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Comment by e40 | Hacker News Reader

You didn't list what you think the problem is.

The problem isn't listed because it viewed as self evident to some people. I'd list the problem of having high functional people who use marijuana everyday as:

A - MJ, while a mild drug, is still a drug, and it seems like people who use it everyday are addicts.

B - On the one hand I'm OK with people making their own decisions as to how they want to live their life, but on the other hand if we are talking about the type of society that we want to have, lots of people taking hallucinogens to get through the day doesn't exactly fit the image. Something seems wrong.

C - We don't really know the long term impacts of doing this. It is probably somewhat bad somehow, even if we don't know exactly how.

Small point, marijuana isn't a hallucinogen.

Fair point. It is psychoactive but not exactly a hallucinogen.

While it's generally true that it isn't, some strains may produce quite strong auditory and visual hallucinations for some users.

Recommendations?

Experiences produced by particular strain can vary wildly even for the same user, so it boils down to experimenting with different strains in different settings and finding out what works for you. Some users report that mixing strains of "haze" family tends to produce strong closed-eye visuals and mild open-eye ones.

If your vision is affected by visual snow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow) or you are prone to have noticeable phosphene images with closed eyes, then it may be sufficient to simply focus on them while being high. The drug will greatly amplify your natural "hallucinations", subjectively up to the level of mild dose of psylocibin or LSD. Of course, taking those classic psychedelics is a more reliable way to produce visuals, but they come with headspace which is quite different (and for some less desirable and comfortable) from weed-induced one.

The same focusing technique can work for monotonic sounds - it's quite amusing to observe how fridge's buzz turns into full-blown symphony :).

>The same focusing technique can work for monotonic sounds - it's quite amusing to observe how fridge's buzz turns into full-blown symphony :).

Ooooh yeah I would get that sometimes...crickets playing electronica, window screens playing bluegrass, and shower faucet playing heavy metal.

Why does using somehting everyday make you automatically an addict. Are really people who are prescribed and use anti-depressant addicts. I think its more similar than not.

Using alcohol everyday on the other hand, that can make you addicted in ways pot never can...

Yes, anti-depressants are addictive, and so is weed though to greater or lesser degrees, and in different ways.

You didn't really list any problems either

A society in which most people were walking around stoned, drunk or on hallucinogens is not consistent with what most people would consider a civic or moral society and the negative aspects wouldn't need 'explaining' as it would be self evident.

What are the civic virtues or moral precepts that you believe would have been infringed by such a society?

Show up drunk or stoned to your friends kid's birthday, to a wedding or a funeral, to work, to meetings with clients, to the DMV, to your parents Christmas meet-and-greet, to your kids school play, to the PTA meeting, and then ponder that and you'll have your answer.

If you live in US, it is quite likely that you're interacting with people who are under influence of some drug (usually cannabis) on a daily basis, without realizing that.

Nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol are all mind-altering drugs. It's just society has called those drugs ok.

I would like to have the kind of society that can accept cannabis has no more dangers than many other legal substances because that is the truth. We shouldn't restrict it simply because you feel like other people are addicts.

You're concerned some people might be addicts, I'm concerned that you're comfortable with the status quo of criminalization.

You are telling us you have an intuition that there are more dangers than meet the eye. That’s a valid intuition.

But you’re structuring your comments as if you have an argument and evidence, when you don’t. That’s confusing people and causing fights.

It’s ok to have speculative thoughts, just frame them as such and you’ll get higher quality conversation.

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