I honestly think that I could become a casualty of the War on Drugs.

I honestly think that I could become a casualty of the War on Drugs. Not from the drugs themselves, but from the horrifically unfair, outdated, racist drug laws that the US still has.

Honestly i don't have any kind of drug problem, i occasionally smoke marijuana. Just a tiny bit of quality marijuana dramatically improves the quality of my life. That's what i believe and I'm sticking to it. I think it is worth it because it makes me happy (it's complicated, i have a medical condition that smoking a small amount helps)

The legal consequences have ruined my life! (I've lost jobs and so much more because of it). It is so totally unfair.... Im not a bad person, I'm just trying to live my life.

Why the fuck are the laws so fucked up? Can't the US Government see how much harm these stupid outdated laws are hurting society??? These unfair laws hurt not only me, but my whole family and everyone who cares about me.

US Government, you have failed! You can't needlessly destroy your citizens' lives without consequences ( SERIOUSLY, MARIJUANA IS SAFER THAN ALCOHOL, YET I'M CRIMINALIZED!)

I'm a honest to god good person. I'm intelligent, educated, genuine, fair, caring, faithful and innocent of any actual wrong doing. Why the fuck am I being persecuted! This bull shit system is enough to make me not want to be part of it anymore. As a human being, I can only take so much abuse and injustice... this is the reason that I could become a casualty of the War on Drugs....

tl/dr i smoke marijuana and the consequences of the fucked up laws make me want to kill myself...

Should I turn myself in?

Should I go to State Prison for Marijuana?

I have a philosophical conundrum whether I should turn myself in to police for MARIJUANA!!! And should I be in prison until marijuana is legal federally in the USA!!??

I live in New York, which as of April 2014, it looks like it is going to be at least 5 more years before medical marijuana is legal, let alone recreational marijuana is legal.

FOR THE RECORD, I believe that Marijuana has tremendous medicinal value, however I am SERIOUSLY AGAINST MEDICAL MARIJUANA! It should not be up to bureaucrats or subjective doctor’s opinions what or how much marijuana (whether it be medicine or not) individual needs. THIS IS A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY, FREEDOM AND (as the US Constitution States ) = PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Just like gay marriage, women’s rights or civil rights, WHO ARE YOU to say what I can and cannot do!!

Why should some straight-edge conservative IGNORANT bureaucrat decide what is best for me!!! Who are you to judge me!! You don't know me! You don't know what I have been through. At the very least I have severed my country in a time of war. Now all I am asking for is the freedom to do what is best for me.

I have a special medical condition (ADD/ADHA/ADHBD) that smoking a tiny bit ( I stress A SMALL AMOUNT OF QUALITY MARIJUANA) maybe once a week or a few times a month SERIOUSLY HELPS ME!!!....

I am not a drug fiend, I am not a Pot Head, I am not some hopeless loser stoner that just wants to be lazy and be high, I am not a loser dope drug addict that just wants to get high!!!!

If this is what you think that all marijuana users are like, YOU ARE IGNORANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You might want to educate yourself. Because most pot smokers are honest tax paying citizens, just like the majority of the African American Community, and just like the Gay Community that just wants to have the right to marry who they love, just like the minimum wage community that is just asking for a fair wage, and just like female workforce community that is just asking for equal pay for equal work. I am a proud and honest United States Citizens, that has honorably severed his country in the time of war... And all I am asking is not to be prosecuted and persecuted for my honest attempt to make myself feel better. Please allow me the dignity to define myself. MARIJUANA is a SOCIAL RIGHT, it is not a means of social discrimination!!!

I can't tell you how many job opportunities I have lost because of this BULLSHIT DISCRIMINATION! It is simply not fair! I have been denied the honest opportunity to work because of my personal mental affliction that is honestly best cured by a tiny bit of weed... This has caused me become jobless, homeless, self-esteemless, hopeless, bankrupt and suicidal.

I am an intelligent adult. I should be able to make my own decisions as to what is best for me. I am also a US Marine Corps War Veteran ( Afghanistan OEF 2009) and a College Graduate (State University of New York at Albany with a major in Sociology, and a minor in Philosophy, Psychology and Social Statistics).

I may have PTSD from fighting the war in Afghanistan, or I may have had ADD/ADHD prior to joining the military. Whatever the case, I have a serious mental problem. I require stimulus medication (Ritalin or Concerta= time released Ritalin) to function optimally (or rather to function normally).

Honestly, this medication makes me want to live!! Without it, I feel sleepy, lazy, lethargic and I have very little desire to do the things that I love to do. ( * I greatly enjoy studying foreign languages, practicing classical piano and learning as much as I can about the natural sciences, mainly physics, biology and chemistry) if that is not statement enough, please allow me to elaborate further....

With the right medication (which I believe to be a combination of Ritalin and Marijuana), I am able to function as a highly effective member of society. I am able to contribute to society in a meaningful and useful way. I am able to produce useful results from diligent hard work. Most importantly, I am able to go to sleep at night knowing that I did something useful and meaningful.... Even more importantly, this combination of medicine makes me happy...

Doing something meaningful for myself, my family and society is quite possibly the most important thing in my life... Without my vital medication, I simply fail to accomplish anything practical and useful.

I often wish I didn't need medication to work and function normally. But the FACT of the matter is that I do need medication. This medication greatly improves the quality of my life. Either I take the medication (the stimulate and the marijuana) and live a higher quality of life or I don't and live a lower quality of life. Obviously the right choice is simple. I would rather be a meaningful contributor to society then be a lethargic waste of space (which is how I am without the medication).

This is a personal conclusion that I made years ago (when I was about 11, when I first started the stimulate medication), I decided to be all that I could be and contribute all that I could. Unfortunately, because MARIJUANA as of April 2014 is still illegal, I have suffered grave consequences of my decision....

I have personally experienced that smoking a very small amount of quality marijuana has drastically helped me tremendously. After smoking a small amount of high-grade marijuana (ones a week or less) something truly magical happens. My mind becomes from free momentarily from the million miles a second thought-race that burdens me normally. I am able to feel a moment of peace and tranquility from the constant speed race that my mind constantly torturers me with....

I decided that my right for the medicinal value of marijuana was something worth fighting for!! I understand that I will have to suffer because of the ASS-BACKWARDS BULLSHIT political climate that I was born into that currently holds the FALSE belief the MARIJUANA is some sort of evil demon drug that holds no medicinal value what-so-ever. I may be years ahead of my time, and I understand that I am on the wrong side of a futile political battle. But this is something that I honestly believe in.

I am willing to go to jail as a martyr for my beliefs. I would rather the state pay for my pitiful useless existence in state prison (as is does with dope users) rather than I be a useful honest contributor to society with lawful and unrestricted access to the medication that I need to be a honest useful contributor to society.

Honestly as a Sociology Major in College, it seems WAY more useful to society to do it my way... And allow me access to the drugs that I need than be a useless burden on society and waste my life in state prison... But who am I to make that decision? I don't make the laws, I just try my best to follow the ones that make senses...

Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered going to school to get educated about the world in the first place, it doesn't seem to matter anyways....

So I would rather be in state prison than be a victim of an oppressive ignorant (RACIST I might add) government on the outside. Until my country decides to do the right thing and allows honest educated citizens like me to have access the the medication that I need to be a useful productive citizens, I guess I would rather rot in jail. America, You have failed! If you don't correct yourself soon, you will be overtaken by China or who knows who else.

Now is the time to change. Using Science as a guide, we have the knowledge and wisdom to do what is right. Don't let politics stand in the way. The United States of America has the wisdom and know how to be a world leader.... It is the corrupt politicians standing in the way of our success. Change now, for fall forever. The choice is ours.
 

Exercise - The Best Medicine for your Brain

Shared on 4/7/2014 from http://time.com/50346/the-single-most-proven-way-to-get-smarter-and-happier/

The Single Most Proven Way To Get Smarter and Happier

• By Eric Barker from Time.com

   

Many of the fixes for our problems aren’t complex — something that’s clear in the things I recommend people do every day.

Stop reading this right now and go for a walk.What’s a scientifically validated way to get smarter, happier, healthier and calmer?

It’s that simple.

Here’s why.

Exercise Powers The Body — And The Mind

They used to say you don’t grow new brain cells. They were wrong.

"As an illustration of just how new this territory is, I’ll go back to the story of neurogenesis, the once-heretical theory that the brain grows new nerve cells throughout life. “Ten years ago people weren’t even convinced that it happened,” says neurologist Scott Small. It was at his Columbia University lab, in 2007, where they witnessed telltale signs of neurogenesis for the first time in live humans. “Five years ago people said, OK, it might happen, but is it really meaningful? Now there isn’t a week that goes by where there’s not another study that shows neurogenesis has some kind of effect on the brain.”

What really feeds those baby brain cells? Hitting the gym.

A 3 month exercise regimen increased bloodflow to the part of your brain focused on memory and learning by 30%.

"In his study, Small put a group of volunteers on a three-month exercise regimen and then took pictures of their brains. By manipulating a standard MRI machine’s processing— essentially zooming in and cocking the shutter open— he captured images of the newly formed capillaries required for nascent neurons to survive. What he saw was that the capillary volume in the memory area of the hippocampus increased by 30 percent, a truly remarkable change.

The Dumb Jock Is A Myth

Being in good shape increases your ability to learn. After exercise people pick up new vocabulary words 20% faster.

“One of the prominent features of exercise, which is sometimes not appreciated in studies, is an improvement in the rate of learning, and I think that’s a really cool take-home message,” Cotman says. “Because it suggests that if you’re in good shape, you may be able to learn and function more efficiently.”Indeed, in a 2007 study of humans, German researchers found that people learn vocabulary words 20 percent faster following exercise than they did before exercise, and that the rate of learning correlated directly with levels of BDNF."

Want to be more creative? Sweating for about a half hour on the treadmill notably increases cognitive flexibility.

"A notable experiment in 2007 showed that cognitive flexibility improves after just one thirty-five-minute treadmill session at either 60 percent or 70 percent of maximum heart rate… Cognitive flexibility is an important executive function that reflects our ability to shift thinking and to produce a steady flow of creative thoughts and answers as opposed to a regurgitation of the usual responses."

Fine, you can see differences on an MRI and with nerdy tests. Does it make a difference in the real world?

Yes.

Office workers who exercised at lunch were more productive, less stressed and had more energy.

"In 2004 researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University in England found that workers who used their company’s gym were more productive and felt better able to handle their workloads. Most of the 210 participants in the study took an aerobics class at lunchtime, for forty-five minutes to an hour, but others lifted weights or practiced yoga for thirty minutes to an hour. They filled out questionnaires at the end of every workday about how well they interacted with colleagues, managed their time, and met deadlines. Some 65 percent fared better in all three categories on days they exercised. Overall, they felt better about their work and less stressed when they exercised. And they felt less fatigued in the afternoon, despite expending energy at lunchtime."

That super-productive co-worker who runs every day might not exercise because they have energy — they might have energy because they exercise.

While it might not make you the smartest person in the world, among the many ways to increase intelligence, exercise stands out.

Sweating Increases Smiling

Can’t make it simpler than this: Research from Duke University shows exercise is as effective as antidepressants in treating depression.

"In a landmark study affectionately called SMILE (Standard Medical Intervention and Long-term Exercise), James Blumenthal and his colleagues pitted exercise against the SSRI sertraline (Zoloft) in a sixteen-week trial… Blumenthal concluded that exercise was as effective as medication."

It also reduces anxiety.

"One interesting study in 2005 measured the physical and mental effects of exercise in a group of Chilean high school students for nine months… The experimental group’s anxiety scores dropped 14 percent versus a statistically insignificant 3 percent for the control group (an improvement that could be explained by the placebo effect)."

What if you’re not depressed or anxious? Stay sedentary and you’re 1.5x more likely to eventually become depressed.

"Researchers tracked 8,023 people for twenty-six years, surveying them about a number of factors related to lifestyle habits and healthiness starting in 1965. They checked back in with the participants in 1974 and in 1983. Of all the people with no signs of depression at the beginning, those who became inactive over the next nine years were 1.5 times more likely to have depression by 1983 than their active counterparts."

Still not convinced? People who exercise are, across the board, mentally healthier: less depression, anger, stress, and distrust.

"A massive Dutch study of 19,288 twins and their families published in 2006 showed that exercisers are less anxious, less depressed, less neurotic, and also more socially outgoing. A Finnish study of 3,403 people in 1999 showed that those who exercise at least two to three times a week experience significantly less depression, anger, stress, and “cynical distrust” than those who exercise less or not at all."

Okay, Okay — How Much Do I Need To Do?

What’s optimal? Exercise 6 days a week, 45 minutes to an hour per day.

"The best, however, based on everything I’ve read and seen, would be to do some form of aerobic activity six days a week, for forty-five minutes to an hour… In total, I’m talking about committing six hours a week to your brain. That works out to 5 percent of your waking hours."

Stop rolling your eyes. It’s not all or nothing.

Regarding body health and brain health, experts and neuroscientists agree: “A little is good, and more is better.”

Here’s something proven to make you smarter, healthier, and happier. What could be a better investment of your time?

You might ask: If it’s obviously so great, why don’t we all do it?

Because habits and social influences are much more powerful than we think.

And, in general, we don’t do what makes us happy — we do what’s easy.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

25 ways to increase your intelligence:

I thought that this was worth sharing and remembering. 25 research-based ways to increase your intelligence:

1. Coffee and cigarettes.
2. For nonsmokers, coffee and a donut.
3. Chew gum.
4. Doodle.
5. Red Bull.
6. Think about college professors. Don’t think about morons.
7. Sniff rosemary.
8. Do NOT take an IQ test or be ranked by intelligence.
9. Have good relationships, be social and adopt other people’s perspectives.
10. Exercise.
11. Listen to some Bach or Mozart.
12. Better yet, learn how to play some Bach or Mozart. Or learn any new skill.
13. Stop multitasking.
14. Guys, stay away from pretty girls. Don’t even think about them.
15. Get enough sleep every night.
16. Finish what you start.
17. Lay down to improve problem solving.
18. Believe you can become smarter.
19. Try out certain nutritional supplements.
20. Feed your superstitions.
21. Talk to yourself.
22. Stay away from the color red.
23. Avoid situations where you feel out of control or powerless.
24. Avoid rejection.
25. Get a boss who thinks you’re a genius.

Shared on 4/7/2014 from http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/05/25-research-based-ways-to-increase-your-intel/