spacejunk
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
- Messages
- 19,976
i have been thinking recently about the banning of "bongs"/water pipes in many (if not all?) states and territories across australia in the last couple of years.
it followed the banning of (what i call) hash oil pipes - more commonly known in aus as "crack" pipes, glassies etc.
how has this affected your drug taking, it's route of administration and the risks thereof?
have you decided that fatherly ol' premier [insert name] is actually right, and given away your sinful unwholesome proclivities, or have you in fact escalated the risks associated with your drug use?
in regard to glass pipes - do people smoke off of tinfoil now? or heat up glass that objects weren't designed for that purpose? or continue using a "crackie" with - literally - a crack in it, because you can't easily source another, safer one?
has the ban of glass pipes led you to more physically harmful practices- such as insufflating (damaging your sinus and mucous membranes, often using rolled up money which is extremely unhygienic), injecting, etc - when you didn't previously?
syringes, are of course legally available (for the sake of HR) which i think is a very important and positive thing.
have you (or someone you know) suffered an injury from attempting to vaporise drugs through a glass instrument not designed for the application of heat?
are people smoking through aluminium "can bongs" or other makeshift smoking implements of dubious safety?
are stoners who previously smoked a bong or two now rolling joints which
a) use up more of the substance - therefore arguably increasing the demand for cannabis and having a positive effect on the market and costing the user more or
b) rolling joints mixed with tobacco which you didn't previously smoke, increasing the amount of australians that smoke tobacco?
are people smoking or vaping through plastic tubes which end up heating, possibly melting and emitting fumes which are then inhaled? or using rubber hose as a bong stem when a variety of purpose-built bits and pieces - made from appropriate materials - used to be cheaply and easily available across australia?
did you switch to bucket bongs after you smashed your glass bong in stoned reverie (or similar scenario?) and were unable to replace it?
or do you now just make your own smoking gear?
have these regulations led you from your previous drug of choice - and the experience of selecting and owning a classy piece of smoking gear, and feeling less deviant about the whole thing - to using some other drug entirely?
i'm curious as to what the actual health and social impact of making drug paraphernalia - designed specifically for that purpose - is having on people in australia and the way they consume drugs. positive or negative.
there are so many potential scenarios that run through my mind - some of which listed above - and many of these run in direct opposition to any notion of minimising harm for drug users; the stated goal of this site - and you would hope governments too...in a perfect world, perhaps.
i know that as a young teenager - who couldn't find too many stores that would sell me a pipe or a bong - i made some stupidly crude and risky things to smoke through that became a slightly embarrassing/amusing thing of the past when i was old enough to confidently walk into a head shop and buy whatever i wanted.
perhaps this says more about the fact that i was still a kid - lacking in foresight and sense - who shouldn't have been getting
high so young...?
or is it just our nature to want to get off on our drug of choice, no matter what hurdles The Man throws up in front of us for the sake of a good headline.
what do you guys think? has the banning of drug paraphernalia increased the harms of drug use, or reduced them?*
also, let's keep this away from mentioning specific sources or methods for obtaining contraband implements; i'd just like to know if people have any horror stories, sobriety success stories (?) or opinions on this.
*keeping in mind that a variety of stupid "oil pourers" and so fourth (and the bullshit sales techniques that accompany them - another shitty outcome of this regulation) are still in many stores.
it followed the banning of (what i call) hash oil pipes - more commonly known in aus as "crack" pipes, glassies etc.
how has this affected your drug taking, it's route of administration and the risks thereof?
have you decided that fatherly ol' premier [insert name] is actually right, and given away your sinful unwholesome proclivities, or have you in fact escalated the risks associated with your drug use?
in regard to glass pipes - do people smoke off of tinfoil now? or heat up glass that objects weren't designed for that purpose? or continue using a "crackie" with - literally - a crack in it, because you can't easily source another, safer one?
has the ban of glass pipes led you to more physically harmful practices- such as insufflating (damaging your sinus and mucous membranes, often using rolled up money which is extremely unhygienic), injecting, etc - when you didn't previously?
syringes, are of course legally available (for the sake of HR) which i think is a very important and positive thing.
have you (or someone you know) suffered an injury from attempting to vaporise drugs through a glass instrument not designed for the application of heat?
are people smoking through aluminium "can bongs" or other makeshift smoking implements of dubious safety?
are stoners who previously smoked a bong or two now rolling joints which
a) use up more of the substance - therefore arguably increasing the demand for cannabis and having a positive effect on the market and costing the user more or
b) rolling joints mixed with tobacco which you didn't previously smoke, increasing the amount of australians that smoke tobacco?
are people smoking or vaping through plastic tubes which end up heating, possibly melting and emitting fumes which are then inhaled? or using rubber hose as a bong stem when a variety of purpose-built bits and pieces - made from appropriate materials - used to be cheaply and easily available across australia?
did you switch to bucket bongs after you smashed your glass bong in stoned reverie (or similar scenario?) and were unable to replace it?
or do you now just make your own smoking gear?
have these regulations led you from your previous drug of choice - and the experience of selecting and owning a classy piece of smoking gear, and feeling less deviant about the whole thing - to using some other drug entirely?
i'm curious as to what the actual health and social impact of making drug paraphernalia - designed specifically for that purpose - is having on people in australia and the way they consume drugs. positive or negative.
there are so many potential scenarios that run through my mind - some of which listed above - and many of these run in direct opposition to any notion of minimising harm for drug users; the stated goal of this site - and you would hope governments too...in a perfect world, perhaps.
i know that as a young teenager - who couldn't find too many stores that would sell me a pipe or a bong - i made some stupidly crude and risky things to smoke through that became a slightly embarrassing/amusing thing of the past when i was old enough to confidently walk into a head shop and buy whatever i wanted.
perhaps this says more about the fact that i was still a kid - lacking in foresight and sense - who shouldn't have been getting
high so young...?
or is it just our nature to want to get off on our drug of choice, no matter what hurdles The Man throws up in front of us for the sake of a good headline.
what do you guys think? has the banning of drug paraphernalia increased the harms of drug use, or reduced them?*
also, let's keep this away from mentioning specific sources or methods for obtaining contraband implements; i'd just like to know if people have any horror stories, sobriety success stories (?) or opinions on this.
*keeping in mind that a variety of stupid "oil pourers" and so fourth (and the bullshit sales techniques that accompany them - another shitty outcome of this regulation) are still in many stores.
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