Jakk Golescu, posted this comment on Nov 17th, 2007

Thank you for this.

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 17th, 2007

you’re welcome Jakk

Albert, posted this comment on Nov 17th, 2007

I think the need to get high is something that’s inherent in human nature- as far back as there’s recorded history, there’s people getting high. That said, there’s getting high and there’s getting stupid.

Anne Lyken-Garner, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

How can we promote the use of Ganja like this. I work with young people who have behavioural problems BECAUSE of the stuff. I grew up in South America, and we knew even as children, that the use of Ganja is closely related to severe mental problems in young people, so we stayed away from it. The mere fact that it is so highly additive speaks volumes.

This is not right. This is encouraging young, impressionable people already on the brink, to do something foolish and wreck their lives. So many have chosen to stay away from dope because they listen to reason and wisdom, now if they read this, all our work have gone in vain.

We’ve been given freedom of speech, but along with it, we’ve been entrusted with responsibility!

Sean Langley, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

I think you’ve missed the point, Anne.
The article is really pointing out how smoking the stuff is nothing more than misguided and, ultimately, a waste of time.
People are constantly looking for excuses, instead of taking responsibility for their actions !

Lina Roberts, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

I’ve been trying to tell my brother that for years…

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

Anne, I am not promoting the use of ganja. I am walking away from
the ‘fear’ tactics and the lies that don’t work. At my High School
a police man came to speak about ganja, (many years ago) and he told us how dangerous it was. He passed out four spliffs to show us
what it was, and got back five spliffs, the new one bigger than his four.

Telling people that ganja ’causes’ madness gains contempt, because the people you are speaking to have already smoked it, and no it doesn’t cause madness save if one is already mad.

Telling people it is highly addicting is also wrong. Cigarettes
are highly addicting. Ganja is not. People crave ganja the same way they crave getting drunk, or eating junk food, or seeing the world cup.

I am addicted to the World Cup. Nothing takes priority over the World Cup. If you stop me from watching it I will show all the signs of a drug addict in the throes of ‘withdrawal’.

Ganja is not physically addicting. Those who have mental problems and need the excuse of ganja will be addicted to Listerine if they think it helps them be ‘cooler’ or ’sexier’ or gives them an excuse why they fall on their faces.

brad, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

I smoke weed, but only enough to help me relax and never enough to make me act a fool. I have friends and relatives that do act a fool and smoke through an ounce or more in any given day. Now to me that is a waste of weed and money, because you can only get so high before you fall asleep and they just do get that concept.

I think that weed should not be smoked by anyone under the age of 21, just like beer is regulated. Let’s face it, children should not be allowed to smoke or drink at an early age, because they are not fully mature to deal with the responsibility that comes along with the privilege and some adults does not either.

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

Ganja is everywhere in Jamaica. yeah, if you annoy the police they
will arrest you, but if you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you. Ganja is no biggie. It was made a biggie by people trying to lump it in with ‘hard’ drugs. The use of ganja for asthma is true and real. It is also used for glaucoma in canabosol, a prescription
drug. Most of the fishermen use ganja steeped in rum to enhance
night vision. People who smoke a lot of ganja have incredible night vision. The point is to separate people who will drink until they
fall over from those who have a glass of wine with dinner. Those who smoke or use it as tea for a reason other than getting high, and those who will smoke until they pass out.
It is NOT the ganja which causes people to smoke until they pass out any more than it is the fault of rum that people become alcoholic.

Narrowminded McGee, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

NOPE DRUGS IS DRUGS IS DRUGS IS DRUGS! My subjective opinion is to be made into objective laws because i hate the things about society that i hate in myself, so i must attack society’s faults as to keep the attention off of mine! ROCK!

Pothead's Girlfriend, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

This is a neat article. My boyfriend smokes marijuana with friends or at work (contractor) just about anytime he can get it. He chooses times that he does it just to relax, a little, and times when he does it to get a little sillier, on the weekends, with friends. It’s too bad it’s so illegal in America, because used properly it is darn near harmless. Face it folks, it grows out of the ground and people have been using it safely for years and years, illegal or legal, all over the globe. It is safer than alcohol, healthier than cigarettes, more evanescent than hallucinagens, and less toxic than designer drugs. Granted, I see plenty of people (boyfriend’s buddies included sometimes) that act like stupid little kids, hoarding it, smoking tons of it, getting ridiculous and non-functioning on it, getting paranoid and angry on it, all those things. But they don’t have to. They could choose not to. I think that those people would have problems in life even if they didn’t have access to marijuana, because that type of habit is created, not born. Anyways thanks for this article, it is really down to earth, and shows that one can have a healthy relationship with the weeds, put them down during certain periods of life, and still be normal!

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

Ganja is a herb. We treat it as a herb. That someone wants to take it and smoke it until they faint, or use it as an excuse to act like a fool, is their choice. My grandmother went to the police,
knowing ganja is against the law, because America demands that we
keep ganja against the law. We were going to legalise it, but America said that if we did no plane would be able to fly to or from Jamaica. So it is illegal.

Exporting it causes us a lot of problems when it’s caught, so that
is one whole different section. But if you want to sit on the beach and smoke ganja, you do it. You want to smoke it on the road, you do it, you don’t smoke it in a police station or where the police are standing to be polite, but anywhere you go in Jamaica, people will be smoking ganja, or drinking it as tea.

Thruth and Righteousness, posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2007

The only thing wrong with it is the illegality. Every bad aspect points right back at illegality. One day the world will wake up and see that.

Samuelkaplan, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

Bravo.

Louie Jerome, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

Interesting article (and discussion in the comments). I tend to agree that cannabis should be legal (it isn’t here in UK) in the same way that alcohol and tobacco are. People get addicted to alcohol and some can’t function without it but most don’t get that way. The point is that if a person is going to get addicted to something, they will do it anyway, regardless of whether it’s cannabis, alcohol, or tobacco.

Anne's husband, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

Anne the only conclusive evidence for linking marijuana to mental illness is that it just produces the symptoms of schizophrenia sufferers earlier for people who do/will suffer the disease. It does not CAUSE mental illness. It is NOT physically addictive.

greg, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

im a 23 year old male and a regular smoker. i was diagnosed with bi polar manic depressive disorder and put on tons of anti depressants and anti anxiety medications. all of which did nothing but make me physically sick. so i stopped the medication and started smoking and it hasnt done anything except increase the positive in my life. im very rarely depressed or anxious and im also one the youngest and highest paid people in my profession. Light em if you got em.

too much analyzing, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

smoke it if you like. dont if you dont. everyone has their method of relaxing.

Anne Lyken-Garner, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

Adults can and should ultimately take responsibility for their actions.

My contention is not this at all. It is about 11 and 12 year old children whose red, unfocused eyes I have to look into and ask ‘why?’

It’s about 13 year olds who, in confidence, tell me that they ‘make their living’ selling dope to younger kids. How can you ask a child to take responsibility for this?

Tell me how?

Anyone who is regularly subjected to kids using and getting addicted to ganja, would see my point precisely.

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

If they weren’t selling ganja, it would be coke. the point is
the selling. Where are they getting their supplies from? Why
are they doing it? The intervention should be the why not the
what. As I’ve posted and mostly everyone who has used ganja has
posted, it, in itself, is no biggie. If you lived in rural Jamaica
you would know ganja as a medicine. The fact that people will drink cough medicine that contains codeine to get high doesn’t mean the cough medicine is bad, the pharmacist should be arrested and
the doctor who proscribed it clamped in chains.

You have a social problem. These kids could also be selling stolen cell phones, bullets, guns, their mother’s medicine, their sister’s underwear.

Blarg, posted this comment on Nov 19th, 2007

Anne, if ganja was legal, the dumb kids wouldn’t be on the street.
Ganja is probably illegal because the cigarette corperations and big companies don’t want to be outdone by spliffs and hemp clothes. The American society is dependant on their “wares”.

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 20th, 2007

American College Student;
This Jamaica is telling you that ganja is no biggie
in my world. If you weren’t high and drunk you’d
have had the ability to discern that from the post.
But being high and drunk your ability to read and
reason is compromised.

I suppose eventually, when you get used to ganja
it won’t be such a big deal for you to smoke a
whole of a spliff.

Canibusmonk, I don’t get your point.
I taped my friend who thought he was brilliant, then on
hearing his ‘brillance’ realised he wasn’t. You’d do the
same thing if you had a friend who ‘knew everything’ and
wouldn’t shut up, esp. after a spliff or two.

When we buy ganja it’s a quantity often from the tree
(ganja can grow pretty high in the hills here)
so there is going to be seeds and stems as it
isn’t processed, so you do clean it.

If you grow it, the best fertiliser…the one we
use is bat poo. Nothing is better than bat poo.

Yo, posted this comment on Nov 20th, 2007

Ganja is not dangerous, it does not lead to harder drugs, it is not addictive, smoking a joint after a day at work is no worse than drinking a beer. The ONLY thing wrong with marijuana is the smoke’s harm on your lungs, which is a personal choice and is in no way reason enough to criminalize it. I smoke weed to relax, to open my mind, and to make me smile.

“The mere fact that it is so highly additive speaks volumes.”
-That is just not true, marijuana is NOT addictive, it is, however, habit forming. No more, no less than your morning cup of coffee or A. Fool’s love of the World Cup.

“It’s about 13 year olds who, in confidence, tell me that they ‘make their living’ selling dope to younger kids. How can you ask a child to take responsibility for this?”
-I have to ask, what kind of 13 year olds are you dealing with that have to “make a living?” That sounds like less of a drug problem and more of a parenting problem. Any 13 year old who is responsible for “making a living” is a completely ridiculous situation and entirely the parents fault. Besides if they were not selling weed to fund their life, they would be stealing televisions and cars to do it.

“The idea of huffing and puffing and holding it in to get a buzz looks so ridiculous I can’t but laugh.”
-I don’t really understand this.

“There are those who want to get “high” to stop being who they are. Who want an excuse to do things they are too inhibited so to do.”
-I see very few people who smoke for this purpose, at all. I don’t think I have ever met another smoker who acts different when they are high. When I say “smoker” I mean someone who smokes weed almost daily and understand what they are getting into when they do it. There are the occasional people who can’t control themselves while high, but that doesn’t give someone the right to tell them not to do it. It doesn’t turn you crazy, it turns you insightful and I think that turns some people into won’t shut up crazy machines. Especially close minded people.

“someone pointed out to me that the paper on which
the Constitution of the United States is written is made of
hemp”
-The rumor is actually about the Declaration of Independence and it is not true, would be cool though.

The point is simple. Everyone can have their own opinion on marijuana, but that does not take away from the fact that, when used responsibly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with ganja and it is disgusting that it is still illegal. The fact that it is illegal is what’s causing all of the problems people talk about.

dutch guy, posted this comment on Nov 21st, 2007

amen to canibus monk’s reply!!
don’t be so judgemental.
if people like to smoke till they pass out or like to act like stoned idiots let them.
I mean your way of seeing things isn’t THE only right way.
be more openminded. life isn’t as black and white as you make it appear.

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 21st, 2007

Dutch guy, I’m not being ‘judgemental’, I’m just mentioning a fact.
Some people smoke until they pass out, some make fools of themselves.
Their choice. It’s not biggie. It’s like saying some people speed
and crash, some people speed and they get where they are going faster.

You’re looking for the thorn on the rose. There isn’t one.

Yo, we are on the same page. I’m just being amused by people who
roll these little tiny toothpick joints, and take this big long
draw, and hold it in, and hold it in, when we smoke it like a
cigarette. It has to do with the fact that in Jamaica ganja is
as exotic as oatmeal. No one would get all excited about…
“Oh boy, I’m gonna smoke ganja!” It’s there, it’s no biggie.
It’s nothing to act excited about. YOu want a beer? You want
a spliff? You want a Guinness? That’s how we deal with it.

Yo, people have different reactions. You smoke it, you see what
your reaction is. I have friends that get headaches, can’t
smoke at all. It depends on you. When I was doing exams I was
virtually ‘blinkered’, I didn’t consider anything but the question
and my answer, and was very focused. Not every one is. One size
doesn’t fit all with ganja.

Because everyone is so into the illegal and clandestine nature
of the herb they have all this decoration around it. If it wasn’t
illegal there’d be more honest consideration.

Pothead's girlfriend, posted this comment on Nov 21st, 2007

I wish that was how it was in America (see last post above about “no biggie”). So many problems would be fixed. I think it’s so immature and irritating when people get all excited about an eighth of an ounce, and get with all their friends and that’s the GOAL of the entire night is smoking this “kind bud.” It’s a plant that grows out of the ground, for goodness’ sake. I wish it would just legalize, so we could have Weedbucks right next to Starbucks, people could get their “spliff” through drivethrough and go home a little happier. But no jails, no dirty underground of formeldahyde-dipped crap. It’s just wearying. I personally won’t touch the stuff, at all, mostly because it’s illegal. I’d be interested in trying the tea, but not if it ruined my chances of getting college grants. I can take it or leave it, because it’s illegal, but it’s too bad so many people who can’t “leave it” end up getting legally screwed for something so relatively harmless.

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 21st, 2007

Pothead’s girlfriend; that’s what I see. People getting so excited
about smoking a spliff. I mean, it’s almost funny. It’s like everyone going to hide in the basement to eat a bowl of oatmeal.

To make the tea I use a big handful of ganja, stems seeds and all,
recently cut. Green, with the resin still in it. On the stove top
I let it simmer on low flame for a while, often add orange peel,
small bit of ginger, and just let it steep when it starts to boil
I turn it down, cover it and have the tiniest flame for a while.

Then I shut off the flame, keep it covered let it cool a bit,
then drink it. It is very dark, maybe the colour of Guinness
and very bitter. I pour it into a glass and just drink it.
I don’t sweeten it, some people do, cause it’s bitter. It’s very
purifying though.

I guess you can get a little high from it the first time or so,
but it just makes you feel clean inside and good.

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 22nd, 2007

There is prob. some sort of economic why ganja remains illegal.
It may be due to the fact that ‘hemp’ can be used so many ways
and compete with the cotton industry or the paper industry…with
America one can never be sure exactly what and why.

patty, posted this comment on Nov 22nd, 2007

Thank you, A!
Marijuana has brought me incredible insights into life and myself and I wouldn’t be who I am without those experiences.
Blaming pot for the bad behavior of people who abuse it is just shooting the messenger. The reason it is called a gateway drug is because anyone with a brain who smokes it realizes that all the scary rhetoric around it is just BS. And once they realize that, they start to wonder about what they have been told about EVERYTHING else. When someone lies to you, you doubt everything else they say.
I have smoked and been stupid, I have smoked and not been stupid. The stupid came from me, not the substance. I also smoked and scored 99th percentile on two different IQ tests in the same morning. I KNOW that part of that was due to my increased ability to focus on the task at hand.
Bad or No Parenting is another issue, and one that needs very seriously to be addressed in this country. We are ALL every parents of every child, and we need to honor that.
Stupidity is an issue that needs addressing but will always be with us. We all do something stupid once in a while, but life would be a lot easier if some people did not turn it into both career and avocation.
Anne, you are doing an incredibly difficult job, in extraordinary circumstances. We need you, and many more like you. Where are their families and communities? If these children are expected to make a living then society has problems much greater than substance abuse. In this case, substance abuse is a symptom of a far greater societal malfunction. Do not waste your energy tilting at the wrong windmills.

Devon, posted this comment on Nov 22nd, 2007

There are also those who use it to help open their creativity, connect with the world spiritually, and just plain have a good time. Cannabis works as a social lubricant as well as one for mental processes. I feel it helps make things go much more smoothly and makes the environment much more open and friendly. People who go off the deep end, or any other worst-case scenario are generally just irresponsible drug users.

Adam, posted this comment on Nov 22nd, 2007

wow…

that was pretty good…

and i enjoy the comments as well…

people should start writing like this; more often than they do, at least…

DownUnderButNotaStoner, posted this comment on Nov 23rd, 2007

Great article, have to congratulate you on bringing and article to light that shows the fact that smoking weed and being an addict is up to an individual. What you write about shows that your family has a history where the herbs have been used to treat medical problems, people choose to use/abuse substances the way they want. I am from a family that despises drugs whether it is ganja or more hardcore drugs. I used to smoke it with my friends (from same family background)for fun and to “get high” because everyone i knew was doing it for that reason. Now that i have moved out with my girlfriend who’s family has exact opposite opinion on it, i have realized and become aware of the different uses it can have. At night when i have come across man difficulties in my life or had problems i needed to deal with i had a smoke and started thinking, it has allowed me to only focus on one problem at the time, block out any distractions, it has also allwed me to see other persons side, something you cant do when you think you are right, i have my life on track, i did not become addicted to it even though i had stash of it in the house for ages, and now i don’t see it as something fun. The only problem with young people is that its illegal it not allowed, everything that is forbidden, people want. Evidence showed that from a very early childhood people seek mind altering experiences (kids spinning and spinning and then stop to feel the lightheadnes) i guess its the feeling people are addicted to now weed, depends on you self control.

I know of some alcoholics who’s kidneys and liver are giving up, but people are not against alcohol as they are against weed. they sell it in bars ad shops dont they? what about tobacco nearly 20,000 people die here from tobacco smoking related illnesses.

In short, its not addictive, its the person who’s addicted to the feeling, its doesn’t harm you like tobacco does, not as bad as alcohol, you can still drive when u smoked some and know what you’re doing, if you pass out you don’t pass out in an alley and get raped, or choke on your own vomit, you can make right decisions and can say no even if people dare you when you’re stoned. and i dont know of anyone going skitz from smoking it, appart from 1 person who smoked his own chemically enhanced product, and i know people who have been smoking every day for last 20-25 years, surely they haven’t got the flashiest house or anything but they’re happy, got nice cars (not through dealing)

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 23rd, 2007

Hi Patty, yes, it does bring insights.
You see things differently, and what you might have ignored
suddenly pops up and you see how important or
unimportant it actually is/was.

Exactly, Patty. It is not the ‘fault’ of ganja why people
abuse it. As to the scarey rhetoric, well could you
imagine the police man’s face when he passed out
four spliffs and got back five?

A lot of people realise they’ve been lied to when they smoke
ganja. They smoke it,the world doesn’t end, they don’t fly
off buildings, (unless they are mentally imbalanced to start)

—I also smoked and scored 99th percentile on two different
IQ tests in the same morning. I KNOW that part of that was
due to my increased ability to focus on the task at hand.–

Precisely. If you smoke it and then focus on something,
you get so totally blinkered into it, you aren’t distracted,
you are seeing only what you need to, and of course you are
not going to fall for \’trick\’ questions, not going to go off on some tangent, you see between the words. I always took
my exams on it, because I can usually go off on tangents.
And tangents don’t get grades.

The idea that a kid will become a drug addict or a seller
because he/she smoked it, is like saying if you let a kid
ride in a car he’ll steal it. It doesn’t follow.
—————

Fish; people do use it to escape. Not you, not me, but there
are those who do. And it is probably those who do who get
to be \’subjects\’ in \’studies\’ by \’scientists\’.

With ganja, it makes a good time better and a bad time
worse.

And you’re passing your exams, because the ganja helps you
to focus.

Some people go \’under\’ when they smoke a lot of ganja.
I can think of a guy who was standing in a circle passing
a chalice, (that\’s a big ganja pipe) and then just fell
over. No body else did. He did.

So it\’s him. It\’s not the ganja. If it was the ganja,
everyone else would have fallen over.

—here is some advice: QUIT! I only say this because
there is something wrong with your brain that makes you
forget something when you get high, baked, stoned,
whatever—

That\’s my view, Fish.

———————————————–
Exactly Devon!
The same guy who will go off the deep end who smokes
ganja is the same guy who will go off the deep end if
he drinks. He is just someone who does that. It isn\’t
the ganja. Take away the ganja, he\’ll try something else.
——————————–

Thanks Adam
——————
To DownUnder…
it was used as a medicine. If I hadn\’t moved to town
but stayed in the country; at least not in the heart
of the city, I\’d be able to rely on ganja for my
asthma. But all that cement dust just…well.. I moved.
I still have my inhaler I used sometimes, but staying
in the country a little ganja tea is usually strong
enough to prevent attacks.

—t has allowed me to only focus on one problem at
the time, block out any distractions, it has also
allwed me to see other persons side, something you
cant do when you think you are right, i have my life
on track, i did not become addicted to it even though
i had stash of it in the house for ages, and now i
don\\\’t see it as something fun.—-

RastafarI see it as a sacrement. Something one uses
in a spiritual context. And again, the ability to
focus is so enhanced … you become \’single minded\’
where all the worries, the stray nonsense just is
put one side, and you can explore a point from all
sides because it puts it like a diamond on a velvet
background.

Ganja is not addictive. Cigarettes really are addictive.

Some people in Jamaica smoke every day of their lives,
maybe sixty seventy years. It\’s just something they do.
If they can\’t get out to get ganja, they do without, even
tho\’ they\’ve been smoking for so many years. With cigarettes
you\’ll go out in a hurricane to get them.

Ganja is not a drug. Not really. It\’s a medicine.
It doesn\’t lead to anything, any more than oatmeal
leads to cornflakes.

Mark, posted this comment on Nov 23rd, 2007

A.Fool said “Anne, I am not promoting the use of ganja. I am walking away from
the ‘fear’ tactics and the lies that don’t work. At my High School
a police man came to speak about ganja, (many years ago) and he told us how dangerous it was. He passed out four spliffs to show us
what it was, and got back five spliffs, the new one bigger than his four.

Telling people that ganja ’causes’ madness gains contempt, because the people you are speaking to have already smoked it, and no it doesn’t cause madness save if one is already mad.

Telling people it is highly addicting is also wrong. Cigarettes
are highly addicting. Ganja is not. People crave ganja the same way they crave getting drunk, or eating junk food, or seeing the world cup.

I am addicted to the World Cup. Nothing takes priority over the World Cup. If you stop me from watching it I will show all the signs of a drug addict in the throes of ‘withdrawal’.

Ganja is not physically addicting. Those who have mental problems and need the excuse of ganja will be addicted to Listerine if they think it helps them be ‘cooler’ or ’sexier’ or gives them an excuse why they fall on their faces.”

I think this is one of the best speeches about marijuana psychology that is in line with everything I believe in. Scare tactics are the bane of anti-drug programs that talk to people who know better. Try an honest approach with kids if you want any sort of respect from them. Respect leads to true conversation. Listen to their experiences without looking down at them. Get on their level, and know that they aren’t as dumb as you make them out to be.

(I am mainly speaking to the DARE program that I went through in my middle school.)

Mark, posted this comment on Nov 23rd, 2007

To be a little more cuddly with the person who wrote this :), kudos. I think more conversation about this plant should saturate the internet, especially in America where hundreds of thousands of people are in jail because of it. I welcome insight like this that I can pass along to others, as well as the insight that the comments below show. It really seems like a great conversation, and there should definitely be more person to person talks, instead of buried on the internet.

A. Fool, posted this comment on Nov 24th, 2007

Thank you Mark;
I want to share this…

Ryan was about four years old, running by the pool, and
his father shouted; “Don’t run Ryan, you’ll fall!” I said
to his father; “You better hope he falls..” and the man
looked at me aghast.

I answered;
“If he falls he’ll think;

“Boy, my Dad knows what he’s talking
about, I better listen to him.”

“If Ryan doesn’t fall, he’ll think;

“My old man doesn’t know what he’s
talking about, I’ll ignore him.”

When people start with this dire prediction of what
will happen when you smoke ganja, and people who
have already smoked it are hearing this crap, they
discard everything the speaker says.

Why shouldn’t you smoke ganja?
If it is illegal where you are…that’s why.

Anne Lyken-Garner, posted this comment on Nov 24th, 2007

No one had to tell me that ganja caused madness. I saw this for myself. Young men whom I had known stripped off their clothes and walked down the street starkers after constant use got to them eventually.

Later on, I had to go over to my neighbour’s house about 3 times a week, after her boyfriend smoked, flew into rages and cut her up. She would scream for me, and I would go over to snatch the babies away who were often covered in their mother’s blood. I would sit with him for hours just chatting to calm him down until it wore off, all the time hoping that he didn’t chop me up with the machette in his trembling hands.

Sceptics will say it was him who was violent not the ganja. How come then that this ‘violent’ man wasn’t violent until he smoked.

Most of the situations described here sound like middle class use. How many people have actually seen the total annihilation of poor people in complex situations who had no reprieve or escape. How many defenders here, have had to worry about what they were eating tomorrow while feeling compelled to spend their last penny on ganja. How many have had their families and children leave them because they’ve used up all their precious little resources to use the stuff.

Still later, when I had escaped poverty, I became a model and stage actress. I was then exposed to the middle class use. Those people could afford the stuff, but the effect was the same; eventual wear out.

Because of all I’d experienced, it was easy for me to say no when I was offered ganja for free. Needless to say, the actors who NEEDED the stuff to go out on stage, didn’t endure. They couldn’t! there could’ve been no real inherrent talent there to begin with.

Nowadays, I work with young people. it makes them feel grown up to say to me ‘I earn my living with the stuff.’ This doesn’t mean that they actually do. They have parents who can’t help them, or who don’t know how. My job is confidental with them, not their parents.

That’s it! Now I’m done and have nothing more to say. I’ll always feel the way I do about ganja because of all I’ve outlined. I’ve gone through life never having used the wretched stuff, and I’m happy about this!

In case anyone is wondering, number 16 is not MY husband, just thought I’d mention it.

Alexa Gates, posted this comment on Nov 24th, 2007

I know a lot of people who smoke weed. I don’t understand why anyone would want to get high; you dont’ rememeber what you were doing. This article was very insightful to me because now I know that you can smoke weed, but not make yourself look like an idiot. Thanks!

no coment underhill, posted this comment on Nov 24th, 2007

I smoked for years never was arested for ever posesing or being under the influince my mothere accused me of being hi one day it was the day that I wasnt stoned the times I was stoned she couldnt evan tell . then one day I didnt have it I was arested for I was intoxicated on alchol and fu my life up If only I would have had the herb I would not have sufferd my fate . For years I relide on herb to controle my pain and depression after being hi head on wile on a motercycle the drunk driver allmoste killed me and did kill my friend. so in all the justifying we do we enebably cass are owne suffering and curs this wourld to shame what we dont agree with and stik are childern with the bill….

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 25th, 2007

Anne; I can tell you of a Bajan who came to Jamaica to
study medicine. He didn’t understand Jamaica, wound up
at the wrong place at the wrong time, got stabbed because
he was taken for someone else, smoked ganja, went mad.

He went into the Psych ward; sure…ganja. But the truth
was that the pressures on him, the being away from home,
the confusion of cultures…the ganja was the icing on
the cake. If he hadn’t smoked, he’d still of cracked.

Now you use the term ‘middle class’ in a very odd way.
The poverty that exists in jamaica would astound you.
You have never witnessed that kind of poverty. So don’t
even bother with the attempt of making this a class thing
as where I lived in Jamaica when I first used ganja tea
didn’t have electricity, didn’t have water, and the petty
was an outhouse.

The University was made free the year before I entered.
I went to University with kids who if they hadn’t gotten
a scholarship couldn’t have afforded to buy a pencil.

I don’t know what part of the world you come from but
I’ve never seen anyone go on like that over ganja. Coke
yes…not ganja.

You have no money, you’re dying for a smoke, you go out
on the road where the boys are smoking and beg a smoke.
So that’s the end of that fantasy world.

Alexa, I myself am not much into the ‘high’ thing. I never
really used if for the ‘high’.

Stoner of 10 years, posted this comment on Nov 25th, 2007

I use ganja to counter depression and other negative feelings. I know it’s a short cut or cheating, just as taking a prozac. The difference is that while I took prozac I did not get any insights into how I might improve my life so that I would not be as depressed.

Once I smoked too much, like from morning till midnight for 1-2 months and I went mad litterally. I then quit for 6 months but started again, only using far less this time. So you can quit ganja and you can moderate ganja. Still I don’t recommends it to anyone, anymore than I recommend to anyone taking up smoking, drinking coffee or eating sugar.

The only time I’ve bought and used amphetamine was when the dealer had run out of ganja, I wouldn’t have bought speed if I could have got ganja in a coffeeshop. The only time I tried E was when a dealer gave me pill. Those were not examples of ganja being a gateway drug, it was an example of what happens when the sale of it is forced into the black market.

I think that if ganja had not been demonized, if nobody had started a crusade against it then 90% fewer people would use it because it would never have become the cool anti-establishment thing to do.

It is best to be only high on life, but if I choose to get high on something else it is not the governements responsability to protect me from myself by branding me a criminal. Especially when the same governement reaps huge profits from selling alcohol and tobacco.

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 26th, 2007

Stoner of Ten years….

by forcing ganja to be linked with other drugs, the situation
becomes one of going into a bar to order a Guinness and winding
up with a Mackeson.

A little ganja works as a spiritual stimulant, a lot, a physical
depressive.

Stoner of 10 years, posted this comment on Nov 26th, 2007

Absolutely, less is more when self medicating with ganja. Problem is to moderate when you have such little skill in resisting pleasure as I have. The only thing that has worked for me is storing/hiding my stash 15 minutes away or more (by bicycle) and then go there and collect one bong hit at a time. It makes me less subject to immediate impulse and the exercise is a benefit.

ohmy, posted this comment on Nov 26th, 2007

You’re jamaican therefore you’re an expert on marijuana. ever heard the saying live and let live?

Irish Guy, posted this comment on Nov 26th, 2007

Smoking weed is a way to relax! I drink when i want ta have a good time!!

Appreciates the wisdom, posted this comment on Nov 26th, 2007

I appreciate a fool\’s insight. He speaks from a background with which many of us cannot relate, and to hear his perspective is refreshing. To mistake his commentary for an attack or a condescending remark of how other people use it is a misunderstanding, and it\’s a shame to see people criticize him as such.

Marijuana became illegal in the US because the government saw it as a scapegoat for other larger social issues of the time and used propaganda-like campaigning to convince the public of its \’evil\’. Unfortunately, it has become a casualty and remains a scapegoat still. Accusing it for greater problems is the real crime and I feel you\’re the same person high or not, it just gives some people an excuse to show more of who they really are. To me, it\’s not a necessity, but when I want to see the world in a different shade, it\’s the way I put the glasses on. It\’s the car, not the driver.

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 26th, 2007

…Stoner, that’s a good way to cut down.

….ohmy, I thought I was saying that

…Irish guy…I think so.

….Appreciate…you get it. Most people don’t
read, they think you are saying something, and
answer what they assume, without reading.
You smoke a little ganja, you see things differently,
maybe you make connections between what seems to be
unconnected actions.

If ganja wasn’t illegal, this discussion would be like
wine drinkers comparing vintages.

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 27th, 2007

I love the hostility, Taylor. Guess I hit a
nerve, huh? It’s very sad to see the little
teaspoonful of ganja you’re trying to roll
into smokeable spliffs, knowing that what I
might drop between the bag and the pot I’m
going to boil it in is more than in your
toothpick.

But that’s the fact. You should try to get
ganja legalised in your country…or at least
decriminalised.

Three pulls of Lambsbread…(a special ‘vintage’
of ganja) is enough to open the windows in the mind.

Shadownat, posted this comment on Nov 27th, 2007

Hi. Very powerful stuff. I’m glad you shared this with the rest of us. It’s stuff like this that we need to read from one who actually did this sort of thing. Thank you again.

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 27th, 2007

Thanks Shadownat; I am glad I posted. Ganja should have
never be lumped in with ‘drugs’. It’s not really a drug.
It’s a herb. It has medicinal uses. Currently canabosol
and an experiemental study with rp..(I can’t spell it)
and with less serious loss of night vision. It is used
medicinally in many cases. That people will abuse it
and smoke until they pass out or act like fools, well
they’d do the same thing with food. Look at how fat
people are; why don’t they stop stuffing their faces?
Or with alcohol…or anything.

Cheif, posted this comment on Nov 28th, 2007

Me and my buddy smoke weed about 4 times a week, just to relax after a long day. We dont smoke a lot, we just use enough to get high and chill. There really is nothing wrong with it, i hate when people try to judge you because you smoke pot, they try and act like you are lazy and stuff, i still go to college, i play football in college, i just think its bull, im a freshman and i played varsity this year and i still cheefed people really need to open their minds and realize mary j is not that bad at all

a fool, posted this comment on Nov 29th, 2007

Cheif, it would be so useful if another look at ganja was
taken by those concerned with legislation, and allow it to
be simply decriminalised.

Wendy, posted this comment on Nov 29th, 2007

While I agree with the notion that marijuana needn’t be looked at only as a tool to “get high” I can’t see any need to attempt to intellectualize the use of the stuff. One isn’t “better” than anyone else claiming they use pot for “insight”.

I used ganja tea for relief of menstrual cramps as a teenager and it was far better than any OTC medication for that. I smoked it to get “mellow” and enjoy the “view” from the comfort of a calm and hazy mind. I see nothing wrong with either use provided that like any other medication that may cause one to be a bit off when it comes to things like response time and visual clarity one doesn’t use the stuff when they have to drive, care for other people or participate in activities that require a sharp responses.

And.. despite being American, I grew up with pot being far more common in my experience than oatmeal, and very few people I knew from the time I was about 12 found it all that exciting.

Patty, posted this comment on Dec 2nd, 2007

I used to do high-speed data entry for a living, one of the most boring, repetitive jobs you can do. We’re talking hitting a key sometimes 5-6 times a second, with 98% accuracy.
BUT, it occupies certain brain circuits, and allows others to take over. I used to smoke a bowl, then do ten minutes of yoga on a break, then go back to work. While I was working, I was listening on headphones (loud enough so I couldn’t hear the keys clicking) to people like Alan Watts and Ram Dass (among many), people who made me open my consciousness.
Because of the repetitive physical activity, the pot and the yoga, I was in (basically) an alpha state, and all of that got “imprinted” on my brain/consciousness.
I did it purposely, and got the results I was after. I’m not saying I didn’t eat a donut on the way, or that it didn’t feel good. It felt GREAT, but in the same way that a good hypnosis session with that kind of spiritual input would feel.
Basically, I was using it as a tool, to clear the channels. Then there was the time I did a NY Times Sunday crossword in 12 minutes, but that’s another story.
A hammer is a tool. You can pound or remove nails with it, or you can keep hitting your thumb and blame the hammer. High speed data entry is an incredibly boring activity. I used to say that there were people who did it because it was boring, and people who did it despite the fact it was boring. It is also a tool that frees up certain brain circuits, and I made use of that. The same with pot.
I’m not saying I’ve never smoked and sat and giggled. What I haven’t done is gone unconscious while I was doing it.
I’ve also never seen people become violent while only smoking pot. If that happened, there was always some other substance involved. I’ve seen cops be incredibly cool with “stoners,” saying, “we’re just grateful they’re not drinking or on speed or coke or angel dust, because then we’d have a problem.”
Of course, my experience is only MY experience. I’m not trying to invalidate anyone else. Honestly.

a fool, posted this comment on Dec 2nd, 2007

Many people in Jamaica use it as sacrament. It’s a religious
experience and people discuss ‘upful’ topics. If someone
wants to get high, they go to the bar and drink.

As you use the correct term, a tool, like a hammer.
If someone wants to keep going until they pass out, it’s
not the ganja’s fault. If someone wants to strip naked
and jump into the sea…lets face it…they always wanted
to strip naked and jump into the sea…they just didn’t have
a way of finding a ‘Shaggy’ Defense.

crazed musician, posted this comment on Jan 17th, 2008

my experiance with the herb has been habitual. i smoke a bowl before my classes especially before exams and im an honor roll student. it has really helped me focus on what im doing and im probably going to keep on smoking for as long as i can, but i would suggest buying a vaporizer to smoke for long term use. i’ve also used it with friends and held quite intellegant and enlightened conversations. the use of ganja for sacrament has always interested me and what might interest others is that cannibus is in the bible, with its many uses.

a fool, posted this comment on Jan 17th, 2008

Crazed musician—-
In Jamaica, among Rasta, herb is sacrament.
It is treated as such. It is not smoked to
get ‘high’, like someone would drink rum.

I find with exams, yes, it does cause one
to focus, but I would place a caveat; if
one has used ganja previous to gain insights
not to get high, using herb as a
learning aid will be of great value.

As an experiment, no. I wouldn’t
suggest anyone smoke it for the first
time before they took an exam.

Many use a chalice…a pipe to smoke to
avoid the paper.

What I find…
naturally intelligent people will smoke
and discourse, opening doors.

Phonies who pretend intelligence, expose
their confused thought processes under
ganja because they do not have a real
grasp of the subject. Many are just tossing
terms. I’ve had very pompous friends who
behave as if they know everything go under
after one spliff, because they don’t know
anything, they are frauds and the ganja
interfers with their ability to fudge.

crazed musician, posted this comment on Jan 17th, 2008

i hear what you are saying, i have a younger brother who just gets rediculously stupid and does really dumb things. i’ve found it good for deep thought and meditation. music making is also a part of my ganja experiance

a fool, posted this comment on Jan 18th, 2008

Crazed…if one is occupied, whether in music or cooking,
the ganja opens doors to the creative process. If one hasn’t
selected a ‘direction’, then as your brother, as my pompous
friend, the brain just spins without traction.

It is those frictionless brains which has given ganja
the reputation of ‘making’ someone lose ‘control’.

What does happen, is if you are concentrating on something
and are interrupted with something completely mundane you
will experience a difficulty in changing gears, because
your mind really doesn’t want to discuss the water bill
right now.

crazed musician, posted this comment on Jan 23rd, 2008

amen, i really like how you put it. at least some people know what to do when on the influince.

Go! Reyes-Man!, posted this comment on Jul 11th, 2008

A Fool… you are my hero… maybe you should be the spokes person for the legalization of the hemp nation.
Your point are valid in my eyes.
I used to smoke, there I said it, not to act crazy and all, I just like the atmosphere that it sets.
To me, chonkee calms me down, sometimes I work out while stoned, and I’m not as shy around people that I don’t know.
In other words, I would keep smoking till the day I die… however, I’m joining the US Air Force, and as you know, they’re very strict with this drug policy.

Thank you for sharing your article man. God Bless

LEGALIZE IT ALREADY!

a fool, posted this comment on Jul 11th, 2008

thanks a lot guys.

Go! Reyes-Man!, posted this comment on Jul 11th, 2008

I love weed… did you hear about the initiative trying to legalize marijuana in California?
I hope this idea works, and soon enough all of the US would legalize it… hopefully.
The benefits outweigh the bad. I consider chonkee as a medicine and a recreational drug. I love it, used to smoke it when I can’t sleep.

Maybe I should provide a link for the “legalization in Cali” thing:

http://laist.com/2008/06/30/california_to_legalize_weed_for_eve_1.php

a fool, posted this comment on Jul 11th, 2008

We intended to legalise it in 1973 but America told us that if we
do, no plane coming from Jamaica would be allowed to land in America.

Dreadvenom, posted this comment on Dec 18th, 2008

Getting high is the fourth drive in humans. That’s why I get high. Cuz I feel that I should. It just feels good for me.

a fool, posted this comment on Dec 18th, 2008

feeling good is the drive. Depends on what makes you feel good.

giorgia guirtez, posted this comment on Feb 1st, 2009

u said u smoked a spliff before a exam dose it help

a fool, posted this comment on Feb 1st, 2009

With me, considering that I tend to rush, the ganja slowed me down, made me read, reread the question, so that I didn\\\’t fall for the \\\’tricks\\\’.
I knew I was \\\’blind\\\’ so read the question three times, to make sure I got it. So I did well.

If you smoke ganja but study straight, then smoke just before you take the exam, at least for me, it caused a super focus. So I did well. Esp. where you don\\\’t know the answers.

tewodros bezabih, posted this comment on Feb 2nd, 2009

nature is always at its own path.nothing exists for nothing.so who are you that judge weed as god and evil.the great architect of the universe just designed it for purpose…never say good or bad but spiritual.