This really isn’t a social question for a teenager. Not something you want to ask a lot of totally random strangers members about.
Ask mom or dad?
Trusted aunt or uncle?
How old are you?

According to her profile, 16.

I’m not aware of any ongoing side effects that would affect long term biases about the ramifications of anthropological digs in ice cream looking for the shooter on the hill in Dallas…uh…what was the question again?

It’s about the same as my opinion on alcohol; when done responsibly in moderation it’s fine, but it does impair you, and it does have long-term health effects, though less severe than alcohol.

One other thing is that they both affect those who are still growing far more adversely than those who have reached physical maturity and stopped growing. If you’re a teen, then you will mess yourself up.

As for separating fact from fiction, most claims that it lowers IQ are from biased sources. There are some reputable studied that suggest it may lead to short-term memory issues over time, and others saying that it can slow/halt the progress of Alzheimer’s, so it’s hard to say. However, one thing that is fairly widely accepted is that it does cause cognitive impairment in children and adolescents, but not in adults. While I’m normally against age limits, I think that marijuana is best left to grown-ups.

That said, Carl Sagan didn’t seem to lose many brain cells to marijuana.

Not a fan.

I smoked a lot when I was a teen and it changed the trajectory of my life in a negative way. I think maybe because I was so young, it stunted my emotional growth and I feel like I stopped learning anything new during those years. It might have been different if I had waited until my brain was fully developed, but I started when I was 10.
I finally quit when I started getting intense paranoia when I would smoke it. Not paranoia of being caught, but feeling like I was losing my mind and I would soon be found out for how crazy I was and would be locked away, or like my mind would never get back to reality.
I know that this is not everyone’s experience and that it is beneficial for a lot of people but you couldn’t pay me enough money to ever smoke it again.

Fan. Would recommend it over any form of alcohol.
Important thing is to know your limitations. I will not do it if I am working (even if it is around the house) because I just want to mellow out and never get anything done. I will do it when the chores are done and it is just a relaxing evening. But, by the same token, I have friends who function well while high; I am just not one of them. My B-I-L does it more than he should because he has noticed it “makes him dull” (his words).

I find it so strange that questions like this are even asked. It’s on the same level as, “What do you think of carrots?”

Weed isn’t a miracle drug, but it’s definitely better than alcohol and it’s not terrible for society at all.

Carrots: Fan. Like the color, texture and taste, raw or cooked but, that being said, know when to say when. Carotonemia is nothing to laugh at….................................................................. unless your roommate has it.

@rojo , you said “by the same token” I find that kind of punny. Lol.

@Judi That sounds like there were other things going on though. Either that, or you were smoking enough that Willie Nelson (one of the few to ever smoke out Snoop Dogg) would tell you to ease off a little.

@jerv , it started happening after I did PCP. I was young and just thought it was another kind of pot. It was in the mid 70’s. Couldn’t smoke any pot after that without the same overwhelming paranoia. The song Hotel California had just come out and it haunted me. “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave..”

@Judi Ah, yeah…. PCP is some scary stuff. I know someone who puffed a PCP-laced joint and started hallucinating. Considerably different reaction from just wanting to watch cartoons and eat mass quantities of Doritos like you get with an Indica-dominant hybrid of unlaced greenery.

I don’t think it is as harmless as many people make out. Sure, it’s not exactly heroin, but it can expose schizophrenia in at risk individuals, and it often makes people lazy and demotivated towards their daily life. Of course it is possible to use it without any adverse effects, but like any drug, it is possible to abuse it. Myths of harmlessness only increase the risk of misuse.

That said, I don’t oppose its legalisation. It is less of a health risk than tobacco smoking, so as long as similar restrictions apply (i.e. not near children, or in public spaces) I don’t have a problem with it being legal.

I had a friend that liked it a lot, but he mentioned after he smoked one day he was lazy for the next few days and he lost all motivation. I watched some other smokers and the same thing came through.

Loss of motivation and the munchies seem to be pretty common side effects. I don’t know how people function normally when they’re high-it puts me right to sleep.

@jerv , I tried smoking pot one more time a few years later, same reaction. Never again Especially now that it’s a lot stronger than it was in the 70’s.

Given that both alcohol and tobacco are both legal, even though they carry far more health risks, it only stands to reason that cannabis should be equally legal, and subject to the same basic age restrictions.

Unlike cigarettes, however, I don’t have a problem with people smoking it in public.

Voice of Experience here..

IMHO, I agree that it should be age-restricted, not because those who are younger may lack the judgement that adults have, but because of the apparent long-term effects on younger users.

Heavy usage can effect motivation. That is what motivated Shel Silverstein to write I Got Stoned and I Missed It, here performed by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.

I started smoking it when it was offered to me in Vietnam. I used it regularly for about 20 years. I extremely curtailed my use when I got married, due to the legal ramifications for the spouse of a government worker.

The government worker part changed a long time ago, and legalization for recreational use had happened in my state. I use it occasionally, but not nearly as regularly as I once did.

@FireMadeFlesh The “your mileage may vary” aspect is often overlooked. Not everone reacts the same, but it’s a little more complex than that.

@Judi When I tried the recreational stuff as a young adult, by luck was mixed. A couple times it was like oregano, and a couple times it knocked me out of commission. Quality and strength were uneven.
Flash forward a couple decades to when I become a MMJ patient, the dispensaries have a wide array of different strains available, but with two important differences; the stuff they sell is of known origin as opposed to whatever the dealer happened to score, and more importantly is laboratory tested to determine the THC and CBD levels.
I haven’t had any issues with the stuff from medical dispensaries like I did with the mystery stuff that, for all I know, may have been laced. I smoke considerably less though as you are correct about strength. The strain that I found works best for my medical issues is 28% THC, or what the street generally calls “one hit shit”; people I know who smoked before it became legal for recreational use and tried some of the same grade stuff couch-locked themselves after hitting it the same way they puffed the dirt-weed they are used to.

Regardless of people’s opinion about marijuana use, you may be more interested in the effects of marijuana use in adolescence, or prior to the maturity of your prefrontal cortex (around mid-20s).

I would suggest you google “marijuana use prior to maturity of prefrontal cortex” and perhaps discuss with your parents or pediatrician.

I know people who feel like they missed out on years of their lives from smoking weed as teens/young adults. I also know people who use marijuana to function, and do so quite well. It’s a mixed bag that, IMHO, requires much more clinical research.

In my experience, it just ruins a party. Before smoking, people are interesting conversationalists, after smoking they are mumbling, boring clods.

I lived with many mj smokers for several years, and they all changed from active, involved participants to laid back, languid, uncerned people.

Any substance that enhances inhibition and impairs judgement and coordination and should not be in the blood system of someone in charge of a 4,000-lb. automobile. Or even a 20-lb. bicycle.

@Pachy In my experience it does not enhance inhibition. More likely to repress it.

I’m hungry. Anybody else interested in a road trip to Taco Bell?