The Chronic,,

[Rebuker]

Jetl3on said:

Is weed actually bad for you? Im talking about the plant, uncut & natural. Never been a smoker myself but grew up in an environment where it is the norm to spliff up, 4 times a day, like drinking a beer, tried it a few times, other than making me laugh and light headed, chilled out then sleep, not much else happened (same effect as drinking).

Now these guys are much much older they dont seem to display any of the symptoms advertised in the papers of psychotic behaviour, despite the fact they still smoke. In Italy recently a guy was taken to court for smoking, he got let off and was allowed to continue smoking on the grounds it is part of his religion.

Im going to have this conversation with my son at some point, so its time to arm myself with the cold hard facts, so I can twist it around and lie, tell him how bad it is and what it will do to him, just like my parents did

OK. These are the objective cold hard facts. From someone whose job it is to know this and research it and treat people with mental illnesses, and advise relatives if required. (Er... me.) Remember that I am bound by professional rules to be objective, so I do remain so. I will give you a flavour of the things I tell parents/ loved ones:

1. The cannabis sold on the streets is still cannabis, but may be more concentrated. On the whole, studies show a mean increase of 30% in THC levels compared to street weed analysed inn the 1960s.

2. Mixing in other drugs with the cannabis. This does occur, but not as often as people fear. Less than 5% of the stuff on the streets. Usually PCP (another hallucinogen) is used, but LSD and heroin have also been found in the more intense stuff. Although, intense stuff is sold as such- it costs more and people know it may be laced. Dealers don't want to poison or scare their customers- it's bad for business.

3. Cannabis and mental illness. The big issue. The facts have come to light in the past 5-6 years only.

a) It is known to CAUSE (i.e. be directly responsible for) 11-13% of new cases of schizophrenia (the most serious psychotic illness). This has been surmised from many hundreds of objective studies by doctors, uninfluenced by goevernments or politics or whatever.

And the chicken and egg question has been answered. Cannabis caused the illness.

And the 'you are missing the other factors' question has been answered. The figures given are after ALL the associated other factors have been removed (poverty, stress, lifestyle, education level etc etc)

b) It can also cause an acute psychosis (i.e.short lived, only a few hours or days at most, and usually referred to as 'having a bad time' or 'having a bad trip' on it. The acute psychosis in more than 75% of cases goes away and never comes back. But in 25% of cases of people who have had this problem, the psychosois returns, and is known to get worse, the more they smoke.

c) Susceptibility to cannabis psychosis is partly genetically determined.

The vast majority of people don't get schizophrenia. It affects 1% of the population.

And of this 1% only 11% (as I have shown above) get schizophrrenia because of cannabis. But this is an immutable fact. Not hippie chitter chatter. i.e. an estimated 0.1% of the popiulation, 1 in 1000, get schizophrenia directly from smoking cannabis.

So at the base level, this is the chance of getting schizophrenia for your son from his smoking cannabis.. 1 in 1000. It is up to you whether you think that chance is too high to permit smoking weed or not.

There are some clever ways of working out if your son is more suceptible than the average person:

1. Coarse genetics. If there is mental illness in your family, or in the person smoking the cannabis, the chances of suffering from the drug are higher. About 20x higher. So the chances are 20 in 1000 or 1 in 50.
The more serious the illness, the higher this figure goes.

2. If there are psychosis-prone personality traits in your son:
-tendency to be solitary more than other boys his age.
-not fitting in to his peer group.
- tendency to not express his emotions at all (as a habit rather than a one-off), or to over-express much more than the teenage tantrum: real angry periods lasting for days/weeks.
-tendency to persistent and destructive daydreeming and belief in self-made or uncommon supernatural theories.

Basicallly, if your son is a bit of a 'weird one', not adjusted or not'teenage maladjusted' as others are, he is more likely to be adversely affected if/ when he smokes da herb.

But this is not predictive of everything. The occasional person has been known to be comletely fine, happily adjusted to life, then they smoke on joint and bang. They become ill forever. Rare, but does happen. I have treated such individuals.

I hope that is enough for now about the bad sides.

The good sides:
Despite the dangers, my personal feeling is that cannabis does a loit less harm to society than alcoholism. Amd alcoholism is causative of far more mental illness. So if you had a choice what to prevent your son from becoming- an alcoholic or a dopefiend: hope he does not take to the bottle.

Edited by Rebuker on Friday 26th September 20:37

[brum]

Mc Lovin said:

brum said:

Don't. I had a bad experience with the K. Mate gave me some and i stuck it in my wallet and i forgot all about it.
Found it one Saturday early evening just before i was meeting a mate for a beer. Thought it was chang so spread it out on the side in the kitchen and hoovered it.

fk me. I spend what felt like days paraylsed on the living room floor, hallucinating wildly - at one point Vernon Kaye was climbing out of the TV at me. Pretty scary.
Wife came downstairs and wanted to know how the fk i had managed to get into such a state in the fifteen minutes she had been upstairs.

Not recommended.

Looking back on it yes.
But at the time, and as i lay there absolutely spannered it wasn't funny at all. I couldn't believe that i could get so totally and completely muntered in such a short space of time. Upstanding citizen to dribbling spazmong in ten minutes flat. My wife was incredibly understanding. I'd never go near it again though - id got the doseage sooooooooo wrong.

[_daveR]

I used to love a nice joint after dinner most evenings. As someone else said, I did this for years yet have a degree, a good job, soon to be wife etc. It never got in the way of anything.

Hardly touch it now though as it just got too hard to find a decent supply. I've had to throw a fair bit away recently as whilst not knowing what it was laced with it certainly wasn't right. It's a real chore to get hold of any now though which is a shame as I still enjoy it.

[brum]

Rebuker said:

Jetl3on said:

Is weed actually bad for you? Im talking about the plant, uncut & natural. Never been a smoker myself but grew up in an environment where it is the norm to spliff up, 4 times a day, like drinking a beer, tried it a few times, other than making me laugh and light headed, chilled out then sleep, not much else happened (same effect as drinking).

Now these guys are much much older they dont seem to display any of the symptoms advertised in the papers of psychotic behaviour, despite the fact they still smoke. In Italy recently a guy was taken to court for smoking, he got let off and was allowed to continue smoking on the grounds it is part of his religion.

Im going to have this conversation with my son at some point, so its time to arm myself with the cold hard facts, so I can twist it around and lie, tell him how bad it is and what it will do to him, just like my parents did

OK. These are the objectove cold hard facts. From someone whose job it is to know this and research it and treat people with mental illnesses, and advise relatives if required. (Er... me.) Remember that I am bound by professional rules to be objective, so I do remain so. I will give you a flavour of the things I tell parents/ loved ones:

1. The cannabis sold on the streets is still cannabis, but may be more concentrated. On the whole, studies show a mean increase of 30% in THC levels compared to street weed analysed inn the 1960s.

2. Mixing in other drugs with the cannabis. This does occur, but not as often as people fear. Less than 5% of the stuff on the streets. Usually PCP (another hallucinogen) is used, but LSD and heroin have also been found in the more intense stuff. Although, intense stuff is sold as such- it costs more and people know it may be laced. Dealers don't want to poison or scare their customers- it's bad for business.

3. Cannabis and mental illness. The big issue. The facts have come to light in the past 5-6 years only.

a) It is known to CAUSE (i.e. be directly responsible for) 11-13% of new cases of schizophrenia (the most serious psychotic illness). This has been surmised from many hundreds of objective studies by doctors, uninfluenced by goevernments or politics or whatever.

And the chicken and egg question has been answered. Cannabis caused the illness.

And the 'you are missing the other factors' question has been answered. The figures given are after ALL the associated other factors have been removed (poverty, stress, lifestyle, education level etc etc)

b) It can also cause an acute psychosis (i.e.short lived, only a few hours or days at most, and usually referred to as 'having a bad time' or 'having a bad trip' on it. The acute psychosis in more than 75% of cases goes away and never comes back. But in 25% of cases of people who have had this problem, the psychosois returns, and is known to get worse, the more they smoke.

c) Susceptibility to cannabis psychosis is partly genetically determined.

The vast majority of people don't get schizophrenia. It affects 1% of the population.

And of this 1% only 11% (as I have shown above) get schizophrrenia because of cannabis. But this is an immutable fact. Not hippie chitter chatter. i.e. an estimated 0.1% of the popiulation, 1 in 1000, get schizophrenia directly from smoking cannabis.

So at the base level, this is the chance of getting schizophrenia for your son from his smoking cannabis.. 1 in 1000. It is up to you whether you think that chance is too high to permit smoking weed or not.

There are some clever ways of working out if your son is more suceptible than the average person:

1. Coarse genetics. If there is mental illness in your family, or in the person smoking the cannabis, the chances of suffering from the drug are higher. About 20x higher. So the chances are 20 in 1000 or 1 in 50.
The more serious the illness, the higher this figure goes.

2. If there are psychosis-prone personality traits in your son:
-tendency to be solitary more than other boys his age.
-not fitting in to his peer group.
- tendency to not express his emotions at all (as a habit rather than a one-off), or to over-express much more than the teenage tantrum: real angry periods lasting for days/weeks.
-tendency to persistent and destructive daydreeming and belief in self-made or uncommon supernatural theories.

Basicallly, if your son is a bit of a 'weird one', not adjusted or not'teenage maladjusted' as others are, he is more likely to be adversely affected if/ when he smokes da herb.

But this is not predictive of everything. The occasional person has been known to be comletely fine, happily adjusted to life, then they smoke on joint and bang. They become ill forever. Rare, but does happen. I have treated such individuals.

I hope that is enough for now about the bad sides.

The good sides:
Despite the dangers, my personal feeling is that cannabis does a loit less harm to society than alcoholism. Amd alcoholism is causative of far more mental illness. So if you had a choice what to prevent your son from becoming- an alcoholic or a dopefiend_ hope he does not take to the bottle.

Edited by Rebuker on Friday 26th September 18:25

Very interesting.

[Flintstone]

Rebuker said:

Interesting stuff

So the long and the short of it is that weed and booze are bad for you except you can buy booze from your supermarket and know for certain it's not laced with something else.

Where's the corkscrew?

[hairykrishna]

The silica stuff's interesting. I'll be having a shufty under my microscope from now on but I've never noticed 'gritty' weed.

[brum]

You really notice it if it's been sprayed with silica. It looks like its covered in crystals which would normally (i believe but warren may correct me)indicate a very high thc content. It feels really gritty between your fingers though - its pretty easy to spot.
There was a load of it floating about in MK about 9 months ago. People just refused to buy it and it dissapeared.

Edited by brum on Friday 26th September 19:45

[texasjohn]

_daveR said:

I used to love a nice joint after dinner most evenings. As someone else said, I did this for years yet have a degree, a good job, soon to be wife etc. It never got in the way of anything.

Hardly touch it now though as it just got too hard to find a decent supply. I've had to throw a fair bit away recently as whilst not knowing what it was laced with it certainly wasn't right. It's a real chore to get hold of any now though which is a shame as I still enjoy it.

Likewise pal, just too much trouble to get hold of nowadays. Shame really. Certainly not worth the risk to grow it, what with a good job and dependents (family) to worry about these days.

Google 'spice gold' as an alternative. Available from legal highs type shops. It certainly does the trick but I dont really smoke it very often mind you, dont really trust what's in it TBH...

[Jetl3on]

Rebuker said:

Jetl3on said:

Is weed actually bad for you? Im talking about the plant, uncut & natural. Never been a smoker myself but grew up in an environment where it is the norm to spliff up, 4 times a day, like drinking a beer, tried it a few times, other than making me laugh and light headed, chilled out then sleep, not much else happened (same effect as drinking).

Now these guys are much much older they dont seem to display any of the symptoms advertised in the papers of psychotic behaviour, despite the fact they still smoke. In Italy recently a guy was taken to court for smoking, he got let off and was allowed to continue smoking on the grounds it is part of his religion.

Im going to have this conversation with my son at some point, so its time to arm myself with the cold hard facts, so I can twist it around and lie, tell him how bad it is and what it will do to him, just like my parents did

OK. These are the objective cold hard facts. From someone whose job it is to know this and research it and treat people with mental illnesses, and advise relatives if required. (Er... me.) Remember that I am bound by professional rules to be objective, so I do remain so. I will give you a flavour of the things I tell parents/ loved ones:

1. The cannabis sold on the streets is still cannabis, but may be more concentrated. On the whole, studies show a mean increase of 30% in THC levels compared to street weed analysed inn the 1960s.

2. Mixing in other drugs with the cannabis. This does occur, but not as often as people fear. Less than 5% of the stuff on the streets. Usually PCP (another hallucinogen) is used, but LSD and heroin have also been found in the more intense stuff. Although, intense stuff is sold as such- it costs more and people know it may be laced. Dealers don't want to poison or scare their customers- it's bad for business.

3. Cannabis and mental illness. The big issue. The facts have come to light in the past 5-6 years only.

a) It is known to CAUSE (i.e. be directly responsible for) 11-13% of new cases of schizophrenia (the most serious psychotic illness). This has been surmised from many hundreds of objective studies by doctors, uninfluenced by goevernments or politics or whatever.

And the chicken and egg question has been answered. Cannabis caused the illness.

And the 'you are missing the other factors' question has been answered. The figures given are after ALL the associated other factors have been removed (poverty, stress, lifestyle, education level etc etc)

b) It can also cause an acute psychosis (i.e.short lived, only a few hours or days at most, and usually referred to as 'having a bad time' or 'having a bad trip' on it. The acute psychosis in more than 75% of cases goes away and never comes back. But in 25% of cases of people who have had this problem, the psychosois returns, and is known to get worse, the more they smoke.

c) Susceptibility to cannabis psychosis is partly genetically determined.

The vast majority of people don't get schizophrenia. It affects 1% of the population.

And of this 1% only 11% (as I have shown above) get schizophrrenia because of cannabis. But this is an immutable fact. Not hippie chitter chatter. i.e. an estimated 0.1% of the popiulation, 1 in 1000, get schizophrenia directly from smoking cannabis.

So at the base level, this is the chance of getting schizophrenia for your son from his smoking cannabis.. 1 in 1000. It is up to you whether you think that chance is too high to permit smoking weed or not.

There are some clever ways of working out if your son is more suceptible than the average person:

1. Coarse genetics. If there is mental illness in your family, or in the person smoking the cannabis, the chances of suffering from the drug are higher. About 20x higher. So the chances are 20 in 1000 or 1 in 50.
The more serious the illness, the higher this figure goes.

2. If there are psychosis-prone personality traits in your son:
-tendency to be solitary more than other boys his age.
-not fitting in to his peer group.
- tendency to not express his emotions at all (as a habit rather than a one-off), or to over-express much more than the teenage tantrum: real angry periods lasting for days/weeks.
-tendency to persistent and destructive daydreeming and belief in self-made or uncommon supernatural theories.

Basicallly, if your son is a bit of a 'weird one', not adjusted or not'teenage maladjusted' as others are, he is more likely to be adversely affected if/ when he smokes da herb.

But this is not predictive of everything. The occasional person has been known to be comletely fine, happily adjusted to life, then they smoke on joint and bang. They become ill forever. Rare, but does happen. I have treated such individuals.

I hope that is enough for now about the bad sides.

The good sides:
Despite the dangers, my personal feeling is that cannabis does a loit less harm to society than alcoholism. Amd alcoholism is causative of far more mental illness. So if you had a choice what to prevent your son from becoming- an alcoholic or a dopefiend: hope he does not take to the bottle.

Edited by Rebuker on Friday 26th September 20:37

Wow, thats pretty intense Rebuker, thanks.
Looks like I got my job cut out for me, I will just do do what my parents did, threaten to throw him off a bridge if he ever indulges, it wasnt till I left home, and in my mid twenties I dared try it, parents were thousands of miles away by then. Not funny, but fear worked on the kids where i grew up.

[Jetl3on]

Tampon said:

Brother is mayorly fked up from weed, so I know there is a dark side, but it doesn;t put me off. I was lucky I had my mum and dad sit me down and say " Ben, people will tell you drugs are bad, they aren't, they are great, thats why people take them. But you take the wrong one, wrong amount, too much, too quickly they can be the worst thing in the world, take your time, be safe, main thing is trust what your doing and the people your doing it with".

Always stood me in good stead and I have had some awesome times, also I am quick to take care of someone trying something for the first time, make sure they feel safe, do things at their own pace, main thing is leave them be if they don;t want to.

Good sound advice.

[funk odyssey]

chronic?

chang?


wtf??? have we had people from South Central LA walk in??

do you guys really use these words and not feel silly?

[Airbag]

funk odyssey said:

chronic?

chang?


wtf??? have we had people from South Central LA walk in??

do you guys really use these words and not feel silly?

[m3jappa]

I used to be a heavysmoker. Heavy to the extent that my life literally revolved round it, If i had no bud then i just couldnt get on with what i was doing. I was smoking at very least an ounce a week for maybe 5 years and smoking heavy for around 8.

For 7 years or so i loved it,the taste,the feeling,the stoned lifestyle.
However without me realising i became very very paranoid.Not scared of people lookingat me or that type of thingbut strange stuff like for example i hurt my chest at work right where my heart is, i went out one night,got started on by about 15 15 year olds,luckily stood my ground and never got a kick in but my heart was pumping so hard i got home and actully thought i was having a heart attack, from then on i started having panic attacks, each time so bad i thought they were heart attacks, i even admitted myself to hospital twice and had ambulances come round a couple of times.

It was a terrible time in my life, really bad and i wouldnt wish that paranoid,panic attack type feeling on any one.

4 years later i,m pretty good,much more laid back than when i was stoned 24/7,still have some paranoia but controlable, am able to confront fears without a panic attack but it did mess me up. It messed my mate up too,hes still very paranoid about certain things.

In moderation its fine but smoking maybe 10 proper joints a day is no good for anyone.

I do miss the taste and smell though :-(

[hairykrishna]

m3jappa said:

I used to be a heavysmoker. Heavy to the extent that my life literally revolved round it, If i had no bud then i just couldnt get on with what i was doing. I was smoking at very least an ounce a week for maybe 5 years and smoking heavy for around 8.

For 7 years or so i loved it,the taste,the feeling,the stoned lifestyle.
However without me realising i became very very paranoid.Not scared of people lookingat me or that type of thingbut strange stuff like for example i hurt my chest at work right where my heart is, i went out one night,got started on by about 15 15 year olds,luckily stood my ground and never got a kick in but my heart was pumping so hard i got home and actully thought i was having a heart attack, from then on i started having panic attacks, each time so bad i thought they were heart attacks, i even admitted myself to hospital twice and had ambulances come round a couple of times.

It was a terrible time in my life, really bad and i wouldnt wish that paranoid,panic attack type feeling on any one.

4 years later i,m pretty good,much more laid back than when i was stoned 24/7,still have some paranoia but controlable, am able to confront fears without a panic attack but it did mess me up. It messed my mate up too,hes still very paranoid about certain things.

In moderation its fine but smoking maybe 10 proper joints a day is no good for anyone.

I do miss the taste and smell though :-(

Christ, an ounce a week? That's a hefty amount of weed. Smoking that much is never going to be healthy for cash reasons if nothing else!
On a related note - anyone else see that news story about the guy who has taken about 40,000 ecstasy tablets? 25 a day at one stage. That's a 'what not to do' drug story if ever I saw one.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/apr/04/drug...

[alman]

m3jappa said:

I used to be a heavysmoker. Heavy to the extent that my life literally revolved round it, If i had no bud then i just couldnt get on with what i was doing. I was smoking at very least an ounce a week for maybe 5 years and smoking heavy for around 8.

For 7 years or so i loved it,the taste,the feeling,the stoned lifestyle.
However without me realising i became very very paranoid.Not scared of people lookingat me or that type of thingbut strange stuff like for example i hurt my chest at work right where my heart is, i went out one night,got started on by about 15 15 year olds,luckily stood my ground and never got a kick in but my heart was pumping so hard i got home and actully thought i was having a heart attack, from then on i started having panic attacks, each time so bad i thought they were heart attacks, i even admitted myself to hospital twice and had ambulances come round a couple of times.

It was a terrible time in my life, really bad and i wouldnt wish that paranoid,panic attack type feeling on any one.

4 years later i,m pretty good,much more laid back than when i was stoned 24/7,still have some paranoia but controlable, am able to confront fears without a panic attack but it did mess me up. It messed my mate up too,hes still very paranoid about certain things.

In moderation its fine but smoking maybe 10 proper joints a day is no good for anyone.

I do miss the taste and smell though :-(

Know what u mean mate, smoked far too much for too long and it ain't been good for me. Doesn't mean people can't smoke the same/less and be fine just means there are risks and it's good to remember them. (and yes i definitely do still miss the taste and smell, and just getting mashed sometimes)

[Rebuker]

brum said:

Mc Lovin said:

what worries me is the fact that, the police seem to be cracking down on cannabis, the shortage will cause people to move onto cocaine (not all users, myself included) but it will happen.

there will be more of a demand for cocaine, therefore more will come in and more addicts will surface because of it.

.

Cocaine is hardly a substitute for Cannabis is it - what with it having TOTALLY the opposite effect.

You don't relax in the evening with a cup of tea, a packet of crips and a massive line of chang do you?

I can see your point, but there is something a but more subtle going on with both drugs which could drive a person on one of them to possibly try the other (not alwways the case of course, but does happen):

Cocaine is a stimulant. It speeds you up. Gives you beans etc.

Cannabis is a histaminergic hallucinogen. It is often used (arguably by most people) to get a sense of relaxation and being at ease, etc/

But both drugs, and arguably all recreational drugs, are used as euphoriants i.e. to feel better than the state of not being on drugs.

So, if someone is generally inclined to want to 'not be sober' and to feel better by just taking something, anything, then they will switch from one to the other if forced.

This subset of people is a dynamic one i.e. it depends how far you are in the use stakes, as to how much you will use a drug just to get off your face, no matter what 'off your face' is- stoned, or coked up, pilled up, anything.

Also, there are people who have background levels of unhappiness, or frank depressive illness, for whom taking any recreational drug is a very temprary but welcome release from their sober, miserable state. They are more likely to take anything. About 1 in 4 people suffer from depression in their lives. That's a high figure.

Finally, there are a couple of very interesting reserch facts coming out regarding cannabis.

1. A bad point.

The CB1 and CB2 receptor, the specific receptors in the brain that are activated when canabis is taken, are extremely numerous. More numerous than many other types of receptor.

And when cannabis is taken, its hallucinatory effect(making you feel funnier, more relaxed, gigglier etc) has a 'permission giving effect on many other receptors.

This means that if you were to take another drug whilst on cannabis, you often feel more effects from the other drug than you would if you just took that drug alone. This is purported to suppoirt the theory that canbis is sometimes a 'gateway' drug to using other drugs. The people affected more by this, again, are those with pre-existsing proneness by personality or by illness. Not so good.

2. Some good points:

a) The cannabis plant has some fantastic potential in the drug therapy field.

Along with THC, cannabis plants also produce, in varying but small amounts, a chemical called cannabidiol. This, when taken on its own, has an antipsychotic effect i.e. if this chemical is concentrated and plants are grown making just cannabidiol, we could have a very useful new drug in psychiatry, to treat serous psychotic illness. Trials are underway as we speak and we should have full data within the next 5 years.

b) There are other drugs which have been developed which work on the CB receptor system.

The CB receptor system is what also gives you the munchies when you smoke weed. When activated, they send very strong command signals to the hunger centers in the base of the brain.

A drug has been developed and recemtly released- Accomplia (rimonabant), which blocks the CB2 receptor subtype. This has the effect of suppressing hunger in all people, whether they take cannabis or not. This drug is licensed now as a very effective weight loss aid.

The other less well known drug that is around is called nabilone. This is derived from cannabis, and acts as a very powerful, different type of anti-nausea drug.

More drugs derived from the study of this very interesting area will no doubt be on the horizon soon.

[freecar]

rebuker:

what about the theory that smoking cigarettes reduces the number of dopamine inhibitors in your brain? I was told this is the reason why people like to smoke after sex (as it allows more of the pleasure chemical to react with your brain)as well as smoke more when they've been drinking or sniffing.

This leads me to believe that if you smoke cigarettes you are more susceptible to seeking other pleasures e.g cannabis, alcohol and other drugs.

Do you think there is any merit in these ideas?

[Rebuker]

freecar said:

rebuker:

what about the theory that smoking cigarettes reduces the number of dopamine inhibitors in your brain? I was told this is the reason why people like to smoke after sex (as it allows more of the pleasure chemical to react with your brain)as well as smoke more when they've been drinking or sniffing.

This leads me to believe that if you smoke cigarettes you are more susceptible to seeking other pleasures e.g cannabis, alcohol and other drugs.

Do you think there is any merit in these ideas?

I am not aware that smoking cigarettes reduces dopamine receptors, but if it did cause dopamine release, it would be logical that there might be some reactive down-regulation.

Nicotinic receptors stimulate acetylcholine, which is a very important chemical in aiding concentration. This is why some people use it to help themselves think more clearly.

The other thing that nicotinic receptors do is allow the parasympathetic nervous system to activate: this causes a general feeling of relaxation. People smoke after sex because it is aobviously physically demanding, and smoking helps the come-down. Also, orgasm is caused by the sympathetic nervous system (the opposite of the parasympathetic) and releases adrenaline, a vessel constrictor and stress inducer. Nicotine counteracts that.
Nicotine causes dilation of the peripheral arteries, and a short drop in brain blood supply: hence the 'nicotine rush and the short feeling of feintness.

So, helping to think more clearly, and reducing cardiovascular tension, both for very short periods, are the main reasons why smoking cigs works.

Because the action is short-lived, you get very quick drop in nicotinic receptor kevels and a rebound anxiety: craving. Nicotine is very addictive for this reason.

Edited by Rebuker on Saturday 27th September 20:56

[Marf]

brum said:

Don't. I had a bad experience with the K. Mate gave me some and i stuck it in my wallet and i forgot all about it.
Found it one Saturday early evening just before i was meeting a mate for a beer. Thought it was chang so spread it out on the side in the kitchen and hoovered it.

fk me. I spend what felt like days paraylsed on the living room floor, hallucinating wildly - at one point Vernon Kaye was climbing out of the TV at me. Pretty scary.
Wife came downstairs and wanted to know how the fk i had managed to get into such a state in the fifteen minutes she had been upstairs.

Not recommended.

I believe the phrase for that is "stuck in a K hole"