Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Barįa
All I say is, go out to MAdrid, on a Saturday night, and see the tens of thousands of people smoking hash. According to you, a majority will go on to other drugs, what I say is that that sentence has no validity, and it doesnt.
|
I never said, nor have i intended to imply that the majority of weed smokers will move up to other drugs. I only mean that the majority of hard drug users have climbed from weed. Itīs a diferent thing.
Of course the majority of weed smokers wonīt go passed it, just look at the numbers i presented. The weed versus heroin users ration is 50 to 1 or more.
What i mean to say is that if weed is legalized, the current numbers of weed smokers will boost, and the number of hard drugs users will grow exponencially.
But even you would agree that although the average weed smoker wonīt become addicted to hard drugs, it is quite common to see them dabbling with other drugs. Itīs what is called a poly user. You yourself have admited to having done so, didnīt you?
The intended purpose of my entire point is to show you that most cannabis users have tried other harder drugs. In that respect, and although the majority hasnīt developed an addiction to those same hard drugs, the truth is the majority of weed users have tried those drugs in some point in the past.
Out of that number, a few will become addicted and move up.
Quote:
|
Basically, all I disputed from your argument was that you claimed most people WILL try harder stuff. My reply to that is that you are wrong. For you to be correct would mean that out of 3 weed users, 2 will go on to harder stuff. In a very poor barriada, I can accept that. In the larger sense (as I believe, Spains population of 40 million is not exclusive to barriadas) that statement doesnt hold tight.
|
This is what i mean. I think we have a misunderstanding here. Iīm not saying the majority of weed users will become addicts of hard drugs, only yhat they will try them in some point in time. Some will try it once, others twice, and some others all the time. Just as some will never get near the stuff.
Also, i think we need to clear what is considered to be a "hard drug".
Hard drug isnīt just heroine. The concept of hard drug is based on the social damage threshold caused by it, and the degree of addiction that it causes.
The most knowned are heroine and cocaine, but there is also barbiturics (demerol), the benzodiazepin derivatives (valium, mandrax, rohypnol, lexotan), LSD, crystal meth, cracked cocain (crack), mescaline, MDMA (exctasy), angel dust (PCP), morphine, opium, speed,etc etc.
These are what is considered "hard drugs".
"Soft drugs" are mostly alcohol, cannabis, mushrooms, devilīs herb,and even common tobacco.
I realise you would place some of those "hard" drugs in the "soft" drug list, like exctasy or LSD, but there are some (me included) that think the effects of such drugs are too dire to be considered as a soft drug.
Legally, they might be considered at the same level as cannabis, but medically they are as destructive as any other on the "hard" list. I even believe alcohol should be moved up to the other category, but...
I donīt presume to know how much and at what regularity you smoke your joints, Barįa. But i would like to see you take the test i proposed to you.
If you smoke 3 or 4 joints a week, even though you might not realise it, your life is being totally conditioned by it. I would bet that your night out starts by the perpetual ritual of scoring the shit. You leave home, get together with friends, go over to some place to buy the stuff and then move on to enjoy the night itself. Am i right? Well, the casual smoker doesnīt do this. He leaves home directly to the bars and discos, and makes no effort whatsoever to score some hash. He only smokes if the situation presents itself, while a regular user will actively pursue the oportunity to smoke it. In wich group do you fit in?
Either way, itīs not important. You are a grown man and you control your life. Iīve always been a true believer of self choice, and each one of us is entitled to his own.
However, i will remind everyone here of one thing:
There isnīt one single addict on Earth that hasnīt believed to have drugs in control, and believed they control the drug, and not that the drug controls him. I have never met a junkie that hadnīt spent half his life deceiving himself, claiming "i donīt have a problem", when infact he did. Itīs a natural development in a junkieīs life.
You spend half you life denying having a problem, and the other half fixing the damage done.
All junkies believe they have it under control, and that they are not addicted and only smoke it when they want. Believe me, itīs complete BS.
Once you are in, you canīt get out unless helped. And that is where most fail: they donīt want to admit to be in need of help, thinking they can handle it by themselfs. But they canīt.
With all this, i donīt mean to say you have a problem yourself. I donīt know you enough to make such a claim. But i would advize you to take care, before you loose control. The line between recreational use and addiction is very thin.
:indeed:
PS: Have you read the report?