I started thinking about this a couple of weeks ago, how there's a huge difference between the two.

People I know who drink alcoholic beverages, with the exception of alcoholics, normally drink in the afternoon and evening except when they're watching sports on TV, then they start earlier

People I know who smoke MJ, and I've know a ton of them as I was a teenager in the 60s, smoke it all day long, starting after breakfast, sometimes at breakfast and do it until bedtime.

I don't understand why the MJ users do it all day long and drinkers don't, bearing in mind I'm making generalizations based upon over 70 years of being on this earth and observations I've made. Never met a MJ smoker who didn't do it all day long and only met one drinker who drank all day long, and he's a member of AA and has been for years.

What brings this up is a sign on my local shooting range/LGS that states that if you've been using MJ or alcohol or any other drug that influences your judgement and behavior, don't come in the store. The manager of the range told me that once MJ was legalized in Arizona, people started coming in where you could smell it on them, even at opening time, 9AM. They never had a problem before then.

quote:

Never met a MJ smoker who didn't do it all day long and only met one drinker who drank all day long, and he's a member of AA and has been for years.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Depends on far down the line you get with alcohol. There are more restrictions on alcohol usage in the work place. I do know plenty of stoners who only smoke in the evenings. I am sure there is research on this subject if you care to look. Not every weed smoker is like Cheech Marin.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
People I know who smoke MJ, and I've know a ton of them as I was a teenager in the 60s, smoke it all day long, starting after breakfast, sometimes at breakfast and do it until bedtime.

I had a summer, long, long ago, where I did that. I think of it as my "lost summer."

Finally, one day, it occurred to me that, when I did that, the entire day ended-up wasted. Unless the crew got together to go water skiing or something, I essentially did nothing. Thus "lost summer."

So I stopped doing that. In fact: I think it was about that time I gave it up entirely.

It's a pleasant buzz. More mellow than alcohol and not as function-impairing, IME. But still not a good thing to be doing all the time, any more than alcohol or any other recreational drug.

It should be noted I had similar experiences with alcohol twice in my life. Found myself drinking far too much, far too often. Suddenly realized it and cut myself off.

My father was an alcoholic. Word is the progeny of alcoholics are at increased risk of drug abuse. So I've always been wary.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Never met a MJ smoker who didn't do it all day long and only met one drinker who drank all day long, and he's a member of AA and has been for years.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Depends on far down the line you get with alcohol. There are more restrictions on alcohol usage in the work place. I do know plenty of stoners who only smoke in the evenings. I am sure there is research on this subject if you care to look. Not every weed smoker is like Cheech Marin.

I don't care to look as the research doesn't interest me. I was talking about what I've seen in my life and that's what I posted.

I'm sure there are MJ smokers who aren't like Cheech, but I've never met one and considering when I was raised, I've probably met a hundred MJ smokers. You'd think at least one would be a midnight toker.

quote:

I was talking about what I've seen in my life and that's what I posted.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Same here. No difference that I can see between weed and alcohol users. Alcohol dependent individuals such as those that attend AA drink 24/7 to avoid withdrawal. I have met far more casual weed smokers. Jamaica and Morrocco are exceptions.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
No difference that I can see between weed and alcohol users.

I can't speak to the weed that's available these days. I'm led to believe it's much more potent than the stuff from back in my youth. But, based on my past experiences, I have to disagree. I've seen more than my share of obstreperous, aggressive, sometimes downright violent drunks. Can't say as I recall ever seeing the same in pot smokers. Not saying it never happens, just that I've never seen it, myself.

Now, take regular pot smokers' pot away from them and it can be a different story entirely. Somebody who's high all the time, and you take away that high... My brother's like that. Or was, last time I saw him some 20+ years ago. (We're estranged, and I strongly suspect pot's influence on his behavior is the reason why. But couldn't tell him that.)

I've had my issues with alcohol. So I won't rehash all that.

Living in a state where mj is legal I have observed several issues.

Employers need to pull their heads out their ass and treat mj and booze the same. Right now one could go home after work, have some shots, wake up and go to work and have an "incident" Piss test confirms you aren't drunk or hung over. Back to work you go.

Same scenario but instead of shots you took a couple hits off the vape. You are not displaying any signs of impairment, but the test shows you had a few puffs at "some point" and you are out the door. I personally know several genius level individuals that were thrown away because they had a puff at "some point". Some time in the future mj will become federal friendly. Then what? Fire everyone?

Legal growers are producing a vastly superior product vs mexican stink weed because science. Genetic manipulation is creating more potent strains. But they are also creating strains to target desired effects.......good for cancer patients and others with medical issues.

Edibles are a problem, but not because they are bad. A lot of people don't or can't like to smoke. Therefore the edibles and "drinkables" are a great alternative. Except they appeal to everyone.........children and pets especially. There has been an uptick in incidents of children and pets ingesting edibles because they didn't know any better. Great care has to be taken with these products to keep them out of range of youngsters and animals as they don't know any better......much like firearms. Imagine trying to give a kid or pet 2 fingers worth of hard booze. They would either bite you or puke it up. Now offer some sweet treat. The end result is not pretty

As a past user of both, within certain parameters, alcohol is much more potent a "drug" than mj. And except for certain issues such as sleep aides mj has many more medical benefits than booze......so much so that a .gov approved synthetic version can be had. But of course there is money in that.

For clarification, I do not partake in mj because I need my job. My significant other does to help her deal with her lupus issues. Otherwise she would be placed on what amounts to chemo drugs. She won't go that direction and I would never force her.

If you can cut through the sales portion of this site, you can get a good understanding of the direction LEGAL mj is headed. https://www.leafly.com/

The vast majority of hippie lettuce connoisseurs I know don't wake and bake. They get up and go to their high end jobs and maybe hit the peace pipe after work. Sure, the stoners in high school and college smoked morning, noon, and night but the alkies drank their shower beers to start the day buzzed and tried to keep it up until they passed out at night. There's a proliferation of weed smoke throughout the day but that doesn't mean people aren't drinking too, you just can't smell the booze in their coffee a block away. Being a functional daylight toker is probably easier than being a functional daylight drunk. A few puffs and you're good vs. chugging the ass pocket bottle of vodka.

I’ve noticed this also. Even my adult kids smoke the crap all day. My wife’s kids the same. I tell them my biggest issue with weed being legal is that pot smokers aren’t just partying with it like when I was a kid. They can’t seem to function unless they hit the weed first thing in the morning.

With MJ, once you become a heavy user you don't feel "normal" unless stoned. Alcoholism is similar. MJ affects the brain while alcohol affects the body/organs. And body can only take so much.

I get to work a 7am. Most times I see a guy walking down the street at that time, and half the time he's smoking.

I feel the need to weigh in here. Addiction is addiction, period. It starts in the mind. With alcohol and other substances, there's an added physical component. You can be addicted to alcohol. You can also be addicted to marijuana, despite people banging the "it's not addictive" drum. I call myself a sober alcoholic, because it's an easy shorthand for "I'm an addict, and the drug I enslaved to longest and hardest was alcohol, and I go to AA because it treats the things that made me seek out a drink or a drug in the first place."

If you drink all day, every day, you're a drunk. If you smoke weed all day, every day, then people like to say "you're a stoner." The soft label is silly, it's the same thing. There are people who can take a puff off a joint, or one hit off a pipe, set it down, and then not need to pick it up for days, months, or years. These are the same people who who won't finish a whole beer or glass of wine in a social setting.

Trust me when I say there's no functional difference between an alcoholic who drinks all day and a "stoner" who smokes all day, every day. There is a genetic component to alcohol, yes, but every alcoholic I know is not/was not exclusive to alcohol. Everything goes great with booze when you're a drunk, from a hit of freshly ground green to high powered sedatives. I know and have known alcoholics who abstained from the bottle for very long periods, decades even, and smoked weed every day instead. An addict is an addict is an addict, regardless of what they choose to put in their body. It's people who aren't addicts that look at us and see differences because you can only see what's going on externally, i.e. "Jim smokes weed all day while Bob seems to only drink at night after a long day of work" while internally, it's substance intake we use to treat the same issues. Jim may be open about smoking dope all day because "weed isn't harmful" but Bob says he only drinks at night while managing to conceal the fact that he's taking swigs off a flask throughout the day.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
With MJ, once you become a heavy user you don't feel "normal" unless stoned. Alcoholism is similar.

Alcoholism is not similar, it's the same.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
MJ affects the brain while alcohol affects the body/organs. And body can only take so much.

Cannabis effects far more than just the brain.
https://www.healthline.com/hea...-of-cannabis-on-body

Alcohol permeates every layer of every cell in the human body, affecting all tissues and organs, down to the mitochondrial level, even re-writing mitochondrial DNA after prolonged habitual use.

I am sober, and I have a group of guys I meet with every Monday who are also sober, who've done everything from smoking crack to shooting dope and everything you don't know about that lies in between. If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them, or ask someone who knows the answer if I don't.

I'm tired of waking up on the floor...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
I'm tired of waking up on the floor...

You quit smoking them banana peels and you'll be alright.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
I'm tired of waking up on the floor...

Is it hard to find the door?

I've seen alcoholics drink all day long.

Once I got rid of a temp. I sent her to make copies. It was taking her a long time. I go to the copy room where she was confused about which papers she had to copy. It wasn't complicated. As I came closer to help, I smelled the sweet smell of alcohol. No wonder she was confused.

I wonder how many of the all day tokers are addicted and how many are self medicating to help with anxiety or whatever.

I had a temp who was clearing up files and archiving them for storage. She walked around with a can of Dr. Pepper half full of Jim Beam. She didn't last long. Some of the file boxes we recalled from storage had empty bottles in them.

At Sears we had six of each on a 16 man appliance delivery team.

Both operated at half speed.
But
Both would allow themselves to be treated like shit by the A Hole middle management,
Which made the middle management people feel like gods.

At a holiday party I met the wife's of the pot heads and drunks.

I was amazed at how many seemed attractive ,well mannered, well adjusted, productive, gainfully employed.

Never would I have paired them up with the men I worked with.

8 of the chemically dependant coworkers made more money selling drugs than they did at Sears. Sears was just a cover.

Most bitched incessantly about the kids that they lived with.

Most unpleasant working environment

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

Not all weed smokers smoke weed all the time. There are marijuana users who are like casual drinkers, and use small amounts of weed (or booze) on occasion.

You guys are seeing the problem drug users. And even still, I think weed is less dangerous than booze, even when used heavily.