You all knew this topic was coming.
So what up d-realmssssss, let's talk drugs. Wonderful, awesome drugs. I'm your master of ceremonies, Ophanim, and I'm here to tell you all about the magical monstrosities that your parents don't want you knowing about. Follow me, and we'll delve into a wonderland that you've never before dared to imagine, and never knew you had the capacity to envision. My primary motivations here are going to be to educate, and to entertain. So read onward, my dearest reader, and learn things you never knew you wanted to know.
We'll start off with marijuana. A few slang terms include: weed, bud, ganja, reefer (I will ridicule you endlessly if you use this), grass, pot, trees, and a few other terms.
I'm sure a great many of you have seen this iconic leaf, but how many of you have taken the time to get to know this drug? For instance, a common misconception is that the leaves are the least bit important, when they are in fact entirely irrelevant to anyone aiming to get high. You see, the THC (which is a cannabinoid!) and various other goodies are primarily located in the reproductive organs of the plant, and then only in females. Males have next to no THC and will make your crop seedy if left to their own devices, so kill those ♥♥♥♥ quick. The buds, when alive, look like this:
That's where those delicious little nuggets of get-me-baked-goodness come from on the plant. When dried, they look like this:
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. This little guy is responsible for all that fuss. But most of what you see here is just inert plant matter, which really doesn't do a whole lot. Let's take a closer look, at our dear friend, THC, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
This, along with a few other cannabinoids, is where the magic happens. This little guy is responsible for that wonderful fuzzy feeling you get when you get high. This little guy binds to your cannabinoid receptors, of which there are two types, CB1 and CB2. CB1 receptors are primarily found in your brain, and are responsible for the mental aspect of getting high, namely where everything is ♥♥♥♥ hilarious and you lose your car keys four times. CB2 receptors, however, are found primarily in your immune system, and are responsible for the physical sensations of getting high, namely where everything in the house looks like it was cooked at Le Cordon Bleu and you want to sleep forever. THC binds to both of them, partially, and the various other goodies in yo' drugs bind to different ones (the balance of the two, as the more experienced of some of you may have guessed, determines whether your weed is a sativa or an indica plant, sativa giving a more heady high [favoring CB1] and indica giving a body high [favoring CB2]). Now, the real bright ones among you might have posed the following question: Why are these receptors in our brain? The obvious conclusion is correct, ladies and gentlemen. Just like opiate pain-killers, our body produces cannabinoids naturally, and these compounds are known as endocannabinoids. This is entirely irrelevant, but it is interesting, so I'm including it and you can't stop me nyah nyah nyah.
Now we're going to address methods of administration of this wonderful drug, or as I like to call it, how to SMOKE WEED EVERY DAAAAAAAY.
The most common method is also the oldest method, good ol' fashioned combustion. Be it joints, blunts, bongs, or pipes, you're gonna need a method of delivery. I mean sure you could hold the nug and burn it but that's a pretty terrible idea. Anyway, we'll start out with the classic, and indeed iconic, joint:
A joint is often referred to as a marijuana cigarette, for that is indeed exactly what it is. You break your bud up (you can use your fingers, scissors, whatever, but many prefer a grinder.), sprinkle it onto your paper, and at this point some people add what is called a crutch, which is just a strip of cardboard rolled up into a tube. This stops weed from getting into your mouth as you smoke, makes it easier to roll, and you can smoke all of what you put into the joint without having a roach left over. Your end product should look something like this. From there it's the simple process of rolling, which is actually fairly hard to master. There are plenty of video tutorials on the subject, a quick youtube search will yield some fairly comprehensive ones, which will do a better job of explaining this than I. From there, you just light the end that doesn't have your crutch in it, and inhale. Remember, that's the point. Now, we move on to blunts.
Blunts are much the same thing, only generally using either a prerolled tobacco cigar split open and stripped of its outer leaf, or a blunt wrap (it's worth the trouble of doing the former rather than buying wraps.) However, if you choose this method, remember: The wrap is tobacco, and it does cause cancer. While the effect is minimal if used sparingly, it is still there, so keep this in mind. Again, a video tutorial or some other method will do a much better job of explaining how to roll one of these than I can. Blunts are often preferred because of their size, in that you can fit much more weed into a blunt than you can into a joint, blunts being larger. Blunts also have a distinctive taste to them, and are often flavored, to great effect.
Now we'll move onto gorgeous, gorgeous glass:
Glass is beautiful, wonderful, and everything you never knew you wanted. Just smoking out of such a gorgeous piece of art makes me feel good. Glass is often preferred because of ease of use, the fact that it looks ♥♥♥♥ amazing if you get good pieces, and to save money if you are a heavy smoker. Glass is categorized into two types, dry pieces and wet pieces, and further from there.
Dry Pieces:
We start with the humble spoon, otherwise known as a bowl:
Up in the top left you'll see the bowl, which is where you put your goodies. At the bottom of this bowl is a little hole that extends down a bit into the central cavity of the pipe. The mouthpiece, where you do your suckin', is on the right. Not visible is the carb, or carburetor. It's just a little above where that nub of glass is, just on the opposite side. When you're inhaling, you hold your thumb over the carb, which prevents air from getting in, until you're almost ready to stop, at which point you take your thumb off the carb (while keeping up that inhaling), which clears the smoke in the pipe. Waste not, want not. Otherwise, operation is pretty simple. Remember, though, that you don't need to hold the lighter to yo' drugs forever. It'll burn on it's own, and you'll be glad that you didn't, because butane tastes pretty bad if you're getting a bigass lung-full of it, and you'll be inhaling really ♥♥♥♥ hot air. Trust me on this one.
Next we have the one-hitter:
I chose this particular image because it shows off the design, form, and function of the pipe very well. Weed goes on the left, mouth goes on the right, smoke weed erry day. Simple things which will make your life better.
Next up, HAMMER!
Again, this should be fairly self-explanatory by now. The advantages of using a hammer is that chamber at the bottom allows the smoke to cool a little bit before reaching you. If you like the taste of a dry piece and prefer it (I do, most of the time), but have trouble with the harshness of a spoon, a hammer is for you.
Now we move onto my personal favorite, the sherlock
There really is no advantage to choosing a sherlock over a spoon, nor disadvantage, but I personally love these things. They're comfortable in your hand, generally being pretty heavy, but not big and unwieldy like a hammer. Plus you can impersonate Holmes when you get baked, and that's always a rip-snorting good time.
Wet pieces!
First, a bit about using water in your pipes. The general point is to cool filter the smoke, making it a smoother smoke, and it really does help. This also has the downside of pulling some of the good stuff out too. It's not a huge difference but it's there. Wet pieces also need to be cleaned, a lot, and the water has to be changed after every use. This is not an option, don't leave bong water sitting, it's ♥♥♥♥ gross and you'll get nasty ass hits and ugh just please. Aside from that, the only general suggestion I have for using water pipes is this: cold water. Add ice to the ♥♥♥♥ if you want, you'll love it. It makes it so smooth and sexy. Just trust me on this.
Anyway. we'll start off with the humble and unassuming bubbler:
This is where we cross over into the wet pieces, with something that is similar to both. In the image, we can see the bowl. Coming down from the is the downstem, which extends down into that bottom chamber (which, as you may guess, will be filled with water). The downstem goes down below the water level. Inhaling through the mouthpiece creates negative pressure in that little chamber, which pulls air down from the bowl through the downstem, drawing the smoke through the water (this is where that cooling and filtering happens), and up through the stem of the pipe into your lungs. This same principle is how all water-pipes work, and it works pretty good. Bubblers are my preferred method of smoking if I want to use water, because I don't have the lung capacity for our next subject, which is, at long last
BONGS!
Ah, bongs, how I love thee. Anyway, on the right there you can see the bowl, which is attached to the downstem (good bongs, instead of a carb, have detachable bowls, allowing for variety in style and replacements. The joint is clearly visible.), which goes down into that bottom chamber, which is filled with water, filters the smoke, fills the bong, and fills your lungs. Bongs, as you may imagine, require a lot of lung capacity. You have to be able to inhale all the air in the bong, twice. Once to fill the thing, and once to clear it. This is more than I possess, so I prefer smaller pipes. But you might not.
And that about does it for water pipes. Small selection, no? Now we move onto a few bullet points before I close
- Quick information for savin' the nation from disinformation.
- Marijuana is addictive. So is caffeine. Caffeine being the more addictive of the two. The withdrawal symptoms for marijuana are nigh-unnoticeable, and are limited to mild moodiness and loss of appetite, among other things. Any argument of this fact is prohibited unless you are citing an independent study that you can prove isn't funded by any governing body of any country, and can give me full notes on experiment and show me that you understand what you're talking about. This means you, CrazyMLC.
- Marijuana does not cause cancer. This fact is also inarguable, but I'll be a little gentler on this subject. Marijuana is actually suspected to help fight cancer, but this is widely disputed. Yes, we know that you're thinking "Well, of course inhaling smoke isn't good for you!" and I'm not going to allow three hundred posts in this thread saying this. Marijuana has never been proven to cause any sort of permanent lung damage, and has never been proven to do anything to your lungs at all beyond temporary minor bronchial irritation. No, it does not inhibit your oxygen intake. No, it does not cause decreased lung capacity. In no way does it cause any sort of decreased lung function.
- No, marijuana does not kill brain cells. No it does not damage your short term memory. No, I will not allow any "Hehe dumb stoner." jokes in this thread. They are annoying and patronizing, and there is no place for them here. Keep them to yourself. Marijuana is suspected to stimulate brain cell growth, but again, this is fairly widely disputed. Marijuana does affect your short term memory while you are high and that is it.
So, children, I open the floor for discussion, and indeed encourage it. I will answer any questions to the best of my ability, and remember no question is a dumb question. Ask as much as you like, without fear of repercussion, but remember that when you are asking a question, you are asking because you don't have knowledge, so please don't try to argue with me unless you've done some research first. I understand that this is not something a lot of you will be exposed to often, because of America's fear of drugs, and there will be mindsets in place which are the product of lies and deception. There have been pretty heavy misinformation campaigns against marijuana for quite a while now, and I hope to do a little bit to combat this. So if you've read this far shaking your head and thinking "Well that DARE officer told me this and my parents told me that and Ophanim you're wrong.", go read a little bit. Expose yourself to the other side of the argument. Become well-informed. I imagine you will find, as I did, that you were misled, just as your parents were misled, and their parents were misled.
Next up: Psychedelics, of the traditional sort, and later, research chemicals.
NOTE: Proofreading here is minimal. Point out any mistakes, grammatical or otherwise, please. It'll help me a lot.
Okay I didn't think I'd need to do this, as I expected you all to be intelligent about this, but apparently I was wrong. I'm writing this little tidbit at the behest of p3lb0x, who you will note has a red name. All of the above is not to be taken as stone-cold fact, it's to be verified and considered and thought about. I'm giving you this information because most people aren't exposed to this viewpoint, which is a sad thing, I think. I've been given permission to make this topic, so barring weasel's intervention, it's here to stay. All discussion is to be conducted in a civil and intelligent manner, and with as little prejudice as possible. This is a touchy subject, and people have strong opinions on it, so keep this in mind. Also, this stuff is still drugs. Misuse can still cause harm. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Play it safe, be informed, and have fun.
I approve of this message - p3lb0x
Hey here's some rules for you guys, heavily adapted from Something Awful's drug forum rules (not visible to public).
Quote:
Use the report button! Backseat moderating in a thread only furthers the decline of quality and derails the discussion. This does not apply to the correction of misinformation, but rather pointing out how a post sucks or how it breaks a rule. Doing these kinds of things without reporting the post will result in probation.
1. Lurk. Be sure to check out all the easily available information on Erowid and google before asking a question.
2. You are most encouraged to post on the following topics:
* Drug Science (Pharmacology, Chemistry, Psychology, Cultivation, etc.)
* Mind and Spirit
* Freedom, Law, and
* Introspective Long-Term Drug Use Summaries (Including discussion of tolerance/withdrawal/addiction)
* Trip Summaries (Please include accurate dosage information, personal information (i.e. set, history, weight) and timestamps [T+1:30 etc.] whenever possible. Report/Summary threads should be reserved for powerful psychedelics or outrageous binges ONLY. Reports about 10mgs of adderall and a bowl of dank - for instance - can be summed up in the Experience/Opinion thread.)
* Anecdotes that are exceptionally humorous or interesting.
3. You are encouraged to think hard and well about your posts. Just because we are a forum full of stoners doesn't mean we have to reinforce any stereotypes. We try to keep the quality of discussion high, if you know what I mean.
4. Post without trolling or flaming any particular poster or drug. This includes trolling a particular use of a drug. Especially do not troll drug use in general if you hope to stay here long.
5. Please post helpful information only. Harmful messages and advice, even in jest, can have unforeseen consequences. Also consider the source of your information when it comes to somebody's heath. We hold citable research and community consensus to be of greater value than personal anecdote or what your friend told you when it comes to issues of safety.
6. Always do your best to write coherently and intelligently regardless of your current mode of consciousness. Please do not go out of your way to inform us about what drugs you've recently taken unless it is absolutely vital to the topic of your post. You are allowed to post while on drugs as long as you follow the forum rules and the rest of these guidelines.
7. Live trip reports may be done, and are indeed encouraged, but please don't post about how you just smoked a bunch of weed. That is not a trip report that is you trying to seem cool.
8. Take full responsibility for your own drug use. The internet cannot tell you what you should or should not do. Gather info and experiences, make your own decisions, and take full ownership of your education and your actions.
9. Anything that could be in any way insinuated as asking for or offering drugs on the forum is bannable. If you're thinking of making a joke; don't. Even if we all know it's a joke, you will still be banned. We really can't be more clear on this. Don't ask for ANYTHING. Links. Sites. Names. Locations. Someone to please message you. ANYTHING. Use common sense on this one and you won't have to pay
10. Discussion of online pharmacies and off-site vendors is prohibited. See # 9.
11. Common sense and the Datarealms Fan Forum Rules apply. Use your head.
1. Lurk. Be sure to check out all the easily available information on Erowid and google before asking a question.
2. You are most encouraged to post on the following topics:
* Drug Science (Pharmacology, Chemistry, Psychology, Cultivation, etc.)
* Mind and Spirit
* Freedom, Law, and
* Introspective Long-Term Drug Use Summaries (Including discussion of tolerance/withdrawal/addiction)
* Trip Summaries (Please include accurate dosage information, personal information (i.e. set, history, weight) and timestamps [T+1:30 etc.] whenever possible. Report/Summary threads should be reserved for powerful psychedelics or outrageous binges ONLY. Reports about 10mgs of adderall and a bowl of dank - for instance - can be summed up in the Experience/Opinion thread.)
* Anecdotes that are exceptionally humorous or interesting.
3. You are encouraged to think hard and well about your posts. Just because we are a forum full of stoners doesn't mean we have to reinforce any stereotypes. We try to keep the quality of discussion high, if you know what I mean.
4. Post without trolling or flaming any particular poster or drug. This includes trolling a particular use of a drug. Especially do not troll drug use in general if you hope to stay here long.
5. Please post helpful information only. Harmful messages and advice, even in jest, can have unforeseen consequences. Also consider the source of your information when it comes to somebody's heath. We hold citable research and community consensus to be of greater value than personal anecdote or what your friend told you when it comes to issues of safety.
6. Always do your best to write coherently and intelligently regardless of your current mode of consciousness. Please do not go out of your way to inform us about what drugs you've recently taken unless it is absolutely vital to the topic of your post. You are allowed to post while on drugs as long as you follow the forum rules and the rest of these guidelines.
7. Live trip reports may be done, and are indeed encouraged, but please don't post about how you just smoked a bunch of weed. That is not a trip report that is you trying to seem cool.
8. Take full responsibility for your own drug use. The internet cannot tell you what you should or should not do. Gather info and experiences, make your own decisions, and take full ownership of your education and your actions.
9. Anything that could be in any way insinuated as asking for or offering drugs on the forum is bannable. If you're thinking of making a joke; don't. Even if we all know it's a joke, you will still be banned. We really can't be more clear on this. Don't ask for ANYTHING. Links. Sites. Names. Locations. Someone to please message you. ANYTHING. Use common sense on this one and you won't have to pay
10. Discussion of online pharmacies and off-site vendors is prohibited. See # 9.
11. Common sense and the Datarealms Fan Forum Rules apply. Use your head.
Tucker ran these rules by me, and I was cool with them. - D
THIS ♥♥♥♥ IS IMPORTANT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_urban_legend READ THIS.
NOW.
I'm not kidding. You're going to be surprised by at least a few of the things on there.
This is also informative as ♥♥♥♥, but pertains only to marijuana.
http://forum.grasscity.com/legalization ... ol-bs.html
DRUGS DON'T MAKE YOU COOL
(From erowid, as is a lot of my resources and knowledge. 
