NTs Might Prefer to be a little Autistic

[Gift2humanity]

Agreed. That's why under legalisation it is about being properly informed and making decisions as an adult about whether to use it. It is not for everyone.

Just as legal alcohol can be a devastating drug to both user and family, doesn't mean we should demonise it and vilify people for having a glass of wine with a meal. Many people die from alcohol and alcohol related issues every year. Not one recorded death from Cannabis.

I'm sorry for anyone who feels they've had issues with Cannabis. It is easier to blame the plant than accept responsibility for its use.

Agree

 

[Gift2humanity]

As legalization has become accepted and spreads I believe there has also been a kind of mania of theories and claims made about it. But personal testimonies on results are really just uncontrolled experiments and many other factors could be a play. One really does have to wait till the science can catch up and the true properties and potenials revealed. And that is not the matter of single studies, but multiple ones from different researchers that show the results can be repeated, because even the best intended studies can have unforeseen flaws. As an analogy for caution, much has been said for years about the benefits of Cod Liver Oil. But a recent professional study could not find a single proveable benefit. No decreased heart disease, no longer lifespan, no anything. Now that has to be verified, but you see the point. Just because one person says something or maybe even many people say something does not necessarily mean it is true.

The ancients have known the benefits of responsible use of this medicinal plants for aeons. They never needed to measure or experiment to prove. This is the concept of modern science. This does not mean cannabis should be abused to get high

Like I said above, regardless of the drug, regardless of the danger, give people the choice, legalise it, whatever it is, personal responsibility.

 

[Gift2humanity]

True. Israel currently leads the world in Cannabis research. I like what they're doing there. But there are two quite distinct sides to all this.

The medical side has to be evidence based, proven, repeatable, and it is becoming realer as they learn more, but it will take time.

The individual user, whether self-medicating or recreational, does not. It is a choice. A preference. A decision that may have positive or negative consequences, but that is ok. That is life. I could cross a road a little absentmindedly and be hit by a bus. Life happens. What we mustn't get confused about is the journey of medical science over the right for adult humans to self determine their own way of doing things in this matter. They have done so for 1000's of years. I believe currently the earliest known use of Cannabis is 5000 years ago. They even found traces of it in one of Shakespeare's pipes, lol. That would explain a thing or two

We don't have to make sure everyone is always protected from what we think could be bad for them. People climb dangerous mountains. Some don't come back. It's OK to do risky things.

Agree

 

[Gift2humanity]

You have to make a difference between medical cannabis, the special, THC free breed that is non-addictive and

and regular cannabis. A child with epilepsy will get medical cannabis.

CBD is psychoactive.

It does not get you high.

It acts as a sedative and unlike THC, it’s also has antipsychotic properties.

You said it works on pain signals, therefore it must be psychoactive because these receptors are in the brain.

Rightly or wrongly, I do not pay much attention to animal research on drugs for people because animals are animals and people are people.

What right have we got to test any drug on an animal. We take away the animals freedom by putting it in the lab and that stinks. Sorry for the derail

 

[Gift2humanity]

View attachment 66692

Loony tunes – no need for that really. We are all mad here said the Cheshire cat. We are all mad here said me at autismforums.com. By that, I am trying to say we are all allowed to be different and unique.

 

[Gift2humanity]

This is such a polarizing thread and I agree with both sides. I agree that MJ can be dangerous to some but I also agree it absolutely should be available to those for whom it is a miracle and there are MANY in that camp, people I know. But I also know people trying to stop using. I am so conflicted! I want it so bad (it's not available to me) but i also fear it. What to do?!

Listen to your gut instinct.
Sometimes cannabis comes from unsavoury places, if you do decide to use it avoid those, and use it for the right reason.

 

[Gift2humanity]

Cannabis (the THC in particular), like any other drugs, has its benefits and its side effects, and every person will have their own reaction to it. It may help many people, but that's not true for everyone, it can cause paranoia in some people, and apart from that, smoking it, as most people do, is a bad idea - our lungs are designed for breathing, not inhaling burned plant matter, that's just asking for health problems in my opinion. It's like playing Russian roulette - it may be the wonderdrug, or it may really mess you up. Take at your own risk.

The original poster was not talking about the health issues associated with tobacco.
Cannabis can be eaten.
As I said earlier, legitimate medical use or occasional non-recreational use for spiritual and mind expanding purposes is okay by me.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I know a lot of people in their sixties and seventies that have tried quitting marijuana over the past few decades, and they couldn't quit, they were truly addicted. At N.A. meetings there are often people trying to quit it. Detoxing from Marijuana - Marijuana Anonymous World Services

Cannabis can be a psychologically addictive drug.
I am not playing down the seriousness of psychological addiction.
To get to the bottom of psychological addiction the addict needs to know why they became addicted and needs to be prepared to look back at their lives, backtrack and look at how they responded to adverse situations.
NA does not address childhood issues.
Ironically, Cannabis can help, with the right mindset, with the right people, and in the right setting, and used respectfully, to create the right mind environment where repressed trauma can come out and be dealt with.
Importantly it is not the taking of the cannabis that “cures” the trauma, behind the addiction, it is how the person integrates the lessons into their life afterwards just like other natural plant medicines when used with respect.

 

[Gift2humanity]

What is with the obsession over being neurotypical? Envy? Something else? If somebody could care to explain that is, because I have a few theories on this alone. Being neurotypical doesn't magically solve anything (assuming the people I know around me even fit into that category), but I understand that's not the topic of this thread.

My theory re: smoking pot is smoking pot gives you the experience of smoking pot which, going by this thread at least, varies from person to person.

I did not take the original post to be obsessive.
There is no envy.
The original post was not about solving anything by not being autistic.
Autism is not a problem it is a blessing depending on how we respond to our circumstances.
Like the original poster, although I am autistic and not neuro typical, when I took cannabis in the early days it was mind opening.
Unfortunately I abused it and needed more and more to gain insights.
The original poster is not talking about abuse they are talking about NTs obtaining a similar heightened sensory awareness that autistics have.

 

[Gift2humanity]

[QUOTE="Gift2humanity, post: 755800, member: 21601"
Autism is a blessing.

The lucky autistic children who engage in creative activities, and who are on the spectrum, whether they know it or not, fair better than their autistic counterparts who do not engage in creative activities in childhood.

This is because their special perception is honed, and they adapt to this left brained thinking unbalanced world, whereas children who do not engage in creative activities and are on the spectrum, in my opinion, are the ones who struggle with communication, with socialising, and with vulnerability.

Having a child with ASD-3 I strongly disagree with this. I love him with all my heart, but how is it a blessing to have to spend half your life in a mental institution because the world even apparently the world of people on the spectrum, has no idea what it's like to be him. Seeing things written like this make me think about how priveliged some people are and I really hope you appreciate that fact. SMH

I am sorry that your child is in a mental institution.
This is not the place for your child to be.
I take it you are a Westerner.
Westerners treat severely autistic people as mentally ill or disabled or incompetent.
In the more indigenous parts of the world, your child would have been recognised by the village shaman as highly sensitive and special.
They would have been taken away and given training on how to heal, how to solve problems, how to resolve conflicts between fellow tribe members, and a lot of the shamanic skills including accessing the spiritual realms.
We in the west are backwards frankly.

 

[Gift2humanity]

That's messed up. I've quit all three and more. Every addiction is still an addiction. A lot of people stay away from NA meetings because people treat them like that.

You could start a new thread if you want to talk about addiction, this is not what this thread is about.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I didn't mean it in a hostile way. I'm an addict and I know the signs. It is written and not spoken, so the emotion didn't come across.

I apologise, I have communication issues and I am an addict but not to cannabis.
Peace.

 

[Magna]

I disagree with the premise that being high on cannabis is similar to or equivalent to autism. I am autistic and I have used cannabis.

 

[Progster]

The original poster was not talking about the health issues associated with tobacco.

I wasn't talking about tobacco.

I'm also aware of the fact that smoking it isn't the only way to consume it, which is why I wrote "smoking it, as most people do, is a bad idea," meaning that is the way that most people consume it.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I'm just so tired of people on this forum not realizing that this is an AUTISM forum, and is used by many youth who are struggling with schoolwork or communication with peers. Adults who post these things are just making substance abuse attractive to minors.

This is not what the original post was about.
@SimonSays mentions more than once “responsible use of plant medicine“, in not so many words.
Plant medicine has been used for thousands of years.
It is only since people have decided to control and dominate others fairly recently in the context of the aeons of human existence, that these plant medicines have been associated wrongly with drugs.
The original post was not about drugs or abuse of them.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I wasn't talking about tobacco.

The original post was not necessarily talking about smoking it was talking about using a plant medicine which has been used for thousands of years.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I wasn't talking about tobacco.

I'm also aware of the fact that smoking it isn't the only way to consume it, which is why I wrote "smoking it, as most people do, is a bad idea," meaning that is the way that most people consume it.

I took the original post to mean that non autistic people may try cannabis to capture an experience similar to autism even if this is not consciously done.
It was never meant to be about dangers and drug misuse.

 

[Progster]

I tool the original post to mean that none autistic people may try cannabis to capture an experience similar to autism even if this is not consciously done.
It was never meant to be about dangers and drug miss use.

That might not have been its original purpose perhaps, but that's what it ended up being. So my post, and many of the other posts are slightly off-topic.

 

[Tom]

Well the idea has brought up a new question. If using cannabis makes NTs into Autists, what then would using it make people on the spectrum?

 

[Mary Terry]

As mentioned above, abusive pot can make you, in your words “lazy”, “anxious”. It can make you forget your words this does not mean stupid.

As for paranoid, the true meaning of paranoid is psychotic, “knowing“ you are being watched. I can vouch for this personally because amphetamines got me sectioned as I knew cameras were watching me.

With cannabis, What many people see is paranoia, is initial anxiety, which, if relax into, can bring about clarity, but only with respectful use, as mentioned in my first response.

I express no opinion about people who smoke pot for whatever reason. I know people who are recreational pot heads, people who use medicinal marijuana for various health reasons, and people who are adamantly opposed to pot use and any effort to legalize it. To each his own.

I personally doesn't need pot to be creative, sensitive, or to achieve any of the other benefits that people attribute to marijuana use. I do note that my autistic sister-in-law used to be a pothead but she quit when she realized that she could not get through the day without getting high, to the detriment of raising and caring for her autistic son.

Getting into arguments about the relative merits and demerits of marijuana use is a dead end which will not be resolved by anyone here. I do think that the original theory posed by the OP, while creative, is wrong. But kuddos to him for posing such a question. It certainly provoked a lot of discussion.

I'll stand by my words that pot made me feel stupid (slower thought processes, impaired memory, impaired mental focus, etc.), lazy (unmotivated), paranoid (you can be paranoid without being psychotic - it's a matter of degree), and hungry (a/k/a the "munchies"). While I'll never know exactly how an autistic brain thinks or feels, I don't think an autistic brain is consistent with an NT's brain while high on pot. Those are two completely different things, IMHO.

But good discussion.....