Why Are Stoners Typically Depicted as Stupid?

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

That is one incredibly weak argument against drugs. They hurt you so they are bad? Therefore any contact sport like rugby, football, boxing, ultimate fighting competition etc should be banned as well yeah? Weak-minded fools playing a sport that could potentially injure them for life, possibly kill them, just for the sheer pleasure of playing their preferred sport. Why is there no choice? If people were allowed to smoke pot there would be nothing forcing you to start smoking it, so why are you so against others getting high?

Not speaking for the last poster, but I'm against other people getting high because there's a lot more useful and/or fulfilling things that people can do than getting high. If someone wants to spend their days slouched on the couch and not doing shit because they're stoned, I think that's a pretty fucking big waste of your life. I consider those things harmful to your health actually living life. I don't consider turning your brain off to really be living it.
By doing drugs, you're skipping the real point in living. Sure, boxing or playing football might release those same chemicals into your brain, but when you're just sticking them into yourself, life becomes utterly meaningless.

Jesus, I'm so glad the government had the wisdom to step in, tell us what the official meaning of life is, and tell us that doing it any way but their way is illegal, even if your way harms nobody at all. I'm sorry if you don't like the idea of people not validating the effort you put into your physical activities, but who are you to tell people what it is that they should be living for? You pushing your lifestyle on others and claiming that you're superior to them because of it is the equivalent of being hounded by a heroin junkie that insists that you haven't experienced all there is to life until you've shot up with him. I don't care how healthy or morally superior your activities of choice are, at the end of the day, you're still trying to force your values on others.

Now, if you want to be a snob on your own time, go for it. I'll enthusiastically tune you out. However, there is no way that anybody can justify the government claiming the government keeps cannabis illegal because they're looking out for our best interests. Cigarettes and alcohol are proven to be incredibly lethal, but the government allows the sale of those because they get to tax the hell out of them, and claims that all the money they're lifting from your pockets and putting into the renovation of a politician's third vacation home is to "discourage you". Meanwhile, the government says cannabis should be illegal because they're getting insane amounts of lobbying money on behalf of pharmaceutical companies who are afraid that their synthetic (and often very deadly; look up the overdose rates for prescription painkillers), expensive medications are going to be made obsolete. There's also pressure from Mexico's government on the American government to keep cannabis illegal, because they're afraid of what the drug cartels are going to turn to doing once they can no longer make a profit from taking advantage of ridiculous laws.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

I can honestly say that I've never met an intelligent stoner.

 

[bobknowsall]

Because stoned behaviour is not intelligent behaviour, perhaps?

 

[Yoshemo]

Because succumbing to the temptation of drugs is a sure sign of a weak mind and will.

And because people aren't exactly in their most clever state when they are high:

This.
Can't people just be happy without shoving poison in their blood 24/7?

Why is it weak minded to challenge the moral barriers created by goverments?
IMO, its weaker just to accept what you're told.

Its not weak minded to challenge the standards of society. I'm a gay rights activist, a Libertarian, and an Atheist myself.
Drugs are for weak minded fools because most people do them to be more popular, to be rebellious, or to escape reality. Drugs, including Pot, have serious side effects and damage your health and/or mental capacity. Pot causes cancer, kills many brain cells, and is addicting.
Drugs hurt you so they are bad

That is one incredibly weak argument against drugs. They hurt you so they are bad? Therefore any contact sport like rugby, football, boxing, ultimate fighting competition etc should be banned as well yeah? Weak-minded fools playing a sport that could potentially injure them for life, possibly kill them, just for the sheer pleasure of playing their preferred sport. Why is there no choice? If people were allowed to smoke pot there would be nothing forcing you to start smoking it, so why are you so against others getting high?

Cutting yourself also has its uses. But its bad because it hurts you. Same with suicide and seeing how long you can hold your hand on a hot stove

Yes and i'm saying I see no difference in playing sport or cutting yourself. Not that i'm going to run off and start cutting myself, i'm fairly certain I wouldn't enjoy that. But others might, who knows? There are some strange people in the world. I find it slightly ridiculous though that just because you don't enjoy something that's bad for you, it somehow gives you an imaginary right to tell people that they are not allowed to do it.

You also misunderstand the concept of "bad". It's not specifically things that hurt you but things that hurt you when you don't intend them to hurt you. In that sense, being run over when you don't notice the car coming, yes that's bad. Pumping drugs into your system when fully aware of the concequences, that's fine by me.

Because you don't try to get hurt in sports. Thats why we have shoulder pads and helmets for football, helmets for baseball, and gloves and tooth guards for boxing. With drugs and cutting yourself, there's no way to avoid physical damage.
Drugs can and will hurt people when they use them. Thats why its bad.

What? You don't try and hurt yourself when you smoke weed and smoking weed consistently still doesn't mean a certainty of damage from the drug, merely raises your chances of harm. Much like sport where the more you play, the more likely you are to get injured.

Also, in rugby there is no padding, in UFC there is no padding, should we ban those?

Pot smoke has cancer causing chemicals and causes brain cells to die. Whether people smoke it to get hurt or not doesn't change the fact that they will get hurt by it. And the sport excuse doesn't matter

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

And my 2nd cousin died last year of a brain tumor. The doctors told us it was caused by him smoking weed so much. So yes, weed has directly killed somebody

If that were true, I'm sure that would have been brought up as an important medical discovery regarding the harmful effects of cannabis. Whether that's just the doctor talking out of their ass, or unreliable second-hand information you got from your parents to scare you away from drugs, is irrelevant, as that would be really important and would be used as the flagship argument against "cannabis has never killed anyone". In other words, it wouldn't have flown under the radar; we would've heard about it.

 

[Odbarc]

Everyone I've ever met that was on drugs also happened to be really stupid.
I blame the drugs. I've never seen a genius doing drugs recreationally.
And I don't need an example of someone who isn't a dumbass with a joint in their mouth.

Lindsay Lohan is a good example of being stupid and on drugs.

I think another part is that the typical stereotype is for characters who use drugs a lot. Not just 'once in a while' as most marijuana users think to themselves is a really good amount to use without feeling guilty they're using drugs at all.

 

[s0denone]

You read way too far into that, needlessly defensive I would say.

But anyway, I'll play. Weed smoke contains many of the same cancer causing compounds that tobacco smoke does, often in higher concentrations. This is a pointless argument seeing as I didn't actually pick a side, and we're only conversing now because you are tetchy, defensive, and seemingly looking to be offended...but if you think it isn't harmful you're lying to yourself.

No it doesn't.

If you mix your weed with tobacco, then yes.

If you don't, then no.

If you think weed causes cancer in the same way tobacco does, you're lying to yourself.

 

[Yoshemo]

And my 2nd cousin died last year of a brain tumor. The doctors told us it was caused by him smoking weed so much. So yes, weed has directly killed somebody

If that were true, I'm sure that would have been brought up as an important medical discovery regarding the harmful effects of cannabis. Whether that's just the doctor talking out of their ass, or unreliable second-hand information you got from your parents to scare you away from drugs, is irrelevant, as that would be really important and would be used as the flagship argument against "cannabis has never killed anyone". In other words, it wouldn't have flown under the radar; we would've heard about it.

Tobacco companies said the same thing when smokers died from lung cancer

 

[Low Key]

Most people who do drugs are...well, generally stupid, mostly because they also tend to be criminals (as in violent crimes, theft, etc.). I'm talking about all drugs though, not just marijuana. It sucks to be smart, successful, and law abiding (aside from drug usage) because that's just the way it is. You just kinda have to deal with it.

Pot smoke has cancer causing chemicals and causes brain cells to die. Whether people smoke it to get hurt or not doesn't change the fact that they will get hurt by it. And the sport excuse doesn't matter

Yes, smoking it can harm your body, but vaporizing it or eating it will not since there is zero tar or carcinogens involved.

 

[Blue_vision]

I never said it was the only way. Yes, those other things may be just as effective or even more so, however, that's no reason to stop getting high. I also never said that that was the only reason I smoked it. I enjoy smoking weed, it calms me down, it makes me happy, it makes me laugh, it makes me buzzed, so it may eventually come back to harm me? I accept that, just as the sportsmen who step into the boxing ring, the rugby field, the football field, all accept that their bodies may be destroyed beyond use.

Okay, then I'll accept that you personally think that's right for you. I may have the scientific advantage that you may be unaware of your true circumstances, but I won't. Instead, just know that I think that if you're going to be doped up all the time, it's a huge waste of your life rather than taking those more active and meaningful pathways to solving your problems. I can not personally fathom someone smoking weed feeling the same emotion that you'd feel scoring the winning goal in football or sitting outside and trying to connect with your inner self.

And that's not even talking about what I sense is a majority of stoners that just smoke a bunch of weed because they're bored. Good for you if you've actually been able to do something with your doped up life RRH, but I personally don't know any stoners that one would call successful, let alone notable. And I think that reflects a broader trend that's probably a combination that weed attracts people likely to not do shit and/or low in the intel department, and that weed does make you dumber. Maybe just while you're under the effects of it, but the definition of a stoner is someone who's constantly looking for that high.

 

[Red Right Hand]

Because succumbing to the temptation of drugs is a sure sign of a weak mind and will.

And because people aren't exactly in their most clever state when they are high:

This.
Can't people just be happy without shoving poison in their blood 24/7?

Why is it weak minded to challenge the moral barriers created by goverments?
IMO, its weaker just to accept what you're told.

Its not weak minded to challenge the standards of society. I'm a gay rights activist, a Libertarian, and an Atheist myself.
Drugs are for weak minded fools because most people do them to be more popular, to be rebellious, or to escape reality. Drugs, including Pot, have serious side effects and damage your health and/or mental capacity. Pot causes cancer, kills many brain cells, and is addicting.
Drugs hurt you so they are bad

That is one incredibly weak argument against drugs. They hurt you so they are bad? Therefore any contact sport like rugby, football, boxing, ultimate fighting competition etc should be banned as well yeah? Weak-minded fools playing a sport that could potentially injure them for life, possibly kill them, just for the sheer pleasure of playing their preferred sport. Why is there no choice? If people were allowed to smoke pot there would be nothing forcing you to start smoking it, so why are you so against others getting high?

Cutting yourself also has its uses. But its bad because it hurts you. Same with suicide and seeing how long you can hold your hand on a hot stove

Yes and i'm saying I see no difference in playing sport or cutting yourself. Not that i'm going to run off and start cutting myself, i'm fairly certain I wouldn't enjoy that. But others might, who knows? There are some strange people in the world. I find it slightly ridiculous though that just because you don't enjoy something that's bad for you, it somehow gives you an imaginary right to tell people that they are not allowed to do it.

You also misunderstand the concept of "bad". It's not specifically things that hurt you but things that hurt you when you don't intend them to hurt you. In that sense, being run over when you don't notice the car coming, yes that's bad. Pumping drugs into your system when fully aware of the concequences, that's fine by me.

Because you don't try to get hurt in sports. Thats why we have shoulder pads and helmets for football, helmets for baseball, and gloves and tooth guards for boxing. With drugs and cutting yourself, there's no way to avoid physical damage.
Drugs can and will hurt people when they use them. Thats why its bad.

What? You don't try and hurt yourself when you smoke weed and smoking weed consistently still doesn't mean a certainty of damage from the drug, merely raises your chances of harm. Much like sport where the more you play, the more likely you are to get injured.

Also, in rugby there is no padding, in UFC there is no padding, should we ban those?

Pot smoke has cancer causing chemicals and causes brain cells to die. Whether people smoke it to get hurt or not doesn't change the fact that they will get hurt by it. And the sport excuse doesn't matter

It's not actually been proven that it causes brain cells to die. Yes though, you're right, it is harmful, the tar in the marijuana can cause lung and throat problems. My point which i've repeated many times and is one that you have failed to respond to, is what right do you have to tell me that I can't do something harmful to myself? I don't smoke it near people so even the second-hand smoke argument is null and void. The only person affected by this is me.

EDIT: Also, maybe it's not clear in my last post, but while it may be harmful, the point of smoking weed is not to harm yourself but to get high. A worthwhile risk in my opinion, maybe not everyones opinion but it's my opinion.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Pot smoke has cancer causing chemicals and causes brain cells to die. Whether people smoke it to get hurt or not doesn't change the fact that they will get hurt by it.

But anyway, I'll play. Weed smoke contains many of the same cancer causing compounds that tobacco smoke does, often in higher concentrations.

You're right, there's absolutely no way to consume cannabis in a way that isn't even remotely detrimental to your health.

Oh, wait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporizer

 

[superbatranger]

From what I can personally tell, the reason stoners are depicted in such a way in popular media is not only because it's funny(People find stoner comedies..well..funny), but also because people would probably react negatively if drug users were portrayed in a positive light. I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but there would be those who say, "Hey, you can't do that! That's promoting drug use, and that's wrong!" On top of that, there would be people who, upon seeing this portrayal of stoners acting intelligent, would think, "Wow! Smoking pot makes you smart! I'm gonna buy some weed and get high right now!" because..they can't think for themselves. This, of course, would lead to an increase in drug use, making the same people who said it was wrong to say, "See? Now everyone's getting stoned!"

 

[Yoshemo]

Because succumbing to the temptation of drugs is a sure sign of a weak mind and will.

And because people aren't exactly in their most clever state when they are high:

This.
Can't people just be happy without shoving poison in their blood 24/7?

Why is it weak minded to challenge the moral barriers created by goverments?
IMO, its weaker just to accept what you're told.

Its not weak minded to challenge the standards of society. I'm a gay rights activist, a Libertarian, and an Atheist myself.
Drugs are for weak minded fools because most people do them to be more popular, to be rebellious, or to escape reality. Drugs, including Pot, have serious side effects and damage your health and/or mental capacity. Pot causes cancer, kills many brain cells, and is addicting.
Drugs hurt you so they are bad

That is one incredibly weak argument against drugs. They hurt you so they are bad? Therefore any contact sport like rugby, football, boxing, ultimate fighting competition etc should be banned as well yeah? Weak-minded fools playing a sport that could potentially injure them for life, possibly kill them, just for the sheer pleasure of playing their preferred sport. Why is there no choice? If people were allowed to smoke pot there would be nothing forcing you to start smoking it, so why are you so against others getting high?

Cutting yourself also has its uses. But its bad because it hurts you. Same with suicide and seeing how long you can hold your hand on a hot stove

Yes and i'm saying I see no difference in playing sport or cutting yourself. Not that i'm going to run off and start cutting myself, i'm fairly certain I wouldn't enjoy that. But others might, who knows? There are some strange people in the world. I find it slightly ridiculous though that just because you don't enjoy something that's bad for you, it somehow gives you an imaginary right to tell people that they are not allowed to do it.

You also misunderstand the concept of "bad". It's not specifically things that hurt you but things that hurt you when you don't intend them to hurt you. In that sense, being run over when you don't notice the car coming, yes that's bad. Pumping drugs into your system when fully aware of the concequences, that's fine by me.

Because you don't try to get hurt in sports. Thats why we have shoulder pads and helmets for football, helmets for baseball, and gloves and tooth guards for boxing. With drugs and cutting yourself, there's no way to avoid physical damage.
Drugs can and will hurt people when they use them. Thats why its bad.

What? You don't try and hurt yourself when you smoke weed and smoking weed consistently still doesn't mean a certainty of damage from the drug, merely raises your chances of harm. Much like sport where the more you play, the more likely you are to get injured.

Also, in rugby there is no padding, in UFC there is no padding, should we ban those?

Pot smoke has cancer causing chemicals and causes brain cells to die. Whether people smoke it to get hurt or not doesn't change the fact that they will get hurt by it. And the sport excuse doesn't matter

It's not actually been proven that it causes brain cells to die. Yes though, you're right, it is harmful, the tar in the marijuana can cause lung and throat problems. My point which i've repeated many times and is one that you have failed to respond to, is what right do you have to tell me that I can't do something harmful to myself? I don't smoke it near people so even the second-hand smoke argument is null and void. The only person affected by this is me.

EDIT: Also, maybe it's not clear in my last post, but while it may be harmful, the point of smoking weed is not to harm yourself but to get high. A worthwhile risk in my opinion, maybe not everyones opinion but it's my opinion.

Its not my right to tell you not to do it. It is my right to say you're an idiot for sacrificing your life and health for a temporary feeling you could get from many other non-harmful things

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

And my 2nd cousin died last year of a brain tumor. The doctors told us it was caused by him smoking weed so much. So yes, weed has directly killed somebody

If that were true, I'm sure that would have been brought up as an important medical discovery regarding the harmful effects of cannabis. Whether that's just the doctor talking out of their ass, or unreliable second-hand information you got from your parents to scare you away from drugs, is irrelevant, as that would be really important and would be used as the flagship argument against "cannabis has never killed anyone". In other words, it wouldn't have flown under the radar; we would've heard about it.

Tobacco companies said the same thing when smokers died from lung cancer

If that's true, it obviously isn't any matter of consequence, because when unbiased studies were performed, it was proved that cigarette smoke does kill people. Unfortunately, any similar, unbiased evidence pertaining to cannabis in favor of the idea that cannabis kills people, has never been produced. An instance such as yours would spark massive investigations, as it is contrary to all the studies that have been performed, and would incite further testing. Besides, a doctor that had found a conclusive correlation between your cousin's brain tumor and marijuana would run absolutely wild with it in a bid to become famous for being the doctor that proved the exception to the rule. Clearly... that didn't happen.

 

[Artina89]

Then again, I live in Leeds which, last time I checked, wasn't exactly a bastion of intelligence anyway.

Yeah, I come from Leeds as well so I can vouch for that comment

OT: My parents live next door to a guy who smokes weed on a fairly regular basis and he is pretty stupid, but quite a few other people I know that could be described as stoners and are very intelligent, they just didn't care about their GCSE's enough and ended up cutting classes and not showing up for their exams and stuff, so as a result, they got crappy grades and now most of them are "between jobs", but I suppose that shouldn't really be attributed solely to their drug intake, their personality and outlook on life probably take some kind of effect as well. I don't smoke weed myself, but I aint gonna judge anyone who smokes it, its up to them really, as long as they don't force me to do it.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

You read way too far into that, needlessly defensive I would say.

But anyway, I'll play. Weed smoke contains many of the same cancer causing compounds that tobacco smoke does, often in higher concentrations. This is a pointless argument seeing as I didn't actually pick a side, and we're only conversing now because you are tetchy, defensive, and seemingly looking to be offended...but if you think it isn't harmful you're lying to yourself.

No it doesn't.

If you mix your weed with tobacco, then yes.

If you don't, then no.

If you think weed causes cancer in the same way tobacco does, you're lying to yourself.

http://lungcancer.about.com/od/causesoflungcance1/f/marijuana.htm

I don't have a problem with anyone smoking, I used to get enjoyment out of it myself. But claiming that there are no adverse effects is pretty silly, it may not be as harmful as tobacco or alcohol(and it is hypocritical for it still to be illegal)but holding smoke in your lungs isn't good for them.

 

[ilion]

Theres a difference between intelligence and wisdom. I have tried some in college, I mean... some drugs really expand your perceptions, but to me it felt forced, like using binoculars all the time to see better. I am more focused and stronger when iam sober.

 

[Yoshemo]

And my 2nd cousin died last year of a brain tumor. The doctors told us it was caused by him smoking weed so much. So yes, weed has directly killed somebody

If that were true, I'm sure that would have been brought up as an important medical discovery regarding the harmful effects of cannabis. Whether that's just the doctor talking out of their ass, or unreliable second-hand information you got from your parents to scare you away from drugs, is irrelevant, as that would be really important and would be used as the flagship argument against "cannabis has never killed anyone". In other words, it wouldn't have flown under the radar; we would've heard about it.

Tobacco companies said the same thing when smokers died from lung cancer

If that's true, it obviously isn't any matter of consequence, because when unbiased studies were performed, it was proved that cigarette smoke does kill people. Unfortunately, any similar, unbiased evidence pertaining to cannabis in favor of the idea that cannabis kills people, has never been produced. An instance such as yours would spark massive investigations, as it is contrary to all the studies that have been performed, and would incite further testing. Besides, a doctor that had found a conclusive correlation between your cousin's brain tumor and marijuana would run absolutely wild with it in a bid to become famous for being the doctor that proved the exception to the rule. Clearly... that didn't happen.

It could be common knowledge in the medical community. Theres a reason doctors say its not good for you. But he did say it, in my presence

 

[7ru7h]

I think the problem is people are confusing the idea of stupid.
Was John Lennon stupid?
Were Bob Dylan or Jimmi Hendrix?

Hendrix took 9 of a sleeping pill that you typically take a half of one, I love the guy...but that's less than smart if you don't want to die.

OT: Exaggeration is the easiest way to flesh out a character, especially for comedic purposes.

Last I checked, spending your money on addictive, illegal substances isn't a sign of intelligence.

Well, first of all, pot isn't addictive. You may develop a psychological craving for the drug, but it is not addictive. As for the second bit of that (illegal substance), there are other substances out there that are even more addictive and worse for you (see tobacco and alcohol). If anything, it would make more sense to waste your money on the non-addictive, mind-altering illegal substance, rather than spending money on actually addictive substances that will give you many more problems quicker.

weed kills your brains cells which has for consequence the effect of making you stupid, simple as.

Source? Because I would love to see the proof that pot kills braincells (kinda like alcohol does - but wait, that doesn't count because it's ok since it is legal), especially since they have done studies that say that pot can slow the advance of Alzheimer's (that's the funky disease that kills your brain cells, and destroys your memory)

Neither directly kill brain cells, but that's not to say that they both can't lead to problems.

That's not exactly true. I have seen no evidence that comes close to saying that pot as brain damaging effects (and I've seen a lot of stuff in the news about the positive effects that pot can have on your brain), but there is scientific proof that alcohol kills brain cells (by starving the brain of oxygen IIRC).

Sure, alcohol and pot can lead to problems, but the negative effects of the two substances are in two entirely different leagues