Sexual Harassment Panda said:
I don't wish to deny anyone anything, and I never once passed judgement on anyone who smokes...I smoke. But I've never used a vaporizer, and never met anyone who owns one...so I have most likely been doing myself damage...I also eat too much sugar, but that isn't entirely relevent other than as an example of me not thinking that things that are potentially harmful...aren't worthwhile.
Maybe I'm not the most informed on the cutting edge methods of use, but at least I'm not guilty of the "you're with us, or against us!" mentality that has been directed at me, simply for not being willing to say that smoking weed is entirely without consequence. It's childish...
I'll admit that an adversarial stance on the issue isn't healthy, but for the most part, stoners are very live-and-let-live until someone starts persecuting them. Also, vaporizer technology is something that a lot of my "smoke weed err'day" friends are still impressed by, because it generally doesn't get a lot of exposure. That, and they're generally a lot more complex and expensive than a bong, pipe, or rolling papers. They're usually only for people who are aware of how much cannabis they consume, how it could potentially effect their health (I won't argue that inhaling smoke means ingesting carcinogens), and adjust accordingly... even if vaporizers do have a plethora of other benefits outside of health-related matters.
On a semi-related tangent, I think it bears pointing out that all the "because you're too stupid to live a good life" reactions that incite such adversarial reactions in this thread are a direct result of some of the more recent anti-cannabis campaigns, which appeal directly to one's ego. When you tell people that a substance is evil, that's generally going to elicit the same jaded "heard that one before. Guess I won't do it, but I don't feel very strongly on the issue at all, and might even find out for myself what it's really like if given ample opportunity" reaction as could be expected. However, someone in charge of turning people against cannabis realized that if you tell people that not doing something makes them better than someone else, they've got a reason to cling to the idea (for reference, see the "above the influence" campaign where all drug users are painted with the black-and-white morality brush as the "bad guys", and the people that don't are paragons of humanity and an example of heroism to all). If you give people a sense of pride for simply not doing something, you're going to have people all too happy to preach on matters they have no real knowledge of. Hence, the "straight edge" movement, where it's not enough for people to simply decide not to enjoy intoxicating substances, but to make an annoying, overbearing lifestyle out of it, as well.
I don't know if you've ever had to deal with these people, but they are fucking
tiresome to deal with, as it's the same as any other situation where you would try to reason with someone who is completely convinced that they're superior to you, regardless of whatever logic you throw at them in retaliation. They give unsolicited opinions on why they're better than you, and generally need to get the fuck over themselves and stop patting themselves on the back for making a personal choice that isn't really an answer to anything. They're smug, condescending, all too happy to list every last reason why you should strive to be as amazing as they are, and overly willing to tell you about how they're convinced that they're all in on some big secret to life that everybody else hasn't been intelligent enough to catch on to.
These people give all sorts of hollow, often-fallacious arguments as to why cannabis is evil. As a result, when an argument is presented based on their familiar mode of logic, it's only natural to get assume that you're dealing with one of those people and to become very defensive, and very pissy. You, obviously, are not one of those people, but unless you go out of your way to point this out, people are going to assume the worst of you and become passive-aggressive, at best.
