"even that stuff is pretty nasty to the fantastic synapses of a healthy brain."

That's just so much Reefer Madness bullcrap. People say that if you smoke weed your short-term memory gets all messed up. Well let me tell you, I smoked dope for years, all through HS, College and my years as a musician. Dude, I could tell you stories about the road and unbelievable chicks and parties. We used to do speed to stay up and smoke weed to get mellow. Man, those were the days and we used to...

Shit, I was trying to make a point here, and now I can't remember where I was going with this...

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

some things you might want to consider:

- do you or does your family have an addictive personality?

- can you guarantee the drugs are sufficiently clean and are what they are supposed to be?

- does your family have a history of physchological disorders? if so, be careful of amphetamines, ecstacy etc. my family does, and close relations have had serious problems from bad trips on mushrooms or acid

Elwood,

Fantastic point. Thanks for the correction. Perhaps I meant to say "elitist"? ;)

I have to agree about the Reefer Madness crap, the truth is, and studies have shown, that the "fantastic synapses" are increased by quite a large magnitude. That is where the psychological dependence likely comes from, and it's really no wonder the stuff is associated with artists, as the explosion of synapses creates a broader understanding of whatever your mind has it's concsiousness focused on.

It does "mess up" short-term memory, however, that is where it's power lies. (A Zen Parable)
A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. "It's overfull! No more will go in!" the professor blurted. "You are like this cup," the master replied, "How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup."

"Man, those were the days and we used to... "

Yep, I remember those days. Which proves that the killer weed doesn't cause memory loss after all.

There's a lot of interesting reading on Marijuana on webmd.com. Here are some of my faves:

Heavy Pot Use Lowers IQ (but read the whole article)

..."But among light users (fewer than five joints a week), researchers found gains in IQ scores of about 5.8 points. Former users and non-users also had slight increases in their scores -- of 3.5 and 2.6, respectively."

http://my.webmd.com/...56-A91C-9531713CA348}

I suggest anyone intersted in weed read a bunch of articles on webmd.com. It might surprise you.

...there's lots of good information on drugs on the internet.

In my books, avoid anything addictive - opiates, cocaine, meth, etc.

Pot really isn't all that bad, and there are ways to avoid smoking it - such as tea or brownies. These tend to have the nasty side effect of making you less able to moderate your intake and so the tradeoff is that instead of melting your lungs you end up melting your face.

A little bit of weed never killed anyone, including some Olympic athletes. We think they are super healthy vice free humans, when they are just like us, recreational drugs included.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with very moderate use of anything. Some people like to have a beer once in a while, some like to have something else.

MUSHROOMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reefer is...damn, I forgot what I was going to say.

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Everbody looks good at the starting line.

"Yep, I remember those days. Which proves that the killer weed doesn't cause memory loss after all."

Sure, but how accurately do you remember them? Besides, it's the short-term memory that is the most vulnerable. I think that's why I have so much trouble remembering passwords and logons!!

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

Question for all (sorry CE - you were last on the list): who remembers getting high for practice in HS and college? seemed to work wonders for hard workouts and on long slow runs back then, but I don't know if I'd like it now. Anyone else use this "training aid" in the past? any still do?

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_________
kangaroo -- please do not read or respond to any of my posts

Did a canyon ride last summer a little baked (above a road closure - no traffic). Never again. It's a pretty easy, quick ride but it seemed to drag on FOREVER.

"THC is heat released"?

I dunno about that. I've had some pretty good times eating dope over the years. Doesn't make ya smell like a stoner and doesn't affect my eyes and is generally a smoother buzz. Harder to regulate your intake however, since it takes a while to kick in.

I don't claim I've given up such habits, it's just a really long time since I've actually taken any drugs other than booze. Even booze is getting less used, except to celebrate after big races and to inspire dancing like an epileptic!

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

It's not the weed. You're just getting old.

; )

I used to be a cop, and one of my areas of specialization was narcotics ... so, my advice is probably self-evident: unless you can stand the potential legal consequences, 'just say no.'

But if you are willing to take the admittedly minimal risk of getting caught by Johnny Law, here's the common knowledge for each:

MJ: few if any long term effects for infrequent users. Might be addictive for some, leading to depression, paranoia, etc. Emphysema, lung cancer etc.

meth: stay far away. This is a very dangerous and addictive drug. Too many side effects to list -- extreme paranoia, psychotic fits, personality disorders. etc. Very very bad.

MDMA (XTC): Short term infrequent use probably has few if any long term effects. But frequent protracted use permanently alters brain chemistry by suppressing dopamine levels. Can lead to altered personality, sleep disorders, and depression. Supposedly there have documented XTC deaths relating to hyper-hydration.

LSD: Possible permanent brain damage. Psychologically addictive. Mania, psychotic fits. fugue states. Do you trust the chemist who cooked it up?

Jan tested positive for amphetamines, which I think were found to be XTC. 'Meth' and amphetamines are not the same thing.

Moral and political arguments aside, why would you even consider taking something?

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*****
"In case of flood climb to safety"

"It's not the weed. You're just getting old."

True dat! I was just thinking about that lovely young lady whose pictures Tom was showing, and I realized that she is probably younger than my daughter. Then I thought again and I realized that she is undoubtedly younger than my daughter, and probably almost young enough to date my grandson...

[sigh]

Anybody seen my teethe?

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

"Moral and political arguments aside, why would you even consider taking something?"

Uh, did not read anything you just wrote?

kidding.

I won't admit to anything I did back then. Heard the same thing when I was in college . . . just once or twice can't hurt. I do have 2 words for you: Lenny Bias.

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under-trained and over-tapered. . . .yet still hopeful . . . does that make me an optimist or a masochist?

There are definitely worse things for you than smoking some weed, take, for example, our air here in lovely Salt Lake City (we get these horrible inversions in the winter where the mountains trap all the pollution in the valley). It's hard to imagine that anything could be worse for you than a couple hours on the bike breathing this shit.

[reply]"I find a bit of comfort in hearing that not everyone here is as uptight/narcissistic/type-A-personalitied-out as it sometimes appears."

DUDE!! Type As are the prototypical druggies!! We don't do ANYTHING just a little bit. Stop and think for a minute - what's the difference between a person who would stick a needle in their arm, smoke hashish, drop acid, snort coke, have sex simultaneoulsy with three women and ride a motorcyle at 110 mph without a helmet and a guy who would swim/bike/run 140.6 in the same day?

A- About ten years...[/reply]

Ah...I see I have a comrade! I did my first IM at 12 years clean and sober.

To answer the initial question - just stay away from the base! I was fine till I got a whiff of that sh*t.

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Elivis needs boats.

LOL

Thanks Cousin! This one goes into my collection of favorite quotes!



Sindre