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thirdeyefish t1_j2bqe78 wrote

A perfect example of making something worse by trying to suit your definition of better.

332

doc_strange82 t1_j2br0r3 wrote

I was told this was where the whole "Marijuana leads to hard drugs" statement originated from.

Don't know if it's true.

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Hanginon t1_j2bsivu wrote

No, that BS was around long before then.

Source; I'm old as fuck, and that statement predates me by a lot.

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Quirtee t1_j2bt6rh wrote

Reefer madness

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rexter2k5 t1_j2cy2kw wrote

Reefer Madness is the greatest anti-anti-marijuana media piece ever. The difference between how they show people smoking weed and how people actually smoke weed is fucking hilarious.

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HansDeBaconOva t1_j2dwjmd wrote

The video where the guy takes a hit off a joint then gets the crazy eyes, gets out of his chair, turn you see him pick up a knife and move towards his wife always made me laugh. "Marijuana will make you go INSANE!

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The_Critical_Cynic OP t1_j2c567x wrote

I was thinking this had something to do with hemp farming for fabric way back in the 20's. They came out with all sorts of things to fight that I thought.

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Propyl_People_Ether t1_j2cfqs9 wrote

Paper, I believe - at least, that's why Hearst got into it, he had timber investments for that purpose.

I wonder sometimes how many old-growth trees would still be standing in the US if hemp had remained legal.

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Hanginon t1_j2c73b8 wrote

It was more like post prohibition, all the federal alphabet agencies needed a new boogeyman to -keep them in business- protect the public from.

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The_Critical_Cynic OP t1_j2dzbpd wrote

Got you. Still a long ass time ago.

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Hanginon t1_j2eeyey wrote

Yep. A funny thing is our perception of a timeline coincides with our age. At 21, 30 years ago seems like ancient history, at 60+, 30 years ago is 'not long ago'. We partially percieve time/history as a percentage of our existence.

The US had some serious drug problems in the populace way back in the late 19th century, Opiates were easily available and from post civil war to the turn of the century there were some serious addiciton issues in the US. Opium and morphine were over the counter drugs.

Then hemp/weed as a 'dangerous drug' only hit the federal lawbooks in the very late 1930's, after the repeal of prohibition.

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V6Ga t1_j2dokg2 wrote

Mother's milk is the ultimate gateway drug:

Every heroin addict who ever lived started on milk.

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boredinwisc t1_j2bosto wrote

My only surprise would be that heroin use wasn't already prevalent.

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The_Critical_Cynic OP t1_j2c517t wrote

The article cited does suggest that there was some usage. However, there was seemingly a spike after they went after the marijuana.

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Beginning_Draft9092 t1_j2d5omn wrote

It's not so odorless when people smoke it in the back of my metro bus while I'm just trying to get to work in the morning..

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rx_bandit90 t1_j2d095e wrote

They also became quite fond of doc's special k, so cant use that in the feild either apparently, armys a buzz kill

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lal0cur4 t1_j2evyfl wrote

But heroin isnt odorless, it's actually pretty pungent too

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-iniquity420 t1_j2fekas wrote

It smells like burnt hair mixed with another scent I can’t quite compare anything too

0

creggieb t1_j2cge5x wrote

Amongst soldiers with nothing to fight but boredom, heroin use, and production ran rampant

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Print_it_Mick t1_j2d5az5 wrote

I thought you were going to say it was supplied by the CIA

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jcooli09 t1_j2bz8kd wrote

Which proved that marijuana is a gateway drug.

  • Richard Nixon, probably.
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101Alexander t1_j2dcjp6 wrote

Takes the weed

Wonders how I got here

"Yep definitely a gateway or portal or something..."

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matbiskit t1_j2c6hvu wrote

Sounds like the war on drugs in a nutshell.

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Wraeys t1_j2c8fs9 wrote

Is he the same guy who wrote East of Eden? It's one of my favorites

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brodad12 t1_j2da0kd wrote

I read that last year and really liked it and haven't been able to find a book to stick since then.

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Wraeys t1_j2dcg0c wrote

I've been told to try Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men

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shane201 t1_j2dsp3x wrote

Cannery Row is a good read as well

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Plump_Apparatus t1_j2dx0h3 wrote

If your goal is to read Steinbeck and not be depressed afterwords, Cannery Row is a great read.

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Indigo_Sunset t1_j2exwmg wrote

>Even now, I know that I have savoured the hot taste of life

>Lifting green cups and gold at the great feast.

>Just for a small and a forgotten time

>I have had full in my eyes, from off my girl

>The whitest pouring of eternal light

For K, RIP.

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MayorScotch t1_j2du8hl wrote

You could read Of Mice and Men in 2-5 poops depending on your style.

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PM_CUPS_OF_TEA t1_j2fxhrn wrote

Style of reading or pooping? I skipped over a lot of the imagery, but poop pretty quickly

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zstandig t1_j2ckozf wrote

Military personnel took all sorts of crazy stuff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo_juice

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wegqg t1_j2dactw wrote

Lol I love three things about this:

The navy knew men were drinking it and added poison to deter them.

The crews worked out various ingenious ways to remove the poison.

And that the article ends with the recipe!

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5_on_the_floor t1_j2ck173 wrote

“Sam Stone” by John Prine comes to mind.

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blaireau69 t1_j2drueq wrote

Heartbreaking song. Played it last night. Ironically I'm currently taking prescribed morphine, post surgery.

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Prudent_Reindeer9627 t1_j2d44xe wrote

and the current government crackdown on Heroin is why Fentanyl is so prevalent..

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RaNdomMSPPro t1_j2dvz42 wrote

I think Oxy is the gateway drug to heroin and fentanyl. Government blessed and promoted.

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Prudent_Reindeer9627 t1_j2ed8fd wrote

Very unlikely that most of the current addicts all started with Oxy, specially given how government rules made doctors afraid of prescribing it even to those who really need it. It may have started that way ~15-20 years ago, but not anymore.

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nosnevenaes t1_j2bnlfr wrote

He knew where the red hair grew

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birdboix t1_j2duown wrote

The tradition lives on today thanks to the War on Drugs

Pot use sticks in your piss for a month

Cocaine sticks in your piss for mere hours

Take a wild guess which one is more popular than it should be thanks to piss testing requirements

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AnathemaMaranatha t1_j2dz7yk wrote

>TIL John Steinbeck IV wrote an article in January 1968 about marijuana usage among the troops.

Welp, THAT explains a lot.

I was the designated CBR officer (Chemical Biological Radiological) for my artillery battalion in early 1968 at Fort Carson. Apparently, there was a shortage of pot or maybe it just stank too much, so the young soldiers were looking elsewhere for yayas.

Anyway, I had to give a speech to each battery. I wrote it up eight years ago, and posted it here: CBR

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Fast_Polaris22 t1_j2debmw wrote

Apparently, fighting in Vietnam, for many, required doing drugs as a coping mechanism just to get thru it,

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The_Critical_Cynic OP t1_j2e01fp wrote

Given the mental states of some of the people who came back, I could understand how one would be tempted to self medicate.

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jubular t1_j2dgnfh wrote

My friends Dad got hooked on heroin in Vietnam. He is also a lifelong alcoholic. He said he would take out the trash in his barracks or whatever and would fill the bottom of the trashcan with ice and beer so he could sneak cold ones throughout the day.

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blaireau69 t1_j2dryq1 wrote

There's a hole in daddy's arm, where all the money goes...

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doomgiver98 t1_j2d5h4z wrote

Sounds like a resounding success?

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Ashiro t1_j2dmh4y wrote

Smoked heroin isn't odourless. It smells like...'flowers'. Specifically poppies.

I didn't think it smelled either until I quit a few years back and someone walked into the pharmacy. BOOF - the smell coming off them was intense. I looked around expecting people to notice but no one did.

If you've done heroin you'd recognise the smell.

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Gargomon251 t1_j2e6j28 wrote

I thought heroin was injected not smoked

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Ashiro t1_j2e73w9 wrote

It can be smoked off foil. When its done off foil it's called "chasing the dragon".

You use a straw to inhale the vapour/smoke trail as the heroin dissolves into a liquid.

Although when you inject you have to cook the heroin in a spoon with lemon juice so it may still give off a smell.

Apparently US heroin is laced with fentanyl so the smell may not be as common in the US. In the UK it's all pure Afghan, Turkish or Pakistani heroin.

Wooowee saying that just caused my first craving for heroin in years. Nope!

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Gargomon251 t1_j2e79cc wrote

I thought chasing the dragon was just a metaphor for getting high. I didn't know it was a specific thing.

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V6Ga t1_j2doeto wrote

And later when they tested for both those, everyone switched to LSD.

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jacobsonjohn287 t1_j2dcahn wrote

Also doesn't last as lomg in the system.

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bicameral_mind t1_j2fb89h wrote

I've often thought you could apply this lesson to drug abuse patterns in the United States resulting from the criminalization of marijuana. I'll never argue that weed isn't addictive or can't have negative personal and social consequences, but they are minor compared to pretty much every other drug. One wonders if, as more people use marijuana in an increasingly tolerant and legal environment, substance abuse of other more dangerous drugs won't decline.

Alcohol has never been a good substitute for the more euphoric nature of most illegal drugs. Weed is definitely in that euphoric wheelhouse though, so I can see a lot of people who might have otherwise tried or used more dangerous drugs being satisfied with weed, as well as learning something about their own abuse risk profile with a far safer drug.

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defiantcross t1_j2fccw6 wrote

wow the opening scene of Pineapple Express was actually somewhat true lol

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egregiouscodswallop t1_j2dxqgo wrote

Another Steinbeck work that caused way more pain than necessary. The primary work being Grapes of Wrath

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Captcha_Imagination t1_j2dodtt wrote

He was the son of the guy who wrote Grapes of Wrath. From literary giant to stoolie in one generation.

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rulesofnature_are t1_j2clc4u wrote

I hear heroin is great. Weed's pretty f n weird for me

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Scout-59 t1_j2cd3s2 wrote

News flash, they were already using heroin. It is a crock of bs to say they switched to heroin because it "did not smell". That makes absolutely zero sense.

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