Smoking and Backpacking

[oldranger]

I have a friend (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) who tokes up regulary--then coughs for 5 minutes afterward. Always blames it on the "quality" of the material. I keep thinking that maybe his body is trying to tell him something. But he is a halfway decent companion in the backcountry so I tolerate him. (Besides I'm no prize either!)

Mike

[TahoeJeff]

If you don't cough, you don't get off!
(old stoner saying)

[RobS]

I am not a smoker, but I have tired of the attacks on smokers treating them like second class citizens.Sensitive to cigarette smoke, but not pot smoke?? Really? Perhaps an emotional or psychologically triggered response.

[RoguePhotonic]

[rant]

No I can assure you it's all physical. It's not really that surprising with all the chemicals that are in cigarettes.

I do treat smokers like second class citizens because they act like them. There is all this talk about most smokers being kind and courteous about their smoking. I don't know where you all live but I have not met one yet. They all are inconsiderate assholes in my experience. I think they are weak individuals who have to turn to substances to help them through life. Tens of thousands may die a year from second hand smoke but hey **** em right? All I know is the only thing I have left in the world which is hiking depends on healthy lungs that are greatly diminished due to others habits.

So as I pointed out before, turn to the bottle or shoot some smack into your arm. Snort some white powder, sniff a marker. Do whatever you have to do to make this life a half way sufferable existence. But don't take what little health the rest of us have left.

I'll take the disgusting filth in the air over Bakersfield vs cigarette smoke any day.

[/rant]

[RobS]

The chemicals in cigarettes are much more regulated than the chemicals in pot

[Ross939]

I have a friend (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) who tokes up regulary--then coughs for 5 minutes afterward. Always blames it on the "quality" of the material. I keep thinking that maybe his body is trying to tell him something. But he is a halfway decent companion in the backcountry so I tolerate him. (Besides I'm no prize either!)

Mike

To each his own, lol. My dope smoking days are long behind me, but I have friends who still partake. I don't hold it against them, still think booze will kill ya a lot quicker than pot.


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[dave54]

+1

Everyone fooled around with recreational pharmaceuticals in youth. Most of us got smarter as we matured. Smoking anything is bad for you.

[AlmostThere]

I am not a smoker, but I have tired of the attacks on smokers treating them like second class citizens.Sensitive to cigarette smoke, but not pot smoke?? Really? Perhaps an emotional or psychologically triggered response.

Do you understand what these chemicals do to someone?

People do *often* turn into physical wrecks because of the chemicals they voluntarily put into their bodies for years and years, and they then proceed to spend your tax dollars by entering various programs and getting federally funded disability and healthcare to treat severe, chronic, and ongoing medical issues caused by the recreational chemicals they ingested all their lives.

IF you do things to yourself voluntarily why should the rest of the country pay for your outcomes?

Just a question from a systemic perspective. Feel free to be upset at me - I'm just the messenger who does substance abuse counseling and bills federally funded insurance.

Sometimes it's a larger issue than secondhand smoke. I won't come down on people for their addictions, because many are self medicating and have other stressors in their life that make such behavior understandable - after all we live in a society that medicates our stress and depression, they are merely choosing illegal or more addicting options than a doctor will give them, without understanding all the risks they run.

However - it is not true that the end result of the illegal and legal substances people use have no consequences for the larger society. Ask anyone who has lost a family member to a drunk driver - or ask a guy with a DUI habit who lost his job after his license was pulled and now he has child support to pay, a bunch of bills of his own, and no way to get on his feet so is in treatment he can't afford anymore.

Which is way off the original topic... but it is the larger reason behind my own stance on the subject of cigarettes, pot, and other drugs that are mind altering, addicting or cumulatively debilitating.

I do have a drink once in a while. I will never be addicted to anything, however, as I don't have to self medicate or have an "addictive personality". And I do not come down on anyone who uses, because I have lots of experience with addicts. It's a choice they make that they didn't foresee the consequences of - hard to really judge people when you're sitting with a middle aged man sobbing because the pot habit became a meth habit became a thing that ruled his life for several years, and when he came out of it, he could no longer see his son.

People are all different and people react differently to different things. I react based on my experiences, like everyone else. I prefer not to hike with users and addicts not because of the drug, but because I prefer to hike with people who aren't in the service of a "habit." It's a part of their personality and it doesn't always make them pleasant to spend time with. Some pot users fall into that category, some don't.

[RoguePhotonic]

My rant may have been too mean for you smokers who are nice people but it's just a subject I have built up anger in. I have been sucking down second hand smoke since the day I was born. I have spent most of my life living around smokers.

[cmon4day]

I generally will smoke a cigar at night around the campfire. That and a small flask are my only vices.