#019: Faint Praise

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Can I ask why?

Pot is mood-altering and relaxing, yes. But crack is a far, far stronger drug. It can cause outright euphoria and is also much more of a stimulant. If she tries "not to think", using pot seems a bit weak to me.

Ok that is a logical deduction definately. There are much larger downsides to such a choice though. Not only it being highly addictive, the euphoria lasts on average 5 mins, compared to 3 - 4 hours.
Crack brings Loss of appetite, sleep, sexual functions/desires. While the mjuana has General societal acceptance and ease of access to such a thing...crack being a stimulant as opposed to an opiate would be very likely to increase unwanted thought processes. The dogma attached to everything not legal imposes definitions on those who do not choose to study. (Which is of course no fault of their own, only that of the society that raises and teaches.)

 

[Imp_Emissary]

As for the pot thing, that's one of the few good arguments against pot that I've heard.

Not enough to say it should be illegal while we can still go ape on shit like alcohol and cigarettes (so long as you're old enough), but that's a whole other thing.

I mean, the usual mind-blank of choice for most shut-ins I know is booze, not pot. You black out instead of just getting high, it's legal to anyone 21 or over, so it's easy to get a hold of, and as far as I know, it's easier to maintain drunkenness than a high.

What I meant was more that pot is used as a tool to help people avoid things (such as thinking about their problems or more importantly, facing them). Being used by shut-ins or not, that is bad.

I brought up alcohol and cigarettes because these are also used to avoid/alleviate stress (a lot of the time to the point of abuse), but are honestly more harmful to you than pot, yet still legal.

To sum it up, abusing pot to escape your problems is bad, but it is comparably less damaging than using other more legal substances.

 

[dangoball]

Damn, this one was heavy.
...
Me likey!

 

[FPLOON]

That punchline hit me in the gut...

Other than that, that was a rad thing Rad said back there...

 

[Fappy]

Can I ask why?

Pot is mood-altering and relaxing, yes. But crack is a far, far stronger drug. It can cause outright euphoria and is also much more of a stimulant. If she tries "not to think", using pot seems a bit weak to me.

I think pot works here considering my own anecdotal experience. I have friend who suffers from a chronic condition and uses pot to null the pain. He spends a majority of his day stoned, using it and video games/the internet to distract him from his own thoughts.

Depression's a hell of a thing.

 

[Darth_Payn]

And was that Radical Racoon about to admit that he's a Tanooki and not a Racoon? :3

He's a red panda. That's why his name is Rad Panda... You can see it on the TV screen in the second strip.
OT: Sergeant Dudebro here is showing a surprising depth of character, given that I figured he'd just be all "Yeah, woo, kill the aliens!" after he accidentally squished the sympathetic NPC.

Yeah, I'm liking Rad Panda and the Gunnery Sergeant more than Erin. Two different generations of video games working together to get little miss sour puss to snap out of it.

 

[Sixcess]

The decision not to use actual video game characters in EDA is really paying off. Rad can be his own character in a way that Sonic etc never could have been.

Great stuff. Loving this.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

I think pot works here considering my own anecdotal experience. I have friend who suffers from a chronic condition and uses pot to null the pain. He spends a majority of his day stoned, using it and video games/the internet to distract him from his own thoughts.

Depression's a hell of a thing.

Jep, pot kinda works. I've a hyperactive brain at night leading to such a fucked up sleep pattern that the doc examining my sleep-data asked the nurse if this was actually the correct file + data.

I totally hate the taste though, so i had to switch to pills.

The strip definitly hit home. :/

 

[HHammond]

Huh, I always found when I was feeling very depressed pot just made me whitey. Alcohol seems like a more logical choice although I know a fair few people who use pot as a crutch so it must differ from person to person. Furthermore Erin being too drunk to do anything would kind of kill the comic I guess.

Anyway, really enjoying the comic! I know you've received a fair amount of criticism from people saying it's either too different to Critical Miss or too similar, but I think it's great! I feel the last few strips especially have struck a great balance between humour and pathos. I don't know if your viewers have dropped at all cos of people complaining about the previously stated readers but this is undoubtably a far more "niche" comic and numbers get sacrificed I guess when you're doing it for the art.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

This Erin doesn't have anybody and that stings the most for me. Nobody checking up on her... I assume her only human contact is the one who sells her grass.

 

[alandavidson]

Dude. That hit me in the feels.

I love this comic.

 

[Arakasi]

Psssht, real social outcasts don't smoke pot.

 

[LenticularHomicide]

She didn't used to be like this.

Okay, I guess it's idiomatic usage, but part of me goes like my avatar does when I read the sudden shifting of tenses.

 

[Ylla]

Psssht, real social outcasts don't smoke pot.

Pss't how can you know? real social outcasts dont meet each other.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Last time she was lighting up, it was mentioned it's pot, not crack that she's smoking. While I don't have a lot of experience with pot, is that really something people do to forget or to stop thinking?
Honestly, her smoking crack would seem more appropriate to me at this point. But maybe I just don't know enough highly depressed, schizophrenic stoners.

Take how many people you know personally in life and figure out the percentage that number is in relation to the population of the world and you'll get an idea how little you know about people in general.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

This comic is relevant to my interests.... carry on.
And yes, oh man the feels.

 

[Kopikatsu]

As for the pot thing, that's one of the few good arguments against pot that I've heard.

Not enough to say it should be illegal while we can still go ape on shit like alcohol and cigarettes (so long as you're old enough), but that's a whole other thing.

I mean, the usual mind-blank of choice for most shut-ins I know is booze, not pot. You black out instead of just getting high, it's legal to anyone 21 or over, so it's easy to get a hold of, and as far as I know, it's easier to maintain drunkenness than a high.

What I meant was more that pot is used as a tool to help people avoid things (such as thinking about their problems or more importantly, facing them). Being used by shut-ins or not, that is bad.

I brought up alcohol and cigarettes because these are also used to avoid/alleviate stress (a lot of the time to the point of abuse), but are honestly more harmful to you than pot, yet still legal.

To sum it up, abusing pot to escape your problems is bad, but it is comparably less damaging than using other more legal substances.

They tried to made alcohol illegal in the US. It lead to the government poisoning industrial alcohol in a failed attempt to stop people from drinking it and people killing each other in the streets.

Alcohol is only legal because people will literally murder each other if it isn't.

 

[Demonjazz]

You guys have to remember that a lot of pot's effects vary very wildly from person to person. What one person uses pot for and what another person uses pot for is often very different.

 

[Arakasi]

Psssht, real social outcasts don't smoke pot.

Pss't how can you know? real social outcasts dont meet each other.

Being one helps in understanding one. But to tackle your point, yes they do. A social outcast can meet another social outcast in places where they're forced to interact (e.g. school).