i'll try not to make this post too long. the topic hits home a bit too well (not from technical first hand experience, but from an ex-friend).
i think that almost any issue that is "caused" by a drug, is probably not caused by the drug at all, but caused by the person. and to a finer point, by the type of person (whether their actual fault or not). something to keep in mind about drugs in general is the REASON for use. recreational drug use has quite a few hidden factors in it. illegal drugs will almost always be considered to be used 'recreationally' simply because they cannot be prescribed as medicine. so, the "why" behind use should be taken into account. i will argue that smoking weed to be the first line of defense against say, PPSD, or other types of emotional states is a poor choice indeed. unfortunately, i haven't yet heard of marijuana being the actual 100% CURE of anything yet. while used with great success against quite a few horrible diseases, again, it is not the only source of support against them.
i'll go out on a limb and say that most addicts are addicted to something because they have addictive traits in their genes. the types that get 'addicted' to marijuana may not have a technical body dependency on pot. they will have a learned behavior addiction, like gambling.
does anyone here smoke weed as medicine? other than possibly to curve nausea or increase appetite? i could make that point a bit clearer by saying, are the drugs that one uses, used to ease emotional pain? if that's the case, i'm of the mind that most any drug will not cure you and only mask an issue that needs help that no drug can give. shit, antidepressants are notorious for being harmful rather than helpful and can often have a side effect of depression and anxiety!
if we're talking about the dangers of recreational use, then yes, cocaine is by far worse than marijuana. it's no real question. i don't even really want to start to defend that statement. anyone with first or second hand knowledge of either drug should easily be able to agree with that.
not 4 months ago, i had quite the healthy friendship with a high school buddy of mine. he had been doing coke very infrequently for a few years. no one really cared, he didn't make it a problem. but then as issues surrounding his family life and his love life escalated, he started using more. dozens of people were hurt in the process of him descending into depression and drug use (coke and alcohol). to say that the coke was the cause of his problems is not what i'm saying. the coke however did amplify everything negative in his life. he started snapping at people. he'd be up for days, not bathing, not working, not doing much of anything but drinking and doing coke and going to bars and coming back to hang out with his "sober friends" only to start shit with us and leave. he'd then come back at all of us, telling us we were to blame for all the static within the group. he now doesn't even speak to his "best friend" and roommate. he told his roommate (and actually, MY best friend) he was going to be moved out of their apartment 3 weeks ago. he is still there, eating his food, using his electricity, water, internet, and not providing one cent towards payment. he had actually stopped contributing to his half of the rent at least 2 or 3 months before this time. my friend is too nice to kick him out completely (apparently he's waiting for his new place to become available). he's having to have his parents bail him out. the guy won't even pack up and move out of a place with someone he hates living in it! they don't speak, the user claims to disown his roommate and yet, he won't leave. he won't listen to anyone.
i don't want to complain about this person too much anymore. my point is this: he would have had problems with or without coke or any other hard substance. but with a substance that has such a high dependency rate and is such an expensive habit to continue with and has such a violent culture surrounding it, it is easily a contributing factor in the negativity in his life right now. he will either die relatively soon, or he will learn from his mistakes, probably in tragic fashion and change his ways.
last point: if the original poster can name me one person that has ever overdosed from marijuana, please, fill me in. if not, then please don't ever compare something so wonderful as marijuana to anything so horrible as cocaine ever again.
and most coke now days is cut with some dirty shit back in the day when it was pure coke I bet it was ok. I wouldnt do it tho.
