I have heard people say they don't have a drug problem as they just do a little weed now and then to get high. Wonder what others think, is weed dangerous or is it too enforced and restricted? Maybe some people can drink responsibly but if you are an alcoholic, one drink can start the downward spiral. If you feel the need to get high and weed just doesn't have the same kick anymore, can that lead to taking stronger drugs.

What's happening to our youth here in PEI and all over, are they becoming addicts and is it like "everybody does it, so what" type of scenario. I have seen too many young people who turn into addicts throw away their future because they can't beat the drug habit. They lose their jobs, they lose their partners, they lose their families and end up on the street with kids like themselves.

One time the young guys would drink but usually once they found a nice girl, they would clean up their act and settle down. But today the girls are more apt to be drinking and on drugs then the guys. Just look at all the babies born to addicts who need methadone treatment out at the QEH. Some say the mothers deliberately get pregnant so they can get methadone. What future do these poor babies have, especially if they are released to their mother's care.

The old saying "everything in moderation" used to be a good rule of thumb, but for somebody who can't stop at a little, they may resort to anything to support their habits. Look at all the home break ins and robberies in S'side and Islandwide.

Some of these offenders seek help to rehabilitate themselves, but some fall back into their old lifestyles and never shake it. Parents, friends and family help every way they can but eventually they run out of pity and have to live their own lives. A drug addict's life impacts on all those around them. Families feel hopeless to help them until they hit rock bottom and decide to finally help themselves. Unfortunately, too many of them die prematurely or end up frying their brains and end up in institutions. What a waste of young lives and some of it started with a few bags of innocent weed. Forgive me if I seem to be pessimistic, but IMO no drug of any kind can be considered harmless. Even legalized prescriptions that you take to counteract pain can become addictive and ultimately have side effects. Some people just have addictive personalities and can't walk away.

How do we deter our youth here in PEI from falling into the drug syndrome. Drug education doesn't seem to cut it, as most young people consider themselves invincible and it won't ever happen to them. So, it would be nice to hear from people who have experienced the good and bad from weed and it's magic hold over young people and other segments of our population.

I think they should just legalize it. It's certainly not healthy for you but I don't view it as being much worse than alcohol. I've never considered it a gateway drug but a lot of people try weed before trying other drugs. Then again, many also start drinking first, then move on to weed. It's just as easy to get weed as it is to get alcohol for a lot of people so I don't understand why the government wouldn't just legalize it, tax it and use the money for social programs and rehab.

I dont' buy the argument of it being a stepping stone. Of the folks that i have known that have partaken in such activities, only one moved on to harder stuff, and IMO it was more his persona then anything (aka if he's not locked away in Millhaven by now, I'd be surprised)

As for legalizing it, I wouldn't be for it. Then again I'm not for legalizing cigarettes either but here we are.



For your average person on the street, it's actually much easier to acquire say a bottle of wine, or a case of beer then it is to find a weed supplier. For one you only need to look for a liquor store in the phone book, instead of doing some networking to find who the local supplier could be.

I'm pretty much with craiger. Although I've never tried it, and wouldn't even know how to go about getting it, I taught high school so yeah, it's everywhere. It's less habit-forming than other drugs, which is a big deal. I think when teens do it all the time it's more out of a want (want to because it's cool, want to fit in) than an addiction. I don't think people actually can become physically addicted to marijuana. (Of course, addictive personalities can get addicted to just about anything.)

It's often been said that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, but a study was just released last month that indicated that weed is harder on the brain than we previously thought. I've absolutely never been in favour of doing it, and I'm not of the "it's not that harmful anyway so let the kids do it" mindset. But, I also don't think kids should be drinking, even though I love a good bottle of wine or gin and tonic a few times a week. So, I see no need to restrict adults from weed and I do agree that legalization will help keep the supply regulated (therefore cleaner) and will bring in tax money.

What really bothers me about kids getting drunk and high, in addition to the damage to a developing brain, is that the activites are illegal. I'm less concerned about marijuana being a gateway drug than I am with kids not caring that they're breaking some laws becoming a gateway to breaking other laws. I'm not a law-and-order kind of gal; I believe in reducing the number of laws but making them good ones and enforcing them. It's not that I don't like laws, but rather I do like adherence to (sensible) laws and want to see them taken seriously.

This comes in part from running a private school. If teens get the message that some laws can be flaunted, then the whole notion of respecting law in general goes out the window. I fought very hard at the school I ran to keep the minor "rules" off the books (no hats in the classroom - seriously, we can just ask them nicely to take them off and they always do - do we need to make it section 4.5.3 of the Student Handbook?) because with kids and teens, consistency is important. They adapt to even the most stupid or draconian of situations as long as you're consistent about it.

I had a former principal of a large, strict private school tell me once that he purposely put all those laws in the student code because kids are going to be rebellious and break whatever rules you set out - so why not make them trivial ones that don't matter? So, if it's a rule that your skirt must be no shorter than an inch above the knees, then the girls are going to devote their rebellious efforts to sneakily shortening their skirts. The principal didn't really care, but he said the staff all acted as if they cared so that a short skirt became one of those "daring crimes" a student would try to pull off, and if they succeeded, well then no harm done. (When really all the teachers are laughing about how inconsequential the act of rebellion was.) If instead your only rules are serious ones, then when students break them, they've done something serious and there need to be consequences. I can see what he's thinking, but I find it pretty insulting to the kids and couldn't run my school that way.

So, I know the idea that weed itself is a stepping stone to harder drugs is based on the idea of crossing a threshold: if I've done one drug, now I'm a "drug user" so it's just a smaller step to using another drug. I have always thought, though, that the danger of kids doing weed is at least as much about the fact that they've labeled themselves "law breakers" as much as it is about the fact they've labeled themselves "drug users." The "everyone is doing it" defense that they use when smoking up is the same one used by speeders, tax cheaters etc.

Where drug use runs rampant, kids don't care that they're breaking laws. This often indicates that they don't have much that they care about, don't have goals, or they have little to lose by getting caught. A kid working to keep up an A average to get a scholarship to university, for example, feels like he has something to lose if he gets busted. A kid who is working 2 part time jobs to help his family or put himself through school has something to lose if he gets busted. If kids had something they were working towards, then the energy put towards rebelling could be put towards achieving goals. So yes, we can clamp down on crime, round up kids and throw them in detention centres, or we can work in our communities to give them a reason to care about what happens to themselves.

I'm not sure if it's a threshold drug, I'm not sure if 'doing weed' makes it easier for the user to move on to try another drug.

I do think that for the people that use consistently it may be a drug that when it no longer satisfies the need, whatever it may be, will lead to the trying out of something else.

We should adress the cause, not the symptoms. Why are people turning to drugs and alcohol. What do they need that they find in it?
For a large amount of long-term drug users including marijuana it seems that it is no longer only the pleasure of doing it. It seems to me that there is a need, not a physical addiction but an emotional need that lead to substance abuse in the first place

The gateway drug theory comes from the good old days - when your local dealer generally had a number of products for sale and the laws were more consistent for traffickers. It did not matter what you were selling - if you sold you went to jail.

The dealer would introduce the buyer to the next drug - "Hey - you like pot - well you should try this little gem".

Most pot dealers I know today refuse to have anything to do with any of the hard drugs or pills. They know that if they get caught with an ounce they can likely plead it down to a simple possession charge and a fine - if they get charged at all.

As one once told me - "I am not going to do hard time for a few extra bucks selling powder or pills."

The "War on Drugs" in the US has been a dismal and expensive failure. (Besides the fact that it is hard for the gov to win the war when they are the primary suppliers of drugs).

For the most part - in many areas of Canada - pot is either an non-issue or a misdemeanor leading to minor fines. Medical certs are fairly easy to get - and licensed growers are becoming more common.

Had someone told me 30 years ago that one day I would be using pot as a medical supplement for my pain I would have laughed in their face.

Phil

Like most recreational things to do, marijuana is best in moderation.

Here's my experience with Mary Jane:

Sitting in a dark and dingy basement turned into a makeshift room, my brother and his friend thought it would be funny to get me high. I was 13. Being young, I accepted. I sat in my friend's room for three hours and lived what has so far has been the worst afternoon of my life.

I would go on to not touch the stuff until I was 19 and only then did I try it a couple of times. Some movies took on a new meaning. Food tasted amazing. The funny things my mind would come up with was enough to make me laugh for hours. I had a lot of fun with it.

By the time I turned 21, I was smoking it almost daily. I still enjoyed it and I felt it gave me an upper hand when I wanted to get creative. But as time went on I found myself smoking it more regularly. At the peek of my marijuana days, I was high all day but never at work - except that one time.

I can recognize a problem when I see one. Looking in the mirror at my always blood shot eyes was when I recognized my problem. I stopped smoking marijuana a few days before my 22nd birthday and have not touched it since.

Getting back to reality was hard. I lived a year of my life stoned. I was left with little social skills because I replaced what I had learned all my life with the confidence I received when high. I battled with anxiety for months and went through some dark days of depression. Staying stoned would have been easier but I am glad I got away from it.

I think more clearly now and I found myself again. I still experience a little anxiety but the depression is long gone. I did not step on to any hard drugs because I never had the desire to be a junky. Hell, I was for a little while a weed junky if there ever was one.

It all comes down to a matter of moderation. If I had only used it every now and again, I'd still no doubt be getting high before watching a movie or getting ready to dive into a book.

I still stand by anyone who believes it should be legalized because I think we could benefit from the tax generation. We would also save a pile of cash on the law enforcement front as well as the prison and justice systems. Those funds could be put toward harm reduction, education and better rehabilitation programs. Will it ever be legalized? I doubt it - not for a long time any way.

Hats off to AndrewPEI for that post, I wish more people would make themselves aware of the mental health implications of marijuana abuse. More and more is being learned everyday, and the jury is still out on whether some of the results of abuse are temporary or permanent.

I'm not against legalization of marijuana. But it's not a panacaea.

I think I hear Ed...

Thanks Andrew, that is the kind of feedback I was looking for. The wasted years of a person's life because they fall into the addiction habit of MJ or whatever their drug of choice is so damaging to our youth. They seem to think there is nothing wrong with it and maybe for many it can just be a social drug to get a little high now and then. Unfortunately for many it acts as a crutch, and they need it every day and it poses a negative effect on their lives and families. All they want to do is sleep and it takes away their desire to achieve and they live in a fog.

I don't know if legalization will act to deter those who smoke MJ, IMO, it will actually be easier to get, but the only good thing is that the government will collect taxes. What really scares me is that nobody really knows the long range effect of this drug on the developing teen brain and in the long run their unborn children.

philipw hit the nail right on the head. it has nothing to do with marijuana that people end up doing other drugs.

rather, the people who sell pot often will sell other drugs (as pot is not very profitable if your not selling large quantities) to get extra money. That, and when you are smoking pot you are often hanging around with other pot heads who may or may not use drugs like acid or E.
Its the same scenario when going into the liquor store..how many people actually buy the same product over and over and over again? Not many i can tell you that...many people will see something that catches your attention and on impulse will puchase it.

Pot is no more harmful than cigarettes or alcohol. One can be a social drinker or one can be an alcoholic. People who are prone to substance abuse are going to over do whatever they are doing.

I know a lot of people who are smokers, and some are day to day, some just occasional. Even the ones who do smoke every day are not the 'fiend' that you see some drug addicts become.

As for it being a gate way drug, in some cases yes, most cases no. I know people who started with pot and moved into cocaine, etc...but I also know of people who would tell you that they have never, nor would ever try pot, but they have no problem with cocaine...go figure.

Pot is harmful, yes, in the same way alcohol is, when abused. If it were legal and regulated, it would eliminate all but a few of the criminals involved, the strains / potency could be regulated, and it would be readily available for consumer use and we could tax the hell out of it. Then, with those taxes we could pay for rehabilitation for abusers of all drugs and alcohol.

Still....compared to the problems that both alcohol and cigarettes can and do cause, the chance of developing schizophrenia is still minor in comparison.

FYI, there is a history of schizophrenia in my family, and I have yet to have had any psychotic episodes triggered by smoking pot. The closest I have had to an 'episode' was breaking stride to the convenience store for a Mars bar.

Pot, like any other substance, can be abused. I take several doses of hard pain killers for my back, due to an inherited pain illness, and I use pot on a regular basis, not for the pain, but for the appetite I would otherwise not have after taking harsh painkillers. When I first developed this condition, I was not eating correctly and my weight dropped from 176 lbs. to just over 130 lbs. I started Pot use, was eating regularily and my weight came back up to where it should be.

http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/alcoho ... blems.html

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advic ... health.htm


Pick your poison.

You're right, of course, in that all of these substances can be harmful if abused.

My concern would be (and it's more of a "why take a chance" concern than a hard factual concern) that with a young developing mind, the potential for developing a severe mental disorder seems too great, even from casual use, to take a chance.

Of course, given that, I believe that this could be remedied by legalization. Then the THC/CBD could be regulated.

My concern is more for youths. I see no harm for the average middle age person.

I don't want to argue this subject, that's been done here more than a few times. I just want to establish that although your experience with moderate use of MJ may have been enjoyable and seemingly left no lasting ill effects, this is not and will not be the case for all. It's troubling to see the effects on some and know it was avoidable. To minimize that risk is I think misleading and irresponsible. And I don't believe legalization is the cureall as many state. Legalization of alcohol following prohibition never stopped shine makers, legal smokes never stopped bootleg cigs, and legal pot won't stop MJ traffickers. The THC content of official dope will be controlled, but in my mind more importantly the active ingredients will be known, as opposed to whatever your neighborhood dealer sells.

This truly shows the ignorance of the population to say another drug is no more harmful that alcohol or cigarettes.

They are BOTH harmful; 45,000 Canadians die from smoking each year - and the number is still growing.

Depending on the model used, the COST of impaired driving crashes in Canada has been estimated to range from 2.2 billion dollars (real dollar model) to 12.8 billion dollars (willingness to pay model).

Given the limits on the 1,278 fatalities figure, and adding in water-related deaths, MADD Canada estimates there are somewhere between 1,350 and 1,600 impaired crash fatalities in Canada each year (3.7-4.4 deaths per day).

Yup so keep showing us that there is no more "harm" than the others.................well done

Right. I was not saying that pot is not harmful, just no worse than other currently legal drugs, ie alcohol, cigarettes, prescription meds, etc. Don't see how that makes me 'ignorant'. In fact, your comment makes you look ignorant.

At this point in the debate there is simply no excuse for some to be as misinformed as they are. Why not deal with facts instead of mindless reefer madness type drivel?

Well, there are plenty of so called 'facts' on line, on tv, everywhere to support both sides of this debate, and I hardly consider my own personal experience to be 'reefer madness'. So, where are these facts you claim to have? Have you ever even tried it? I have SEVERAL close friends who also partake in the whole experience and not one of them is into hard drugs, nor do they have any desire to try any. Bottom line is to legalize it, let the goverment regulate it as best as they can (similar to alcohol, cigarettes, there is going to be 'boot leggers') then tax the heck out of it.