Sunday, August 7, 2016

Being Yourself, marijuana, and a few other things...

There is this ridiculous ad on the radio right now, I think I overheard it was put out by the sheriff's department. In essence, under the guise of providing helpful information, it talks about marijuana, which is legal now here in Washington. It tells how a teen's brain is developing, and essentially says marijuana and other drugs (recreational drugs implied) have a negative effect on that.

I had to laugh at the sheer stupidity of this. First of all I have yet to see even one, credible, independent, not funded by the prescription drug companies report proving that marijuana has even the slightest impact on any brain, from a baby's to an old man (which I am sure it does), and that any effect it does have on this is somehow negative, implying it is permanent and damaging the brain in some way.

I remember back in grade school how DARE came in and told us that marijuana was addictive. I think I remember that correctly. Of course I know from personal experience that this is not true. In fact, it is no more addictive than alcohol. Yet you have people who drink a lot, and do drugs a lot. They aren't addicted to the substances they are consuming. They are addicted to the feeling they get from them. It is more a habit than an addiction. I used to eat a lot of Doritos potato chips. Bags a night. Was I addicted to them? No. My brain was affected by the MSG they contain, sending signals that the chips tasted good, making me eat more. Then eating chips became a habit because I was becoming a pain eater (someone who eats their pain.) But MSG is no more an addictive substance than marijuana.

The biggest issue with this stupid commercial is that long before teens even try marijuana, or cigarettes (which does have shit in it that has a negative effect on the physical body - at any age), parents have taken them to doctors where they have been prescribed more drugs than my 90 year old grandmother! Prescription drugs for ADD, depression and insomnia to name a few! That will have FAR, FAR more of a detrimental impact than marijuana. And teens have been on these since they were children. So you want to talk about negative impact on a developing brain (and body) let's start there, shall we? By the time teens get to the hard recreational stuff their brains and bodies have already suffered a lot of damage, probably more substantial than anything they would get from most of the hard stuff. Certainly far more than anything they would get taking shrooms, smoking weed or dropping acid (to name a few.)

The police do not know what they are talking about. They are not doctors or medical professionals. They are enforces of the law, which states that most of not all -non-prescription drugs are illegal on a Federal level, and that pretty much everything else other than marijuana, at least here in Washington, is illegal on a local/state level.

The cops don't give a flying fuck about your health. If they did they would attach prescription drugs with the same vigor they beat up street vendors selling harmless weed. They main priority is the law, and they only regurgitate the same false beliefs their superiors shoved down their throats since they first signed up. That drugs are bad, if someone doesn't have a prescription for them.

You can get brain damage from breathing the smog in New York, or living near high voltage power lines. MSG in your food probably does more brain damage. Prescription drugs certainly does more. So why the focus on marijuana, where any brain damage that may occur, which has not been scientifically proven, is minor at best and likely not permanent. I mean a developing brain still has the power to heal and rewire itself, right?

Oh and let's not forget about brain plasticity. The implication of this ad is that the brains somehow hardens or stops growing and developing once you reach some indeterminate age. But it's a scientific fact that the brain is always making new connections, always growing and developing on that way, based on a person's activities, meditation being one of them. The brains of 30 year-olds who have mediated a year or more are far different than of those in the same age/race group who have not.

They want you to believe you will somehow become lazy or stupid if you smoke weed. You can only become lazy or stupid if you get addicted to how you feel on weed and start smoking all the time. Weed relaxes you, you will not feel like doing anything else. It affects your concentration and focus, you can not work while on it. Neither of these are necessarily bad things, unless you live in a society that wants everyone to be productive little wage slaves, like ours. There is nothing inherently wrong with sitting around smoking pot all day. But you won't be paying rent or getting out to do much if you do. You become unproductive, and our materialistic society has no tolerance for anyone who is not some cog in the machine.

You have to find a balance here. Put in your hard day of work without using any mind-altering substances of any kind, then come home and smoke weed all you like. Best way to relax and far more effective pain relief than anything in the store. You just have to be responsible about how you use these things. If you are a teen don't give into peer pressure, to smoke or ingest anything. Make sure that it is your own uninfluenced choice when you join in and drink a beer, or smoke a cig or a joint. Same for sex - don't have sex just because all your friends got laid and you are afraid of being left behind. That is the stupidest reason in the history of stupid reasoning to have sex. Have sex when you are ready for it and you want it, and of course when you partner is ready for it and wants it.

It all comes down to taking what the adults and those in authority say with a grain of salt. Do not be influenced by the beliefs and opinions of others. Use your own mind, make your own decisions, decide what you want to believe, and always, always question everything, especially your beliefs. Be Yourself! What does that mean? It means to think for yourself, choose your own beliefs, and make your own choices, regardless of what others order, say or tell you to do, and that includes the law! You are the best authority on your life, whatever your age (which is merely the number of times you have been around the sun) happens to be.