I'm approaching my 30s as a single creative "professional"

>18108260

Weed ain't gonna kill ya. I'm a 30 year old professional that has smoked in the past, and now that it's legal in Nevada, I'll probably try an edible here or there. It's just not really my thing - mainly puts me to sleep after about 10 minutes of laughing.

But no, weed isn't addictive in the sense that like meth, crack, or opioids are going to be. Maybe it's behaviorally addictive, like if you started smoking with these guys all the time, but really you're not going to hurt yourself.

The only reasons not to smoke weed are A) if you get tested at work, B) if you don't like the feeling.

Sure, just try it
You lose out a different perspective on things if you never smoked
I smoked first time shortly after my 18th birthday and it changed my life (for the better)
Thank you weed

>>18108260
Dutchfag here, very experienced with weed both personally and around me. The thing is most people tend to fall into extremes, either weed is 0% addictive and cures your cancer in the process of not getting you addicted, or it's Satan's herb. Weed is not as addictive as alcohol and not as hard on your body. Yes it can be harmful to your development but mostly when you smoke it when young, or when you pair up heavy smoking with malnutrition and sleep deprivation. Your body needs more fuel and rest the more you ask of it.

But it's not harmless. Physical dependency is very very rare but not completely impossible (and not -remotely- as likely as it is with alcohol), but psychological dependency is much more common. And let me assure you that when you have been struggling with your usage for years, it becomes a technicality whether your addiction is solely rooted in your mind or also in your body.

It is a bit comical to me to avoid weed due to fear of dependency when you're fine with using alcohol, but what stands out to me from your post is that you are looking for a way to alleviate stress and frustration. Drugs should ideally be a fun occasional getaway from everyday life, not a way to cope with it. You are more prone to maintain an unhealthy relationship with any drug if your usage is rooted in need/escapism and not in desire.

If you want to use it, pace yourself and make sure to go slow at first and check whether it gives you paranoia, which is the most likely "risk". Other than that, weed can be lots of fun (though drug preference is pretty personal), I find it way more enjoyable than alcohol. Make sure to masturbate if you do get high.

>>18108268
>The only reasons not to smoke weed are A) if you get tested at work, B) if you don't like the feeling.

Or if you have an addictive personality, or any history of mental illnesses in your family

I'm fine with people smoking weed but don't oversimplify it.

>>18108382

I'm the guy you're replying to, and I'm the king of addictive personalities. I'm a complete booze hound. I didn't take one puff of a marijuana cigarette and go "HOLY SHIT I NEED TO DO THIS FOREVER." I'm guessing you've never smoked before.

I'll give you the mental illness thing, but let's be honest, you shouldn't do much of anything if you have mental illness, and it doesn't sound like OP has any.

>>18108396
Other anon responding here and your anecdotal experience doesn't really mean anything. I know in my nation (NL) roughly one in ten people who starts smoking weed ends up doing it daily for some time.

Addiction is a personal thing, everyone has their drug of choice. I love to smoke, I have smoked for five years now, decreasing the frequency very slowly - after two years of working on bringing it down, I still at least once a week. To be fair my friends are not randomly selected, but I don't know them from social cliques and even just sticking to my social circles I know two people who have struggled with intense (mental) dependency for years, one of my friends has been using for ten years and trying to quit for three.

But I can drink alcohol (which I don't really like that much), that's been a once a month kind of thing for years, and I use coke once a year without feeling the need to do more. Yeah there's patterns in addiction but it's not as clear cut as people typically think it is.

>>18108407
>I don't know them from social cliques
Shit, meant *stoner cliques.

Also for the record, I obviously didn't mean to imply that your experience is not true, just that the truth in your own life doesn't work well as an indicator for how unlikely it is for someone else to go overboard.

>>18108309

>>18108309

You say paranoia is the most likely risk, how would I know what that is? Like I'll start thinking that everyone is out to get me? That kind of paranoia?

I think I've decided from this thread I'll try it next time I'm around people I trust who do it. Don't really trust my coworkers/bosses.

>>18108444
Yeah that's possible but pretty extreme. Honestly look up Louis CK's "I once knew a gay man" sketch and listen to the end of it. ("The wind is totally touching my arm weird and they know.") Hilarious and completely familiar to anyone who has smoked too much or too quickly in an awkward setting with strangers. Now that - overthinking the most normal interactions - is an early stage and not that big a deal. Won't give you a great experience but nothing to haunt you, either. You should worry when it progresses from suddenly overanalyzing mundane small talk or even just physical movements, to being convinced that people talk about you once you leave the room or are non-verbally showing how bored they are with you when you aren't paying attention. Or suddenly become afraid that people can read your thoughts/you show private thoughts in your face or behavior. Thinking that people can tell when you have a mean thought about them or look at them in a sexual way is a fairly common example.

It's really personal, some strains are more likely to induce these paranoid thoughts than others but in my experience it is ultimately about the person involved. Some people virtually always feel a touch of it and others never do. If you do catch yourself thinking stuff like this, tell yourself "I smoked some weed and now I'm having this weird thought, heh" then try to move on. It can help to firmly establish beforehand that you are trying to not draw any conclusions from stuff you feel/think when high, and then when you get high and have an uncomfortable moment remember this and tell yourself you'll get back to it later and re-evaluate sober whether it was really a big deal.

It might sound like a huge issue now that I'm explaining it in such detail but don't forget how many people get angry/violent or depressed when drunk. You are taking a mind altering substance. It will only last so long, if you go easy on it and stop taking hits if you do feel negativity it'll work out.

Considering I can get hopelessly addicted to chilli sauce and many other foods, I think it would be a really bad idea for me to try anything stronger. But you've got to ask yourself, what the point of it is. I'm pretty sure there is no scientific accuracy to the idea that it "frees" you up in any way.

>>18108260

I'd say give it a whirl OP, weed is pretty nice. Some notes from a decade long toker:

> do it cause you want to. Don't be guilty about not wanting to, or downing yourself cause you're a "wet blanket" to other people's fun.
> don't get obsessed with it. Too many do this and become burnout losers, the smoking versions of alcoholics. Your friends and coworkers sound like these kinds of people, since having a non smoker around is such a problem apparently.
> don't smoke and drive. It's not as impairing as alcohol, but it still impairs. Be responsible and keep it at home or a friends house. Also, sign #2 your friends are dipshits.
> be observant. People get carried away when they discovered pot isn't what it's made out to be. They act like giddy children who discovered the secret to life or some and get all obsessed. Its just a plant.
> mind your career. As a "creative" professional, smoking weed might affect your creative process in good and bad ways. Some can't do well high, others excel and do better than normal. If you're doing well, make sure you take time to do explicitly sober creations, as not to develop a dependence on weed or allow it to hijack your creative process.


As far as going with the flow goes, they only thing you " miss out" on are professional opportunities, ironically. Being a social outcast at work will make progress difficult. I work in a very similar environment myself. I tolerate my colleagues. I nod my head and smile and laugh and carry on, but truth is I hate them on very personal levels. However, because I put on a smile for work and put up with them, we all manage to get along alright.

Don't let peoples stupidity rub off on you, but don't let it be an obstacle to enjoying their company or making strides in your life.

>>18108260
>coworkers and bosses who smoke out of bongs while driving

Now thats just fucking stupid and irresponsible. Im all for it on any other occasion, but goddamn it. Vapes are cool but in a grey area while driving

>>18108396
Yeah you didn't take one sip of booze and become addicted either, it's a gradual process.

All I'm saying is it's not for everyone, there's plenty of legitimate reasons not to smoke weed. Also the mental illness thing doesn't have to be active, there's been plenty of cases of marijuana activating schizophrenia or other such illnesses that would've otherwise gone dormant.


Not to mention by smoking weed you're altering your brain chemistry and if you're under 25 that affects you permanently since the brain hasn't finished developing before then.

>>18108483

*eyeroll*

Loosen the fuck up. "Altering your brain chemistry before 25?"

God forbid you do anything before 25 then, to maintain your precious brain chemistry. Not like any of that will matter if you get hit by a bus, but super important!

The big secret about drugs is that alcohol is actually pretty hard compared to a lot of them. Go smoke some weed, it's completely benign.

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don't do it you idiot
you don't need it
and yes it is bad

>>18108309
>>18108465
quality posting

>>18108551
How many fucking people get hit by a bus?

Also I'm obviously not saying that taking a hit once a month is gonna make any noticeable difference, but if you're blazing up every time the clock says fucking 4:20 it'll definitely irreversibly fuck you up. And I'm not talking just weed, alcohol as well. Everything is okay in moderation obviously.

>>18108476

I was always very Christian and moral and anti drugs until I was about 19 years old and my LDR of 2 years fell apart. I went on a fuck it all binge and started fucking random slam piggies and getting drunk at parties. Thats when somebody passed me a joint for the first time and I tried it.

I didnt cognitively notice any difference other than how awesome Taco Bell is when your high and the epic sound quality of my friends expensive surround sound in his basement. We had music on and I was hearing details and tracks in the music that I never noticed were there before, like noticing a cowbell and stuff.

Additional times I have tried I began noticing that I gained a +5 charisma bonus to saving throws. I also throughly enjoyed just hanging out with people and being in their company. Other times when it is just you and a close friend hanging out, if you are a thinker like me then you get lost in your mind and you really work out philosophical mysteries in your mind. If you are highly intelligent then it really changes your focus and perspective such that you start looking at everything from a different persepctive. It calmed my mind down enough to where I could ask myself serious questions about my future, what I wanted to do with my life. I turned away from my self destructive bent and got rid of people in my life that were dragging me down.

I am.in my 30s now and havent touched the stuff in years, but I credit it for waking my mind up and enabling me to believe in myself and acheive my dreams.