Cannabis

[nsd_user663_57651]

I just smoked some weed. No tobacco though...? Do I still count as quit?

[nonico 7 Years Smoke Free]

In the spirit of the forum?

Hi Shakeyquitzy

I don't know if your question has a black or white answer. We would have to define smoking ( just restricted to tobacco or not ) then determine if cannabis is addictive etc.

However, one thing I think can be stated, is that asking if smoking cannabis is OK when on a quit smoking forum is probably not in the spirit of this forum.

Most of the discussion is centred around the withdrawal symptoms of quitting nicotine - if you're substituting that with cannabis then there is not much common ground with the members here.

From my own experience, with people I know - hydroponically grown cannabis is far more dangerous than smoking cigarettes can ever be. There is no comparison.

[nsd_user663_57918]

Yes you still count as a quitter IMO because there is no nicotine in weed. Maybe once you've proved to yourself that you can quit the fags your confidence will grow and you could kick the weed somewhere down the line aswell x

[nsd_user663_54332]

No, you don't count as quit IMO.

And I agree with Nonico.

[nsd_user663_20558]

Don't smoke ANYTHING, in my view, or you're just making the quitting process incalculably more difficult. You're quitting smoking - the whole habit of smoking, not just nicotene.

As to whether this action constitutes a dropped quit or not - well that's kind of up to you. Lots of people decide not to go back to day one after a slip, and you could count this as a slip.

But the fact that you're here and asking, makes me think that you yourself don't really believe it doesn't count, just because it wasn't a cigarette. Go with your conscience, is my advice.

[nsd_user663_55073]

Do you smoke it in a spliff with tobacco or in a pure pipe, chillum etc without tobacco?

[nsd_user663_54332]

What Teflon said!!

I shall have to consider my own quit now by my ranty rules as I have planned to smoke 4 salmons I have been hiding inthe freezer this weekend, will that count?

Only if you roll them in paper and stick them in your mouth!!

[nsd_user663_57905]

This is a very controversial topic and I personally don't see why cannabis is illegal and yet tobacco is fine (oh wait I do, they can tax tobacco and not give a damn if it kills is).

I guess the answer to your question is do you see quitting smoking as quitting nicotine only? THC in weed isn't addictive but I guess if its in a joint then it's still the act of smoking which may make the habit harder to break.

There are so many drugs people use in day to day life that are bad for us it's easy to substitute one for another. Like alcohol for nicotine and I personally am trying to work out if any are any better than others...

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

Cannabis use causes mental health problems, whether you are quit or not you are still playing Russian roulette with your health and I don't think that its worth risking becoming a paranoid schizophrenic.

[nsd_user663_57905]

Cannabis use causes mental health problems, whether you are quit or not you are still playing Russian roulette with your health and I don't think that its worth risking becoming a paranoid schizophrenic.

I like a debate about things

There hasn't actually been a conclusive study that proves that it leads to mental health problems. However it has been found that people who already have mental health problems are more inclined to use the drug.

Alcohol as another example costs the NHS a lot of money and contributes to policing costs...

Is it not just a question of what society deems as acceptable?

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

For many years the same could have been said about smoking and lung cancer. There was statistical evidence but science hadn't demonstrated a causative link.

My comment was about the problems to mental health which Cannabis causes and research by the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London suggests a direct link which is good enough for me.

[nsd_user663_57905]

It's a tough one when it comes to all things that are bad for us. Do we let individuals decide how they want to treat their body or should the state step in and ban things, which doesn't prevent people using it anyway if the war on drugs globally is anything to go by.

If someone said to me when I had just started smoking stop you're not allowed it because its bad for you and will kill you early I wouldn't have listened because I was young and death wasn't something that I could think about because it was so far off. It's only now that I'm nearly 30 that I have realised my own mortality.

Tobacco companies are evil but is it our human right to be able to choose?

[nsd_user663_55073]

Cannabis use causes mental health problems, whether you are quit or not you are still playing Russian roulette with your health and I don't think that its worth risking becoming a paranoid schizophrenic.

That really is not the case, I am an ex cannabis smoker, stopped about 15 years ago, and I still know a lot of people who smoke in moderation (and I am talking about smoking it in a pure pipe without tobacco). I can honestly say, that the people I know (court officials, teachers and a policeman, yes Max, a policeman), do not have mental health conditions.

I believe that we should trust individuals to choose what to put into their bodies themselves.

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

The royal institute of psychiatrists has on their website this

Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26. They found no evidence of self-medication. It seemed that, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop symptoms.

Sorry but I think I'll trust the medical professionals and academic studies rather than anecdotal evidence.

[nsd_user663_57905]

The royal institute of psychiatrists has on their website this

Sorry but I think I'll trust the medical professionals and academic studies rather than anecdotal evidence.

Just out of interest do you think cannabis is more dangerous to health in general than tobacco?

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

It's a tough one when it comes to all things that are bad for us. Do we let individuals decide how they want to treat their body or should the state step in and ban things, which doesn't prevent people using it anyway if the war on drugs globally is anything to go by.

If someone said to me when I had just started smoking stop you're not allowed it because its bad for you and will kill you early I wouldn't have listened because I was young and death wasn't something that I could think about because it was so far off. It's only now that I'm nearly 30 that I have realised my own mortality.

Tobacco companies are evil but is it our human right to be able to choose?

There is a case to be made for legalising all drugs and allowing people to do as they please but when things go wrong they tend to expect society to pick up the bill to sort them out. I am all in favour of individual responsibility but it doesn't always stay that way. With smoking and alcohol there is a slight counter argument about the tax paid paying for the additional care costs but with illegal drugs the proceeds go to the criminal fraternity.

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

Just out of interest do you think cannabis is more dangerous to health in general than tobacco?

No but then I would support an eradication programme where the age at which tobacco could be bought was raised by one year per annum so as to prevent the next generation being able to legally get hooked.

[nsd_user663_57905]

Also having been taught at university to look at both sides of an argument I will never accept an article that uses words like 'higher than average, more likely, seemed like' as hard evidence of a fact

You just have to look at how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders has grown since its creation to wonder if psychology is a hard science or is just an art open to interpretation.

[nsd_user663_57905]

No but then I would support an eradication programme where the age at which tobacco could be bought was raised by one year per annum so as to prevent the next generation being able to legally get hooked.

I agree with your sentiment but children younger than 18 smoke now so laws aren't the answer I don't think...

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

I agree with your sentiment but children younger than 18 smoke now so laws aren't the answer I don't think...

Laws are the foundation point, for example some people speed but we still insist on speed limits because we know that if you let everybody drive as fast as they fancy wherever they want there would be a massive rise in deaths.

[nsd_user663_57905]

Laws are the foundation point, for example some people speed but we still insist on speed limits because we know that if you let everybody drive as fast as they fancy wherever they want there would be a massive rise in deaths.

Would you say that education is just as important as laws?

This is all pretty heavy for a Saturday night isn't it

[nsd_user663_55073]

The medicinal use of cannabis is legal in a number of countries, including Canada, the Czech Republic and Israel.

It is also legal to smoke cannabis in the Netherlands and North Korea.

[nsd_user663_57905]

A lot of cannabis circulating now is not the gentle herbal type which I recall from my youth-yes I smoked a few joints at Uni-but the more potent skunk which contains up to 3 times as much THC,often grown indoors in cannabis 'factories'.Nasty stuff that and makes people go a lot more nuts than the older stuff ever did :mad:

I do agree with you Max - anything that is unregulated can be dangerous because you don't know what you're getting... In Holland/ Amsterdam you can choose the strength and know what you're getting. I personally think their way is the best way. Regulate what people already do to make it safer and society benefits in the long run

[nsd_user663_57905]

The medicinal use of cannabis is legal in a number of countries, including Canada, the Czech Republic and Israel.

It is also legal to smoke cannabis in the Netherlands and North Korea.

Did not know it was legal in North Korea! Scientists are only just discovering the medical benefits of THC so you have to wonder why they don't want us to get our hands on it... Profit for big pharma

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

Would you say that education is just as important as laws?

This is all pretty heavy for a Saturday night isn't it

Yes, and yes.

Education of the risks is vital. My niece has just turned 18 and many of her friends smoke, they are all expected to head off to good universities but the broadly held view is that if smoking really was bad then it would be illegal. That is the nanny state culture which has been created over the last few decades and which the youth of today have grown up with. Equally they view all Class C drugs (like Ketamine) as safe so the classification system is providing them with a risk assessment which isn't what its intended to! FWIW my niece is very anti smoking and drugs, possibly as her father is very liberal about them

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

Well if we needed proof that cannabis and paranoia are linked look at the North Koreans

[nonico 7 Years Smoke Free]

No magic fix.

I found this article interesting:

justthinktwice.com/factsfic...

It's a myth to think that any country has "solved the drug problem". I don't think any legislation will be able to "fix" ( pardon the pun ) what is essentially a medical problem.

Having unwillingly being exposed to the "drug scene" once a friend's son became a heroin addict; I don't believe cannabis is the harmless drug some people want to believe. I found it hard to believe the cycle of addiction: speed to give them a buzz, then heroin so they could sleep -it just went on and on. Their whole life became a drug dependent hell.

One of the neuro-specialists at a special wing of the hospital for drug induced psychotic patients - told us that:

"Comparing today's cannabis to the cannabis of old is like comparing travelling via horse and cart to flying via concorde".

Hydroponically grown cannabis is dangerous: high levels of THC lead to all sorts of problems. Legalisation is not without its problems either.

As for my friend's son - a rehabilitation centre that was very strict, like a high security prison really where no personal choice of his was listened to,finally did the trick.

[nsd_user663_30951]

The main source of addiction in cigarettes is nicotine. Since cannabis holds no nicotine then to associate smoking cannabis and smoking nicotine as the same and passing judgement as to who is and isn't a smoker is ridiculous. If I was to smoke flour that would make my 2 year quit from nicotine void as I have smoked flour!. If the original poster has not ingested nicotine and the main source of his nicotine was smoking then you are still a none smoker, no matter how much cannabis you ingest.

[nsd_user663_30951]

Cannabis use causes mental health problems, whether you are quit or not you are still playing Russian roulette with your health and I don't think that its worth risking becoming a paranoid schizophrenic.

Smoking cigarettes is just as bad for your mental state. Nicotine belongs to the deadly nightshade group, it Is a poison. Nicotine stimulates the fight or flight nervous system, many smokers also have high anxiety levels. Smoking keeps your body in a depressed state. Smoking is really bad for your body but also your mind. Smoke a joint mixed with nicotine amd you have a recipe for an anxiety attack.

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

That is very true, I'm a much more chilled person now that I don't smoke. I have become more outgoing and although I was very confident before I'm more so now.