effects of drugs on aspies?

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Invader: "The weed isn't the problem, the state of your life is the problem, the weed is only highlighting what is already on your mind, and making your thoughts about it seem a lot more significant. "

I'd be careful about saying that because

"Negative feelings and thoughts exist for a reason, to let you know that you are not supposed to be living a certain way, and that you don't want to."

I'd say for a percentage of people the way they're not supposed to be living and don't want to be living is stoned. I'm sure that's true of me. There isn't a drug I don't get on with like I don't get on with cannabis and while I'm happy to take the view that "that's just me" or "each to their own" with the global population approaching 7 billion it's unlikely to be true and with no age restrictions on these forums I'd urge caution in what ideas you choose to promote.

What I'm trying to say is that if anyone is reading this and thinking "I don't like being stoned therefore there must be something wrong with my life and through smoking pot I'll be able to know if I've fixed it or not" Then I implore you to abandon this idea. If you're not happy then be honest with yourself about it, no pot required. And if you can't help yourself then find someone who can and will, or find ways to cope but be aware that pot specifically and drugs generally are unlikely to be the solution you're looking for.

If someone does not like being stoned they probably should not get stoned? why would the common thought be...'that must mean there is something wrong with me, maybe I should smoke it if I don't like it to find out what's wrong?......I am confused about what you are trying to say here. Also I can be as honest as I want about why I am unhappy, but that does not really reduce the pain it causes any. Also they way I see it self medicating with cannabis is coping.......sure it's not a solution to my problem but it certainly helps me cope. But I don't expect everyone to agree........as I say to each their own.

"You either need to find a way to distract yourself from the negativity, or fix your life. It's pretty much just the same situation you'd be in without weed anyway. "

Amen to that!

And what do you do when the distractions don't work.....because all the crap going on in your head is preventing you on focusing on the distractions? not to mention one can't really distract themself 24/7 the emotions will come out eventually. Also what if you don't exactly have the option of fixing it.....not everyone has the resources or ability to just 'fix' their life especially in this economy.

Sure its the same situation one would be in without weed anyways, but again the weed makes it a bit less horrible for some.

"The only other option is to use it less often. That way, the euphoria will be much more noticable, because you're not as used to experiencing it."

No, another option is to not use it at all. It's pretty simple really, to quote Hermes from Futurama "When push comes to shove, you've gotta do what you love, even if it's not a good idea."

If you don't love it: Don't do it!

Well I suppose I could just drink more instead....

EXPECIALLY: "My concern is the relationship to schizophrenia that AS may have and how any kind of drugs can affect someone who may have the potential to develop it.

Yes, I know it has not been proven the smoking marijuana or taking other drugs actually causes schizophrenia in individuals who are predisposed to it, but it also hasn't been proven that it doesn't. You don't see it happening often, that's because most people aren't predisposed. "

So wouldn't that indicate in those cases marijuana is only a factor if the reason it doesn't happen more is less people predisposed?

Thanks for saying this! If what I feel when I'm extremely stoned is what schizophrenics experience for months on end then I really aught to start donating to schizophrenia research charities. I've taken all sorts personally, high dose LSD, Ayahuasca and while I wouldn't recommend any of it I can't emphasise enough to the happy stoners of the world is that one mans medicine is another mans poison and that charitably recommending circumstances under which others might know the joys of pot is reckless without also saying "maybe it's just not for you eh?"

when I'm stoned I feel relief from the symptoms of my mental disorders, but as you say it's not for everyone and I acknowledge that.

There is also the issue of hyper-sensitivity to drugs. Say person A's genome doesn't encode for an enzyme that in 99.9% of the population would modulate the effect of some drug or another and they are affected very differently than the rest of us. I knew one person, for example, who was truly mind-bogglingly sensitive to MDMA, so much so that what most would consider an insultingly low sub-threshold dose would result in delirium and indicate professional medical attention in their case.

I seem to have the opposite of hyper-sensitivity to drugs...but again everyone is different, some people get drunk from a beer for me it would take at least 3 strong beers if not more.

All that being said I too am in favor of drug law reform. Given that the risks of driving can be managed with mandatory licensing and training I don't see why the risks of psycho-active experimentation can't be managed in a similar way. Education and all that. I'd go further and say that even if it were possible for an "elected, democratic" government to protect the people it represents (whoever they may be) from the experiences they desire, against their will, which so far no government has been able or willing to do, they still have no right to do so. Unless you buy the argument of a militarised population whereby the state is controlled not by it's electorate but by it's external military relationships and it's population exists primarily to support it's military representation.

I don't know if one does not need a license to drink a beer, I don't think a license should be required for say cannabis. But in some cultures in order to have a psychedelic trip you have to be guided by a Shaman. Cool idea but not so easy in this society......but you'll find a lot of times people who trip will recommend you do it with someone who has some experience and can help if you fall into a bad trip...rather then tripping alone. So there is some logic there I agree with, just don't see quite how it would be implemented in todays society here.

I believe the current scenario does more harm than good. It's my understanding, for example, that one of the most economical routes to MDMA from reasonably available (to criminals) precursor material involves the use of a mercury compound as a catalyst. The idea that someone claiming to represent me would make a criminal of myself, my friends and my family for experimenting on themselves with chemicals I find outrageous enough without the knowledge that one can't assume any quality control in criminal laboratories and that mercury salts are being used in the production of chemicals that our friends and neighbors are willingly ingesting brings the horror of war to the war on drugs as far as I am concerned.

Well don't assume quality control nessisarily, but some illegal producers care about their product and want it to be the best quality possible. It all depends though on the individual and such.......but if it wasn't illegal there would not be the risk of lack of quality control to produce things.

Just in case any of you are unaware of the potential consequences of the unregulated use of mercury behold the mighty you-tube

Grr, I can't even link to youtube yet even though the button is visible, anyway, search for: ihFkyPv1jtU

Also, I understand that newer research indicates that ketamine use at threshold dose can have a lasting (week to ten days) anti-depressant effect and that Psilocybe mushroom use can also be an effective treatment for depression (in some individuals). Frankly I'd sooner take a combined large dose of each of those two than a little Cannabis but I certainly wouldn't recommend any of it. To anyone.

There was an interesting Google Versus debate of the issue.

youtube: gSrN2zIRwN8

B.

p.s. Sorry this turned into a huge rant but I hate seeing "drugs work wonders for me" without any "ok, but they do terrible things to others"
p.p.s Yes that's a tree frog with psychoactive skin excretions that I have as an avatar.