Psychedelics question

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Another reason to avoid the weed until you're well into your twenties:

Although many studies have examined the acute behavioural effects of cannabinoids in rodents, few have examined the lasting effects of cannabinoids at different developmental ages. This study compared lasting effects of cannabinoid exposure occurring in adolescence to that occurring in early adulthood

...

These results suggest that chronic exposure to a cannabinoid receptor agonist well after the immediate postnatal period, but before reaching sexual maturity, can lead to increased anxiety and a lasting impairment of working memory.

http://jop.sagepub.com/content/18/4/502.abstract

It's not a particularly dangerous drug, but you're definitely going to max out the damage you can do to yourself with pot by smoking a lot of it as an adolescent. I don't think there is any research out there that suggests otherwise.

In terms of the schizophrenia/LSD/mushrooms issue, well, do you think it's worth it to find out if it fucks you over for life or not? You're heavily predisposed to have a monkey on your back even if you don't mess with your brain, right? Why exacerbate the chances that you go irreversibly bananas?

It's fun, but not that fun.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Whoah----Nephew Twiddleton can you post the link to that MS Retrovirus article? I have MS, and I smoked starting at a young age.... I am quite curious. As regards the original poster, and questions I have have about narcotic use I go to http://www.erowid.org/

Here you go. The focus is on schizophrenia, but I found the MS part to be interesting, since an acquaintance of mine also has it.
http://discover.coverleaf.com/discovermagazine/201006/?pg=62#pg60

Apikoros and Dalekk, you both might be interested in the last paragraph--Looks like they've got good preliminary results testing an antibody for this particular retrovirus, and human trials on MS are scheduled for this year, and schizophrenia next year.

[Cuddlefish]

Prescription drugs (ranges from 15.9 years for sedatives to 21.6 years for tranquilizers)
Cocaine:  19.8 years
Crack cocaine: 19.8 years
Ecstasy: 20.3 years
Heroin: 23.4 years (this one is a bit higher but I think it is partly linked to access)
LSD: 18.4 years
Marijuana: 17.8 years
Meth: 19.2 years
Alcohol: 16.8 years
inhalants: 15.9 years
tobacco: 17.4 years

Huh, this is interesting. I wonder what these numbers were like around 1992-1994. My first cigarette was at 12, as was my first drink. My first weed experience was at thirteen, as was my first coke experience, and I was 14 the first time I took LSD.

In my experience, I learned a lot from LSD. I don't take it anymore (though, I've been thinking a lot about it lately). I think it's definitely worth it for the experience, but this is coming from someone with no (known) family history of mental disorders, so take anything I say with a grain of salt (or three).

[AFK]

Well I know the onset of use of alcohol, marijuana, and Rx drugs has been going down amongst school-age children in my state.  My suspicion, though I don't have the stats off-hand, is that this is a nation-wide trend. 

Meanwhile, it looks like the onset of use for inhalants is actually starting to inch up, which is really troubling and bizarre.  Inhalants have mostly been the drug of choice for young, middle-school aged kids.  Probably linked to the economy and ease of access. 

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Prescription drugs (ranges from 15.9 years for sedatives to 21.6 years for tranquilizers)
Cocaine:  19.8 years
Crack cocaine: 19.8 years
Ecstasy: 20.3 years
Heroin: 23.4 years (this one is a bit higher but I think it is partly linked to access)
LSD: 18.4 years
Marijuana: 17.8 years
Meth: 19.2 years
Alcohol: 16.8 years
inhalants: 15.9 years
tobacco: 17.4 years

Huh, this is interesting. I wonder what these numbers were like around 1992-1994. My first cigarette was at 12, as was my first drink. My first weed experience was at thirteen, as was my first coke experience, and I was 14 the first time I took LSD.

In my experience, I learned a lot from LSD. I don't take it anymore (though, I've been thinking a lot about it lately). I think it's definitely worth it for the experience, but this is coming from someone with no (known) family history of mental disorders, so take anything I say with a grain of salt (or three).

It is pretty interesting. For me, first time drinking at 17, but only once (disliked the taste). After 18 is when I started drinking more. Smoked weed when I was 18, and didn't smoke cigarettes until I was 20. So I'm pretty much the average, excepting tobacco. Never took anything more than that other than the occasional valium, which I found to be boring. That was around 19 I think.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Well I know the onset of use of alcohol, marijuana, and Rx drugs has been going down amongst school-age children in my state.  My suspicion, though I don't have the stats off-hand, is that this is a nation-wide trend. 

Meanwhile, it looks like the onset of use for inhalants is actually starting to inch up, which is really troubling and bizarre.  Inhalants have mostly been the drug of choice for young, middle-school aged kids.  Probably linked to the economy and ease of access. 

Yeah, I never understood that. Funny side note, my parents freaked out once because when I was 13 I had white out in my room--disregarding that I was in jr. high and this was before we had gotten a computer. They gave me a stern lecture about not huffing, even though I flat out told them that I could read the warning and they were being retarded. It was annoying and funny at the same time. I guess that was the first time that I noticed that the media makes people crazy.

[BadBeast]

I once had a prescription for Dexedrine, and among the list of contra-indicative symptoms on the Drug company instructions leaflet, were "Happiness and Elation".
Apparently, if I experienced either, I was to stop taking the Drug immediately, and consult my GP. 

Also on the list, were "Difficulty sleeping,  Increased heartrate, and Feelings of Increased energy" 
No shit?

Oh, and "Dizzy spells, impaired concentration, Fainting, Visual disturbance, & /or Hallucinations. If affected, do not drive, or operate heavy machinery"   

So apparently, light machinery was not a problem, but they failed to give any indication at which point machinery became categorised as heavy and i know they never did because i read that thing over and over again looking at the various peculiarities and distinct qualities of the medication you know just to familiarise myself with the optimum dosages and the manafacturers quality control disclaimers and the legal status of who was or was not legally allowed to take control of my medication should i become in any way unable to administer the medication myself or if i had to send a third party to the pharmacy to collect my repeat prescription and a couple of details from the controlled substances act 1982 that were particular to the prescribed medication generally that it was an offence to supply or attempt to supply the medication to any  person which was a bit weird because it was not an actual offence to be in posession of the tablets without a prescription  but the same law states in other places that posession of any amphetamine or any amphetamine based preparation was punishable with a fine of up to £5000 and/or six months imprisonment
one annoying side effect they neglected to mention though was the loss of any punctuation skills at all and the obsessive compulsive repeating the same task over and over and over and over and  . . . . . . . Wow, they certainly kick in quickly too!      

[Kai]

Interesting how early use of Cannabis leads to memory problems. Sure would explain all the CRS potheads I know.

[BadBeast]

Interesting how early use of Cannabis leads to memory problems. Sure would explain all the CRS potheads I know.

I know there are memory and recall issues with Cannabis, but they always seem to slip my mind unless someone brings them up. Which they hardly ever do. As far as I recall, this is the first time I ever heard of . .erm, . . that thing you said.

[AFK]

That ties into the whole idea of state-dependent learning.  There are kids who will study while high but then can only recall what they learned if they are high.  When they are sober it is much harder for them to recall that information. 

[Doktor Howl]

Ok, so I really want to try shrooms, LSD and MDMA(all of them mainly out of curiousity),

Why?  I've tried them, and it's basically just living in a dream for a few hours.  You can do that when you go to sleep.

The real world is interesting enough, if you pay attention.  Too interesting, sometimes.

I'm not here to tell you that they're bad, or dangerous, or any shit like that.  I'm here to tell you that they're useless.

[Payne]

Ok, so I really want to try shrooms, LSD and MDMA(all of them mainly out of curiousity),

Why?  I've tried them, and it's basically just living in a dream for a few hours.  You can do that when you go to sleep.

The real world is interesting enough, if you pay attention.  Too interesting, sometimes.

I'm not here to tell you that they're bad, or dangerous, or any shit like that.  I'm here to tell you that they're useless.

While I have in the past wanted to try these drugs, I think I'll have to agree with this.

I stay away from pot most of the time now, and prefer a nice chilled out drink to most other forms of applied self-delusion.

[Doktor Howl]

Ok, so I really want to try shrooms, LSD and MDMA(all of them mainly out of curiousity),

Why?  I've tried them, and it's basically just living in a dream for a few hours.  You can do that when you go to sleep.

The real world is interesting enough, if you pay attention.  Too interesting, sometimes.

I'm not here to tell you that they're bad, or dangerous, or any shit like that.  I'm here to tell you that they're useless.

While I have in the past wanted to try these drugs, I think I'll have to agree with this.

I stay away from pot most of the time now, and prefer a nice chilled out drink to most other forms of applied self-delusion.

An occasional full-out drunk can be theraputic, I think.

Stress on the occasional.

[Payne]

Ok, so I really want to try shrooms, LSD and MDMA(all of them mainly out of curiousity),

Why?  I've tried them, and it's basically just living in a dream for a few hours.  You can do that when you go to sleep.

The real world is interesting enough, if you pay attention.  Too interesting, sometimes.

I'm not here to tell you that they're bad, or dangerous, or any shit like that.  I'm here to tell you that they're useless.

While I have in the past wanted to try these drugs, I think I'll have to agree with this.

I stay away from pot most of the time now, and prefer a nice chilled out drink to most other forms of applied self-delusion.

An occasional full-out drunk can be theraputic, I think.

Stress on the occasional.

ATM, I can't ever do more than three pints at a time unless someone is being generous witrh the cash.

Three is enough to relax me and make me a little merry.

I can drink much much more, and have a great time doing it, but I'm trying to stop that.

[BadBeast]

For Payne then, and nostalgia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt6osXyGJwI