how could God not intend marijuana to be used by Christians?

[Flsnookman]

3 minutes ago, OakWood said:

You also talk about stereotypes as if I don't know what I am talking about. I talk from personal experience. I tripped on marijuana, I know others that have. I know dope-smokers and what they are like. I was around the stuff for years.

OK, not advocating any sort of drug use here but having been around many,many addicts for 30 plus years I have never,ever heard of anyone "tripping" on marijuana. Perhaps what you had was laced but part of the reason that drug and others are so common today is because of scare tactics preached to youth who later discovered that what they were told was a lie. Oddly enough marijuana use among teens is down in states that have legalized it. Using lies and false scare tactics always backfires when the truth comes out. Again, not saying you did not "trip" after using marijuana but it must have had something else in it to produce that effect.

All that said, I believe it is far better to be sober and avoid all kinds of mind altering or addictive drugs.

[missmuffet]

8 minutes ago, OakWood said:

Brain-altering is not the same as mind-altering. Caffeine does not affect your perceptions of reality or alter your state of consciousness. It does not affect your take on reality. Millions of coffee-drinkers around the World do not need a scientific article to verify whether coffee makes them 'trip' or not. Besides they don't sink coffee after coffee after coffee to get high. They don't shout from the rooftops the medical benefits of coffee and declare that there's nothing wrong with it. Of course coffee has side effects if used in excess, but so has dope and the ones from dope are far worse.

You also talk about stereotypes as if I don't know what I am talking about. I talk from personal experience. I tripped on marijuana, I know others that have. I know dope-smokers and what they are like. I was around the stuff for years. I know the junk that dope-smokers talk about, the false wisdom that they have, the self-deceptions they have, the giggling, the occasional paranoia.

As for the pot-smokers in your place of work - were they stoned at the time they processed the forms? Were they off their heads? Dope may not slow down anyone's speed in one-off tests but it does lead to general lethargy in the long run. You sound as if you are claiming that marijuana actually improved their performances, that is definitely what you are implying?

You sound like the drunk-driver who claims that he drives better when he's had a few. Just excuses to justify a terrible, dangerous habit. I've heard it all before, constant excuses to justify a bad habit. This is no different to homosexuals who justify their perversion  by claiming that 'Jesus loves everybody' or adulterers who justify their sins by claiming that 'well, I'm not hurting anybody'.

You're justifying marijuana-smoking by claiming that people who you worked with could all do their jobs properly and still smoke dope. Oh well that's great - let's all go out and pollute our bodies shall we? - It might cause long-term health problems or long-term psychoses but at least we'll be able to process our tax returns quickly!

Guess what? Cocaine improves one's speed and reflex actions, it also increases wakefulness and alertness. That's great. Maybe I should try some. Maybe I should ignore the addiction, the cardiac problems associated with it and try snorting a line or two. What about heroin? I'm sure that must have some benefits too. At least I might get a good night's sleep if I took some.

I've heard all this before. Justification of a bad habit by pointing out some of its benefits. The list goes on and on. I've heard this 'legalise cannabis' debate going on for decades. The dope-smokers always come out with this nonsense while sitting in a dark room passing a joint between each other and pontificating on such wisdom. Mutually patting each other on the back while agreeing with each other that the World doesn't understand them. Claiming that their drug of choice is not addictive but nevertheless having the urge to risk their jobs and livelihoods to slip off to the toilets and have a crafy 'puff' in private.

"It's not addictive at all" they claim but they can't stop taking the stuff or talking about it all the time. They even have little tobacco tins with marijuana leaves painted on them to symbolise their love for the weed. They'll even grow their own in little plant-pots and water their cannabis plants daily with loving care while preaching how alcohol is a far worse drug. As if something far worse can ever justify the use of something that's not as bad. That's like saying "I cheat on my wife, but I'm not really an adulterer because some men cheat on their wives far more often that I do and they have more than one mistress."

In truth the only justification that marijuana users have for legalising their drug is that some people may have medical uses for it and that other drugs are far worse. That's absolutely no excuse for using marijuana for recreational use.

I'm aware that opiates can be very effective pain-killers for those who are in severe pain but it doesn't give me any excuse to sit around smoking opium or injecting myself with heroin does it?

 

I think brain altering and mind altering are the same thing.

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-brain

[OakWood]

1 minute ago, missmuffet said:

I think brain altering and mind altering are the same thing.

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-brain

It's all a matter of definition, but some drugs alter your perception of reality and some don't.

[Guest Robert]

3 hours ago, Out of the Shadows said:

Yes, you have shared that those who use it only do so to get stoned or high.  I don't really care about your view of them, I am sure it is just as biased as your view of most anyone else. 

"Bias" meaning "Your viewpoint disagrees with mine" I would assume.

 

Edited September 1, 2016 by RobertS

[OakWood]

6 minutes ago, Flsnookman said:

OK, not advocating any sort of drug use here but having been around many,many addicts for 30 plus years I have never,ever heard of anyone "tripping" on marijuana. Perhaps what you had was laced but part of the reason that drug and others are so common today is because of scare tactics preached to youth who later discovered that what they were told was a lie. Oddly enough marijuana use among teens is down in states that have legalized it. Using lies and false scare tactics always backfires when the truth comes out. Again, not saying you did not "trip" after using marijuana but it must have had something else in it to produce that effect.

All that said, I believe it is far better to be sober and avoid all kinds of mind altering or addictive drugs.

Just google "is it possible to have a bad trip on marijuana" and read the links especially the witness accounts and the medical research. I won't post any of the links here, but just investigate it. Because marijuana slows down ones' perception of time, a bad experience can seem to last a longer than it actually does.

[ayin jade]

21 minutes ago, Flsnookman said:

 Oddly enough marijuana use among teens is down in states that have legalized it.

What has the rate been among adults in those states?

[Running Gator]

29 minutes ago, RobertS said:

"Bias" meaning "Your viewpoint disagrees with mine" I would assume.

And you would prove what they say about assuming to be correct

[Running Gator]

17 minutes ago, ayin jade said:

What has the rate been among adults in those states?

Presumably the rate went up since it was no longer illegal. 

[Guest Robert]

6 minutes ago, Out of the Shadows said:

And you would prove what they say about assuming to be correct

Your own words prove my point in more of your posts than I care to count; assumption based on previously established evidence (your past posts) is not a mistake.

 

Marijuana has been medically linked to:

 

1) Permanent Memory and Brain-Structure Changes:

According to a 2013 study done by Northwestern University, heavy users who started in their teens developed "Abnormal Brain Structure and Poor Memory":

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/12/marijuana-users-have-abnormal-brain-structure--poor-memory.html

Other studies have linked THC (the active chemical in Marijuana) to disrupted activity in the Hippocampus region of the Brain, where "working memory" is thought to take place.

 

2) Appetite:

In another study performed in 2011 by the University of Alberta in Canada, THC has also been shown to affect the hypothalamus, where appetite is controlled:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110222192830.htm

While this can be seen as a "benefit" for some, does everyone really need to be stuffing themselves?

 

3)  Perception of Time:

In another study performed in 1999 by Duke University Medical Center (Department of Psychiatry and Radiology) researchers found that blood flow to the cerebellum was altered in several of the test subjects. Among other functions, the cerebellum has been linked to an "internal timing system" (the cerebellum controls motor-function and coordination, and is thought to have a role in attention and language).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9666122

 

Original article: "What Does Marijuana Do To Your Brain And Body? THC Interacts With Memory, Time Perception":

http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-does-marijuana-do-your-brain-and-body-thc-interacts-memory-time-perception-273366

 

 

Edited September 1, 2016 by RobertS

[WilliamL]

58 minutes ago, Openly Curious said:

Could you please tell me what that "common sense" is that your advocating?

Like I said before, moderation. Paul covers the general subject well:

Rom. 14:10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ... 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. ...14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ...22 Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.