NEWS: Sydney Morning Herald - 19/02/07 'Pot not hot: weed fast losing its cool'

[poledriver]

not around the places i go.. Pot is still very popular.

This stinks of pre-election bullshit to me...

"Oh yeah we are beating the war on drugs see" lol
alcohol is worse than weed anyway so if they are so fucking concerned how about banning that?

 

[poledriver]

Why on earth would you want to have a downer like pot at a rave is beyond me.

At a rave when you are on E or speed or whatever, pot is hardly a downer, it can often bring back the feeling if its wearing off. Pot is great for raves, dont know why you think like you do. Do you understand why people drink at raves sometimes? Or take drugs at raves sometimes? Or go straight? Or have sex?

I disagree that pot is a downer at a place like a rave.

 

[peaked]

Regarding smoking pot at a rave ... what you need to consider is that not everyone who uses drugs uses all drugs. Theres alot of people that wouldn't touch any hard drugs like mdma or meth, but they would smoke a joint.

 

[IXinX]

I don't agree with the whole path this argument in an article is posing. These statistics, whether accurate or not, don't reflect anything beyond how quickly or slowly things become cool.
In this case the target of a trend (this case being marijuana usage) is seemingly being criticised for losing popularity? I don't get the point of what the statistics are meant to prove.

 

[phase_dancer]

Not only that, but while you won't have a hard time convincing a state or federal government to crack down on marijuana, you will have a hell of a time trying to convince them to seriously crack down on drinking - at any age.

I agree completely.

Thanks for another thoroughly interesting and informative post Pete

 

[lil angel15]

Thanks for your detailed response pete. It was quite a read but you have made some valid points.

Generalisations are often made about 'stoners' being lazy and no hopers due to, in my opinion, the depressant qualities of weed. If you were asked to describe someone who smoked weed, the general description given would include comments about being sloths, sitting around playing the Playstation and eating food with no motivation or personal drive. Although this description does not envelope every individual that smokes, I'm sure everyone can appreciate the point I'm trying to make.

Keeping in mind what I have said above in regards to the generalised view of Marijuana smokers, it is little wonder that people are turning away from smoking. Life in general is becoming more hectic, our hours are increasing, our workplaces are changing and the race up the corporate ladder is becoming more competitive. This means we have to fit the same amount of socialising into a shorter period of time and this in turn means the 'normal' Tom, Dick and Sally don't want to sit around smoking bongs and vegging out in their precious time off.

My belief is that the % of children (12-16) using marijuana will not change a great deal over time, as weed is often one of the easiest drugs to acquire when youth want to experiment with substances. The % of young adults (17-22) that use Marijuana probably wont change a great deal either, as this is the time of further experimentation, university and for some their first real taste of freedom. The age group where I believe there will be a change in the % of users will be in the mid twenties to early thirties group who have started careers, settled down and don't believe, or don't have, the time to have sessions anymore.

Pete - In regards to your final assumption in regards to the decreasing cannabis user rates and the belief of a 'sober youth' - I think it would be naive of anyone to even remotely consider this possibility. The drinking aspect of Australian Culture is so ingrained that people don't even think about the consequences anymore. Individuals will tell stories about going out and 'getting smashed' or speak of their plans to do the same and no one bats an eyelid or even considers the damage that this may do to the body. I also think that a good percentage of Australians think it is a 'right of passage' of the Australian youth to drink, vomit, pass out and vomit some more.

The average Australian needs to know all drugs, not just illicit, have the potential to cause damage to the mind and body. While they are being told this they should also be reminded that Alcohol is a drug, as I believe a lot of people forget this.

 

[Prince Planet]

Pete - The drinking aspect of Australian Culture is so ingrained that people don't even think about the consequences anymore. Individuals will tell stories about going out and 'getting smashed' or speak of their plans to do the same and no one bats an eyelid or even considers the damage that this may do to the body. I also think that a good percentage of Australians think it is a 'right of passage' of the Australian youth to drink, vomit, pass out and vomit some more.

When you consider the free reign that alcohol companies have with this sort of promotion. http://testerreserve.com/codeofhonour.aspx

This ingrained culture of drinking is here to stay.

 

[lil angel15]

^^^^

Thanks for putting up that link. Interesting to say the least.

In defence of the company concerned, if you click on the link to say your under 18, it takes you straight to the Australian Government's information site for alcohol. At least they are trying to do the right thing, even if it is only to keep certain groups on side.

Best we stay on topic though as we are starting to drift off a bit. I'll have to reprimand myself for this one.

*Naughty Lil Angel*

 

[Tronica]

Mr Pyne said the government's most recent National Drugs Campaign focused on the effect that cannabis can have on young people.

“I think this study shows that the campaign really had an impact,” he said.

I like how the government takes credit when anything goes their way.

We didn't hear them saying 'obviously our ecstasy/amphetamine campaigns had no impact / negative impact' when news comes out that our use of those substances has risen... 8)

 

[Prince Planet]

It's all very well for Pyne and his cronies to pat themselves on the back with "what a great job we've done in changing the attitudes of young people towards cannabis." But does attitudinal change equate to behavioural change.

Are young people using less cannabis? This government changed the wording of the key questions put to young people regarding cannabis use a number of years ago and surprise surprise there was a drop in cannabis use.

I think it's great that some young people are possibly choosing not to take up cannabis. I'd like to know from the same sample of young people, in the above study, their attitudes towards alcohol use. It's easy to point the finger at the dangers of a particular drug, in this case cannabis when the real killer for young people is alcohol. What efforts has this government done to shift the attitudes of young people away from alcohol? I don't believe demonising some drugs while ignoring the consequences of others helps in minimising the risky behaviours of young people.

 

[mardybum]

Wow, just shows how uneducated and conforming society is.

 

[ayjay]

Here's a link to a 2004 study that suggests that drug policy probably doesn't have much impact on usage levels:

http://www.mapinc.org/lib/limited.pdf

As Tronica says - you don't see government mouthpieces jumping up and down at the increase in MDMA use in Australia as a fantastic result for Aussie drug policy.

But the reality is that trends in drug use have fuck all to do with policy. No-one makes a decision about what drug to use by asking themselves; "Now, before I decide, what is the government position on this one?" It is certainly a complex interaction of factors that has led to the downward trend in pot smoking - probably at least in some part connected with the downward trend in tobacco smoking.

Here's another random hypothesis for your delectation: Maybe the cultural practice of sitting around passing the bong has in some part been supplanted by the culturally equivalent practice of sitting around passing the crackie?