Political Poll About Recreational Pot Users

[VWFringe]

Do We Still Believe in "The Recreational Crowd?"

or, do we think people self-medicate, even if they don't know for what exactly?
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it is my contention that the dominant narrative regarding recreational pot users does not include scientific fact or reality. just want to do a quick check with others, who still watch network news.

When the media shows pictures of people entering pot dispensaries without the help of a wheel-chair, the first thing I think of are the hidden diseases, like ADHD and depression, but lots of people cannot afford an ADHD diagnosis, they're not easy to come by. So, since ADHD is on the list, how can anyone judge just by lifestyle choices, and isn't it possible the stoners the media is tossing rocks at, aren't really messed up, and need a little something to replace the reward system for a while?

isn't it possible, considering what we know, that the entire media is in cahoots to keep us thinking there are people who don't deserve to use the medical marijuana system, to support their political purposes?

 

[Hippie Dickie]

in cahoots? i'm not so sure, but i do believe everybody's got an agenda. Advancing that agenda is a function of the times and the egos.

i still want to know, what's wrong with a little euphoria every now and then?

 

[VWFringe]

once I found out that only 17% of people given meth would develop any problem with it, I knew something was up.

television, in case you haven't noticed, is lobbying us hard on the point about personal responsibility where there's a brain imbalance - the science, I believe, is that people with certain mental issues causes certain physical changes to their brain chemistry, and this creates a situation where they can have problems with impulsive behavior. The main voice I hear over and over on TV is trying to convince me that even if they have a brain tumor, they have to be held responsible for their choices. It's important to understand the talking points and what's behind them. They are manufacturing consent (and support) to a certain point of view, it's part of their political agenda because they are wielded by the Right, with a few twists, kind of like The Guild in Dune, that's our Media. And, hell yeah, they're in cahoots, look at how successfull they are at maintaining dominant narratives that don't include the latest facts or the real world. Accross every television station there are certain narratives that they re-use, and you won't see the real opposing voices - they speak as one, on a variety of topics, Nuclear power, Big Oil, Big Pharma, the Hot Coffee Case and Tort Reform, Binding Arbitration, Marijuana, Drugs.

I don't know if you caught the "news" when Prop 19 was running in the last election, but every corporate TV station passed on propaganda from the police and sheriff's departments as if it was the "news," and everyone bought it. We learned later those same LEA's were responding to direct orders from Gil, our drug czar, to "do whatever it takes." The fact the media acted in collusion to diseminate the will-full mis-information to the public, just to effect the election, should be criminal. But we never questioned it, and it's that way on every single topic if you reverse engineer any television news story, you learn enough about the controversies behind that one story, and you get a pretty clear picture of where our media's interests lie, they're more about molding public opinion than they are at informing the public.

Don't you think they're in cahoots?

 

[Hippie Dickie]

i think you expect too much of the media (not that we shouldn't, but we will be disappointed, evidently). it's just entertainment. i think they don't really care what the public opinion turns out to be, as long as they get brand credit and can sell ads. It's just business.

 

[VWFringe]

I think you're right, no one's ever gonna believe me.

Being normal, according to the wikipedia page on Queer Theory, means following the dominant narratives. Asking a stoner to look at the news on television like it's brain-washing them is really asking too much.

But it's true. And if you doubt me you should look into it, lots of sites dedicated to documenting media bias. If you watch Hot Coffee, the documentary that's like Tort Reform for Dummies, you see plenty of evidence in your own mind of how they've been mis-reporting certain things for over twenty years. No joke.

 

[GreenLeaf]

Of course there are people who use herb for recreational purposes, they want to get stoned.

 

[djonkoman]

well if you look at the philosophy, there is a view, wch I agree with myself and that also has a lot of scientists on it's side, that free will doesn't exist. everything we do is predictable, determined by our experiences, our personality, wich is based on part genetic traits and part upbringing, etc.
so when looking at scientific research, especialy about the brain, you will find a lot of research in favor of this view.
but our society is build on a more speculative philosophy, wich believes in an absolute free will, and wich means we can be held accountable for our actions.

so if the politics would follow sciece they would have a big problem since our entire justicesystem would fall apart, since people can't be held accountable and so can't be punished anymore(altough punishment also serves as a learningexperience and to eter, but that's not what our justicesystem is based on so there should be major changes made, like more counceling instead of jailtime. and in the US you get the death penalty added to that, woch you wouldn't be able to justify anymore.
one of our former ministers of justice once said something along the lines of 'our justice system has failed/is bad but we have no better alternative'


ontopic: I regard myself a recreational user, eventough cannabis has helped me a lot in becoming more balanced/complete. also fixes my eyesight, but that's just a nice side-effect

 

[lwien]

Regarding the self-medicating issue, I agree..........and disagree. People have turned to mind altering substances since the beginning of time. It is also known that animals below that of humans also seek out mind altering substances. It seems to be in our DNA. We seek things out that give us pleasure. But what is also true is that there are many who self-medicate in an effort to deal with undiagnosed issues such as ADHD, depression, insufficient chemicals in our brain that stimulates our "reward" systems, etc etc etc. Where the trouble comes in is when we become reliant on "ANY" one specific reward system (be it drugs or anything thing else) to the exclusion of others. Balance is the key that we should all strive for.

Regarding the news media being in cahoots with one another, I don't see that as possible being that they are competitors with one another. They are a business and as a business, their top priority is to sell airtime to provide profits to their company and therefore, their employees and shareholders. To do this, they have to first identify their target audience and then provide content that appeals to that audience. You will never see, as an example, a show like The Daily Show w/John Stewart, take any anti-MJ stance, or anti-gay marriage stance be it parody or not, simply because they have a younger demographic who would not take kindly to that stance. On the flip side, you will never see Fox News take a pro-MJ stance or pro gay marriage stance being that their target demographic are conservative seniors who they would alienate if they did so.

While I totally abhor the viewpoints expressed on Fox News, I also have to give them MAJOR kudos for not only identifying a specific target audience, but being able to totally nail it and give them what they want to hear day after day. I can't imagine that all of their reporters and political analyzers truly believe what they are saying, but I can very well imagine that they are putting forth what Fox corporate wants them to put forth and Fox Corporate dictates what they put forth because of one reason.............it appeals to their target audience and therefore, sells airtime to those who want to sell their wares to that audience. It's as simple as that. No agenda other than the agenda of making a profit.

The thought of conspiracies, be they governmental or within the private sector, I take with a grain of salt for there are just wayyyyy too many barriers and variables to get all the so called "ducks" in a row.

 

[aesthyrian]

No agenda other than the agenda of making a profit.

When it comes to FOX News Corp. that is totally incorrect. Roger Ailes has an agenda, he even came up with the idea for a conservative television station called GOP-TV years before FOX was created. The documentary Outfoxed is a good starting point when comes to understanding exactly what FOX News is all about. Rupert Murdoch lost money for years with FOX but never gave it up, clearly he doesn't mind losing money to serve his political agenda.

And this is complety de-railing the thread so I'll stop now. Sorry.

P.S. Also I hate to admit it but FOX has been pro pot before, Glen Beck and Judge Napolitano have more been pretty outspoken about the war on drugs and legalization of marijuana. Of course neither are FOX News employee's anymore.. hahah I think they were trying to grab some of the more loony libertarians with that stunt.

 

[VWFringe]

Don't you think Fox news gave us The Tea Party? And indirectly President Obama, by having a black president on "24" (I'd like to think of Rupert Murdoch rolling in his grave over that idea, wanting to brain-wash us into believing torture is good for the United States, but giving us the picture a black president would be a break-through idea instead, hahahaha)

 

[lwien]

Hmmm…….let's see. Black Presidents? Besides "24" on Fox, you'd have to include:

Warner Bros………"Rufus for President"
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer…"Babes on Broadway"
Paramount Pictures…."The Man"
Orbis Communications…"Spiral Zone"
DreamWorks…."Head of State"
Paramount Pictures…."Deep Impact"
Universal Pictures…."The Event"

(funny how threads just kinda take on a life of their own......)

 

[crawdad]

yes its an agenda, those who do not "get it" think if you cannot completely outlaw then at least they want to control it...im for neither of those two options. we are still living in the age of judgment.

 

[AGBeer]

Now that I read the first sentence of your post I take back my vote

Seriously though, I think that while there is absolutely nothing wrong with 'recreational use' I do believe at a deeper level are 'self medicating'. We as human beings tend to do things that give us more 'pleasure' or 'less pain' (of whatever capacity) Our bodies provide quite a few of these drugs (i.e. adrenaline) and some come from external sources.

People take ibuprofen when they have a headache. Are they a Motrinhead because of this?
Anti-Depressants are advertised ALL over TV - are they 'necessary' to sustain life? Of course not, but something about them helps some people level.

The same can be said of cannabis. Some take it like ibuprofen (as needed/desired) and some take it chronically to help alleviate some sort of symptom. (Whether psychological or physical)

 

[Nosferatu]

I'm just recreational. Luckily I'm healthy and have no sicknesses or ailments, but I just feel life is better with cannabis. Then again I think most recreational pot users are self medicating some problem even if its just feeling comfortable in their own skin.

 

[TriiKLe]

Isn't doing something recreational, medicinal anyways?