True, but what is wrong with that, if a person maintains their reason and health? A person could have a couple of hard drinks instead of the 2 beers you described that be perfectly fine, morally. Furthermore they could have the intent of getting “buzzed”(not drunk) of that amount of alcohol, that be perfectly fine as well. The idea having your mind affected by alcohol or marijuana of isn’t immoral. The bible even condones alcohol, in moderation, to “make glad the heart of man.”
Keep in mind I’m not trying to dish out a red herring, by discussing alcohol, but I am trying to point out that the idea of using a substance like marijuana or alcohol to make you more joyful isn’t immoral. Providing, as I said before, that a person doesn’t become addicted to that joy(uses in moderation), and respects their health(which should be a problem if they use in moderation).
But being ‘high’ means that someone no longer has control over their reason - their impulses, judgments, and wants/cravings are all altered based on this. I guess it comes down to the point where your level of drunkeness becomes ‘drinking in excess.’ If you go by ‘feeling’ instead of volume consumed, it’s a subjective scale, but with marijuana, it’s all or nothing. Also, has their ever been a study on the cancerous effects of smoking marijuana? And let’s not forget the long-term mental issues (i.e. memory loss - I had a friend who couldn’t remember his mother’s first name for 3 days, and as funny as it may sound, it is tragically not funny).
Have you every heard of a person going straight to heroin without using alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, chocolate(theobromine)? I hardly believe it was the marijuana that made your friends try harder drugs, rather marijuana was the first illegal drug they tried. The fact that marijuana is illegal probably helped give them connections to harder drugs as well I suppose.
Seriously? Tobacco/nicotine and alcohol, absolutely could play a role in someone going to marijuana or other drugs, but the other examples are a bit out there, namely because you can’t get ‘high’ off of them. You may get ‘wired’ by knocking back a triple shot of espresso, but you’re still capable of driving. And it doesn’t matter about what leads up to that point - my point was that marijuana is the first step to other drugs. Again, not saying everyone makes that step, and I’ll estimate that probably less than 10% of all people who try marijuana have tried something ‘harder’, but I’d be willing to bet that less than 1% of people who have tried ‘hard drugs’ haven’t tried marijuana first.
As for your argument about getting ‘harder drugs’ from their dealers in search of a better high, what then would stop the government from legalizing cocaine? It shares the same chemical ‘backbone’ as aderol, which is legally prescribed. It is addictive, but so are caffeine and nicotine. And I’m told that it’s effects are shorter than those of marijuana (depending on amount used) and even stays in your system shorter periods of time.
I agree. Though I will say some are more predisposed to this than others.Depends how motivated a person is in life. If their life is like feather in the wind, no consistent direction, then the potential for smoking marijuana on frequent basis is more likely. However, if they are motivated towards a career or some other goal in life, generally, they’re less likely to smoke on a frequent basis.
I have friends who smoked quite frequently in college and some thereafter (and tried ‘harder drugs’ on several occasions). One is now a doctor, another a lawyer, and others are young professionals in various fields. They were motivated, they had direction, they attended good schools, but they liked to get high, so they did on a daily (or multiple times a day) basis. I do not disagree that some people are predisposed, and I feel it’s a combination of parental attitude (especially towards alcohol use), environment, and peer pressure (as corny as that sounds, it does play some part).
Saying that people who smoke frequently are ‘pre-disposed’ to it is like saying the same thing to an alcoholic after they become addicted. It is easy to claim that after the fact, but maybe their predisposition is as simple as ‘I like to get high, I haven’t been caught by parents or police, and I can still make it to my classes and get my homework done (if I feel like it).’
