2nd Cycle - Yikes

Pharma
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I know pot head that had a 3.8 GPA in Mechanical Engineering. He also barely studied, and made his money through Magic tournaments. He also had pretty good abs and all around fitness. He was kicked out of two universities before I met him. Caught with large quantities of weed.

I don’t know how he does it, but to me even though anecdotal it does make me think it is individualistic.

I also know a high level endurance athlete that claims he and other high level athletes use it to increase lung capacity. I don’t know how true that one is. He claimed that taking big rips exercised the lungs to an extent. Hitting a bong is almost exactly like using an incentive spirometer which does have studies backing the claim that using it will improve lung function.

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It is COMPLETELY individualistic. Some people should stay way the fuck away from weed. I’ve seen people get crazy paranoid, some get uncontrollable giggles, some people (my wife) get super motivated and want to clean the entire house, some people are lazy, some people can smoke for years and you couldn’t tell, and some people sound like Otto the bus driver after 6 months. It’s not just a stimulant, it’s a mild hallucinogen, and hallucinogens are a wild card. I always say, if you don’t like it, don’t force it, just drop it. Save your money and your sanity. If you do like it, do you.

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It certainly has hallucinogenic properties

After heavy amounts one (this is dependent on individual tolerance) can see mild patterns and shapes start to form, these can progress to open eyed visuals of the contrast of the room/environment is dark enough

I’ve seen a myriad of reactions, some very chill and calm, to giggly (I tend to be very chill, it curbs any semblance of anxiety I have right out…) which is good as I’ve cut SSRI meds cold turkey 5 wks ago and am dealing with antidepressant discontinuation syndrome… it’s an absolute bitch at times… don’t use weed to qualm anxiety though, I just deal with it… however crippling it may be on random very specific occasions. Some however go acutely psychotic, I’ve seen quite a few schizophrenic style reactions (not knowing who you are, talking to people that aren’t there, bursting into tears not knowing what’s going on etc). I’ve personally NEVER had a bad reaction, and I seem to be able to handle the intoxicating properties rather well (unless I don’t have to, then I let loose and joke about everything and everyone, fall over laughing at my own jokes). Unlike many I’ve found cannabis does curb social anxiety fairly well for me, so at parties, gatherings, concerts etc sometimes I bring a joint with (pure, not mixed unless it’s a public venue where one needs to hide the smell). Not a good way to get by though, using drugs as a crutch is a very slippery slope for me.

I think a lot of aspect as to how heavily cannabis intoxicates one is dependent on tolerance, and considering my use has never reached a high level of frequency (aside from my last holiday to the US/Montreal… that was great) I don’t build up a tolerance to the stimulant, hallucinogenic or depressant characteristics of the drug

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Cannabis doesn’t increase Lung capacity… only thing I can see is one may learn how to breathe more efficiently by taking large bong rips… however bongs, smoking in general burns until one gets used to it (suggesting perhaps deleterious morphological change in epithelial lining)

I’ve never gotten used to bongs and I never will. Don’t see the point anyway. They’re filthy devices that clog, become saturated with tar and resin… it’s gross (in my opinion)

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It may be the actual practice of taking big inhalations that does it.

If you are interested look up how an incentive spirometer works. I have to think if those can improve lung function, then it is plausible that a bong could do the same thing.

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I can’t remember the doctor but on one Joe Rogan podcast episode the doctor was talking about the effects of marijuana. How it increases dopamine levels and that’s why people get giggly and happy but with chronic use (3 months of constant use) it starts to have the opposite effect and lowers dopamine. Dopamine effects things like motivation. I functioned at a high level on it for years but it wasn’t until I finally stopped that I realized the effect it had on me. It’s like everything else when abused… You make up excuses for why you need it and you forget what you’re like without it. I’m sure it has a negative effect on deep sleep cycles as well like many drugs do.

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Surpresses the fuck out of REM sleep, people tend to not have dreams when stoned

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Caffeine comes with a laundry list of bad sides and risks as well, and while people who drink a lot of coffee will often complain about them (bc coffee drinkers by nature must complain, as they are always cranky and tired or cranky and wired lol), they typically aren’t affected negatively the way one would really expect. Studies also show the health benefits of drinking lots of coffee over time.

I’m sure we are all familiar with the “paradoxical nature” of many study results in this field. While studies on something like arsenic could reveal it as poison and in the real world when someone consumes it they will die, studies on things like marijuana and coffee could come up with negative conclusions that won’t manifest in real life (at least not for a large body of users). Just look at the supplement industry… studies upon studies showing the wonderous benefits of supplements when 99% of then are garbage and do nothing.

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Both my parental guardians consume 5+ (around 450mg+) caffeine per day

My Father has come to me exclaiming he wishes to switch to decaffinated coffee but is cautious about abruptly ceasing “regular coffee intake”… I explained that caffeine is a psychoactive drug of the stimulant class, dependence is a real concern and to largely mitigate withdrawal symptoms he will have to wean off slowly as he has been consuming caffeine like this for decades.

It’s strange how many don’t know… or think because something isn’t scheduled that it’s totally fine to take. Just because no societal stigma is attached (thanks to damn good marketing) to caffeine, doesn’t mean it’s harmless… codeine was an over the counter med here in dosages of up to something like 15 mg per capsule when combined with an NSAID/alternative analgesic. Only recently was it bumped to schedule 4 (about the equiv of schedule V in the US) because SO many kids were buying packs and extracting the opiate/prodrug into a liquid solution, drinking it… and dying (that’ll happen if you consume like 500mgs of codiene… or if you’re an ultra rapid cyp2d6 metaboliser such as myself even subtherapeutic doses such as 15 mg can kill you… others were becoming dependent on it because it was OTC, so taking it daily for backaches and whatnot was feasible (given the daily allowance for acetomitophren is 4000mg and each capsule would contain about 500mg, it’s very feasible for one to get addicted to opiates by continually taking 120mg codiene daily

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Lol my dad has that level unawareness as well. He likes coffe and NSAIDs. He has Parkinson’s and has complained it keeps him up at night. I’ve suggested he try melatonin and diphehydramine for sleep, and creatine for general health, and it’s like I might as well have told him to shoot heroin. I think creatine was the most offensive suggestion to him lol.

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I was lucky. Smoking pot gave me massive anxiety attacks, so it has been an unattractive proposition for me since I was very young. It makes it easier to abstain from something when that something makes you sick. Recreational drugs never were on the radar because I was the only responsible adult in my old friend group, so someone needed to be the designated driver. So that was always me. I avoided all the stuff that can mess you up not by will power but rather circumstance. Environmental factors are pretty strong.

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Environmental factors do play a large role, as does past trauma and genetic predisposition.

There are two facets to drug use that I see

  • drug use to numb pain
  • drug use for the context of a good night out

Depending on individualistic philosophies and beliefs will garner which (or if at all) you perceive a variable to be justified or not. The people who use in the context within the first category are those that have a higher potential of running into trouble, as reinforcing properties are more pronounced if the substance at stake succeeds at getting the job done. For these individuals, environmental factors need not apply, as the prospect of drug use will occur regardless of friend groups etc (as they’ve turned to drug use to dull a void, trauma, emptiness etc)

The second type of drug use (through not always) tends to be less worrying in nature, as an individual with normal neurology can handle a good night out every once in a while. There is no deep rooted ailment one is looking to drown, it’s just the prospect of fun. This tends to be highly environmental in nature, as a friend group demographic steeped in hard drugs will more than likely use such substances to supplement a night out on the streets/clubbing or whatever, in which case an individual may feel more pressured to take, even if not initially… repeated exposure does tend to create a heightened level of comfortability regarding substance abuse. I recall when I was seventeen the first time I saw a guy snort coke… I was rather shocked. Cocaine is 3-450$ per gram where I live, thus aside from the nature of the drug it isn’t typically something kids have on them. Now if I see such a thing I think “ehhh”… it doesn’t phase me as over time I’ve gotten used to seeing this, such development of comfortability DOES increase the chances of future use down the line for just about everyone, just as how having parents who smoke tends to create a sense of acceptance and normality within a child regarding the act of cigarette smoking, thus the child is more likely to take up smoking as an adult. I’ve never used cocaine for reference, so seeing use time and time again hasn’t convinced me to use the drug, though at one point I did legitimately ponder… then I re-researched the compound to remind myself what an absolutely horrific idea that was lol

I’m not the designated driver within my group… no one is… there are a select few who will drive regardless of what they’re using, in which case I’ll stay sober the entire night and drive home or I’ll Uber/take a cab as I have a rule as to never get in a moving vehicle with an impaired driver.

As to trauma/numbing pain. One will find that a majority of addicts have past events, deep rooted issues or ailment that they haven’t dealt with and thus have turned to drugs to cope. Whilst such a measure works fantastically within an acute setting… acquiring a drug dependence only compounds issues, now you’ve got a habit, you’re neurology is out of whack and you need money to buy more drugs just to maintain what semblance of a life you call homeostasis etc… depending on the compound at stake (coke/meth addiction per se) any sense of reality may be completely distorted… you’re initial problems you started using to bottle up are now bigger and badder than ever… and what do you do… you take more fucking drugs. I don’t believe lighter drugs such as cannabis or LSD or even moderate level compounds such as MDMA are “gateway” drugs, I believe the gateway is largely steeped within inadequate mental health… perhaps I’m wrong though

You’ll find that genetic predisposition does play a role, however the concept of a certain type of addiction “running” within a family, I think is BS. If you’re an alcoholic and you blame it on you’re father being an alcoholic (“genetics”)… is it because of genetics or is it because you’re father would beat you/abuse as a child while drunk, and now you reciprocate similar behaviour (heavy drinking in this case) to try reduce the emotional long term detriment induced by you’re father?

Edit: should specify my friend group doesn’t use cocaine, it’s some of the groups my group occasionally associates with that do

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Smoking pot did the opposite for me… it calmed me down when anxious, then again I’m not a frequent user, perhaps frequent use would elicit a net detrimental effect on my mental health

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i cant believe that shit is 350 a g in australia.

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A tank of petrol for my car is 110$…

Living in a tiny home anywhere remotely populated in Melbourne is typically over 1 mil

A vial of test is typically over 100$

In bars/clubs it’s like 12-15$ per drink (even for one beer)

If one looks at the the walls at the back of gas stations here vs like… where I am now (U.K) the price for cigarettes in australia ranges from 30-50 dollars per packet, here it appears cheaper (idk the exact prices, I haven’t asked because I don’t care all that much lol) but I saw cigars on sale for 10 pounds… a cigar in Aus typically costs like 80$+ for a full sized one… that I know because at one point I did want to try one due to a recommendation from my cousin, then saw the prices and was like “are you fucking crazy, this is 80$ for a few hits of highly addictive poison, why would I shell anything for this”. And he said (keep in mind this man is older than I and INCREDIBLY intelligent) that he liked the unique flavours or something and the way it made him feel (fair enough, the primary substance is psychoactive, releases dopamine in mass quantities)… but I don’t buy the unique flavours BS, I’m sure… just like wine, that it’s all mostly the same. But perhaps that’s me simply displaying inexperience and immaturity as some seem to love their wine and be able to tell if it’s “full bodied” or whatever… and I’ll be like “lemme have a taste” then I say “these both taste like feet, how could you like this?”… and I’ll get a response like “oh young one, you have so much to learn”… same thing happened with whiskey. I don’t actually mind a very small glass scotch whiskey on a very special occasion, aside from very cheap brands tasting like awful, shallow, bitter water… they all taste the same to me, except perhaps some have an aftertaste supposedly attributed to what substance they were left to age with (vanilla or something etc)… still can’t reason as to why someone will shell out like 400$ for a “special” bottle of the stuff

Perhaps im missing something here, but to me it just seems people are trying to say “fuck you, look at my fancy bottle… I have more money than you!” Same with Champagne, I’ve had dom perignone a couple/few times now, and while it is nice, and when I drink it I’ll pull my “serious” face to demonstrate a lack of maturity (just consists of me pulling a super long, bland face and saying “hmmmmmmmmmmm” for a very long time) but to say it’s worth the price over a normal bottle is ludicrous (I think)… it’s a waste of money (once again… I think)

I just looked it up and statistically Australia supposedly has the most expensive prices in the world… but funnily enough a high(ish) rate of smokers per capita compared to other developed countries

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For some people wine, cigars, etc. probably are all the same. All strains of weed are the same to me. But I definitely like different types of beer. I imagine some people think many steroids are nearly the same. It’s individual and cultural. Some people have extra cones in their eyes and can see more colors. Some cultures (like some Russian minority populations I believe) don’t even have a word for green (or is it blue?) and would think of then as shades of the same color, like royal blue vs. sky blue.

But at the end of the day, $350 for a g of cocaine just makes no sense. Is that AUS$? A g is typically $50-100 dollars in the US, of varying quality. But even the best quality might last a person an entire evening, perhaps a weekend if they are a lightweight. I can’t imagine spending $350 over and over for 1 night’s worth of coke.

And people wonder why the US has such an insane drug problem. This shit is practically flooding our streets. Compared to Aus, it’s like US dealers are giving the shit away.

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Minimum wage in Aussie land is also $19.49. Here it’s probably somewhere around $8.

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Drugs are rampant in Aus culture. From what I recall we have a fairly high rate of cocaine use per capita despite having arguably the most expensive and least pure coke

However I’d actually stipulate coke cut with speed is safer (cardiac wise) comparative to pure cocaine

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But your yayo is 7x the price​:rofl::poop:

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Why is that?

Also, got a question for you more related to the main topic. Do you think, theoretically of course, that it would be prudent to use a low dose of T3 while on tren? I don’t currently possess either so you can answer freely lol.