Because Without YouTube, No One Would Know What Huffing Is

from the why-that'll-get-rid-of-the-problem-right-there dept

The latest in a recent burst of stories about people freaking out over videos on YouTube (such as the complaints about lockpicking videos) is that a drug abuse prevention group has asked thousands of its members to bombard YouTube demanding they take down videos of kids "huffing" (inhaling chemicals to get high). They complain that the videos show the practice without the downside (you know, brain damage, death, etc.) that can come with huffing. Again, though, this misses the point. It's not as if kids don't know about the practice or how it works -- and simply hiding a few videos on YouTube doesn't solve the problem, it just hides it. It makes these anti-drug activists think they've done something to help when all they've done is pretend that if kids don't see videos they won't take part. Why not spend the effort making sure that people do realize the dangers associated with huffing, rather than pretending the problem goes away if you hide some videos?
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  • identicon
    SimplyGimp, 8 Dec 2006 @ 7:24pm

    War On Drugs...

    This is just a small branch from a very large tree of the War On Drugs. They feel if you can get people to stop talking about it, less people will be inclined to do it.

    The War On Drugs was and is a total failure from day one. Just sad that no one has recognized this and decided to stop wasting our tax money.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      sadisticfreek, 8 Dec 2006 @ 7:31pm

      Re: War On Drugs...

      "They feel if you can get people to stop talking about it, less people will be inclined to do it."

      American's mentality is the same on any subject that is not widely thought of as being "normal"... suicide, drugs, etc.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 5:40am

        Re: Re: War On Drugs...

        Don't comment on the American mentality if you are not one. Do I get on here and generalize about the Brits, French, or any other nationality? NO. So get off my American ass, and don't lump me in with your narrow minded views of a culture you're not even a part of.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 6:21am

          Re: Re: Re: War On Drugs...

          Hmm. The lumping bit I agree with but saying that you can only criticize things you're apart of... just completely removes any credibility you have.

          You're an idiot plain and simple. It's people like you that are eroding our rights to free speech.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:55pm

          Re: Re: Re: War On Drugs...

          Well, by your retarded comment you have actually reinforced my stereotype of americans as arrogant, imbecilic morons.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2006 @ 12:51am

          Re: Re: Re: War On Drugs...

          Alright neighbor, I'll bight. I'm an American and sadisticfreek is right on the money. Too bad you're too busy being another shit-for-brains idiot like so many in our society to notice. Pull your head out of your ass and be intelligent or shut up and deal with the fact that we have an international stereotype for a reason numb-nutz.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 2:32pm

        Re: Re: War On Drugs...

        fuck you

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Confused, 8 Dec 2006 @ 7:25pm

    Hmm...

    If parents would just monitor their children's video viewing, this wouldn't be a problem. YouTube has scores of not so bright videos, but that's what makes it YouTube.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Jesse McNelis, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:51pm

      Re: Hmm...

      Maybe they should post video replies to the huffing videos explaining about the dangers associated.

      I find it amazing that kids actually do that shit. Get some real drugs you stupid kids.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Paul`, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:46pm

      Re: Hmm...

      You're forgetting parents want someone else to do the actual parenting.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Magnanimous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:16pm

        Re: Re: Hmm...

        You're forgetting parents want someone else to do the actual parenting.

        Spoken like someone who has no kids.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2006 @ 12:57am

          Re: Re: Re: Hmm...

          Probably, but he's right. And just because someone doesn't have kids doesn't make their insight less - in fact, it is likely much clearer due to the fact that he doesn't have an irrational emotional attachment to the subject.

          It's not YouTube.com's responsibility to monitor what kids watch and freedom of speech is far more important than Jimmy Dumb Dick Smith who is interested in knowing what it takes to huff paint fumes till he's a fucking vegetable.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    beerdrinker, 8 Dec 2006 @ 7:33pm

    censorship

    Stop trying to tell me what I can and can not see! If you don't like it - make your own video against it and then annoy me by tagging it the same on whatever sites you put it on.

    Why can't these crazy activists figure this out?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Dave, 9 Dec 2006 @ 6:38am

      Re: censorship

      I bet none of them could even turn a computer on, let alone post a video. I bet most of them are going on purely from what they've heard, not seen.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lee, 8 Dec 2006 @ 7:41pm

    The seventeen year old son of a co worker died huffing.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      EdB, 8 Dec 2006 @ 11:04pm

      Re:

      So what. People die all the time. We should ban videos of whatever stupid crap they did that killed them just because someone knows someone?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Pemrick69, 10 Dec 2006 @ 6:40pm

      Re:

      And what? That's not what we're discussing. The fact that someone you know died doing it besides the point, thousands and thousands of people die from huffing, the issue here though is whether or not you can see a video of someone doing it. Your co-workers son is irrelevant. Stop pulling the emotional card for no reason.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2006 @ 12:59am

      Re:

      Two fucking words you dumb fucks.

      NATURAL SELECTION.

      Deal with it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ed Zactley, 8 Dec 2006 @ 7:59pm

    RE: War On Drugs i.e. Simply Gimp

    "This is just a small branch from a very large tree of the War On Drugs. They feel if you can get people to stop talking about it, less people will be inclined to do it.

    The War On Drugs was and is a total failure from day one. Just sad that no one has recognized this and decided to stop wasting our tax money."

    Oh really? Although I agree that tax money is wasted, I don't think it is here. On what do you base your claims? It seems as though you make a pretty broad claim without any basis for it.

    As a schoolteacher of 5th 6th & 7th grade students, you might be surprised to learn that they are HEAVILY influenced by groups such as youth to youth, DARE, and other groups that are affiliated with the "War on Drugs".

    My guess is that you are either a drug user looking for justification, or don't have the sense to realize that kids are far more impressionable that adults.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      anna, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:22pm

      Re: RE: War On Drugs i.e. Simply Gimp

      When I was a seventh-grader, we thought those DARE programs were really stupid. That was twenty years ago. It was an excuse to get out of class to see a boring assembly.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 3:32pm

        Re: Re: RE: War On Drugs i.e. Simply Gimp

        same here... and i'm just a highschool freshman. Nothing has changed.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      savage, 9 Dec 2006 @ 4:54am

      Re: RE: War On Drugs i.e. Simply Gimp

      GAO: Research Shows That DARE Is A Failure, Alternative Prevention Programs Do Exist

      The General Accounting Office released a review of current research regarding alcohol and other drug abuse prevention programs, particularly DARE, on Jan. 16, 2003. The review, Youth Illicit Drug Use Prevention: DARE Long-Term Evaluations and Federal Efforts to Identify Effective Programs, GAO-03-172R, was prepared in response to a request from Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL).

      The GAO report found that "In brief, the six long-term evaluations of the DARE elementary school curriculum that we reviewed found no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received DARE in the fifth or sixth grade (the intervention group) and students who did not )the control group). Three of the evaluations reported that the control groups of students were provided other drug use prevention education. All of the evaluations suggested that DARE had no statistically significant long-term effect on preventing youth illicit drug use. Of the six evaluations we reviewed, five also reported on students' attitudes toward illicit drug use and resistance to peer pressure and found no significant differences between the intervention and control groups over the long term. Two of these evaluations found that the DARE students showed stronger negative attitudes about illicit drug use and improved social skills about illicit drug use about 1 year after receiving the program. These positive effects diminished over time."

      This is the latest of many reports that have said the same thing.

      Maybe you need to research WHAT your teaching instead of being a parrot. {Thats what real teachers do}

      http://www.csdp.org/news/news/darerevised.htm

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 5:21pm

      Re: RE: War On Drugs i.e. Simply Gimp

      Just to let you know there buddy, the DARE program was cancelled a while back because every study released said that it was doing more HARM than good.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2006 @ 1:03am

      Re: RE: War On Drugs i.e. Simply Gimp

      "As a schoolteacher..."

      You're a fucking idot. I hope you never teach another child again.

      Sure, D.A.R.E. does heavily influence youth - it teaches them that there are things in this world that will make you "feel and act funny" and that "bad things could happen." It was the D.A.R.E. program that taught me WHAT drugs were in 6th fucking grade. In fact, I tried drugs within a year of the D.A.R.E. program starting at our school. What a load of shit you are sinking in.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Reece, 18 Nov 2008 @ 10:45am

      Re: RE: War On Drugs i.e. Simply Gimp

      yeah, you need a teacher. I'm a parent and have watched as kids went through DARE and other such programs and were just as deep into the drug scene as the kids that weren't in DARE. The reality is we have made these kids not responsible for their actions and we worry about their self esteem way too damn much. They need to learn that there is a consequence for screwing up and learn it young. The parents need to educate themselves and lose the whole "not my kid" mentality. They need to be involved with what happens in the kids lives. In our town, the dare cop was busted for drugs-0h what a great role model. get off your righteous high horse and see that reality isn't the pretty picture you want to make it.
      and this isn't new. a girl I went to school with in the late 60's killed herself at school huffin arid extra dry because she was being molested by an uncle and no one would believe her....maybe we need to listen when kids talk.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    SimplyGimp, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:08pm

    I always love a Teacher...

    Boy, you guys haven't changed since when I went to school. Still assume the worse of someone simply because you disagree. Scary how we rely on YOU to tech our children.

    Lets see, the War On Drugs. Currently, about half of all inmates in America (The US being the leading country in jailed citizens already) are there on drug charges. It costs this country almost $30 BILLION yearly to keep those drug cases in prison.

    Are you going to tell me now that each one of those cases, those people belong? You can't find it in your teacher's heart to say maybe some of them had an unlucky day and got arrested over a bag of weed, and simply need help? Of course not, you'd kick them out of school for fear of them 'infecting' the minds of others. Now who's assuming what?

    Take a look very closely at the numbers on this next page here. It could just scare you into realizing how much tax money is pissed away on misinformation and the government trying to tell us what we can and cannot do with our bodies.

    http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

    Of course, since you're a teacher, I assume you'll blindly close your eyes and ears so anyone giving you any information against what you already believe, because after all, that's what teachers do best, ignore the truth, history, science and whatever you can to push your own beliefs on other people's children. Shame on you.

    And shame on your for assuming I'm a druggie of some sort. How's it feel to be stereotyped?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Ed Zactley, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:42pm

      Re: I always love a Teacher...

      Drugs are illegal. If you break the law, then you risk the consequences. It has NOTHING to do with luck. It is a choice that each of us makes. If you are willing to accept those consequences, then go ahead and destroy your brain cells and life. As an ADULT, you can make that choice. But, who is there to protect the children - especially the children of those who have parents who lack basic skills necessary to bring up a child with any sense of values? Children don't yet have the common sense to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives - they need guidance. You downplay the impact of marijuana and its proven health issues and once again make blanket statements that have no factual information.

      It's real easy to try to strengthen your case by claiming that teachers "ignore the truth, history, science and whatever you can to push your own beliefs on other people's children", but once again, your broad claims are unsubstantiated and just plain incorrect.

      So, by your logic, it is all about money. If it costs us $30 billion to keep murderers and rapists in prison, then that is a waste of our tax money - is that what your are saying? Or is that somehow different? How many murders and rapes were committed by people under the influence of drugs? I think you will find that most research indicates that 70%+ of those crimes were committed by someone under the infuence of drugs/alcohol. Should we just save the tax money and let people do whatever they want?


      The law is what it is. If you don't like it, you can either try to change it, move somwhere that has the same viewpoint that you do, or violate it and risk the consequesnces. If you choose to break the law, then don't whine about the consequences or make pathetic excuses about it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Wait a minute, Ed, 9 Dec 2006 @ 7:43am

        Re: Re: I always love a Teacher...

        "I think you will find that most research indicates that 70%+ of those crimes were committed by someone under the infuence (sic) of drugs/alcohol."

        You need to back that statistic up, and separate out alcohol since it's legal.

        I think you miss the point, nonviolent drug users are being imprisoned at an exponential rate with mandatory minimum sentences, crowding prisons at great expense, and forcing violent criminals to be released early. This results in a huge burden on the prison system and society.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Evil Otto, 10 Dec 2006 @ 3:12pm

        Re: Re: I always love a Teacher...

        Drugs are illegal. If you break the law, then you risk the consequences. It has NOTHING to do with luck. It is a choice that each of us makes. If you are willing to accept those consequences, then go ahead and destroy your brain cells and life.

        Spoken like a true zealot. Do you drink coffee? Have a beer? Smoke tobacco? Congratulations, you're one of those brain-cell-killing evil drug users you're referring to. All those substances are psychoactive, all of them are potentially deadly, and all of them have the potential to cause antisocial behavior, just the same as the substances we've arbitrarily labeled "illegal."

        But, who is there to protect the children - especially the children of those who have parents who lack basic skills necessary to bring up a child with any sense of values?

        Who was there to tell the parents who had that kid that they were lousy parents and shouldn't have had the kid? And whose "values" are you talking about? Yours? Mine? Pick one, can't be both.

        You downplay the impact of marijuana and its proven health issues and once again make blanket statements that have no factual information.

        Please cite a source for the "health issues" you refer to. Once you have, I'll cite several dozen that document the fact that those "health issues" are overblown or non-existent.

        So, by your logic, it is all about money. If it costs us $30 billion to keep murderers and rapists in prison, then that is a waste of our tax money - is that what your are saying? Or is that somehow different?

        Rape and murder are not victimless crimes, like illegal drug use. Drug use does not directly lead to these crimes; there are always other factors involved (the illicit nature of said drugs very frequently being one.) And it is all about the money; money going into the pharmaceutical companies' pockets, money going into law enforcement to interdict a pathetic fraction of all illicit drugs, money paying for privacy-destroying surveillance equipment. Clearly all of these things are more important than, say, curing cancer.

        I think you will find that most research indicates that 70%+ of those crimes were committed by someone under the infuence of drugs/alcohol. Should we just save the tax money and let people do whatever they want?

        I think you will find that a similarly large fraction of those crimes were committed becaus the drugs involved were illegal, and the rest due to other factors. You don't blame the hammer when you hit your thumb, as much as you might want to. I'll argue the opposite: were these drugs not illegal, 70% of all crimes would not be committed.

        Tell me, who am I hurting if I smoke a joint in the privacy of my own home on a Friday night? Other than your sensibilities, that is.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 3:35pm

        Re: Re: I always love a Teacher...

        Something it appears no one has noticed is that the more you tell kids not to, the more they will have the urge to do it, especially as they hit puberty. Often, they will do things for that reason alone-- that they are not supposed to. So really, to attempt to indoctrinate a kid against huffing is useless.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        ShadowSoldier, 10 Dec 2006 @ 3:55pm

        Re: Re: I always love a Teacher...

        You know what, where are the facts that 70% of thos crimes were commited by people under the influence. It is different, if the government decided to rehabilitate rather than just send people to jail then it would help those people get better. Just because someone uses drugs doesn't make them a bad person, now send that person to jail, where they can still get drugs, then they would more than likely be pretty bitter about it, and might just become a bad person. Also who the fuck are you "ed" to say that children don't have any sense, what the hell do you know. You underestimate the children, sure they make bad decisions once in awhile, don't pretend that you STILL don't make them. I'm not saying that teachers are "evil" or "ignorant", my Mom is a teacher and she doesn't act like an asshole.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Allie, 11 Dec 2006 @ 2:00am

        Re: Re: I always love a Teacher...

        Wow, someone missed the point. DARE (drugs are really expencive) only told me to say no, it never told me why. So I had to go and find out. I did end up learning a lot about rehab. Thank you DARE.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Curly, 9 Dec 2006 @ 12:23am

      Re: I always love a Teacher...

      Man, SimplyGimp, you are really something. Its definitely obvious that you didn't learn anything from your teachers, but there are many people out here that did. I think you need to check your information sources and learn what is real and what is just plain BS put out by ignorant people like yourself.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      TooFunny, 9 Dec 2006 @ 12:11pm

      Re: I always love a Teacher...

      Gee Gimp, or should I say GUMP. It's obvious you didn't listen to squat your teachers said. You show a very wonderful mastery of spelling. NOT!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        SubstanceOverStyle, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:15pm

        Re: Re: I always love a Teacher...

        "Gee Gimp, or should I say GUMP. It's obvious you didn't listen to squat your teachers said. You show a very wonderful mastery of spelling. NOT!"

        Right, because his the fact that he incorrectly spelled a few words completely negates his arguements. And nice Forrest Gump reference. I'm glad to see that you understood that movie and that it didn't go completely over your head.

        Wait...

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:49pm

        Re: Re: I always love a Teacher...

        "Gee Gimp, or should I say GUMP. It's obvious you didn't listen to squat your teachers said. You show a very wonderful mastery of spelling. NOT!"

        Right, and by adding this bit of insightful information, you have greatly added to this debate. And please explain the correlation between spelling and the argumnet that is going on at the moment. Im sure we all would like to know and learn from it.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Digital Roar, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:14pm

    Does anyone other than me remeber that episode of cops with the older Latin guy that had gold paint all over his face?
    Cop: "Have you been huffing sir?"
    Guy: "No, I don't do that."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mike Jones, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:18pm

    Who would of thought?

    Looks like someone didn't teach the teacher!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    CurleyQ, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:20pm

    RE: Cops Episode

    Isn't that every other episode of COPS anyway?

    But yes, I do think I remember that scene lol

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Todd, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:40pm

    5th, 6th, and 7th graders might be influenced by DARE, etc, but wait until they get to 10th grade...

    Not that I think anyone should be advocating huffing. I've seen videos of people who have used a few too many inhalents (including the aforementioned Cops episode), and it ain't pretty. It would be pretty easy to post those on YouTube, so that kids that think the huffing videos are "cool" could see the negative side

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Starky, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:05pm

    The problem with educating on the dangers of huffi

    The problem with educating on the dangers of huffing is that it actually involves more work than sending a legal threat to a company on the internet, claiming it's to protect the children. Also, if they didn't blame YouTube, who would they blame? They have to pass the blame off the parents and the kids somehow! It's for the Children!

    (Note: the majority of that post is sarcastic)

    Also, isn't YouTube not responsible for the content hosted on it's site? They don't have to take anything down unless it is copywrited content that is submitted without the copywrite holder's consent. Just because some people don't like the content doesn't mean they need to remove it, and the people complaining should take up their complaints with the people submitting the videos in the first place.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    anna, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:17pm

    Nothing much to see

    The videos I saw were lame, but not as lame as the jerks who decided to label them 'adult content.' Parents need to take control of their children and what they view, instead of forcing the rest of us to live by their standards.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 4:13am

      Re: Nothing much to see

      You mean "those of us with no kids"? You don't have kids do you Anna?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Smokey the Bear, 8 Dec 2006 @ 10:15pm

    Blazing stupidity

    I swear. This world gets dumber by the minute. Kids huff all the time. If we really wanted to stop huffing, we would not give kids scented markers that put off chemicals. Kids are programmed to smell markers, and items such as chemicals, gas, spray paint, ect. Its in their nature to explore new areas. If you dont want kids to huff, then dont let them live life how they want, lead them through life by example.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    JimmyCrackCorn, 8 Dec 2006 @ 11:57pm

    Teacher...

    You completely missed SimplyGimp's point. They aren't murderers and rapists he was talking about. Did you even read his post?

    To me it sounds like you're the one making excuses, Teacher. Even I haven't done much research on the subject, but I know that the US has spent more money on the war on drugs than they've spent on all current and past wars COMBINED. Yet somehow, drug use is on an increase.

    Did you even read his site? He has a very valid point, shared by MANY people. For you to sit there and actually live up to his stereotype of not listening to anything that conflicts with your beliefs is doing nothing but proving him right.

    Sorry, Teacher, you're just coming off as a strong-armed school employee that thinks they are the actual parents of the kids they teach. I don't think you even know how scary that is to the parents reading this.

    I think you need to re-evaluate your outlook on this whole drug thing. Half of all drug cases in prison are there on Marijuana charges. A substance that has been PROVEN not to kill brain cells (unlike what you claim) and is substantially less hazardless than alcohol and tobacco, but of which are legal.

    Sorry if you don't want to accept the truth, but the only reason these drug laws even exist is because of the religious and racist backgrounds that exist in this country, and carry through today.

    I suggest you use your internet connection to maybe research things you don't agree with, after all, that's one of the best ways to learn and come to terms with your own hang-ups.

    P.S.
    It was extremely shallow of you to label him based on his opinion. As he said, you SHOULD be ashamed of yourself. And BTW, do some more research, you really need it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    SimplyGimp, 9 Dec 2006 @ 12:59am

    Say what you will...

    The History Channel and other sources have had documentaries about this very subject. Hell, that show "30 Days" covered it somewhat.

    But I'm not here to convince you anyways. I'm here to put my opinion on the table, that's it. And as far as education goes, I'm pretty well set, thanks. The trick was to filter out the crap coming from the teachers and pick up on the facts (mostly from books...). Either way, can't say I've done too bad for myself, but thanks for your obvious concern.

    As far as information sources go, the page I posted is almost dead even with the figures I saw in the documentaries. So, believe what you will, people always do, just don't be surprised when the trust is suddenly shoved down your throat sideways and you're forced to swallow. Trust me, it goes down a lot easier when you actually have an open mind, something you seem to know nothing about.

    Why don't you go have a beer and relax. Legal substance abuse at it's best.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    huffing mad, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:01am

    That looks like fun. I'm off to find some paint or junk, 'coz like I'm like totally indestructable. Everyone knows bad shit happens to other people. I can't wait to be a rich drugged out movie star!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Gibson Wheelie Rider, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:04am

    SimplyGimp...

    I'm with you on this. These people that seem to be against your argument seem hell bent on also trashing your reputation by means of petty remarks, aka, slinging dirt.

    Just thought I'd let you know they've had no affect on me. I've seen some of the documentaries about what you're saying, and it is truly shocking to see how much resources go into some of the most petty substances around.

    Oh well, keep up the good fight! You have support!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jeff, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:49am

    Huffing and the war on drugs

    Say what you will about marijuana, but is has been shown over and over again that this "harmless" drug is more often than not only the first step towards the abuse of much less "harmless" substances. Ask almost anyone in rehab how they first got started doing meth or heroin or crack, most of them will tell you it was because they could no longer get a good high off the "harmless" marijuana

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 2:05pm

      Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

      Coming up with anectodal evidence is always very easy. Here's some for you.

      I probably know of at least 20 people who reguarly smoke weed for at least 5 years or longer and have never touched harder drugs? They come from all walks of life, have varying jobs ranging from working in the theatre to owning antique shops or working in the financial sector. None of them have any criminal background and live well adjusted, normal lives.

      Ask any person who smokes weed and they will probably be able to point you to another 20 people just like the ones I've described above.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 4:42pm

        Re: Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

        Of my friends, I know many smokers. Only three of about 20 have not delved into hard drugs after smoking weed for a couple years, or did not get started into hard drugs and are now doing them normally after a couple years of smoking. Telling people that everybody smokes and no one goes into hard drugs is not true, and you shouldn't pass it off as true. There are so few of my friends who have not tried hard drugs because smoking weed got them into the thoughts of "i'll try anything once since weed wasn't bad like i had heard". Instead of talking about everyone you know that has an antique shop or something like that think of people in high school or college, who have time and money to spend and are more heavily influence ; they're the ones being talked about here, not your friends who are still doing drugs after being out of school *cough* losers *cough*.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          savage, 9 Dec 2006 @ 5:50pm

          Re: Re: Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

          So what your saying is that the fact that the government/ dare is lying about weed is the cause of ppl using hard drugs?
          And to be honest I could be drunk and format a message that would be more readable than what you posted.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Lies and damn lies, 10 Dec 2006 @ 2:36pm

      Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

      There has also been study after study saying that marijuana is NOT a gateway drug. The people who use harder drugs sometimes use other things before they get to the hard stuff, but that is mostly due to availability. Every kid in high school has access to pot. You have to do some digging to get invited into the heavier drug circles. So, if you define a gateway drug as anything that happens before the heavy drugs, then yeah, I suppose you could say that cigarettes, booze, and pot are gateways. I think that this definition is incorrect however. A gateway drug is something that causes the user to go to the harder things. And that is simply not the case with pot. Some people move on the the hard stuff. Those people would have used the hard stuff regardless of if they had smoked pot or not.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        August West, 10 Dec 2006 @ 2:56pm

        Re: Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

        You are correct because this is exactly what happened with me. I tried (almost) everything I could access, pot was just the first thing I could access after alcohol. Pot was NOT a "gateway" drug for me, just the first illegal one. People who think pot is a gateway drug need to talk with people in 12 step programs and aske them "Had you not known about pot" would you have tried other drugs anyway?" I already know what the answer is, but the "gateway" people need to find out for themselves.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      August West, 10 Dec 2006 @ 3:13pm

      Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

      Thats not what I experienced. How many people do you know that have actually been in rehab, Jeff?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Evil Otto, 10 Dec 2006 @ 3:23pm

      Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

      Say what you will about marijuana, but is has been shown over and over again that this "harmless" drug is more often than not only the first step towards the abuse of much less "harmless" substances. Ask almost anyone in rehab how they first got started doing meth or heroin or crack, most of them will tell you it was because they could no longer get a good high off the "harmless" marijuana

      And it's also been shown over and over again that the reason it's a gateway drug is because the dealers don't make as much money on it, so they push the other, harder stuff on their customers. As for the "rehab" comment: Please cite your source. Ironic WOD fact of the day: Marijuana was initially made illegal in this country because the drug czar at the time wasn't able to get the funds to fight opium. He orchestrated a large PR campaign that revolved around demonizing the Mexican immigrants who used marijuana more than other populations. Just another case of someone capitalizing on prejudice to promote their agenda.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        August West, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:24pm

        Re: Re: Huffing and the war on drugs

        Wasn't William Randolph Hearts involved also? Something about hemp fiber being a competitior for his buddy DuPont's new product polyester? That being another reason for him using his media empire to demonze the people you mentioned in your post?
        I think I read that in "The Emperor wears no clothes."

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    TokerJoe, 9 Dec 2006 @ 2:20am

    Marry Jane

    Well, I've been smoking for YEARS, Let me say now, anyone who says they don't get stoned off weed is an idiot or they're smoking dirt. I see the reason for people 'upgrading' to other drugs is out of boredom of weed.

    Either way, the responsibility ALWAYS lands on the person who choses to do what they want. No one MADE them stop smoking weed to start smoking crack, that was a decision THEY made for themselves. Frankly, that's hardly any reason to blame weed. If you took weed out of the equation completely, they'd just start elsewhere. Hell, maybe even with huffing.

    Either way, history shows it's human nature to get high and push the boundaries of what we understand. Substances are just another means to an end. Enforcing laws, arresting people, none of that will stop human nature.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Blatant, 9 Dec 2006 @ 3:19am

    No one

    No one has mentioned yet that studies show that the majority of people who even start using ANY illicit substances usually start with cigarettes and booze, the 2 LEGAL gateway drugs.

    Not to mention the prison system is a business. Those cots, clothes, gym gear and food don't come from nowhere. People make money off of inmates.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      ohgorsh, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:10pm

      Re: No one

      No one twists one arms to do drugs.When I went to school you had the stonners ,pot ,then the coke ,rich kids with nice cars using it ,parents were all rich so the drugs were much easier to get
      The jocks doing steroids now days ,its all the same
      I rather see some one smoking pot and laffing then a crack head or herion addict stealing from anyone they can find and killing for a fix
      The ones that want to do something for the drug problems open more rehaps cus most that want to go to rehap cant get in they are overcrowded ,spend time instead of worrying about ytube and go open up some clinics and yes also there are more drugs in prision so you might want to help that cause so when prisoners get out again they have a place to go to and also fix the felon charges so they can work ,,,,,,,,,works in other countrys
      For every ten people you put in prison for selling drugs ten take their place ,and Ytube had nothing to do with this

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    August West, 9 Dec 2006 @ 3:58am

    In the middle here....

    Simply Gimp and Ed Zactly both have valid points. I believe the truth lies somewhere between their points of view. Personally, just because the constition allows something, that does not always justify doing it. We need to exercise common sense in order to protect our freedom though, not pass laws. I do not believe that taking the videos down would STOP kids from huffing, but I do believe leaving them up would induce kids to try it. I've never seen this video, but if it shows kids huffing gas or something, then trying to stand up and instead falling over or something, I would have gone "Hell yeah, I'm doing that!". New experience and all, and risk be damned. Remember, we were all bulletproof at thirteen, we were going to live forever, and we knew everything. Personally I believe that most of the "War on Drugs" money has been a total waste. There ARE people in jail for acid possesion that will do more time than rapists, child molesters and murderers. And trust me, dope dealers do not put acid in innocent substances and trick kids into doing it. Acid is expensive (lighten up its a joke). And I strongly disagree with the "Gateway drug" theory posted by others. I have friends who have smoked for decades and that is all they do. I know people that never smoked pot and ended up raging alcoholics. I have friends that smoke sometimes and drink beer. I have friends that ended up in rehab, and I have had friends that ended up dead. I have ex-friends who are currently consumed by pot, alchohol and other things. I also know people (sober now) who took tons of pills but never smoked pot because it was illegal. I have friends that do 12 step progams and are happliy sober now, and I have friends that used to smoke, but now are social drinkers. I can say from decades of first hand experience, its not pot, its the person. It will happen anyway, and some of us do not come out of it alive. And I also know that alcohol is a LOT more dangerous than pot. But people altering their conciousness will never stop. Animals like intoxication. When apples fall from a tree, deer eat the fermented ones first.

    Thanks for letting me rant a while....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Bottom Line, 9 Dec 2006 @ 5:16am

    Bottom Line

    It's not about free speech and it's not about stupidity. People will find ways to distribute information and read about just about anything - they always have. Still we don't have to make it easy.

    It's about standing up for a principle - for what is right. If even one kid is delayed or saved from harm or death by using some good judgement and not posting such stupidity then fine.

    If the content of YouTube were under my control, I'd sleep better at night knowing that I had no part in the self destruction of a young person or of that young person's family. As much as it is a choice for a young person to experiment with chemicals, it is my choice not to support it in any way. That choice is not censorship - it is simply a choice and one that ought to be repected and not condemned.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    doubledoh, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:01am

    fuck slavedrivers of any degree

    Boy am I tired of sharing planet earth with a bunch of fucking morons (Zactley, August West, et al).

    You either believe in freedom or you don't. There is no "middle" ground. You believe in degrees of fascism, socialism, slavedriving, etc...or you don't.

    I believe in freedom. And all the "bad" consequences of giving people freedom will always, in my mind, outweigh the negatives of abridging liberty. And even if it didn't, I'd still support it, on principle, because without unadulterated freedom, we are slaves.

    I mean this sincerely: Fuck you all who would turn me into a slave. Fuck you all who would vote away MY freedoms. You are selfish pieces of shit, and you belong in the history of mankind, along with Hitler, Stalin and every other criminal that preferred to subjugate and trivialize the human race because of their own mental deficiencies.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      August West, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:19pm

      Re: fuck slavedrivers of any degree

      Double Doh, you're an idiot This is from my earlier post:

      We need to exercise common sense in order to protect our freedom though, not pass laws.

      Gee, I think anyone with the intelligence of a gnat would realize this says do not vote away my freedoms.

      Everyone needs to understand the possible consequences of their actions and act accordingly. Then freedoms would not get taken away by morons with power. I mean come on putting video of kids huffing gas or whatever on You Tube is just pointless and stupid.

      And the rest my post was basically about freedom. The freedom to do as you please, but a little common sense ought to be applied. The freedom to smoke pot if you want to. The freedom to huff gas if you're stupid enough. The freedom to drink or to hallucinate. The freedom to not do any of the above. The freedom to make a choice and the freedom not to listen to people who think they are so important the have the right to force their views on other people. I'll keep my concepts simple and my sentences short from now on so you can keep up.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:21am

    YouTube's video are made by the people viewing it; so it's a refelction of our culture, good, bad and stupid. The anti-drug activists just want to hide from the reality that they need to be active in their kids lives rather than trying to make the rest of the world do it for them.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jason, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:52am

    Let's just do the math here....Huffing has been around since the mid 80's....Youtube has been around for under 2 years. Somehow I don't think the website is the problem. The real problem is people looking for someone else to blame, usually motivated by $$$$

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 9:16am

    Debate

    This has really turned into a sort of sick, twisted PFD Debate... Lets structure it now and add some sources and we're good!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:16am

    "As a schoolteacher of 5th 6th & 7th grade students, you might be surprised to learn that they are HEAVILY influenced by groups such as youth to youth, DARE, and other groups that are affiliated with the "War on Drugs"."

    As a former 5th, 6th, and 7th grade student I can tell you that DARE and other groups are considered a joke to these students, regardless of how the students actually feel on the topic of drugs. Furthermore, most of my schoolmates were well aware of the lies DARE and these other groups use.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Colleen Pridemore, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:31am

    If the writer of this subject really feels this way, then why don't they post their own video showing the downside of huffing? Isn't that what YouTube is about? The good AND the bad? Isn't that what LIFE is about after all?

    We can't hide our heads in the sand and pretend this stuff doesn't exist! We have to EDUCATE our children! It begins with COMMUNICATION. Getting honest discussions going in the home and community. YouTube is a great avenue for that.

    (The sad thing is that some people learn the hard way - they have to make the mistakes themselves -- they won't listen to anyone else. -- No amount of good or bad video will help these kinds of people anyway)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    smokebreak, 9 Dec 2006 @ 12:17pm

    Youtube Is Being Demonized!?

    First off, Youtube is just a site where users (ie. actual people) post there OWN videos. This is not a site that advocates or deters anything. Just a medium that people can share their experiences or points of view on. It actually is a lot like this here...... you can view my ideas or not, your choice. The only difference is this is words, not video.
    The debate seems to be if it should be allowable to share these experiences. To me it seems that this is just censorship, plain and simple. I do not agree with the content in debate, but I disagree with censorship even more. When someone decides what i can and cannot view that is censorship in its fullest form. This debate is from the american side only, which is supposed to be the becon light of freedom. As the government strips our rights away one by one we are NOT free. This is a problem that happened long ago that caused a group of people to declare themselves as independent. The times have changed and our "free" country is now being run by religious groups, Lobbyists for "special intrest" groups, and conglomerate corperations. When was the last time you actually felt your vote mattered?, and when did it become alright for our leaders to make rules that govern our citizens without their input or approval. We are living in a farce......We call ourselves free and are 2 steps from being nothing more than a dictatorship with fringe benifits. just ask george bush, he's the one tryiing to push through legislation that would eliminate voting a new president in during times of war (kind of nice for him since we have been at war since his inception). The whole point is when are we going to actually stop calling this the land of the free, since we are now trying to be told what to watch, what not to eat, that its wrong to invade privacy unless your the government, and most of all how to act even when it's not affecting anyone else directly.........Love the country, just blasphemous whats been done to it over the last 100 - 150 yrs (the last 7 being the most blatant)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ohgorsh, 9 Dec 2006 @ 2:36pm

    I would like to see the teachers at least blame some of it on mental health which they closed down years ago and made all accountable for their actions which is not the case being on drugs ,,Ytube has nothing to do with kids and their friends or the influences of schools colleges etc
    Shelter the kids is far worse ,when you hear my child was so good till after 21 , then all hell broke lose because they were to sheltered and got them selfs in situations that they were never around to learn from the first time ,,
    The bill boards out there they spend 14 grand a month does nothing
    Use the money to educate and not blame Ytube or anyone else for the problems
    We lost the drug war long ago when nothing is done with the airplanes boats ,lots of drugs being brought in Usa daily and that is the major problem
    Or the drugs that are taken away are then again sent out on the streets over and over
    As for my freedoms let us all choose what we want do not dictate to others with your convictions ,thats why we have civil wars all over the world on religion etc ,,other reasons ,,,
    I think also drinking can lead to more things just because your so f wasted thats the time people try other drugs but that was never outlawed

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Josh, 9 Dec 2006 @ 4:31pm

    DARE

    I remember the first time I ever saw marijuana... in DARE... made me want to see what all the hype was about.

    As for huffing, there is nothign good to be said about it. Pretty much the stupidest thing you can do to yourself.

    As for the drug war, although I believe drugs can be used properly to expand consciousness, they are abused by many users. The legalization of drugs would solve no problems, the vast majority of America is just not responsible enough to use drugs without destroying their minds and bodies.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 4:50pm

    Mike you are awesome

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Petey, 9 Dec 2006 @ 4:57pm

    No let them learn... so they can DIE

    Don't take the videos down, promote them. Thus we will help to kill the stupid people of the world.

    Kids if you think it's cool to huff, by all means keep it up, you'll be less of a drag on society and your parents

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Stupid, 9 Dec 2006 @ 6:51pm

    First drug

    Does in to occur to any of you that the first drug most kids try is alcohol? Think about that sip of beer or little bit of wine during the holiday dinner. Even if it is not provided for them it is the easiest to find in the home. Get real about that and start with real education then maybe you would see a decrease in drug use. The best thing I have seen with regard to the war on drugs are the commercials that show using drugs is not a choice they want to make. Recognizing the individual and saying that "I choose not to use drugs, because it's not who I am" is far more effective than trying to scare kids into sobriety which has not worked over the past 30 years or so.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Daniel, 9 Dec 2006 @ 7:19pm

    Am glad YOUTUBE made it "adult content." As we argue our superior intelligence and world knowledge, I am happy there is at least a lil difficulty for a 13 year old to view this. If we forget all the side discussions, do you think a kid should view drug use? When I was a kid, I was immortal and up for almost every adventure. I know we are all such gifted minds, but if one (only one) kid thinks "that looks cool" didn't we fail?
    (sorry about the pompous. grew up in a drug filled environment and easily 25% of my friends are dead or in prison)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    nuntukamen, 9 Dec 2006 @ 7:38pm

    huffing videos

    we could all have FREE medical and dental, and every kid could go to college with greatly reduced tuition, just for the honor of being a U.S. citizen, if we could stop involving ourselves in absurd wars every 20 years or so, and stopped trying to pursue attaching an illegality of a criminal nature to drugs and instead recognized a medical designation for a social problem when we see one...we have wasted a fortune insisting on both

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    cerulean, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:22pm

    i didn't need youtube...

    I learned about huffing from this very odd movie..

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282698/

    Love Liza (2002)

    Was pretty strange but grabbed my attention.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pyro_854, 9 Dec 2006 @ 9:06pm

    Anyone who thinks all illegal drugs are bad are usually the product of a generation misinformed by stuff like "reefer madness" and other propaganda films produced and/or funded by the US GOVERNMENT! Have you ever seen reefer madness? The one guy looked like he was on crack for half the film and than became "incurably insane" just like someone who did way too much LSD, not cannabis. That's PROOF that the government lied to US citizens. Not only that but they also tricked the people into voting to make cannabis illegal by calling it "marijuana" those poor people didn't even know that they were outlawing cannabis, many people got busted for a drug that they unknowingly voted to make illegal. They diddn't know they voted to make it illegal because they knew that cannabis was not dangerous, however they knew nothing about "marijuana" except for what the US government told them, which was a complete lie. (LSD, by the way, is one of the safest drugs ever. A lethal dose is over a THOUSAND times that of an effective "hit", however both nicotine and alcohol are very toxic. Nicotine is accualy one of the most potent poisons known to man, one drop of undiluted nicotine can kill any human.)

    Cannabis is not a gateway drug... in fact many former heroine addicts use cannabis to take the edge off of withdrawals. Many of these "gateway drug" cases are really cases of cannabis laced with cocaine... I know what you are thinking, "But coke is expensive... why would you put coke in weed? That's retarded!" I'll tell you why... if a cocaine dealer can get someone to smoke cannabis laced with cocaine that person might get hooked and not even know it... that cocaine dealer now has a new customer. I've seen it many times.

    If someone is gonna snort coke, smoke crack, and/or shoot up heroine they are gonna do it weather or not they smoke weed... yes, many of these people have smoked weed but it's not the weed that gets them hooked on harder drugs it's usually they're own curiosity... or they get drunk and do it.

    Many cancer sufferers use cannabis to fight the bad effects of cemo therapy. I once read an artical about a DOCTOR who gave his 14 year old son cannabis because he had leukemia... it helped that kid live a normal life and it can help many more.

    Hey, ed Zactley, I think you need to check out some web sites and get some real information. These web sites I'm talking about are not pro cannabis web sites... they are university web sites, medical web sites, and even the web sites listed in your own damn text books! OPEN YOUR EYES YOU BLIND FOOL!!!

    ...wait... hold on... what am I saying? This has nothing to do with the topic... you people have turned this into the latest battleground for the war on drugs... pathetic.

    Huffing is bad... don't do it... I haven't seen the video yet but when I do I'll laugh at their stupidity.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 9:56pm

    Rofl @Pyro

    LSD may be the safest thing drug untill you jump off a building becaue you think you can fly.

    I will agree weed is not to dangerous, but it is a gateway drug. Since weed is not very dangerous people will smoke a lot of it. Finally, its hardly going to make you high. Your going to want something to get you high, so you go to coke etc. Not all people that smoke weed are going to be shooting up heroin in a week but I guarantee a good precentage of hardcore drug addicts started out as casual weed smokers.

    And weed is legal for medicnal purposes for things like glacomea(sp) so you can't really use that argument.

    And to the guy that said we have spent more on the war on drugs then all wars combine please provide a reference.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      August West, 10 Dec 2006 @ 4:11am

      Re:

      If you jump off a building, then you got some bad acid ;-). I was never into coke or anything like that (although I did like Quaaluudes). I did try most things I could get my hands on (especially hallucinogenics), but I would have done that anyway, weed or no weed. Ironically it was the anti-drug movies in the seventh grade that did it for me. This was the pre-DARE days, and they showed me the tpye of movies where kids take one "puff off of a marijuana cigarrette" and then they freak out and jump off the building. Kids are smart and I knew right away that they were lying, because if that was what REALLY happened then they would not have to show us these films at all. Everyone that had possession of this stuff would already be dead. Thereofore they were hiding something, and so I set out immediately to find out what ALL these things were about, being thirteen, bulletproof and knowing everything anyway. For me, weed was not a gateway, but was the first thing after alcohol I could get my hands on. Eventually I did phase out of everything else except alcohol. I just got tired of it all. Except alcohol. You know, the legal one. Now I find that just for today, my life goes a whole lot better if I put no alcohol at all in my body. But I'm not going to tell you not to do it. Thats your choice

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Reed, 10 Dec 2006 @ 4:42pm

      Re: Will someone back this stuff up with something

      "I will agree weed is not to dangerous, but it is a gateway drug."

      Please back this up with a real study! This line is so old my grandmother uses it..lol

      "And weed is legal for medicnal purposes for things like glacomea(sp) so you can't really use that argument."

      No, weed is classified as a class one felony substance by the Federal Government which suprecedes any states decesion. This means federally that weed is more dangerous than either herion or cocaine which are class two felony substances.

      "And to the guy that said we have spent more on the war on drugs then all wars combine please provide a reference."

      I don't know about ALL wars combined but it has used a sh*tload of money. Try this site out

      http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

      Cheers

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Evil Otto, 10 Dec 2006 @ 5:07pm

        Re: Re: Will someone back this stuff up with somet

        No, weed is classified as a class one felony substance by the Federal Government which suprecedes any states decesion. This means federally that weed is more dangerous than either herion or cocaine which are class two felony substances.

        No, what that means is that the penalties for infractions of the federal statutes regarding this substance are more severe than those for heroin or cocaine. Whether or not marijuana is more dangerous than those substances is another matter entirely.

        In other words, things that are illegal don't make them wrong, and things that are wrong aren't necessarily illegal.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Reed, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:03pm

          Re: Re: Re: Will someone back this stuff up with s

          "No, what that means is that the penalties for infractions of the federal statutes regarding this substance are more severe than those for heroin or cocaine. Whether or not marijuana is more dangerous than those substances is another matter entirely."

          It means more than that. I means weed can not be researched for any reason and it has no medical value. It puts weed into the catergory of acid and other hallucinogens.

          "In other words, things that are illegal don't make them wrong, and things that are wrong aren't necessarily illegal."

          There is probably three dimensions here. Moral, Ethical, and Lawful. Where moral is how you feel, ethical is the framework or code that is accepted amongst your peers, and then legal being the larger societal laws.

          Like these videos on You Tube about huffing. They are immoral to me, but at the same time ethical because I believe in freedom of speech. I am not sure about the law, but unless people start actually pressing lawsuits it seems ok.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Aya, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:30pm

    Huffing hide-a-way

    I see your point, but at the same time consider this.
    Humans are curious. Especially kids. How about all those kids who don't know what huffing is, and were never going to know. Then they watch You Tube and see someone doing it. They discuss with their parents, and their parents advise them that it's really stupid and can kill them. The kids think about the video and how "those" kids didn't die. They were having fun. Then they think ...I wonder what it feels like? And they begin.
    Having never watched the video, on a really popular web site, where things are "cool" they wouldn't be curious about it.
    I'm not saying you shouldn't discuss huffing with kids. Ignorance is dangerous. However, we shouldn't be glamourizing stupidity either.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Cato McCauro, 9 Dec 2006 @ 11:03pm

      Re: Huffing hide-a-way

      Finally someone who knows how kids brains work, and not some wisearse 20yo who thinks they know it all because they read it in books. Or saw history channel docos. I work on docos and I sure don't like the way producers put/skew the facts together to suit a wide eyed self righteous and gullible audience who hear what they want to hear (hey that sounds familiar!).

      Get yourself some experience having or working with kids - who are human beings after all and highly curious - and not just your nephews every fourth sunday.

      I'm not sure about monitoring kids video watching. I monitor heaps of my kids' video watching. It's not that easy without censoring everything they do. A bit of trust is better. But the barrage of non-sense that comes in thru the screen is awesomely hard to calculate and control. You know parents are not really experts at trying to work out the effect of a video on a child's sensibilities. All they can do is try and think about how their individual kid will cope - and they may be wrong.

      God knows if a parent or teacher is wrong or human the world makes them pay!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2007 @ 2:46pm

      Re: Huffing hide-a-way

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jimbo, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:45pm

    Huffing

    Feel free to offer positive suggestions without the folly of disparaging positive suggestions. Please think before you comment. Save negative comments for bad things; not good things.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    pyro_854, 10 Dec 2006 @ 2:49am

    "I will agree weed is not to dangerous, but it is a gateway drug. Since weed is not very dangerous people will smoke a lot of it. Finally, its hardly going to make you high. Your going to want something to get you high, so you go to coke etc. Not all people that smoke weed are going to be shooting up heroin in a week but I guarantee a good precentage of hardcore drug addicts started out as casual weed smokers."

    Yes, hard drug addicts often start out smoking weed.

    It's not that they don't get as high and move on to harder drugs. It's more like they don't get the high they want and move on to another drug that produces a different high.

    Some people like weed, other people like speed. People who drink 4 pots of coffee a day are more likely to do coke than cannabis... however coke is hard to find for a new drug user, it needs to be manufactured, and there's not much supply in most areas... but cannabis is everywhere, it's a plant, it requires no manufacturing at all, and it can be mass produced anywhere so there's alot of supply throughout the US. Do the math, more cannabis more people exposed... less cocaine less people exposed. Some people want a different high so they do different drugs until they find one they like, and with cannabis being so easily obtainable it's obvious that they will start there.

    The real gateway drug is caffeine!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Steve, 10 Dec 2006 @ 4:59am

    There's no such thing as a "safe drug"

    I work at a substance abuse facility. I usually try to avoid the "drugs r c00l!" & "drugs r ev1l!" styled Internet arguments because they convince no one.

    However, if you could simply read the following, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

    There is no such thing as a "safe drug." Whenever you take a drug, even a prescription drug that your primary care physician (PCP) prescribes for you, you are taking a calculated risk between the side effects of that drug vs. the benefits of that drug.

    Every drug you take alters your body. The degree of alteration depends on your physiology, the type of drug, the potency of the drug & the quantity of the drug.

    Prolonged usage of ANY drug has NEGATIVE physical, mental & behavioral (not to mention financial) consequences. Your PCP, when prescribing your medication, has taken this into consideration & your prescription will ALWAYS be for as short as possible while achieving the desired effect.

    There is no such thing as "casual usage" of a drug. Either the drug was prescribed to you for a specific time frame by your PCP or you, to some degree, are self-medicating. Self-medication is a sign of addiction.

    There is no "middle ground" to addiction: Either you are addicted to a drug or you are not. Simply because the drug may not have physical addictive properties does not make the drug "addiction-proof." In many cases, the psychological addiction to a drug is more powerful then the physical addiction to a drug.

    The only drug(s) you should be dependent on right now is/are the drug(s) that your PCP has currently prescribed for you.

    Addiction to any drug can happen to anyone. Smart people can become addicted to drugs. Healthy people can become addicted to drugs. Wealthy people can become addicted to drugs. People of any race, any age, any theology & either gender can become addicted to drugs.

    If you, or someone you know, are addicted to drugs, the BEST course of action to take is to seek help IMMEDIATELY. Please call 1-888-268-9124. It is a toll free telephone number. It is confidential. You can call it during any time of the day.

    If this is being read by a non U.S. citizen, please refer to the addiction counseling services of your country.

    Thank you.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Auguste West, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:46pm

      Re: There's no such thing as a "safe drug"

      This is well spoken and valid, from someone who is actually equipped with first hand knowledge instead of anecdotal evidence. I disagree with the "casual use" statement, but then again, I had some serious issues with alcohol, so who am I to speak?

      On the other hand, my stepfather has had one (only one) mixed drink almost every day for as long as I can remember.

      Once every blue moon he'll cut loose and have 2, but never more. I don't know how he does it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Scott, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:06am

    Huffing

    Lets say, I know about it, I just don't know how to do it.

    TEACH ME through U-Tube.
    Let me see the site.

    Now, why does these anti-drug activists want to take it down??
    Like DUH

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:37am

    Most of you need to learn more about psychology. If you think that freedom is the humans ultimate right, then you are wrong.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:38am

    Freedom is one of the most relative things on earth.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sherell Horsley, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:33am

    about HUFFING

    Hello,
    read the article on Huffing.

    Personally, I would not give Huffing any attention and
    would not call that 'hiding'. It is safe to say that most
    kids know the danger of drug use and abuse these
    days. Give attention to that in life which is upbuilding
    and positive. Less to that which brings us down

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rico J. Halo, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:40am

    Come on be serious

    Just because something is known is that a reason to invite it into our homes via YouTube? Im sure your kids know about hookers and pimps too so will you also invite them into your home?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 9:23am

    Side stepping the issue...

    Isn't alot of this just side stepping the real issue? The growing trend in this country is for small activist groups to trot out a tragic death/event related to an issue and generate an overwhelming amount of sympathy from the general public. In many cases the media hype generated by these issues gets so far out of hand that knee-jerk legislation is enacted to ensure the incident never occurs again. This works out very well for the survivors of the event. They can go home with a warm fuzzy feeling that the event served a purpose. Because it happened to them, it will never happen to another person again. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out very well for the rest of us. In many cases, this legislation is not only ineffective, it also limits the liberties of many people by its very design.
    Because the initial issue was such a tragedy, there is an overtone of moral indecency attached to anyone who would question the legislation. The argument becomes - "And what about that tragic accident? Are you the kind of sorry bastard that thinks that is ok?"
    A perfect example of this was made available to us by the school teacher who posted above. They immediately refuted the argument against their point by attachaing the stigma of a drug user to the person putting forth the argument. (In this particular case there was not a direct tragedy involved or I suspect we would have seen a slightly more direct angle taken - although someone did try to bring one into the issue by pointing out that their coworker's 17 year old kid died... side stepped nicely by the crowd) In essence, it is a much more subtle form of the same tactices used at the salem witch trials. Speak and you must be one.
    Alot of people are becoming very sensatized to this chain of events and as a result when they see small activist groups trying to get a company to change the way they operate it angers them. As many of these individuals perceive it, media attention is being used to generate sympathy that will in turn be used to remove the freedoms of other individuals. In this case it is simply the freedom to post whatever videos they want to post on UTube.

    *shrug* (in my best forest gump voice) and that's all I have to say about that.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    LandrysLoveForTheNews, 10 Dec 2006 @ 12:01pm

    Just wanted to toss this out.
    I learned about drugs myself without seeing some video on the internet and id say that dare actually showed me more about drugs then my peers so if anything dare is actually opening the door so to speak on drugs. how else would i have learned to smoke pot ;). btw they should cover more serious drugs that actually kill people.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Josh, 10 Dec 2006 @ 12:05pm

    Pyro_854: you moron

    What did you do, copy this off some dumbass hippie's webpage? This is the perfect example why certain people should not do drugs.

    OF COURSE the government funded anti-drug videos. Its the drug war. Thats no conspiracy. They overdid the videos but I doubt the makers even knew the truth. They were scared of the drug out of ignorance.

    AS FOR LSD: NOT SAFE! About 1 in 30 people do have a "never-ending trip" in other words, they go insane. LSD and other hallucinogens can reveal latent mental disorders that would not have come out in a person until they were much older, or possibly never.

    And it does thake several thousand doses to be lethal, but each dose is measured in MICROgrams!
    A drop of pure acid IS thousands of doses! It is heavily diluted before it is handed out.

    As for cannabis not being a gateway drug, I have not met anyone or heard of anyone that has done heroine before smoking weed. It IS a gateway drug, along with alcohol.

    And finally, giving pot to cancer patients is different than smoking 8 times a day so you never have to be sober enough to take responsibility. It is different than huffing, and it is different than any sort of recreational use.

    I am pro-use of drugs only on the grounds that they are used intelligently and sparsely in order to enhance situations or expand consciousness. LSD or shrooms should not be used as party drugs. You don't use them to get messed up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      August West, 10 Dec 2006 @ 2:27pm

      Re: Pyro_854: you moron

      Josh, where does your "1 in 30" statistic come from? Thanks, August

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    John Wilkins, 10 Dec 2006 @ 10:02pm

    Youtube is degenerate

    Really. More then half of the things are god awful pieces of crap. The ripped tv shows are nice - as are specialist group videos.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Veer, 10 Dec 2006 @ 10:04pm

    Don't Agree completely

    Hi. I've been reading such articles at Techdirt regularly and I happen to agree with almost all of them. Especially the ones about the music industry, software piracy, etc. However, on this particular issue, while I don't question the intent of the author, I think the article hasn't been worded quite appropriately.

    It seems a little high-handed for the author to state "Why not spend the effort making sure that people do realize the dangers associated with huffing, rather than pretending the problem goes away if you hide some videos?"

    I don't for a moment believe that the organisations believe that the problem goes away if you hide some videos. With all such social issues, efforts have to be made from all ends and shutting up YouTube videos is just part of it. I personally am not in favour of taking the videos down, but please don't discredit what the organisations are doing based on just an assumption of their actions and beliefs.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2006 @ 10:18pm

    Spending on WW2 in 1990 dollars... 2091.3 billion. War on drugs at 30 billion a year since 1980 780 billion. http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/other/stats/warcost.htm With the flood of readily availible information (good or bad) the best bet is to instill good values in your child and hope for the best. At sometime regardless of the internet they will hear/read or see huffing, guns, sex (insert here anything you worry about you kid knowing about). There was a day before the internet. I heard about just about everything that anybody has mentioned so far when I was in th 3rd - 7th grade. Except crack that didn't really didn't hit until later. However I learned about freebasing in 1980 when I was 7 I remember all the Richard Prior freebasing on fire news. Children will hear, see, read and hopefully not experiance allmost all of the ugly things in the world. I really don't think there has been a way to prevent it since the word of mouth has been invented. If it's protection you're after get rid of electricity and move far away from any other humans.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Allie, 11 Dec 2006 @ 2:18am

    Agree

    I think we can all agree on two things. 1) huffing is bad for you and 2) we don't want children to hurt themselves.

    Now why can't we agree that what I watch is my own bussiness and that there is pleanty of software out there for parents to have controle over what thier child see and it is their responablity and not mine over how that child grows up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    eeyore, 11 Dec 2006 @ 4:54am

    I hate to say it, but too damn much of the blame should go to the parents. Today's parents are enablers because they spend the first ten years of the kid's lives blowing sunshine up their asses and then lose all interest in them when they hit the age when they really need some parenting to get them through the difficult choices that adolescence brings: having to deal with sexuality and peer pressure at an age when they're ill-prepared to understand it. Every time I hear about another teen suicide or school shooting, my first thought is "how did the parents NOT know what was going on?"

    The short answer is denial, because parents today turn a blind eye to everything bad their kids do. It's not a new trend. My parents did it to a lesser extent. I still remember the next door neighbor's mom telling my mom how her son's bad LSD trip was the result of "getting some bad halloween candy." A year later he ended up in prison for heroin possession and his mom claimed that he was only "holding it for somebody." His younger brother did mention all the needle tracks on his arms to me, something his mom either didn't notice or just overlooked. How can you miss something like that? I still remember walking into the men's room my first day of high school and stumbling onto a guy shooting up in the stall. He looked at me frantically and said "is the teacher coming?" I just said "no, it's cool," and left. I don't think anything else in high school ever shocked me.

    Huffing isn't new either. When I was in high school some thirty years ago, cooking spray was the aerosol of choice for the huffing crowd, and at least one former classmate ended up dead as a result. I remember all the people who were in tears when the news that he'd been taken off life support because he was brain dead and all I could think of was, he did it to himself, why feel sorry for him?

    Teenagers are going to do stupid shit involving drugs or alcohol, casual sex, and petty vandalism. If their parents haven't taught them to make smart choices and just won't see what's happening with their children (I lived through my sister's three suicide attempts in high school) things will never change.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2006 @ 6:35am

    70s Flashback

    "Is it true that sniffing glue, can damage your liver and kidneys?"

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    chris (profile), 11 Dec 2006 @ 7:49am

    you only need to huff once to learn it's bad

    i can tell you from experience that the headache it gives you is worse than any hangover ever.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    joe, 11 Dec 2006 @ 11:16am

    i think they should take it down - i'm not for censorship but dumb kids are influenced by this stuff and parents cannot possibly monitor every second of their child's life. The simple, moral thing to do would be to remove worthless videos like that.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Kamal Abu-Malik, 11 Dec 2006 @ 7:43pm

    Here's a Rant...

    The Drug War? Mandatory Minimum Sentencing? Teachers? Psh! Bump that. Bring on Anarcho-Capitalism and Franchise Jurisdiction! People deserve to be free to make up their own minds without having some arbitrarily appointed father or mother figure (Public School Teachers) whispering in their ears all the time, telling them to do the things that will perpetuate the current system. America's system is a great system, currently the best system in existence, (Sure beats ditch-digging for a daily ration of rice-balls outside of Kuala Lampur) but who's to say that a better system is floating somewhere in the Ether, waiting to be dreamed up?
    We all use open source software, open source OSes, why not Open Source Government? Smaller, more nimble regional governmental units, much like the US at it's inception. You could pick and choose governmental units and pay for the units you utilize. Like the idea of owning an arsenal of semi-automatic rifles instead of paying for police protection? Go for it. Like to smoke obscene quantities of smack? Live in a jurisdiction that doesn't have laws governing narcotics. It should be up to us.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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