Are the warnings about some drugs that we learn in school over the top at all?

Question

I'm just curious while i was in elementary school they told us how bad pot is and everything. Now that i'm in high school it seems as if almost everyone does it. The people who do do it are still normal people, they didn't die after they did it, it didn't make them stupid or anything because some of the people who do do pot are smarter than me, does anybody else feel this way, are the things they tell you about drugs just supposed to scare u from not doing them???

Answer 1

The intention of any warning is to advise you of a potentially dangerous situation, not just the ones about drugs.
Many people claim that marijuana use can lead to the use of other more dangerous drugs, but I think that is more a matter of circumstance than any craving or unnatural desire. If you place yourself in a position where drugs are prevalent then you are apt to try them because they're available. Catch my drift?
It would be remarkably foolish for me to advise you to try it for yourself and make your decision based upon that experience. I will not. I will say that if you question whether it may not be right for you personally then chances are you're better off not trying them in the first place and to heed the warnings. They are meant to help, not hinder.

Answer 2

just as it is important is find the right source of information and check the facts before you write a report for the teacher; it is important to know the source of the facts told to you by the teacher.
Certainly the misuse of legal drugs and the use of illegal substances is unwise. The risks vary with each one. The risks stemming from illegal substances is harder to predict as there is no assurance that the product has the same ingredients and or mixture with each batch.
I do think that over the years some of what has been told to young people about various things regarding what is safe and what is not has been presented in a manner that results in facts
seeming to be other then they may be.
Pot is one such drug that the schools have lost some of there credibility from as the presentation didn't fit the facts.
Regardless of the fact that some errors have been made on the side of caution the drugs have remained much the same.
Some drugs like a simple pill sold or given to a person to make them high can really result in the persons death.
I think the schools and public safety messages should be clear
and geared for the peoples age. The truth should be very carefully presented so as to not seem to over blow one aspect at the cost of loosing the listeners faith.
Sadly not everthing the goverment tells people is true .
That one fact I am sure has resulted in the death of some people the number of people is impossible to know .
When it comes to drugs I think that pure science should be conjoined with pure truth.
Truth should be the seen as the most dangerous thing to let go up in smoke .

Answer 3

You can't make a generalization about your question because of the variety of illegal "drugs" available. And very few of us know exactly what is taught in your school.

Some things that are generally taught about some drugs are total baloney and there other drugs which are way more dangerous than you can believe.

What is true is that most all illegal drugs have almost no benefits except that they cost money, waste your time, and quite often make you more vulnerable to other dangers.

Yeah, I know that pot is good for some glaucoma cases, and helps the appetite of some cancer victims. Anorexia victims could probably smoke weed and cure their problem right away. The munchies are hard to ignore. I can promise you that if you smoke a lot of it, you will be hawking up big, disgusting, green oysters at the most inconvenient times.

The opposite is true for some amphetamines. They can be a good way to lose weight fast. But the potential for abuse, and the damage it CAN do to the body make them very dangerous.

Some "fun" drugs like E and Roofies are used mainly by guys to cure reluctant young ladies of their virginity.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

The only way you can be sure of what is being taught you, is to do a lot of research. Don't believe anything that's said by someone trying to give you some "try this". Just remember, when in doubt, just say NO. You will have lost nothing by avoiding drugs.

Answer 4

Your friends who smoke pot will be more stupid than you ten years from now. Your best bet is to just keep it clean and don't let drugs get in the way of what you want to accomplish in life. Good Luck!

Answer 5

well, its well known that the laws against drugs cause exponentially more harm then the substances themselves, the 'dare' program also causes more problems then it solves by lumping harmless substances in with truly hazardous drugs, made even more hazardous by the laws against them by introducing violence, impurities, and raising prices therefore making it more profitable to sell them...the way things are at the moment in society, there is no respect for the sacred nature of many of these substances, and appropriate responsible use becomes quite difficult.. in the long run, wait till your a bit older, learn about things from many sources before you try them, be fully aware of the risks, i would suggest exploring erowid.org for more information.. and do realize that the most addictive of illegal drugs are almost solely imported by the CIA and other governmental organizations, this not only funds black budget projects, but gives the prison industrial complex a steady flow of slave labor... so regardless of weather or not the drugs make it easier for you to screw yourself up, you have to ask yourself, do i want to be enslaved, and forced to do menial labor for pennies a day to help with the profits of multinational corporations? (hrmm, kinda sounds like living in the US in general anyhow)

...one more thing, take this as advice from somebody whose really been in the deep end... whatever you decide to experiment with, know your poison well, and never, under any circumstances touch Meth, crack, or heroin...they're dark holes that many never emerge from, its just not worth it.. as for everything else, be well informed, and if you do decide to experiment, treat substances with the upmost respect, many are medicines used by indigenous cultures around the world for thousands of years, but that doesn't mean they're safe...breathing, eating, sleeping are not safe either, but give it a few years, and make informed decisions....

Answer 6

Check in 20 years and see how many of the pot users are alive and well.

Answer 7

The reason people have such a problem with it is becuase they dont really know anything about it. They beleive what the govenment and stupid anti drug programs tell them. Those programs never tell people the good sides of marijuana, and of course way overexaggerate the bad effects of them. Remember that commercial of the people running over a litttle girl on her bike becuase they were stoned? What a bunch of bullshit.............people dont know any better and actually beleived it. The united states started a huge anti marijuana campain with reefer maddness (quite the movie you should look into it) in the 1950's...... the efffects of which you can still see today. Theres soooooooooooooo many reason why pot should be legalized, but its plain and simple the ignorance of others is keeping if from being legal.

marijuana is the most commonly uses illegal substance in the United States. it is used by many people, most of which aren't your stereotypical "druggie", with no life agead of them. Many of them hapen to be very successful, good people. Think about it almost if not every person who reads this paper will know (even if they don't realize it) at least one if not several regular users of marijuana. Its often made out to be much more harmful htan it really is, unfortunatly not every one realizes this.

What many people don't realize is marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Yet it's the one of the three that gets a bad rap and is illegal. Marijuana isn't even physicaly addicting. You certanly don't see meetings for marijuana like you do with alcohol and AA. Unfortunatly due to American culture the less harmful of the three is illegal.

The most common reason why marijuana can be harmful is that people can often come across laced marijuana without realizing it. Marijuana can easily be mixed with other more harmful drugs with out the buyer realizing it, until they have already used it. This is a dangerous thing that causes many people to do more harmful, hard core drugs without realizing it. If it were to be legalized the government could provide guide lines, like it does with alchol to insure that people knew what they were putting into their bodies.

Marijuana actually has many helpful benefits toward diseases / sicknesses. Marijuana can reduce nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by AIDS. It can Reduce interlobular pressure, which alleviates the pain and slowing and sometimes even stopping the progress of glaucoma. Common side effects of chemotherapy are nausea, loss of appetite, and vomiting, all of which marijuana would help. It can limit muscle pain and relieve tremor nad unsteadiness of gait for multiple sclerosis patients. Marijuana can help prevent epileptic seizures in some patients. It can also alleviate chronic, often debilitating pain caused by myriad disorders and injuries. Each one of these applications have been deemed legitimate by at least one United States court, legislature, and/or government agency.

Due to these reasons and many others many people are going to jail/prison on a daily basis due to simply smoking a little pot These aren't dangerous criminals that would kill or rape someone. Many of them are teachers, lawyers and respected members of their communities. But yet we still pay thousands of dollars of tax payers money to lock up non dangerous "criminals" yearly even though most aren't going to stop after they get out of jail. Don't you think the money spent here is a waste? Couldn't it be going to more useful things such as hospitals, disease research, or better schools? These are the things that would benifit the people of this country. Certanily you would rather benefit the people more than throwing a non violent pot head in jail who was only trying to smoke a joint and relax after a long days work in jail. There is up to forty million regular (note thats just the regular not occasional users) drug users in the United states. If we were to throw all of them in jail it would cost $500,000 per million people, plus the cost and space of building many more prisons. Couldm't that money be spent on building hospitals? There's already about 1.5 million people tax payers are paying to keep in jail over drugs. From 1990 to 2003, nearly 5.9 million people had been arrested for smoking marijuana. Thats a greater number than the entire population of Alaska, Delaware, The District of Columbia, Montania, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined. This country simply can't afford to put 40 million more in jail.

Marijuana should be legalized. It has many uses such as helping sick patients. People are going to smoke it no matter what the government sais, and with out govenment guidelines this can be dangerous. Not to mention the fact that we have no way we can afford to throw all those people in jail. Its much less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, which are legal, so doesn't it make sense that it would be also?

Answer 8

It's there to warn you of possibilities. It is also there to deter you, but as you are aware peer pressure is the hardest thing to avoid.