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Too young to smoke weed?

First of all, if you started smoking at a young age (<15), than you might have caused your still developing brain permanent damage. That's why advise people to start smoking a late as possible.

However, you are asking a different question. Does pot make you an underachieving loser? In some cases, most definitely. boredom is essential to the human experience, because it drives you to undertake steps that will activate your brain's reward center. By smoking pot, you cause your brain to release dopamine and other such chemicals artificially, thereby eliminating your need for real life achievements, (TV and computer games do exactly the same to you BTW) which are always harder to accomplish compared to rolling a joint.

So, are you a pot loser? I don't know. But you do have to ask yourself whether you are pushing pot above real-life achievements. Do you do well at school? Do you have a social life (one that does not revolve solely around pot)? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you have a part-time job? Do you have positive relationships with the people around you?

These are the criteria for a well lived life for someone of your age. If your answer to these questions is a collective no, than yes, you do have a problem.

But it would be over-simplistic to tell you to eliminate pot from your life to solve these issues. The not so well known truth is, is that most teenagers start smoking pot as a form of self medication. A pot loser was a loser way before he started smoking pot, because he/she felt bad with themselves and their lives all along. When you feel like shit, there's nothing like a good smoke to hide that misery away. The more you smoke in that condition, the more you are going to get sucked in into your own fantasy world.

So what's the answer? If you avoid pot completely, you will still feel bad about yourself. If you keep smoking too much, you're only making your problems bigger. Psychotherapy is one way to get out of this cycle, but also self-determination and self-awareness can help you.
 
Vader said:
Have you got a source for the brain damage thing?
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Yeah, I'd love to see that too. My answers to those questions are all yes, I think I'm fine I just need to re-focus a bit. Anybody else have stories to hear? I'd love to hear personal stories rather than something like what was posted above.
 
I started smoking in my freshman year of high school, and since I'm a fall baby, I believe I was about thirteen, maybe just turned fourteen? I smoked a lot when I first started, like a lot for a freshman in high school, and continued fairly regularly throughout high school, except at some point when I stopped for about half a year.

Now I'm in a top 50 liberal arts college with great grades, and I still smoke a ton of weed. So I think it really depends on the person. I consider myself very responsible and determined to achieve (and my parents' high expectations of me probably help as well), so I never let smoking get in the way of my academic success.
 
derejrcar said:
"The truth is, marijuana probably isn't going to make you kill people. Most likely isn't going to fund terrorists, but pot makes you feel fine with being bored and it's when you're bored that you should be learning a new skill or some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you're not good at anything."

Ok, well I know this is from South Park. But it makes me think...could this be true?
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I think this is too much of a sweeping generalization to be true. Some people don't smoke any weed and spend all day laying around in front of the tv. Some people smoke weed and paint, play music, learn science or exercise. It really depends on what you do when high more then the fact that you're smoking. If you smoke weed and do things you'll gain skills, if you don't then you won't.

For some people weed makes it harder to get things done, but lots of people are able to smoke pot frequently and handle all their business. It just depends on who you are, if you feel like smoking makes you lazy then you probably shouldn't smoke all the time.

I started smoking when I was 13 and started smoking every day when I was 15. Now I'm in college and I think I'm doing pretty well. I think weed has fucked up my social life some, but that's it for me. I know people who do nothing but lie around and smoke though, so both things do happen. Self awareness and control is the key.
 
I like Joe Rogan's example of getting addicted to cheeseburgers. Any source of dopamine release can become a fixation - I don't think there's anything about marijuana in particular that encourages people to lay around all day doing nothing but getting stupid high. (Unless you're blazing 15 grams a day).

Mind you, there was a BBC Horizon documentary that showcased one sad bugger who did just that - smoke weed sunrise to sundown - but I seriously doubt it was the weed responsible for that. It takes a special kind of person to continue the vicious cycle of "Oh man, I smoke too much marijuana" leading to "Well I guess I should just get stoned and forget about it" and back again. One wonders how you can fund a "marijuana addiction" if you're just blazing 24/7.
 
Simple answer.... No not really true at all because it is all far more complicated and complex than that.
 
For those wondering about brain damage from weed-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090202175105.htm

Yeah, I'd love to see that too. My answers to those questions are all yes, I think I'm fine I just need to re-focus a bit. Anybody else have stories to hear? I'd love to hear personal stories rather than something like what was posted above.
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Actually my post was informative as it gets. It's your fault for not appreciating it.
 
Plus, if anyone has seen the documentary 'Cannabis - the evil weed?' (non-biased at all), there's an experiment there that proves that lab mice who are exposed to high doses of THC at their first weeks, become cognitively impaired as they grow. Humans are likely to exhibit similar symptoms.
 
I suppose the pertinent question is why are you smoking pot? Is it because you really enjoy it or is it because you're doing it to fit in with your mates? Having said that, even that's too simplistic. I started smoking at 15 - for several reasons. First, I'd always been intensely interested in drugs since i'd first heard about them, and secondly, puberty turned me into an extremely awkward & insecure adolescent and the stoners were the only group I could feel any affinity with. However, smoking made me even more insecure and I only stuck with it for the social acceptance. Academically, it made me under achieve - but not because it affects your intelligence, simply because it has a detrimental effect on motivation & memory. This made it seem hard growing up, but as I've grown up the beneficial effects became so much more apparent, I gained a degree and have been in constant employment for 30 years. So in conclusion, smoking ain't going to ruin your life on its own. It just depends upon your motivation for doing so. Incidentally, the older I get, the more I love it.
 
First of all you are not smoking a lot. When I was in highschool me and most of my friends smoked every day before school at lunch and after school. We always had pretty high quality stuff and on average I'd smoke probably a gram a day. It totally depends on who you are and how you use/abuse the drug. Some people can still funtion on a fairly high level while others totally bum out and cant really do much else. For me personally I dont really like sitting around doing nothing when I get stoned, I tend to go occupy myself somehow. I started using heavily at the beginning of my junior year in highschool and have more or less used the same till now. I ended highschool with a 3.7 scored in the upper 10% on the sat except in math, and got into one of the top state schools in the usa which I am currently attending with a b+a- average. For me its all about priorities, work gets done first, then I get high all I want.
 
MrFaust said:
First of all you are not smoking a lot. When I was in highschool me and most of my friends smoked every day before school at lunch and after school. We always had pretty high quality stuff and on average I'd smoke probably a gram a day. It totally depends on who you are and how you use/abuse the drug. Some people can still funtion on a fairly high level while others totally bum out and cant really do much else. For me personally I dont really like sitting around doing nothing when I get stoned, I tend to go occupy myself somehow. I started using heavily at the beginning of my junior year in highschool and have more or less used the same till now. I ended highschool with a 3.7 scored in the upper 10% on the sat except in math, and got into one of the top state schools in the usa which I am currently attending with a b+a- average. For me its all about priorities, work gets done first, then I get high all I want.
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+1,000

derejrcar-

As long as you don't spend your time doing nothing except blazing all day and not getting work done or doing much of anything at all except smoking herb it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm not saying to go out and get blazed non-stop 24/7 but most people know their limit even if it's just once or a few times a month, only on weekends, or whatever everyone's different.

Just don't let herb control your life and become a burn out and you'll be fine.

Don't get it twisted smoking herb and getting high are fun but school, your grades/education, and work if you have a job should come first before getting high does.
 
Axed said:
I started smoking in my freshman year of high school, and since I'm a fall baby, I believe I was about thirteen, maybe just turned fourteen? I smoked a lot when I first started, like a lot for a freshman in high school, and continued fairly regularly throughout high school, except at some point when I stopped for about half a year.

Now I'm in a top 50 liberal arts college with great grades, and I still smoke a ton of weed. So I think it really depends on the person. I consider myself very responsible and determined to achieve (and my parents' high expectations of me probably help as well), so I never let smoking get in the way of my academic success.
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I, along with Axed, had also started smokin around that age. My ignorance to the fact that I was "genetically predisposed" to being an addict due to my mother and fathers history of already doing coke since 1978-2006ish, led me to think that smoking pot was A-Okay. Wrong. I have smoked every day since that age (I will be 20 later this year). After thinking I was in a whole boatload of shit after eventually the weed use turned into xanax use, oxy use, heroin use, I was in 100% addiction and quit going to 12th grade completely. My entire school including most teachers knew what I was up to, but I didn't give a damn. Now, I know this doesn't ONLY refer to pot use, but I believe by me smoking weed, I ignited that fuse that would lead to my demise as a student and functioning member of society entirely. But then in January 2009 (it was actually a blessing in retrospect), I got popped with a dope charge, xanax charge and DUI at the age of 17. My parents immediately shipped me out to where I reside now, here in Jackson County. After a month of cold turkey quitting (coming off of a $60/day dope habit and maybe a $10/15/day xanax habit), I began to realize that "Hey I am actually pretty smart and school seems fuckin easy." Actually all of the kids at my previous school thought I was a complete jackass because I never applied myself at all, let alone come to school. At my new school, I was "the smartest new kid around town" which blew the shit out of me.
To sum this nonsense up, smoking weed throughout highschool is up to your own discretion, granted that you now know what can happen to people who start to slide down the path of chronic absenteeism and failing grades. If you can smoke pot and still manage your lifestyle, the more power to you. However, if you can't, then for god's sake just put it down and don't go down the road that I did. Not saying you'll do heroin or whatever, but you feel me. Its taken me 4-5 years of my preadult and young adult life to finally understand that in the REAL world, successful people are GENERALLY thought who do not use marijuana or any other intoxicant in any addictive/compulsive manner. You will find it hard to get any real type of job, and if you get caught by the police (depending on where you live and how severe they want to be dicks to you), you could find yourself in a nice bit of trouble. So like I said, nip that shit in the ass reaaal quick if you have any thought that you may be suffering in the way that myself and many others have. In retrospect, its truly not worth it. I am now in my second year of college, have quit using THC and am now on Methadone for my addiction. School is so much easier, and three years ago I would have never ever imagined that I'd even make it this far. I am studying for my Bachelors degree in Cyber Defense, and in two years I will have it. Goes to show that things can be done if you want them to. Sorry if I rambled a little much (I always feel like I do too often), but I am here for harm-reduction and I care for the life of any individual who has been or may be in the same boat I once was. Hope I could help! %)
 
I toked up at age 13 for the first time, started doing it occasionally at 15, and heavily from 17 onwards to this day. It didn't really seem to affect my performance in high school, and though I did go through a brief period of sitting on my ass in working a dead-end job after that, I've made my way to university now (and a degree in law is not the stereotypical brain-damaged stoner choice).

It has vastly different effects for different people though. I'm pretty sure it's done damage to at least the memory compartment of my brain, but I don't feel as though my pot smoking has hampered my overall functionality enough to quit toking. I may have been a smarter person if I didn't smoke so god damn much weed as a teenager, but I think I'm still doing alright now.
 
It depends on you. If you are the type of person that is always learning new things and undertaking new activities, pot will probably not hold you back that much if you continue to actively engage with enriching pastimes. But if you allow yourself to be a lazy slob and just sit around indulging in various forms of media, you're quickly going to turn into a pretty lame person whether you smoke weed or not.

That being said, I think the OP is way too young to be smoking weed 5 days a week. I mean, jesus-- cut it down a bit, its more enjoyable that way anyways. Once a week is plenty at that age. What seems worrying is that if you're smoking that much weed, most of your time is spent either at school or smoking weed-- how can you possibly have time to engage in studying, hobbies and non- drug related social interaction?

Bottom line is I don't think the OP would even be asking the question in the first place if they didn't at least suspect their behavior was deleterious to their health and well-being.
 
HeavilySedated said:
For those wondering about brain damage from weed-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090202175105.htm


Actually my post was informative as it gets. It's your fault for not appreciating it.
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Did you even read that article or did you just frantically search google for a "source" for your claim? Because that article and the study it speaks of are far from being anything conclusive at all. And funny enough the study even acknowledges this truth.

"Ashtari added that the findings are preliminary. Among other limitations of the study, such as a small sample size, five of the 14 subjects with heavy cannabis use also had a history of alcohol abuse, which may have contributed an effect. Also, it is possible that the brain abnormalities may have predisposed the subjects to drug dependence, rather than drug usage causing the brain abnormalities."

Maybe you should find some studies that deal further with this subject, but for now that study you linked isnt conclusively confirming a thing.

So again, can we see a source for your claim lol?
 
I dropped out of highschool but still got into the school of my dreams, smoking all the time. Pot and what the gateway led to put me 5 years behind. Your potential may not be stunted but merely stalled.
 
8L4YN3 said:
Did you even read that article or did you just frantically search google for a "source" for your claim? Because that article and the study it speaks of are far from being anything conclusive at all. And funny enough the study even acknowledges this truth.

"Ashtari added that the findings are preliminary. Among other limitations of the study, such as a small sample size, five of the 14 subjects with heavy cannabis use also had a history of alcohol abuse, which may have contributed an effect. Also, it is possible that the brain abnormalities may have predisposed the subjects to drug dependence, rather than drug usage causing the brain abnormalities."

Maybe you should find some studies that deal further with this subject, but for now that study you linked isnt conclusively confirming a thing.

So again, can we see a source for your claim lol?
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I never said it was conclusive. I said that smoking from a young age might cause brain damage. Since the possibility exists, I would advise people to not start smoking so young.

You want more studies:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091217115834.htm
http://www.bmj.com/content/325/7374/1212.full
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...ns-is-more-dangerous-than-alcohol-445742.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1361997/Cannabis-use-doubles-risk-psychosis-teenagers.html

Kids shouldn't do drugs. If you think otherwise, you are mentally challenged. Or perhaps just a kid yourself.
 
Not gonna lie im a straight weed fiend. Its like im high every day and like the feeling so much b/c it really evens me out helps me focus and stuff. I hate being dry/sober.
And yes that statement that that FUCKING JEW made lol pretty much is true. About a year after i picked up weed i lost most of my friends, idk why i guess cuz im a bud junkie, but its not like i had a great deal of peeps before that, maybe 3 or 4 to hang with regularly. They moved on and got GF's and probate and shit so here i am with not to my name but a bowl of some keif and roach weed and a ps3...
So untill life stops sucking so much im gonna smoke the fuck up.
BTW..i plan on smoking till i die b/c given the OPPORTUNITY i LOVE DOING SHIT HIGH..or sober. JUst a small town i guess with a bunch of judgmental fucks lol i =D in their faces for being fucking sheeple tho
 
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