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One drug that definitely doesn't help is cannabis. As a habitual smoker for over ten years I know this all too well. As of late I've started wondering whether t

One drug that definitely doesn't help is cannabis. As a habitual smoker for over ten years I know this all too well. As of late I've started wondering whether the real damage of cannabis is not in it's health consequences but in it's ability to completely demotivate. As a complete coincidence I actually started writing a poem about this last night: Procrastination was higher on my to-do list, Than achieving all the things that I otherwise wished. Aspiration blew motivation a farewell kiss, And said a sad goodbye, "you will be missed"

FrojoS 15y ago
Isn't this knowledge very common? I think every second weed joke is about how you're not motivated to accomplish anything.
- WickyNilliams 15y ago
  You're quite right, i was in a bit of a rush writing that original comment so perhaps didn't elucidate enough. The point i tried to make was that the major damage that cannabis can do is to your ability to achieve, the consequence of which is probably far more widespread and damaging to our culture and advancement than any other ill-effect. Now i'd be lying if i said i was a drop-out who hasn't achieved anything in the last ten years - i've done remarkably well, putting myself through university, graduating, getting a good job - but there's so much i want to do when i'm not working that i just put off because i get home, get stoned and suddenly nothing is boring - i could probably stare at a wall for hours without a hint of tedium. And therein lies the real point, that cannabis eliminates boredom. Without boredom people don't feel the need to push themselves, try new things, achieve what they want etc. I've just been postulating on the issue of procrastination so much recently, this post really struck a chord. Also it was a strange coincidence that i wrote a poem on topic yesterday, as i literally never write poems; and i hoped someone might like the excerpt.
  - freemarketteddy 15y ago
    haha i like your poem...How I deal with cannabis is that I never do it alone...only when I get together with old buddies...that limits me to doing it once in a cpl months and with that frequency I find it therapautic for soothing my mind!
    - WickyNilliams 15y ago
      Glad someone did! It's a work in progress - there are other parts to it, just felt that excerpt was particularly apt :) I agree that infrequent use is not worrisome, perhaps even beneficial - I always found when I was a less frequent user it made me more conscientious, more constructively critical of my actions/behvaiour and allowed me to see through life's issues with greater clarity (at least that was my perception!). I'd be happy to get to that stage where my use is recreational and infrequent, which i think i will eventually, it's my next milestone
      - freemarketteddy 15y ago
        :)....all the best !
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- Fliko 15y ago
  I don't think it is as common as it should be, I know plenty of kids in school who claim studying while high helps increase their grades, only to watch them scratch their heads in confusion when they've nearly failed a test.
mannicken 15y ago
I think you were using cannabis as an excuse and perhaps mis-dosing yourself. Yeah, if you smoke a gram or two per day, it will probably make you a couch potato. Just like if you take enough opiates you'll lay unconscious and die. But I think in timely administered, individual-dependent dosages the sativa enhances concentration and imagination/visualization skills, not to mention relieves depression and pain. And it's not habit-forming! I can't underestimate how paralyzing depression can be, fucking with your self-esteem and making you stay at home for weeks. Depression is extremely anti-motivational. Severe depression leads to suicide and that definitely does not make a person reach his true potential. Now, depression is linked to HIGH DOSES of cannabis in here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023183937.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023183937.ht... ("Cannabis: Potent Anti-Depressant In Low Doses, Worsens Depression At High Doses"). Now I'm wondering if they got the demotivational syndrom from high-volume smokers, basically diagnosing them with cannabis-induced depression.
- WickyNilliams 15y ago
  I've gone through periods of very high cannabis use, but recently i've massively reduced my intake. But i think its the frequency with which i smoke - everyday - that can be damaging in the way i described. It doesn't ruin my life: i won't lose my job, and i can still go about my normal duties perfectly fine. However my tendency is to do the minimal amount possible to get by, instead of excelling and doing anything above and beyond that. 100% agree with your assertion of heightened imagination and visualisation, it also changes your thought patterns in such a way that your train of thinking may lead to interesting perspectives that you would have never otherwise arrived at. It's what drew me to cannabis in the first place; intellectually i was intrigued by the creativity cannabis brought on. That said, a creative mind does not a productive person make! it's one thing to visualise etc. but it's the doing/execution part that seems so far out of reach when you're under the influence of cannabis. At least that's what i've come to realise. As for habit-forming, I've always smoked cannabis with tobacco, but never smoked tobacco alone. This puts put me in quite a unique position in that after ten years i clearly have a nicotine addiction, meaning my use of nicotine is so entwined with my cannabis use that it's hard to mentally separate the two. Over time it occurred to me that i could never be sure whether i wanted to get stoned because i enjoyed the sensation, or whether it was purely for want of nicotine, with getting stoned being a proxy for that. Interestingly, i have recently quit smoking cannabis inasmuch that i now use a vaporiser to get high, which means i have also cut out tobacco completely. It's been around 5 weeks since i last smoked cannabis with tobacco, and i definitely have less of a want to get stoned, so i guess my suspicions were correct - nicotine was fueling my cannabis habit to some degree. That link was intriguing, especially the inverse proportionality of benefits vs. dose size. It must be remembered however that the drug administered was a synthetic form of THC, not actual THC - presumably there were modifications to the molecular structure else they would have just used a THC extract straight from the plant. I'm sure it can still be taken as indicative of potential benefits of actual THC as a therapeutic drug though. I think overall i'm just going through a transition period in my life, a slight epiphany; realising that i've been abusing cannabis and that my use has been detrimental to other areas of my life. My recreational use grew into habitual use, which brought with it a constant lack of boredom, leaving me unproductive and demotivated. I expect that i'll have all but given up cannabis within a year, if my current trend of usage continues. Maybe i'm just growing out of it, or that perhaps my desire to be productive is finally outweighing my desire to get high. Either way, i feel good about the changes.

FrojoS 15y ago

Isn't this knowledge very common? I think every second weed joke is about how you're not motivated to accomplish anything.

WickyNilliams 15y ago
You're quite right, i was in a bit of a rush writing that original comment so perhaps didn't elucidate enough. The point i tried to make was that the major damage that cannabis can do is to your ability to achieve, the consequence of which is probably far more widespread and damaging to our culture and advancement than any other ill-effect. Now i'd be lying if i said i was a drop-out who hasn't achieved anything in the last ten years - i've done remarkably well, putting myself through university, graduating, getting a good job - but there's so much i want to do when i'm not working that i just put off because i get home, get stoned and suddenly nothing is boring - i could probably stare at a wall for hours without a hint of tedium. And therein lies the real point, that cannabis eliminates boredom. Without boredom people don't feel the need to push themselves, try new things, achieve what they want etc. I've just been postulating on the issue of procrastination so much recently, this post really struck a chord. Also it was a strange coincidence that i wrote a poem on topic yesterday, as i literally never write poems; and i hoped someone might like the excerpt.
- freemarketteddy 15y ago
  haha i like your poem...How I deal with cannabis is that I never do it alone...only when I get together with old buddies...that limits me to doing it once in a cpl months and with that frequency I find it therapautic for soothing my mind!
  - WickyNilliams 15y ago
    Glad someone did! It's a work in progress - there are other parts to it, just felt that excerpt was particularly apt :) I agree that infrequent use is not worrisome, perhaps even beneficial - I always found when I was a less frequent user it made me more conscientious, more constructively critical of my actions/behvaiour and allowed me to see through life's issues with greater clarity (at least that was my perception!). I'd be happy to get to that stage where my use is recreational and infrequent, which i think i will eventually, it's my next milestone
    - freemarketteddy 15y ago
      :)....all the best !
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
Fliko 15y ago
I don't think it is as common as it should be, I know plenty of kids in school who claim studying while high helps increase their grades, only to watch them scratch their heads in confusion when they've nearly failed a test.

mannicken 15y ago

I think you were using cannabis as an excuse and perhaps mis-dosing yourself. Yeah, if you smoke a gram or two per day, it will probably make you a couch potato. Just like if you take enough opiates you'll lay unconscious and die. But I think in timely administered, individual-dependent dosages the sativa enhances concentration and imagination/visualization skills, not to mention relieves depression and pain. And it's not habit-forming! I can't underestimate how paralyzing depression can be, fucking with your self-esteem and making you stay at home for weeks. Depression is extremely anti-motivational. Severe depression leads to suicide and that definitely does not make a person reach his true potential. Now, depression is linked to HIGH DOSES of cannabis in here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023183937.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023183937.ht... ("Cannabis: Potent Anti-Depressant In Low Doses, Worsens Depression At High Doses"). Now I'm wondering if they got the demotivational syndrom from high-volume smokers, basically diagnosing them with cannabis-induced depression.

WickyNilliams 15y ago
I've gone through periods of very high cannabis use, but recently i've massively reduced my intake. But i think its the frequency with which i smoke - everyday - that can be damaging in the way i described. It doesn't ruin my life: i won't lose my job, and i can still go about my normal duties perfectly fine. However my tendency is to do the minimal amount possible to get by, instead of excelling and doing anything above and beyond that. 100% agree with your assertion of heightened imagination and visualisation, it also changes your thought patterns in such a way that your train of thinking may lead to interesting perspectives that you would have never otherwise arrived at. It's what drew me to cannabis in the first place; intellectually i was intrigued by the creativity cannabis brought on. That said, a creative mind does not a productive person make! it's one thing to visualise etc. but it's the doing/execution part that seems so far out of reach when you're under the influence of cannabis. At least that's what i've come to realise. As for habit-forming, I've always smoked cannabis with tobacco, but never smoked tobacco alone. This puts put me in quite a unique position in that after ten years i clearly have a nicotine addiction, meaning my use of nicotine is so entwined with my cannabis use that it's hard to mentally separate the two. Over time it occurred to me that i could never be sure whether i wanted to get stoned because i enjoyed the sensation, or whether it was purely for want of nicotine, with getting stoned being a proxy for that. Interestingly, i have recently quit smoking cannabis inasmuch that i now use a vaporiser to get high, which means i have also cut out tobacco completely. It's been around 5 weeks since i last smoked cannabis with tobacco, and i definitely have less of a want to get stoned, so i guess my suspicions were correct - nicotine was fueling my cannabis habit to some degree. That link was intriguing, especially the inverse proportionality of benefits vs. dose size. It must be remembered however that the drug administered was a synthetic form of THC, not actual THC - presumably there were modifications to the molecular structure else they would have just used a THC extract straight from the plant. I'm sure it can still be taken as indicative of potential benefits of actual THC as a therapeutic drug though. I think overall i'm just going through a transition period in my life, a slight epiphany; realising that i've been abusing cannabis and that my use has been detrimental to other areas of my life. My recreational use grew into habitual use, which brought with it a constant lack of boredom, leaving me unproductive and demotivated. I expect that i'll have all but given up cannabis within a year, if my current trend of usage continues. Maybe i'm just growing out of it, or that perhaps my desire to be productive is finally outweighing my desire to get high. Either way, i feel good about the changes.