Will we ever accept weed as a social norm?

[Awesome!]

Always makes me wonder if weed will ever be accepted in our society like alcohol is?

 

[aps]

Always makes me wonder if weed will ever be accepted in our society like alcohol is?

I hope so. We are wasting way too much money on the Mexican border dealing with this drug when it clearly is no worse than alcohol.

 

[spud_meister]

much as i hate to admit it, it probably will be.

 

[Caine]

I hope so. We are wasting way too much money on the Mexican border dealing with this drug when it clearly is no worse than alcohol.

I hope not.

We need to move away from "social norms" like weed, alcohol, abuse of prescription drugs, etc.

These things tend to cause people more problems than they are worth, from my experience.

 

[Cochise]

I don't see it, as 40+ years haven't robbed it of its countercultural status. Legalization/decriminalization obviously doesn't imply social acceptance. Regular tobacco use has gone from being a daily staple to a profane act.

 

[Your Star]

I hope not.

We need to move away from "social norms" like weed, alcohol, abuse of prescription drugs, etc.

These things tend to cause people more problems than they are worth, from my experience.

Prohibition tends to cause more problems than it is worth.

 

[Caine]

Prohibition tends to cause more problems than it is worth.

I don't recall this thread being about prohibition.

I recall the topic was "social norm".

 

[Your Star]

I don't recall this thread being about prohibition.

I recall the topic was "social norm".

Doesn't make my statement any less true.

 

[reefedjib]

It already is a social norm.

 

[aps]

I don't recall this thread being about prohibition.

I recall the topic was "social norm".

Ahhh. Does that change your answer? I was thinking it more along the lines of prohibition.

 

[Orion]

Based on its appearance in mainstream media (movies, television), the way it tends to be portrayed, and the fact that 1 in 4 North Americans have admitted to smoking it, I would say it's already a social norm.

I would like to see it legalized because then more people would learn how to do it in moderation, and its medicinal properties could be fully understood.

 

[rivrrat]

It already is a social norm. Just an illegal one, is all.

 

[digsbe]

It's shameful that we are accepting drug use as social norm. Thus proves that our society is degenerating. Keep it illegal and discourage it, not encourage and paint weed as "normal."

 

[reefedjib]

It's shameful that we are accepting drug use as social norm. Thus proves that our society is degenerating. Keep it illegal and discourage it, not encourage and paint weed as "normal."

What is degenerate about weed?

 

[Jerry]

Always makes me wonder if weed will ever be accepted in our society like alcohol is?

It already is.

 

[Jerry]

What is degenerate about weed?

Essentially the same things which are degenerate about smoking, drinking, whimsical tattoos, cutting class, etc: The behavior isn't justified with a viable use.

 

[rivrrat]

What is degenerate about weed?

The same thing that's degenerate about other drugs that so many people use, like caffeine. Nothing.

Some folks are just more uppity about their chosen drugs.

 

[reefedjib]

Essentially the same things which are degenerate about smoking, drinking, whimsical tattoos, cutting class, etc: The behavior isn't justified with a viable use.

That's the great thing about America: it is not up to you to decide this for me.

The same thing that's degenerate about other drugs that so many people use, like caffeine. Nothing.

Some folks are just more uppity about their chosen drugs.

Right on. I think it is because certain conservatives don't feel it is moral to alter your brain function and perception with mind altering substances. They want to push that morality that they define on us. They can go **** themselves.

 

[Jerry]

That's the great thing about America: it is not up to you to decide this for me.

Sounds like you have a few tats?

 

[reefedjib]

Sounds like you have a few tats?

No, I will never ever get a tat. Or wear an earring or other piercings. I am wearing God's skin, man. But I will smoke a big ole blunt in his honor.

 

[Korimyr the Rat]

It's shameful that we are accepting drug use as social norm. Thus proves that our society is degenerating. Keep it illegal and discourage it, not encourage and paint weed as "normal."

I'm inclined to agree with the general sentiment, but I wonder if adopting a harm reduction model might not be more effective.

Of course, as I'm posting this, I'm drinking an energy drink loaded with perfectly legal caffeine and ginseng and smoking perfectly legal tobacco out of my hookah. It raises the question of where we draw the line, and what substances should be allowed and which should be prohibited.

 

[Orion]

I find the whole degeneration concept of society to be a platitude when it comes attached to biased opinions and social norms. I'm familiar with the concept, and I see it more as having to do with the escalation of wars, the decline in financial stability of the economy, people becoming more detached from one another, and general suffering increasing despite supposedly being at the apex of civilization.

The concept of degeneration is a Vedic philosophy, but even in the epochs prior to this one, cannabis was used by the people. It was used as medicine and as a spiritual device. To this day it is used in India by the sadhus, and even though it's illegal the authorities there don't enforce it. Tobacco has sacred uses among aboriginals. Coffee beans had the same principles originally, same with the cocoa plant (where cocaine comes from).

If anything, I would say that the sign of degeneration is how we use these plants. They are are sacred in traditional use. But modern science and technology has allowed us to either breed plants to increase their potency, or extract their key ingredient while ignoring the synergistic qualities of the whole plant. The fact that people use the plants in of itself is not degeneration, and I find that analysis trite and socially ignorant.

 

[Jerry]

No, I will never ever get a tat. Or wear an earring or other piercings. I am wearing God's skin, man. But I will smoke a big ole blunt in his honor.

Ahh there it is.

There was a famous study don a few years back by a professor who had tattoos. He wanted to prove that the stereotype of folks with tattoos, who binge drink, smoke pot, etc, was false.

Much to his surprise, his own research validated the stereotype. Various "deviant" behaviors are associated with each-other by a common personality type which seeks them out.

So you're right, I don't get to decide these things for you, but you don't get to decide these things for you either. There are predictable behavioral trends and this is one of them.

Reference: Study Found Link Between Tattoos and Deviant Behaviors

 

[reefedjib]

Ahh there it is.

There was a famous study don a few years back by a professor who had tattoos. He wanted to prove that the stereotype of folks with tattoos, who binge drink, smoke pot, etc, was false.

Much to his surprise, his own research validated the stereotype. Various "deviant" behaviors are associated with each-other by a common personality type which seeks them out.

So you're right, I don't get to decide these things for you, but you don't get to decide these things for you either. There are predictable behavioral trends and this is one of them.

Reference: Study Found Link Between Tattoos and Deviant Behaviors

The results of the study do not surprise me. However, in my case I have no other "deviant" behaviors other than smoking cigarettes. I don't drink. I am overweight. I just like to get high. It's wonderful.

 

[Sov]

Much to his surprise, his own research validated the stereotype. Various "deviant" behaviors are associated with each-other by a common personality type which seeks them out.

Maybe he wanted to be "surprised."

Correlation doesn't equal causation, professor. And what constitutes "deviancy" in this sense is utterly subjective.

Jerry, I tend to apply a healthy skepticism to science as scientists are human beings and to paraphrase Heinlein, people are not so much rational beings as rationalizing beings. Naturally, in universities filled with authoritarian "progressives" there are also studies finding that there is no such thing as a left-wing authoritarian, that conservatives and religious people have lower IQs (but IQ becomes meaningless and impossible to measure if you are comparing people of different races), etc. I take such findings with a heaping helping of salt even bigger than that pillar Lot's wife was supposedly turned into. Before the gay lobby gathered strength in the West studies tended to find that homosexuality was a mental disorder. A few years later, they suddenly started finding that homosexuality is not a mental disorder after all. Both before and after, those studies were finding what the researchers were looking to find.