Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/20/massachusetts-mayor-first-in-l.html
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They have those programs to “age” photos of missing children, to show what they’d look like now. Maybe they have programs to show what someone might have looked like when younger.
Take a few decades off any “old” person, and suddenly they are young, looking like the type who might be a consumer. Just adding hair to a photo might help.
Just so long as he doesn’t inhale.
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Well, now that marihuana is becoming legal, I’m finally becoming more confident in saying what I’ve been thinking for a long time, in spite of the obvious preferences of many of my friends:
Marijuana and its fellow hashish may be very popular and may give a boost to your thoughts and creativity along with a distinct feeling of bliss, but it’s all very transient and superficial and popcorny, and the profound insights you get under the influence of the drug aren’t always easy to reproduce or confirm without it.
And worse, its effect on communities is catastrophic - people engage in smoking and hanging around stoned instead of actually doing something, and the drug itself can give a sense of achievement, until now supported by the “rebellious” aspect of “sticking it to the man” by conforming to capitalist society’s norms in a slightly illegal manner.
All of which is kind of the best case scenario - if you’re not one of those who get paranoid or worse from smoking it but continue doing it anyway.
And note how big business is ready behind the scenes, ready to move in and capitalize and make this yet another Starbucks or McDonald’s kind of American capitalist thing.
I’m truly glad weed is becoming legal, it’s long overdue! Among other things, weed becoming legal means I don’t have to speak nicely about it ever again because I want to defend my friends’ right to do whatever they please; including hanging around and doing nothing for years because their drug of choice tells them that it’s all they need.
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That was a buzzkill.
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Sorry. Born out of some time’s frustration, I’m afraid. Including with myself.
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It’s not the drug, brother, it’s the person. If you don’t have the exact same reservations about alcohol then your bias is showing.
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lol his name is Nark
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Verifiable citation needed.
Amen, brother.
Cannabis use is somehow worse than alcoholism or opioid addiction?
Show me the receipts…
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Ive found that using Facebook is far more catastrophic than cannabis on me and my community.
But I will grant that anything can be misused to the point it negatively effects a person’s life. Cannabis can be abused but abuse is not inherent.
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What a bunch sanctimonious self righteous ill informed hackneyed horseshit. Some of the most hard working productive insightful responsible people in the world are regular mj users. Just because some of your friends who smoke weed are losers doesn’t mean everyone who smokes weed is also.
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Then it is better off regulated than sold on the black market, yes? Yes.
Are… are you from 1950? Did you just watch Reefer Madness?
Our communities are being overrun by hordes of teenagers being mildly laconic!!!
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Hmm. I know people who work 40+ hour weeks and go home and get stoned regularly and still manage to get to work on time and do their jobs efficiently (as well as people who don’t smoke who watch hours and hours of TV) so I call BS on that claim.
Again, I know smokers who make legitimately interesting and well-executed art, and I also know people who abstain who are just bland (example: Christian rock.) There also plenty of people in between, self-indulgent stoners and talented teetotalers, so I doubt there’s any real correlation between weed and productivity or creativity. If someone wants to blame weed for their own lack of productivity or half-assed creativity I suggest they seriously ask how much weed is to blame and how much their own nature is to blame.
[added-- there has never been a more appropriate post for this meme:]
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Of course; too much excess of anything isn’t good for anyone.
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Everything in moderation - including moderation.
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Yes, 100%. We don’t disagree about that.
Well - from time to time I observe effects on people’s lives which are at best highly dubious. I believe most people who know people who smoke mj have observed something similar.
Nark-e-wicz - just like it’s spelled.
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Not really. Most of the people I know who smoke weed do it extremely occasionally on special occasions – it’s not cheap. Lazy people who don’t work can’t afford a $25 smoke or a $30 edible whenever they feel like it. The folks I know with dubious, lazy lives are lucky to afford macaroni and cheese, much less a few ounces of hash.
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Of course cannabis use is not worse than alcoholism, but then you’re also comparing any use (non-abusive) with heavy addiction, which alcoholism is.
I think I probably used too strong words, but my honest opinion is that this drug should not be idealized and has had a detrimental effect on many communities, not least progressive communities. In a way, it reminds me of that episode of Star Trek where they visit a community that gets “stuck” because of exploding flowers that make them lose all “ambition”.
Of course, all such judgements are up for debate, which is why I use the quotes.
EDIT: The Star Trek episode I refer to is “This side of Paradise”. Quote from Wikipedia: “As they leave orbit with the colonists aboard, Kirk asks Spock about his experiences on the planet – to which Spock replies that for the first time in his life, he was happy.”
In Europe, smoking weed every day is very easy for a lot of people, also in terms of affordability. That may account for some of the differences in our observations. I honestly don’t think smoking once a month or a few times a year is going to be a problem for anyone, ever.
