how many asexuals smoke weed?

[Artisan]

They don't call it dope for nothing. I prefer a functioning mind,thank you very much. :lol:

[Pobblebonk]

No, and it seems I'm in the majority here. I hesitate to suggest it, but might this be correlated with the observations that people on this board tend to be of somewhat above average intelligence? I doubt there's a direct correlation, and of course there are intelligent people who use drugs. but on the other hand it seems intuitively plausible that the more intelligent someone is, the more they would crave depth in their entertainment, something that would give them a sense of achievement or fulfilment rather than an empty chemical high. They may also have more opportunities for meaningful enjoyment. I'm with others here in saying that I simply don't understand how a chemical fix can be attractive.

Also, people who come here seem, by and large, to be fairly content with themselves and their identities, and it is often the case that drug use is the result of depression, sexual confusion or a lack of self-confidence. An unusual number here also seem to be introverts, which might be expected to reduce the influence of peer pressure.

Having said all that, this isn't any sort of anti-drugs rant - I've been there and suffered a lot as a result; I'm not intolerant of drug users and hope not to offend anyone. However, that same experience left me with a fascination for the underlying psychology that leads to such ultimately pointless and potentially self-destructive behaviour and what makes people susceptible to it. Based on my experiences and what I've read I'm forced to conclude that there is almost, if not wholly, invariably some underlying problem for which drug abuse is the symptom. I've never yet read or heard of a psychological study of the subject wich concluded that the underlying reason people take drugs is simply "because they enjoy it", and this may be telling.

Phil

[Pobblebonk]

I think for me my asexualness/ drug use / depression and musical stuff are all knotted up in a complex ball but i couldent say what was to be blamed/praised for doing what to what ect ect....

Slop

You could well be right - cannabis and ecstasy have both been implicated in exacerbating depression, and the chemical factors underlying this are well-enough known for this conclusion to be fairly watertight (essentially, in forcing the brain to produce an excess of serotonin to generate the 'high', they reduce the rate at which these chemicals can be replenished once the effect wears off). It's thought that they might have a role in causing it as well, but this isn't as clear, and it's well-documented that depression can lead to drug use. In short, you probably will never be able to tell cause from effect but they may well play off one another - the more depressed you get the more drugs you take; the more drugs you take the more depressed you get. Depending on what sort of music you listen to/play that could also be having an effect - New Scientist carried a recent article on the use of music as a form of self-medication (and a longer one on the use of drugs as a form of self-medication).

Phil

[Vicious Trollop]

Oh, I will also say that if I ever did have sex on a regular basis, I would probably have to smoke a little weed first a la Annie Hall. :lol:

[Cate Perfect]

I've never smoked pot, no. I'm not keen on smoke of any kind--my lungs are weak enough. I might eat 'magic' brownies if the circumstances were right, though. I've never done anything illegal, though if I ever did it'd be pills of some sort like Vicoden. I'd totally pull a Judy Garland, which is why I've avoided the opportunity to try them.

I like my red wine, though. That's the stuff. But only good red wine--plonk doesn't do it for me.

I'm such a square.

I would like to address the 'People who smoke pot aren't as intelligent as those who don't' theory, though. Some of the most intelligent people I've known have smoked on occasion.

Cate

[Vicious Trollop]

I might eat 'magic' brownies if the circumstances were right, though.

Yeah. I'm all over that.

*sings*

I love you Alice B Toklas!

And so does Gertrude Stein

I love you Alice B Toklas!

I want to change your name to mine!

[Cate Perfect]

I might eat 'magic' brownies if the circumstances were right, though.

Yeah. I'm all over that.

A friend of mine makes those, you know...She learned it during what she calls her 'Alice B Toklas phase'.

That's just what we need. To be goofier than we already are. :lol:

Cate

[zyralm]

.

[Mysteria]

No, and I will never try it. My father is an alcoholic, and he's pretty much the worst example of a human being I've ever met, so growing up with him around has created in me an absolute disgust for not just alcohol but drugs of any kind, and that includes cigarettes. I'm extremely uncomfortable when people use drugs around me, which is part of the reason why I'm so anti-social. I've found that very few people are considerate enough to keep it away from me, so I just keep myself away from them whenever that is possible.

[TangerinePanda]

i wonder if its just because most of you are from stateside? people seem to be quite clean living over there! possibly just due to the punitive law enforcement?

I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm actually reading a great book about this very topic called "Ain't Nobody's business if you do" by Peter McWilliams.

Those who don't want to buy it can read it online *for free* at http://www.mcwilliams.com

I think "drugs" here in the states have got a very bad rap. "Drugs are bad, mmmkay?"

I've used/tried just about every drug on the market, and I'm more likely to put my faith in the illegal kind.

But to answer the original question of the topic, Yes, I do smoke pot occasionally. No, I don't think it contributes to my lack of sex drive. When I take breaks from smoking, the lack is still there.

Since it's major harvest season and my state is one of the largest growers of marijuana, we're seeing a lot of CAMP helicopters and DEA around the area this time of year and it makes me angry. Don't they have better things to do than round up a couple herbs?

I think it was said best by Alan Watts "They've outlawed the most useful plant on the planet."

[Live R Perfect]

Yeah, I have done.

Yeah, I do sometimes still.

I certainly wouldn't want to be stoned every day anymore though. I prefer my fully-functioning non-psychotic mind.

[Jennyanydots]

I voted no, but when I was younger I tried it a couple of times. It made me feel like I had a mental illness (paranoid schizophrenia) and so I stopped and I'm sure glad that I did!

[Pobblebonk]

I would like to address the 'People who smoke pot aren't as intelligent as those who don't' theory, though. Some of the most intelligent people I've known have smoked on occasion.

Cate

That wasn't actually what I was suggesting, as I pointed out, and in any case I just threw it out as an idea - all I was trying to get across is my suspicion that, if you took a straw poll of people at the high end of the intelligence scale, you'd probably find a smaller proportion of drug users than in a more random sample of the population. Is it possible that people more inclined to introspection may have better coping mechanisms than drugs to address their problems or at least be more inclined to recognise them and seek help? I can only speak from my own experience, but while the sample size is small this has suggested that more intelligent people do tend to find other ways to cope with the same problems without resorting to drugs, or if they have used drugs to come to the conclusion that they aren't worth it fairly quickly.

Phil

[Pobblebonk]

I would like to address the 'People who smoke pot aren't as intelligent as those who don't' theory, though. Some of the most intelligent people I've known have smoked on occasion.

This isn't an attack and I haven't taken offense to anything said, but I have to say that some of the conclusions drawn seem to be based on speculation, especially the "asexuals are more intelligent than sexuals, therefore less cannabis-inclined" theory.

I did make it clear that I was speculating - I didn't come to any conclusions or present it as a theory, just threw it out as a suggestion as what I suggested (which was not "asexuals are more intelligent than sexuals", which I've countered elsewhere). However it has been observed that people on this board tend to be of high intelligence as a group, and the low proportion of cannabis and other drug users among those polled here fits my experience in the real world, leading me to wonder whether there might be a real link between intellect and predisposition to drug use (regardless of sexuality - indeed I believe that in general people with 'atypical' sexualities are proportionately more likely to use drugs than heterosexuals, due perhaps to the additional stress sexual confusion or repression can cause).

As far as I know it hasn't been studied, but as I said I'm fascinated by the mechanisms that lead to a minority of people being predisposed to take drugs, what's more a minority that remains roughly stable in the 20-30% range for both tobacco and cannabis abuse regardless of the legal regime (liberal Holland and more stringent Britain, for instance, have similar rates of cannabis use, both among the highest in Europe, while some European nations with stricter regulation - if I remember correctly Belgium might be an example - have lower rates and the lowest rate of all is in Switzerland, another country with liberal drug laws).

Phil

[Pobblebonk]

i wonder if its just because most of you are from stateside? people seem to be quite clean living over there! possibly just due to the punitive law enforcement?

I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm actually reading a great book about this very topic called "Ain't Nobody's business if you do" by Peter McWilliams.

Those who don't want to buy it can read it online *for free* at http://www.mcwilliams.com

I think "drugs" here in the states have got a very bad rap. "Drugs are bad, mmmkay?"

I've used/tried just about every drug on the market, and I'm more likely to put my faith in the illegal kind.

But to answer the original question of the topic, Yes, I do smoke pot occasionally. No, I don't think it contributes to my lack of sex drive. When I take breaks from smoking, the lack is still there.

Since it's major harvest season and my state is one of the largest growers of marijuana, we're seeing a lot of CAMP helicopters and DEA around the area this time of year and it makes me angry. Don't they have better things to do than round up a couple herbs?

I think it was said best by Alan Watts "They've outlawed the most useful plant on the planet."

The coconut palm is illegal? :) I doubt punitive laws have any bearing on the rates of drug abuse (see my other post), and overall US rates are acknowledged to be especially high (higher than most in Europe) so I doubt that's an adequate explanation for the minority use exhibited in the poll here.

From what I've heard about the US situation, though, I agree it isn't promising or very rational, and it's not much better in Britain. You only need take a couple of moments of rational thought to realise that the 'lock people up' approach achieves nothing, and another couple of minutes' rational thought and a quick glance at the fate of legal drugs is enough to reveal that the 'legalise it' approach is no better from the point of view of solving the drugs problem (regardless of whether or not people regard it as ideologically preferable as a civil liberties issue). Yet the debate seems hung up on the bureaucracy of the stuff's legal status rather than in genuinely attempting to identify and address the problems that lead to drug use, and drugs 'education' is so poor it might even be counter-productive - full of half-accurate and usually out-of-date anti-drugs propaganda which does little but play into the hands of those trying to persuade people it's harmless, and equally leaving out important facts that might discourage abuse (I heard of a recent poll in the UK that suggested as many as 97% of those polled believed cannabis was harmless, and less than 2% realised it could cause lung cancer, let alone the other health problems associated with it. I'm reminded of a comment from a researcher for the British Medical Association (IIRC), who summarised along the lines of "there's no organ in the body [cannabis] doesn't affect" - as I recall his research was on various forms of psychological damage, in particular the drug's tendency to exacerbate depression and schizophrenia).

Phil

[cait]

I think I have the potential to be schizophrenic. And the potential to develop a panic disorder. So I don't smoke weed. I'm not fond of fighting with everything I have not to pass out while I think I'm dying and hear voices that aren't there. So I don't smoke weed.

Oh, and, yeah, drugs can indeed affect your sex drive. I don't know which ones specifically. But why not just not use them for a while and test it for yourself?

[sloppycoder]

Im just gonna pop a few thoughts out now as ive got to nip into town, will post again later :)

Is it possible that people more inclined to introspection may have better coping mechanisms than drugs to address their problems or at least be more inclined to recognise them and seek help?

Do you think people only use drugs as a "coping mechanism"? what about for fun? Do you use alcohol/caffine at all? Also you dropped a few hints about being experienced, yet seem to concede no positive effects of drugs at all? Im curious as to how this can be!

I'm with others here in saying that I simply don't understand how a chemical fix can be attractive.

Hmmm... Well taking E as an example (a nice stereotypical chemical fix) theres the intense euphoria, shared emotional intimacy and seemingly unlimited social sensitivity and skill bestowed upon the user. It can change the way you look at the world in a positive way, not in terms of a permanent alteration to the brain chemistry but simply through having had the experience. It helped me realise people are actually quite hard to annoy if you just show a little respect and share a little of yourself very almost anybody can be made a friend.

I doubt punitive laws have any bearing on the rates of drug abuse (see my other post), and overall US rates are acknowledged to be especially high (higher than most in Europe) so I doubt that's an adequate explanation for the minority use exhibited in the poll here.

Yes but urban poverty is also exceptionally high in the US, as is unemployment ect ect.........

Slop

[giddy]

Weed never did it for me, however opium ...I think drugs like everything need moderation and you have to sort the good from the bad

As far as affecting sex drive they just make me more aware that i dont want anyone putting moves on me,lol I dont have time to indulge now days though :D

[giddy]

Weed never did it for me, however opium ...I think drugs like everything need moderation and you have to sort the good from the bad

As far as affecting sex drive they just make me more aware that i dont want anyone putting moves on me,lol I dont have time to indulge now days though :D

Oh jab be a hundred times with your needle and hundred times i will bless you,saint Morphine-Jules Verne

[Loki84]

I've tried it, but I've not done it since, so I went for "no"

[jamie]

I voted YES.

Nothing wrong with blazing, or drinking, i quite enjoy it thank u very much

[borrowedTime]

I said yes, although for the past 5 years, I haven't done weed more than about once a year...

It's pretty relaxing, and unlike with alcohol, I don't wake up the next morning feeling dreadful.

And I did 'shrooms once (which was kind of fun, if somewhat scary).

And I drink relatively regularly, but well, I'm British, and I'm in Belgium, so you can take that as a given. :)

Nothing stronger though.

(liberal Holland and more stringent Britain, for instance, have similar rates of cannabis use, both among the highest in Europe, while some European nations with stricter regulation - if I remember correctly Belgium might be an example - have lower rates and the lowest rate of all is in Switzerland, another country with liberal drug laws).

No, Belgium's also got pretty liberal laws, at least for cannabis. It's not like Amsterdam with its coffee-shops, but possession of a small quantity is allowed.

[Wild Seven]

If I lived in Netherlands and if I understanded my psyche and body functioning enough, I would maybe try it. However, that isn't a case for now. As Cait, I am worried about schizophrenia thing. I don't want to end up as a person unable to think and feel, not my cup of tea. Yeah, for me issue is fear, and I quite openly admit it.

I don't need to be "okay" from weed. I don't judge people who do it for that reason, on the other hand. I just have other tools to get relaxed. To everybody their tool. Mine is meditation, books, music and movies, what's yours?

Alcohol that I drunk (gr?) has affected my sex drive, but also many other things of relating to the outside world; so I cannot say it was just altering my sex drive, it was affecting me as a person. Though nothing else than sex drive and not that markantly; no sex desire or so.

I cannot say I won't touch other drugs. I had a period for year or such when I had intense craving for cocaine ( don't ask me why- I don't know, I never took it). Nobody knows for sure what will happen the next moment.... I don't think it is impossible, it is just improbable I will. I have more reasons for WHY NOT to mess with such substances, than reasons for WHY MESS. Reasoning.. that matters.

Anyways- I am weird even without drugs. And I value my intellect, emotionality and freedom over anything; I don't want to be addicted. I still understand there's a not-so-hard line between "recreational" and "addicted" when it comes to "harder" drugs (E, cocaine, speed, mushrooms...)

Ehm... I was pretty high even after some normal plants. (nothing oficially known to produce such states, and just sniffing it, not smoking), or after drinking mint tea. So perhaps it is why I *feel that* wouldn't go into anything else- when I am high after hundred percent "normal" substances, what I would look like after something that formally functions (ie. has some measurable impacts and substances known to produce such and such effects)?

But I cannot rule out the possibility entirely, just I don't consider it an issue for now, I don't seriously think about going into it.

[nonentities]

Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew

*vomits*

. . . EW!

Drugs and alcohol are even worse than sex! They do horrible things to your body and I don't know why anyone would ever want to consume them. I certainly don't.

Now, I don't do drugs myself, but I can certainly see how some people would want to and knee-jerk reactions like this annoy me. Have you done ANY sort of research at all into the topic? It IS possible to use drugs responsibly and without any adverse effects to one's body. Weed is essentially a harmless drug, etc etc.

I don't see how you can totally discount a real of experience like that just because it doesn't appeal to your morals. :?

[Wineblood]

it seems intuitively plausible that the more intelligent someone is, the more they would crave depth in their entertainment, something that would give them a sense of achievement or fulfilment rather than an empty chemical high.

maybe if you didn't see as a "chemical high" it would help. i consider it an altered state of mind, just like a regular alcohol consumer (constantly tipsy) would consider soberness an altered state.

the way i see it, intelligent people do it to experience things differently and to understand them in a way they cant when they're sober. it's just intellectual curiosity.

[Artisan]

I simply despise feeling under the sway of substances,and out of control. And something that depresses my very ability to reason? It's a form of self degredation-not a pleasure. I enjoy bending and controlling the reality around me-why would I want to escape from it unless I felt OUT of control?

Two deficits NEVER add up to a positive!

Think about it,you feel helpless,so you drug yourself to be even MORE helpless?

[suttsteve]

I've never smoked anything, done drugs or even drank alcohol. That lifestyle just isn't for me.

[Pobblebonk]

I think I have the potential to be schizophrenic. And the potential to develop a panic disorder. So I don't smoke weed. I'm not fond of fighting with everything I have not to pass out while I think I'm dying and hear voices that aren't there. So I don't smoke weed.

Oh, and, yeah, drugs can indeed affect your sex drive. I don't know which ones specifically.

The only one for which I've heard of research concluding that use adversely affects sex drive is tobacco.

Phil

[Hazmat]

I've done it a few times, but it didn't really do anything for me except make me feel kinda nice and floaty. Still, I won't refuse it if it's offered (provided I know the person offering and know it's not laced with anything).

[Pobblebonk]

Im just gonna pop a few thoughts out now as ive got to nip into town, will post again later :)

Is it possible that people more inclined to introspection may have better coping mechanisms than drugs to address their problems or at least be more inclined to recognise them and seek help?

Do you think people only use drugs as a "coping mechanism"? what about for fun?

As I said, I'm interested in the underlying mechanisms, and psychologically there's nothing interesting in starting from the premise "it's just for fun" - there's nothing to investigate. Having said that, as I pointed out those studies that have been done have rarely if ever concluded that drug use is ever "just for fun", with numerous reports of its use as a form of self-medication. While I concede that it's possible some people do take drugs merely because they enjoy them, I doubt they're the majority and they don't hold any interest for me.

Do you use alcohol/caffine at all?

Very rarely, and in the case of alcohol never enough to get drunk - and therein lies the difference. In fact I react badly to caffeine and it tends to make me tired and worn out (exactly the reverse of what it does to most people, I know, but apparently this is fairly common for allergic-type reactions). One can drink a cup of tea or a glass of wine for the taste, not for any chemical effect, yet with drugs that aren't incorporated into foodstuffs use is wholly about the chemical effect. I don't understand drunkenness any more than I understand other forms of drug abuse; I did once try drinking enough to get drunk, but (a) it was too expensive and (B) it didn't seem to have any effect anyway even after 8 drinks, the most I could physically manage (I was later told it probably wasn't the best idea to try getting drunk on martinis, though... Still, wine was out and I don't like the taste of beer). Alcohol has the same soporific effect on me as caffeine, too, and recently drinking more than a couple of glasses of wine makes me unpleasantly dizzy, but without any change to my mental state.

Also you dropped a few hints about being experienced, yet seem to concede no positive effects of drugs at all? Im curious as to how this can be!

'Experienced' as in having known several drug users and encountered their problems (one in particular was especially messed up somehow - I never worked out quite what was wrong and that's pretty much what inspired my interest in this line of research).

I'm with others here in saying that I simply don't understand how a chemical fix can be attractive.

Hmmm... Well taking E as an example (a nice stereotypical chemical fix) theres the intense euphoria, shared emotional intimacy and seemingly unlimited social sensitivity and skill bestowed upon the user. It can change the way you look at the world in a positive way, not in terms of a permanent alteration to the brain chemistry but simply through having had the experience. It helped me realise people are actually quite hard to annoy if you just show a little respect and share a little of yourself very almost anybody can be made a friend.

I don't think I need drugs to come to that realisation - introspection and experience (albeit not always pleasant experience) taught me as much. I'd wory if I found myself needing chemicals to experience euphoria or emotional intimacy, which is where I struggle to understand what people gain from this - I can't imagine being happier than I am when studying frogs and lizards, nor can I imagine wanting to be. Intuitively, it seems to me that if people use toxic chemicals to gain the benefits that I, and seemingly the majority of people (as drug use is a minority activity), do from pursuing our own interests, there is probably something lacking in their lives, that they haven't found whatever it is that drives them or pushes their emotional buttons.

Phil