P and all that jazz

taniwharugby

I've never touched anything, weed included, just never been that bothered by it TBH; you hear the odd story about P-houses, I know when I was working at the council for a year 2 houses were 'discovered' as being P-Houses and as such needed to have this on the file for future LIM reports (although owners had spent thousands cleaning it) and there have been burglaries/robberies where the criminal was supposedly on P, 1 fatality a few years back.

jegga

Had a mate we'll call Bob that moved up north and bought a roofing business up there, he moved back about 12 years later and I ran into him at a school fair. He was obviously on something by the way he carrying on, my mate hired Bob about a month later because he was broke and his business had folded and he was actually a good tradesman. I did tell my mate what I thought was going on and a couple of his stories that he'd been saying about his marriage bust up and business failure didn't quite add up.
Anyway a year later Bobs working on my job , turns up at 10 leaves the young guy he was working with on the job , disappears at 1130 comes back at 2 gone by 3. Rang my mate to ask whats going on because I needed the roof on and he had no idea this was how he'd been working. Never showed up for work the next day, mate gets a call that night from another roofing company asking if he knows Bob because he started working for him that morning and asked to be paid at the end of the day.
That was about wednesday, friday night the young guy Bob was working with gets arrested for drunk and disorderly.
He thinks Bobs the man because Bobs storing his car for him and helping him do it up so he rings Bob and asks if he can give him a ride home from the station Bob says no he's had too much to drink.Young guy gets home from the station to find his stereo, x box and big screen tv gone, goes to the four square down the road and asks to look at their security camera and there Bobs car on the way to his house ten minutes after he rang to ask for a lift.Him and his mates went around to Bobs house to confront him but he said the stuff was gone and he couldn't get it back and basically intimated to them they could give him a hiding if they wanted. They thought he was so pathetic they didn't bother but they got the car out of the garage and lots of it was missing , sold to buy p or pay his bills. Bob left town that night and hasn't been back since, that was 2012.
 
I used to really like Bob he was good company , other guys used to take the piss out of him because instead of finishing one job and taking the rest of the day off like they did he'd get the next one ready to go and he worked some pretty long hours too. He was a really fit guy and a martial arts instructor, the Bob that skipped town was a wreck. Thats really my only experience of anyone who uses p, I know lots of people who've smoked pot for years and turned into useless twats but not like Bob .
 
I agree with Nepia too, weed isn't as benign as its supporters would have you believe.

Crazy Horse

I have seen some real fucked up stuff as a result of p or ice. There is something nasty about that drug that drains the essence of who that person once was. I have seen vibrant men and women wither away to shadows of their former selves. I have seen families torn apart, mums and dads at a loss as to how to help their child. You might be one of the lucky ones that can handle that shit, or at least think you are. If p or any of the variants get hold of you, it is a very very long way back. And it can be a very quick decent into a very deep and dark hole.

Paekakboyz

For all that I, and most of my mates, have had no dramas with weed I'd never say it's totally benign. As a few posters have noted for some people drugs just mess them up utterly. That can be booze, weed, prescription drugs or the harder stuff. Some people make one shitty decision and that's all she wrote - but that's a lot rarer for stuff like weed and even ecstasy. I'd struggle to include booze in that group as I've seen that wreck folks - but obviously booze is legal and more accessible etc so that will skew things.

No Quarter

Yeah, look, I wouldn't say I'm a "weed supporter", I just found that from a mind altering POV it was a lot milder then anything else on the market. I don't doubt it has messed with people's lives, but compared to what is out there it's at the lower end of the scale. 
I haven't smoked it in years. That wasn't a concious decision. More that I became too busy with work and family to have time lazing around getting stoned. There was no "going cold turkey" period like there is with a lot of other drugs, but I accept that some people do become very dependant on it to the detriment of other parts of their lives.

antipodean

Three things antipodean wouldn't and hasn't touched thus far; meth, crack cocaine and heroin. Seen the by-products of introducing that misery into your life and I feel that's the best drug education for young people; <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://fav-meth-head-of-the-day.com/faces-of-meth/'>http://fav-meth-head-of-the-day.com/faces-of-meth/</a>

Hooroo

Someone remind me to post in this thread tomorrow. 
Briefly, anyone that thinks weed is ok needs to spend time in a mental institute to see the real effects. P is an amazing drug. Amazing that something can be completely destructive to a human and be willingly consumed. Awful awful drug. Makes cocaine seem like nuerofen

gollum

NZ is pretty much the top country for Meth apparently. Down to the fact that importing crack & heroin is REALLY hard & expensive so meth is ideal is its effectivly lo rent & you can make it in the country. So it effectivly replaces crack & heroin in the country's drug options.
 
Like most on here I've tried a few drugs & I know a lot of people that have worked their way through several. The only drugs I've seen I would regard as 100% certain to fuck your life up are Heroin, Crack & Meth.
 
Tho' a few heavy weed users I knew back in NZ are effectivly unable to function without it & pretty much impaired 24/7. Weed is a tricky one it that people tell themselves "it just takes the edge off" but what its taking the edge off is life. So you get folks who are mildly stoned all the time, at work, with their kids etc and telling themselves they are fine. Its like people who are incapable of going out without coke. Tho at least there it only affects their socialising.

Rembrandt

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crazy Horse" data-cid="555657" data-time="1454303651">
I have seen some real fucked up stuff as a result of p or ice. There is something nasty about that drug that drains the essence of who that person once was. I have seen vibrant men and women wither away to shadows of their former selves. I have seen families torn apart, mums and dads at a loss as to how to help their child. You might be one of the lucky ones that can handle that shit, or at least think you are. If p or any of the variants get hold of you, it is a very very long way back. And it can be a very quick decent into a very deep and dark hole.</blockquote>
 
CH were you the one in law enforcement? If so do you think current strategies are working? Like some others here H,Meth and Crack scare me far more than anything else out there, could there be an arguement to reduce enforcement of comparitively more minor drugs such as weed and instead focus this on the real nasties? 
I'm curious as to what the mid to long term effect of the legalisation in colarado is, maybe its a bit of a simplistic view but I'd like to see something like that but with a guaranteed percentage of the tax revenue going directly to actual drug education (not just transparent scare tactics) as well as massively bringing the smackdown on meth dealers and for users if they don't give up their dealers. People are always gping to find stuff to get messed up on it just might be better for society to funnel them to certain substances over others.

dingo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="555681" data-time="1454321638">
NZ is pretty much the top country for Meth apparently. Down to the fact that importing crack & heroin is REALLY hard & expensive so meth is ideal is its effectivly lo rent & you can make it in the country. So it effectivly replaces crack & heroin in the country's drug options. </blockquote>
 
P is a favorite because you can buy P Precursor legally in China and its cheap. Buy large quantities, divide into small packets, and then pack them into containers and airfreight parcels. Shotgun approach, fire enough at NZ, our Customs find plenty but plenty more gets through.

Crucial

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Rembrandt" data-cid="555687" data-time="1454323144">
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CH were you the one in law enforcement? If so do you think current strategies are working? Like some others here H,Meth and Crack scare me far more than anything else out there, could there be an arguement to reduce enforcement of comparitively more minor drugs such as weed and instead focus this on the real nasties? 
I'm curious as to what the mid to long term effect of the legalisation in colarado is, maybe its a bit of a simplistic view but I'd like to see something like that but with a guaranteed percentage of the tax revenue going directly to actual drug education (not just transparent scare tactics) as well as massively bringing the smackdown on meth dealers and for users if they don't give up their dealers. People are always gping to find stuff to get messed up on it just might be better for society to funnel them to certain substances over others.
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</blockquote>
I think you will find that enforcement on weed in places like Colorado has become even higher. It is just the rules that have changed.
It's a good concept though (for some substances like alcohol, tobacco, weed) where the social cost is outweighed by the social gains.
It's not like everyone wanders around stoned or partakes in public. The rules are strictly enforced and are similar to alcohol (eg public signs of intoxication, consuming in public, licenced sales etc)
As you say, people will always look for substances and finding where to draw the line is the issue for society.

SammyC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="555677" data-time="1454320182">
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Briefly, anyone that thinks weed is ok needs to spend time in a mental institute to see the real effects. P is an amazing drug. Amazing that something can be completely destructive to a human and be willingly consumed. Awful awful drug. Makes cocaine seem like nuerofen
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</blockquote>
 
Bit of a generalisation here, Apparently 14% of the NZ poulation are catagorised as weed smokers. It's only a very small percentage that end up in mental institutions.
 
I'm guessing you are a bit older than me, but it's pretty normalised in society now. As mentioned above I know of plenty who use and also hold down demanding careers, young families without becoming the zombies some have suggested above.

Hooroo

I'll add a couple of things.
 
It's nothing to do with 'zombiness' it is about depression from prolonged use.
 
Not one of the people in the clinic were young, they were all 40+ who had smoked weed for years. It's accumulative.
 
I'm not trying to convince anyone about anything. I am just pointing out what I saw and what I got to hear from the therapists and psycologists. I got to spend a good couple of months there as a visitor as I was helping someone through a difficult patch. They allowed me to stay on premise in visitor quarters. Seeing these people each day was heartbreaking.
 
I would struggle to go through that again for someone.

No Quarter

Are you saying that prolonged use causes depression? Or that it may cause depression? Or that people that are prone to depression turn to weed? Were they casual smokers or were they 24/7 stoners? Did these people drink or do any other drugs as well, or were they only smoking weed?
 
There are far too many variables to just make a sweeping statement like "you need to spend time in a mental institute to see the real effects of weed".
 
In my opinion.
 
:)

Hooroo

True. Probably best to just ignore it.
 
Toot toot

Donsteppa

I go with Hooroo's view. A few years ago I worked regularly with a guy who works helping people who'd had mental health issues transition back to regular (or supported) employment. He mentioned he'd had a very liberal view about pot when he was younger, but he'd found the amount of drug induced psychosis that he'd seen in his line of work a frightening eye opener. 
"But I did it and I'm fine". Lucky you. Plenty of farmers who drink raw milk say the same thing, and good luck to them, plenty of people who avoid their flu jab stay healthy too. But individual results do vary....

No Quarter

Fair enough. Agree individual results do vary. I don't think the argument is "but I did it and I'm fine", it's more "the majority of people that have done it are fine".

SammyC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="No Quarter" data-cid="555743" data-time="1454362219">
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Fair enough. Agree individual results do vary. I don't think the argument is "but I did it and I'm fine", it's more "the majority of people that have done it are fine".
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Exactly, and statistics back up this point of view.
 
So many stories on this thread start like "I know this guy who used to smoke...."
 
For every one of these stories I reckon there are many more to be told of those who don't end up a complete fuckup as a result.

Hooroo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="555745" data-time="1454362863">
<div>
Exactly, and statistics back up this point of view.
 
So many stories on this thread start like "I know this guy who used to smoke...."
 
For every one of these stories I reckon there are many more to be told of those who don't end up a complete fuckup as a result. 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
I've yet to meet one.
 
As I said, I have no bother in trying to convince anyone about this. It is pointless.

SammyC

Well even if you haven't met one the statistics back up my point.
 
14% of the population are smokers... 14% of the poulation do not end up with severe depression or psychiatric issue.
 
I would guess that figure is much less than 1%.

The Silver Fern

P and all that jazz