Cannabliss?

As I've already given my two cents on smoking I thought I've cover the colourful topic of cannabis, or pot, dope, weed or whatever you want to call it. I however prefer the term "waste of time" but for arguments sake I shall refer to it as pot, plus its quicker to type.

Now I know a lot of you who read this will be booing at the screen calling me a boring fool because I'm not a fan of the stuff but I've been there, done it and got a whole tshirt factory. I first tried pot when I was 16 and loved it. I smoked it all the time and then got with my first boyfriend who smoke it 24/7 so then I did too and it became my whole life. I used pot as a way to escape from things I didnt know how to face, or want to (at the time I didnt realise thats what i was doing mind) I went from smoking the odd spliff here and there to smoking at least 3 spliffs a day and began using my trust fund to buy it every week when I ran out. My parents had no idea what I was doing and I wasnt supposed to touch the trust fund until I was 18. I couldnt possibly imagine going a day without pot, it was unthinkable, until one day when I had a bad reaction to it. I didnt think you could get bad reactions from pot but I did. I cant explain what it was like but it was like nothing ive ever imagined in my life and scared the hell out of me. I wasnt sick or anything but my whole mental state was altered, and lasted for days. That was the first one and I vowed that day never to do it again. Of course I did, and it took many bad reactions for me to go on a break from it which I did but soon started again until finally my mom found out about it. She found £40 worth in my draw, a homemade bong made from a robbinsons bottle, 4 packs of rizzla and a pipe and took everything away and got rid of it. It broke her heart and it was the first time I had ever seen my mom cry. That still didnt stop me however, I remember the first thing I said to my mom when she found out "yeah, so what? I like it" I was a cocky little shit and if I had been my mom I would have kicked me out but my mom isnt like that. She went mad at me, cried and it was just awful. My parents brought me up to know drugs were wrong and brought me up very well. It was just the matter of me being naive and being too influenced by my boyfriend at the time.My parents were so upset because it was their daughter, the good daughter who always did well at school and was always happy and upbeat and all of a sudden changed completely. I only felt bad because I knew I couldnt smoke it anymore. I was terrified of a life without pot and thought "god, what the hell will i fill my days with now?" What I didnt see was that it changed who I was. I was constantly moody, angry, argumentative and went from periods of depression to just plain being out my mind. I still argued that pot was the best thing ever. I used to say "its ok for people to get drunk but not to smoke pot?" Which is what I hear from a lot of people who smoke pot but more about that later. Anyway, eventually I stopped smoking it and saw a HUGE improvement in my life. I wasnt going to carry on education after I was 16 because I had plans to stay with my boyfriend and get a crappy job and live with him smoking pot and he insisted he wanted to grow it. If I had never stopped pot I wouldnt be at uni now and I truly believe I would be a waste of space. My boyfriend at the time continued smoking it and eventually chose a life of sitting on his arse, playing computer games, smoking pot and drinking whiskey till the morning, so I dumped him and got myself a life. Here I am nearly 20 years old, not touched pot since and never will, doing a degree and moe control of my life than I've ever been. My parents and I have a great relationship, my mom knows that I was naiv, stupid, young and influenced and knows it wasnt the real me who acted like that but the monster I became because of pot.

I hate cannabis. I am not biased, I have seen both sides and I do not think any good can come out of smoking pot regularly. I can understand people who want to try it once or have a toke at a party or whatever but I truly believe that people who smoke it often wont benefit from it. Its hard to see what it changes you into when you are so dead set on thinking it is right. I'm not the only one who has gone through the same, a lot of people I know have had the exact same thing happen and say it nearly destroyed them. Cannabis does affect you mentally, whether you think you're perfectly healthy or not. It annoys me when people say "why is it bad for me to smoke a spliff but people can get wasted off alcohol" Yes I believe alcohol can be just as damaging but when abused. You can have the odd glass of wine and be fine, just like one toke off a spliff wont turn you into a raving psycho (hopefully) but when you smoke cannabis everyday it will mess you up because people dont see cannabis as a drug because you are still relatively capable to do most things so people go on living permanately stoned. What they dont realise is the damage it is doing to your brain and your mind. FRANK is a website that gives lots of factual information about drugs, here are just a couple of risks involved in doing cannabis:

1) Some people think cannabis is harmless just because it’s a plant – but it isn’t harmless. Cannabis, like tobacco, has lots of chemical 'nasties', which can cause lung disease and cancer with long-term or heavy use, especially as it is often mixed with tobacco. It can also make asthma worse.
2) Cannabis is risky for anyone with a heart problem as it increases the heart rate and can affect blood pressure.
3) There’s also increasing evidence of a link between cannabis and mental health problems such as schizophrenia. If you’ve a history of mental health problems, depression or are experiencing paranoia, then taking this drug is not a good idea.
4) Frequent use of cannabis can cut a man's sperm count and suppress ovulation in women. If you’re pregnant, smoking cannabis may harm the baby.
5) Regular, heavy use makes it difficult to learn and concentrate. Some people begin to feel tired all the time and can't seem to get motivated.



More information about cannabis can be found here BBC website and some questions about it here Questions

As the only things I've seen from pot have been bad then is it any wonder I'm so opposed to it? I think that if something is illegal, then its for a reason and people should respect that.