people with cannabis psychosis.

I am not telling anyone what to do and what not to do, but I feel privileged to warn.
That, is taken as an offense by the drug abusers on this forum. Every time their favoured drug(most often marijuana) is badmouthed they rage in protests with !'s and capital letters.

I am not trying to steal your little neurodegenerating baby, I am just telling you what will happen if you continue. In other words: WHAT WILL HAPPEN ACCORDING TO MY KNOWLEDGE IN THE SUBJECT.

Wot about mushrooms, then ???

Wow, so, then when is alcohol and caffeine going to be made illegal? They are harmful but they don't exactly fit your argument. I think that "cannabis" psychosis is "psychosis" with something to blame. Do we know these people were on the path to success before they smoked weed? Perhaps they would have ended up there ANYWAYS. People are bi-polar, what do they blame their outbursts on if they are sober? OH nothing but their own 'mental' issues. Though, if they smoked weed at some point in their life we can all stand up and start blaming everything that happens on weed and not on the fact this persons "mental health" is poor to BEGIN with. But again, its VERY simple to blame pot despite that fact many people do not suffer these things.

Dont put them down as concrete fact when they are not. Do you ever question why certain studies conflict with yours? I've already looked into many areas of that "difference," such as "addiction" and have found possible reasons 'why.' There are ALWAYS reasons why something happens to someone but not another but you don't really care about 'others' experiences. You had a bad experience, it was your bad experience, you can offer your experience, but its all that little degrading junk you toss in to make us "ignorant, potheads" seem just THAT much more worse. A 'mightier then thou' type response.

You always say things like "well, good luck dying on it" and stupid things like that when doctors *I* talk to don't even DARE say what you do. Are you more aware of the subject then they are?



There is more to the fight then a simple drug. In my fight, there are "rights" and "freedoms" being intruded on. Marijuana just happens to be the best example of that and also support hypocrisy arguments, such as what I quoted 'first,' above. Marijuana isn't illegal because its harmful. Thats a load of crap and you know it. Its illegal because, in 1930, they made it illegal over "race." Thats how simple it is. Politics were just a bit different back then. Do you think that they REALLY had the knowledge on it that we do now? Science has KIND of improved of these last 60 years but you're right, we should follow laws that were written 60 years ago because once someone says "something" then it remains true forever.

The Earth isn't flat anymore. Sometimes, things change and views change. Is Marijuana harmful? Well, there are debates on it so it isn't perfectly safe but why conclude? My conclusions about neuron growth (which totally contradicts yours, yet, you don't question that (my study is newer then yours which is why I dont question YOURS (I know your argument))) are that its mere possibility - the fact it even MIGHT promote the growth of neurons is pretty far out there from previous thought. You totally disregard the 'alzeheimers' arguments (which means it prevents this 'brain' decay you think happens while ON pot) but the Alzehimers Society, itself, thought enough on the study to post it on their own home page where others can read it.

I view this drug as "potential" compared to all other drugs. You've already concluded but I am not ready to throw in the towel on this "plant" and its "potential" to help people with whatever they think it does. If it ruins there life, fine, but so can an addiction to pain killers but they are still legal. That responsibility lies on the user. I just wouldnt like to see this plant be burned off this planet when it has properties to it we havent even, yet.

Ah! You said it much better than I ever could. Thank you!

I drink coffee and wine. Occasionally I'll have a shot of liquor.

I haven't touched an illegal substance in close to a year now.

To be honest with you, most drugs really aren't that bad unless you let them control your life. It's easier to lose control with some drugs, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen. The biggest problem with drugs presents itself after you've lost control. At that point, it's very, very difficult to get it back. Even the most rational people can invent very rational (sounding) arguments to support addictions that they'd like to believe they don't have.

In the end, I realized I wasn't strong enough to control the drugs. They offered me a world without hardship. All I had to do was show up at work, go home, do a drug, and everybody was my friend. If they weren't, it didn't matter to me anyway.

But if you keep your priorities straight and use drugs as an occasional accent to, rather than a requirement for, recreation, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. A lot of things affect our mental state(sugar, movies, sex, hobbies) at the expense of our health(financial, psychological, physical, social), and I believe it's up to each of us to evaluate the risks and decide exactly what suits us.

A lot of people will tell you that it's harmful or unnatural, but so is television and social withdrawl. You trade your potential and mental focus for entertainment, in the case of TV, and social withdrawl can damage you socially and psychologically. There are benefits and drawbacks to everything in life, and only an individual should decide which benefits are worth which risks. No government or social circle has the right to make that decision for you.

Personally, I think the government's war on drugs is doing more damage than good. They're not keeping drugs off of the streets. They're not even keeping them out of our schools. Instead, they've driven up the prices and consequently made criminals rich. In a way, they've even added a sort of glamour and excitement to drug (ab)use and distribution. And they turned marijuana into the gateway drug. It's not some innate, nasty property of cannibis. Kids hear society's wild propaganda about the evils of drug (ab)use(including marijuana), and when they eventually get curious and smoke some weed, they see that marijuana isn't some evil life destroyer. Naturally, they start to question everything the mass media has told them about drugs. I know I did. Once someone is thoroughly hooked, the images of "junkies," portraying them to be hopelessly lost scum, can consume them and keep them from trying to salvage their lives, assuming the propaganda was effectively burned into their mind. I won't pretend to have a solution, but the methods currently in use by the government are just awful. The social taboo created by the war on drugs can also prevent addicts from reaching out for support.

Anyway, I'm done with my rant.

`dp

I think some people are born with an addictive personality (often having alcoholic/addictive family history) and are more likely to have a problem with addition and should probably avoid drugs/alcohol.

Corvus, I like the way you think, but it almost seems like you're dismissing the effects that drugs do have on a person's situation. Am I wrong?

A person's upbringing has a lot to do with the decisions they make, but drugs often act like a catalyst for problematic situations. I don't think you'll argue that drugs can and often do impair your judgement, and someone with poor judgement to begin with could find themselves swimming in murky water if they started smoking pot. Someone with existing emotional problems would probably wind up in a world of hurt if they started doing ecstasy or smoking meth. Drugs might not be the root cause of the problem, but it's a little silly to assume they can't or don't cause these problems to increase in severity exponentially.

I'm sure you'll also agree that psychological boundries, once broken, are hard to re-establish. Research involving marijuana psychosis already recognizes the need for a pre-existing, though latent, condition. Smoking marijuana can simply push some people right through a psychological boundry (or two) that they might never have crossed otherwise, and once it's done, it's more or less done. Obviously, all of the blame can't be placed on the drug, but it's definitely a factor that you can't ignore.

But I'm not really disagreeing with you. In fact, I agree with more or less all of what you've said, I just felt it deserved some clarification. Let me know what you think.

`dp

Ya, it does sound I totally discount it. I guess the reason I come off as sounding like that is because of the constant 'blame' people put on it as if it were the only thing wrong in their lives. It may lead to "psychosis" but my issue with that is 'why is it so restrictive to certain people?' Or, do we KNOW that these people wouldn't have had problems without the weed?

I had a friend that smoked pot for 9 years. He had panic attacks. He quit pot to become a cop and says his panic attacks are gone (weed or placebo? If he thought it was the weed, then he'd mentally prepare through "thinking habits" and the act of "quitting" may be enough to prevent the attacks - he thinks he won't have any and he doesn't (I make it sound so simple, eh? )). I've a friend here, in my new town, who states he smokes pot to CONTROL his panic attacks.

Some studies state that marijuana causes depression. OTHER studies state it can actually HELP depression (I'd be one of them as per my experience - I consider pot almost like a "tool" in this case and "tools" can be used wrong). However, my experience also includes readings on the 'mind.' What I mean by that is "what exactly does negative thinking do to impact my life." It wasn't the weed that was causing my problems with depression or anxiety, these always existed, but what changed my mood was the way I viewed life. My thinking changed. Instead of thinking 'can't' I only think 'can.' Instead of having a poor self-esteem, I worked on it and now its very good compared to before. I'm more patient, more understanding, more thoughtful, etc. The list goes on but it wasnt 'quitting pot' that had all this positive change, it was the way I was simply "thinking." I still smoke everynight.

I've read many articles about how negative thinking, depression, anxiety, etc. release chemicals into the body. Now, we take 'depression medicine' to help balance that out and control those chemical imbalances. The alternative I found was changing my thinking habits to PREVENT the release of those chemicals. If I'm not "worrying" then those chemicals, such as "cortisol," are not produced and released into my blood stream. Instead, since I'm more calm and peaceful, those chemicals are rarely released and the result is "feeling better." Meditation is about "balancing" the mind which is the route I took. Chemical imbalance, meditation balancing the mind - I had to seek this.

Can pot effect that imbalance? YOU BET! But I dont think its the way people think. Its like a shroom. People advise "newbies" to be "positive" heading into the experience. Think about it. If you were EXTREMELY worried and anxious about what the shroom high is going to do to you before you've eaten them, then chances are, your fears and anxieties will not only come true, but will ALSO be THAT much worse as you are "high." Of course, one may blame the drug As well, you were already "anxious" before you took the drug so is it "really" the drugs fault or your own minds fault? I've had bad highs but my state of mind heading INTO them were bad to begin with.

This is how I view addictions and drugs and why a difference lies between people who become "addicted" and those who can "manage" it. This is my summary, if you'd like to know more specifics, feel free to ask me. Marijuana is one of my interests, not because I can get "high" (my highs aren't that "spectacular" anymore) but because of some of the benefits (it can help focus "internally" and that can help with "meditation" type exercises). I've even a very interesting article about marijuana and meditation. I'll post it when I get home.

EDIT: I'm focusing this on pot and not things like cocaine and the like. As well, I do not think it is 100% healthy either (I just think "what is?")

I've never done any drugs, smoked or drank alcohol either, although most members of my family do, I think that sort of set a bad example.

The problem is I actively refuse to take prescription drugs for things even as small as a cold and as soon as I was old enough to refuse I've not had any vacinations or been to the doctors.

If I end up with Tuberculosis it is definitely my own fault.

Well, you wouldn't want to know what some of those prescription drugs do.
Paracetamol is a COX-2 inhibitor, for example...
Zyrtec(allergy medicine) gradually shuts down the oxytocin secretion.

And the antidepressants mess up your serotonin production.


So I'd say its a good bet to be critical about what doctors want to toss after you.
I visited the doctor, because I needed her to write a summary about my situation for this appliance I am doing.
She needed to know my current situation and when I said "depressed" she tried to get me to take those chemical SSRI's which they praise so highly.
Luckily (no! rather NOT) I've already been a labrat for their other antidepressants(Zoloft, Effexor, Wellbutrin) So I knew better this time!

^^ I had a scary reaction to zoloft/lustral (Sertraline), perhaps similar in some ways to the threshold symptoms of serotonin syndrome.

Ive read this may be related to street drugs (probably acid) i took many years ago.

I've never smoked a cigarette or taken non-prescription drugs (not even coffee! Can't stand the smell) and I've only ever drunk alcohol twice. I have a lot of alcoholism in my family so I wasn't keen on the idea but thought I should experiment. I got a bit woozy and then I got incredibly depressed. So I haven't drunk for 4 years. Most of my family smoke weed but I have lung disease so don't go anywhere near cigarettes. I also have a fear of not being in control so I doubt I'll ever take drugs.

DMT when smoked tastes like burning plastic. It is the most vile taste I have ever experienced. I have tried twice to trip on DMT, and both times I was unable to breakthrough becasue I could not fully inhale and hold the smoke, it simply made me vomit from the foul taste. I wish it tasted like blueberries.

Recovered alcoholic and drug addict from teenage years. I think this is more to my heredity than anything else. Alcoholism exists on both sides of family for many generations back. Most died from the disease.

Given it's been 27 years since I've had alcohol or illegal drugs, did get on ADD stimulants several years ago. Find that I am now better off drug free (except for coffee). My system seems to be very sensitive to even a Tylenol.

i cant speak on every aspie personally, but me, im a diagnosed 17 year old with aspergers, i dont know but i must fit into the streets i guess, ive done almost every street drug imaginable, its a nice escape from aspergers i guess...

fix'd