A bit off topic but.....

Started by bobbystahr, April 20, 2018, 10:27:54 AM

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bobbystahr

something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

PabloMack

#1
A week ago I wouldn't have had a clue what you were referring to. My intent is not to offend anyone but I would like to give my views on the subject.

Recalling my grad school days in Flagstaff at NAU, every Friday our department would host lectures on various topics, many of which were not directly related to biology. There were two particularly memorable lectures. One of them was presented by a neurology researcher who studied brain tissue of expired marijuana users. He showed conclusive evidence that heavy smoking of the stuff causes permanent brain damage. Under a microscope, there is material build up between the synapses of brain cells at their junctions. This material inhibits communication between nerve cells. The material is not THC but other components produced by the burning of the plant parts, presumably as part of the tar produced from the high temperatures. That experience confirmed to me that marijuana smoking doesn't just give you a high but it also damages the human brain.

I have heard numerous stories about users who lose their motivation over time through continued use. A friend of mine who was attending the same school said that the valedictorian of his high school graduating class dropped out of society and lost his motivation after becoming a marijuana smoker. I have never touched the stuff myself because my brain is the most precious thing I own. I have no doubt that there are lots of things that many people will never (and have no desire to) accomplish during their life times. The aspects of life that are important to many do not require the kinds of motivation that is anesthetized by marijuana use. Pain and ambition are motivating forces and have their functions but they a nuisance to many who just want to live a simple life. I think that THC does stimulate many people in ways that can make them more artistically creative. But many smokers pay the price with all of the other junk that comes in with the cocktail. I remember my brother talking about someone who sent coffee through a liquid chromatograph. He said there were "thousands of little peaks" that came out of the column. Most people talk about coffee as though it is only made of caffeine. The same goes for marijuana smoke and THC.

Every once in a while I come across someone who fervently insists that marijuana smoking is nothing but beneficial. I now just take into account that I am talking to someone whose judgement has be compromised by their brain damage and/or addiction. "Diseases of the brain" are interesting because they alter the perceptions of their victims in ways that other dysfunctions don't. After all, they use the stuff because of its mind-altering properties. Back in my grad school days I worked with one of these people who was trying to turn me into a convert. He closely fit the blonde California beach bum stereotype and he was obviously not very smart. No amount of logic or reasoning discouraged him. After a few discussions I finally found a solution to our disagreement. I just hunched over, rubbed my hands together, took on a wild look in my eyes and growled in my best Peter Lorre voice "Join Us! You'll understaaaaaaaaaand! [Grunt Grunt Grunt]". He never bothered me again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lorre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAJYGgrG_dE

bobbystahr

Well PabloMack
I have used it to relieve me of Migraine occurrences since 1966, about the time I started playing guitar and all these decades later I am still focused and able to learn new things musical as well as teach same to any who ask. When my eyes went South focus wise I migrated to computers in 1995 to be able to still do graphics. Although I was relegated to a trade type school in a 'social experiment' locally called the Major Work Program, and was never given the access to higher math, and board feet and calculating area et al was what I was taught, I developed intuitive skills that helped me circumvent that lack and do not too badly in Terragen and modeling in Imagine3D.
Given that I am colour blind like a high percent of males, my work around using colour pickers and establishing colour that way I still struggle a bit but it hasn't dulled my creative edge. I now smoke, on a daily basis, a decreasing amount compared to what we smoked when I was young and it's almost not an expense.
As soon as it's fully legal here I should be done with smoking as I've almost got tobacco under control and from what a friend tells me edibles are as, if not more, effective as smoking the Herb, that will be my choice
Maybe do some current research on Medicinal Cannabis as lots of research has been conducted since your research on the brain.
Having attended(well walked through) a 420 'celebration' here yesterday I agree that many who smoke ought to rethink their method and just go back to alcohol if intoxication is what they seek.
I don't recommend it to all and sundry but I do know at least 3 peers who went through  a cancer dilemma and Cannabis/Herb is all that helped overcome the poisoning of follow up chemo therapy and one who's Dr. stopped his chemo when he saw such positive results from using 'edibles'. He's  in remission as cancer never really ends, just apparently backs off.
So in my 70th year of life and my 52nd year of Herb use I figure I'll continue.
Thanks for your input and if you have a link to that lecture, surely it was published as well, I really like to read it.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

archonforest

This is not the one he mentioned but saying almost the same:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18519827
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

bobbystahr

something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

archonforest

Guess these guys getting some percentage of sold marijuana. 100% disgusting. The next generation is already a bit......ehh... so now lets tell them if they do drugs they will be more smart...pfff...only an idiot will believe this.
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

N-drju

#6
Now, that's uncalled for. I am surprised that a guy like you Bobby, whom I always consider a sensitive and kind person is, in fact, smoking weed. This does not really change my view of your person, mind you. The fact alone, however, is surprising to say the least.

I think that the reason for you to be "...in 70th year of life and your 52nd year of Herb use" while at the same time staying healthy and with clear mind is, I believe, in many ways connected to your geographical location and upbring alone...

People say many different things about Americans, their ignorance and other stereotypical traits. Well, let me just say that despite all the fun the world has at your expense, I still admire one thing in your community - if there are boundaries, limits or laws in place, an American (and, in fact, most Western Europeans) will not cross them. If you ask a Swedish guy "Do you obey law?" he would consider your question nonsensical!

Wait, this is getting somewhere...

Having all that in mind, I believe that some societies around the world are more responsible. More orderly and more disciplined than others. If such countries have marijuana freely at their disposal, despite all dangers and problems it may bring, you will still get relatively small numbers of misuse cases or "going postal" with that kind of entertainment. The Netherlands is the best example. I have been there and was never bothered by the Weed-brotherhood. Me and them were just going about our own businesses. (mine being in the RLD ;D)

The same will not apply to relatively young democracies or countries where people have an inherent need to question authorities, rebel against order and learn their lesson only after it's too late. Just out of the window example - Poles excel at doing all that is forbidden and disregarding others' needs or concerns. All that counts is me and I don't give a damn how many people will get upset. Sad, but true.

Now, if you have a country of generally responsible people (they don't have to be PhDs or rocket scientists) they will enjoy their life and all its small pleasures responsibly with little to no adverse effect on the society as a whole. That's just because they were brought up in order and are learned to obey rules and respect said order.

If, however, there is a place that values whimsical experimentation and rebellious attitude more than anything else, you'll see giggling maniacs and potheads bothering people in the street in no time. Couple that with entrepreneurial dealers who try to make some good money of these "users" at low cost (read: save up on pure weed and instead enhance their product with some chemicals, hallucinogenic plants or just common grass) and you have a recipe for a fucking disaster.

This is why I am absolutely against marijuana and believe that in my country, such "social experiment" will never, ever bring anything good because we are a rowdy mass that don't respect each other and does not know limits - be it alcohol or THC. I can just have a look at who is advocating legalization - teens and 20 somethings, often with terrible up bring, who believe weed = freedom of will. Pathetic. ::) Also, if it was such a good thing, you'd probably notice actors, singers and philanthropists engaging in such campaigns... they don't. For a reason I guess...

As far as migraine is concerned... I also have them occasionally. All I need to do is to take painkiller, lie in a dark place for an hour and I'm as good as new. No need for weed.
"This year - a factory of semiconductors. Next year - a factory of whole conductors!"

PabloMack

#7
Quote from: bobbystahr on April 21, 2018, 03:22:03 PMhere's another link I was just sent...worth a read

Short term brain stimulation (via TCH or other pure compound) at the expense of long term brain damage
due to tar and other nasty junk in pot smoke is the way I interpret it. It's a lot like tobacco in that regard.
The nicotine has its short-term effects (like caffeine does) but the other stuff in the cocktail does its damage
in the meanwhile. There's a difference between the acute and chronic effects of many things we do. The
"study" you sited didn't say much about who was smoking and who was taking measured
amounts of THC by some other method. I think researchers have a way of finding what they want to find.
Different researchers will come up with different conclusions given the very same data set. The neurology
researcher I heard based his conclusions on tissue slides of dead people who smoked weed heavily during
their life times. Those who used cannabis only when young but quit and died decades later never lost the
junk deposited in their nerve endings. But he did say that the subjects heavily smoked marijuana. Sounds like
you are just an occasional user. It is like me and asthma. Over the past 20 years, I get it maybe half a dozen
times a year when I need an inhaler or some Primatene tablets. But I only use it when I need it.

N-drju

Quote from: PabloMack on April 23, 2018, 05:36:09 PM
I think researchers have a way of finding what they want to find.

That is also true. There are many nonsensical studies I've seen that don't make sense at all and "attempt" to prove things. ::)

Quote from: PabloMack on April 23, 2018, 05:36:09 PM
Those who used cannabis only when young but quit and died decades later never lost the
junk deposited in their nerve endings.

Couple that with a fact that in many cases you have no guarantee you obtain a "clean" product and you get all sorts of chemistry entering your body without you even knowing it. ::)

Just a few years back, Poland had terrible problems with the so-called "designer drugs" shops legally operating! This was due to the fact that they traded amphetamine and cannabinoid derivatives which, for some idiot legal reason I can't explain, were ok to sell even despite the fact they came directly from banned substances. The number of hospitalizations between years 2010 - 2013 alone was staggering... Mostly stupid college millennials seeking thrills and trying to "express their independence" - a fact. ::)

So don't try to convince me that trading marijuana is a clean business that is free of violations and criminals. If history is any guide that would just go straight down the narcotics path - destroying lives that might have been successful.
"This year - a factory of semiconductors. Next year - a factory of whole conductors!"