Lebron James Admits Using Pot

[Kingfanpaul]

I have no problem with this at all. While Lebron cannot blame anyone but himself for smoking weed, you guys need to lighten up because this is just stuff from high school that he is talking about. I am sure plenty of you did things in high school that you would never do nowdays. Shoot I smoked weed a few times in high school and I know many other did also.

No media or anything pushed him to try weed, maybe some peer pressure from friends. But you cannot deny that it's bad when you got media coming to high school sports games making a huge deal out of these immature kids. It's bound to get to their head.

Plus even at 23 is James really that mature yet? I know at 23 I still made some bad decisions. Now at 28 I feel like I have learned so much and I am a much better, smarter person. I make educated decisions. But at 23 I was still making immature decisions, but maybe I am in the minority there.

 

[jalfa]

As far as I can see, there is no direct connection drawn between the incident (so it was just once? Does that still count as a revelation of sorts? Are there still people going through high school without trying pot once?) and the media scrutiny. It appears to be two separate paragraphs, where the second one is about the car his mother received at some point and the whole "the media is to blame"-thing is embedded in a lot of "I became a big-headed jerk and that's my fault". I think that this is a fairly just representation of reality, not just for young celebrity athletes, but young celebrities in general.

 

[hoopsfan]

Are there still people going through high school without trying pot once?

Yes.

 

[Elise10]

Yes.

Agreeing with hoopsfan

 

[Warhawk]

Are there still people going through high school without trying pot once?

Yep, lots of them. Some, believe it or not, don't try smoking at all either! Crazy, I know.....

 

[jalfa]

The only thing that I wanted to say with that is that I don't consider it in any way surprising that a kid smoked marijuana in high school once. In fact, I believe that the overwhelming majority of youth will have tried marijuana at some point in high school. The comment was not meant as an advocacy of it. I don't think that people, who haven't tried it are weird/boring/whatever else, it's just that, at a time when there are 33,6% cannabis users in the 12th grade, I consider it more of an irregularity when people haven't tried it.

 

[Rookie]

I need to preface the comment to follow. It is directed at your post and NOT you.

Having made the requisite disclaimer, I will say...

Oh, good. A couple of more excuses for Lebron to use:

1. He's still learning to be a man.
2. He didn't have a father figure.

Horse pucky. I simply don't buy into either excuse. He made bad choices. He should own up to them and move on. Does he? Nope, he makes excuses. Suck it up, Lebron, grow up and BE the man. The youth of today will be much better served if their role model admits his mistakes and shows how he learned from them than they'll be by seeing yet another idol with feet of clay pointing the finger everywhere except at the face in the mirror.

So who was his role model when he was growning up?

Maybe everyone here own up to whatever they've done wrong and never blame anyone other than themself at a very young age. As for me, I'm a late bloomer. Yes I'm not "man" enough when I was young therefor I don't expect him too as well.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't be disappointed at him but I think people shouldn't be angry and quick to judge him at his age. This is just another lesson he needs to learn and when the next time to own up for his action, I hope he does.

 

[VF21]

So who was his role model when he was growning up?

Maybe everyone here own up to whatever they've done wrong and never blame anyone other than themself at a very young age. As for me, I'm a late bloomer. Yes I'm not "man" enough when I was young therefor I don't expect him too as well.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't be disappointed at him but I think people shouldn't be angry and quick to judge him at his age. This is just another lesson he needs to learn and when the next time to own up for his action, I hope he does.

And that's pretty much all I was trying to say.

 

[Spike]

The only thing that I wanted to say with that is that I don't consider it in any way surprising that a kid smoked marijuana in high school once. In fact, I believe that the overwhelming majority of youth will have tried marijuana at some point in high school. The comment was not meant as an advocacy of it. I don't think that people, who haven't tried it are weird/boring/whatever else, it's just that, at a time when there are 33,6% cannabis users in the 12th grade, I consider it more of an irregularity when people haven't tried it.

Wouldn't that mean that there are 66.4% who aren't?



...just sayin'.

 

[jalfa]

Wouldn't that mean that there are 66.4% who aren't?



...just sayin'.

I tried to underline the part where it said "users", but that doesn't seem to work with the html-formatting thingy. As I understand the survey, it means that there are 33,6% that use cannabis regularly and I would assume that the amount of people that have tried it is vastly greater. However, I can't seem to find any numbers on that, so it's just a guess.

 

[Vlade4GM]

What he should say is that he feels it's nothing to be sorry for and refuse to apologize for what his teenage self did. That's the reaction I'd really respect. A high school kid smoking pot is not a big deal.

 

[eflat]

I tried to underline the part where it said "users", but that doesn't seem to work with the html-formatting thingy. As I understand the survey, it means that there are 33,6% that use cannabis regularly and I would assume that the amount of people that have tried it is vastly greater. However, I can't seem to find any numbers on that, so it's just a guess.

tidbits from the DOJ
- Of high school seniors in 2006, 42.3% reported having ever used marijuana/hashish"
- Of high school seniors in 2007, 31.7% report having used within last 12 months, 18.8% within last month. [Numbers for alcohol were 66.4% & 44.4%]

 

[TheFifthMookie]

1. I'm not really surprised, as marijuana use is fairly widespread throughout the USA.
2. I don't think his use as a high schooler was an awful thing, as he has clearly been a successful adult and contributor to society.
3. I believe we should repeal prohibition and end the war on our rights that is associated with prohibition.
4. Voluntarily coming forward and saying you did something in the past without apology is a stronger/more mature move than being outed for doing something and apologizing afterward.

 

[kennadog]

1. I'm not really surprised, as marijuana use is fairly widespread throughout the USA.
2. I don't think his use as a high schooler was an awful thing, as he has clearly been a successful adult and contributor to society.
3. I believe we should repeal prohibition and end the war on our rights that is associated with prohibition.
4. Voluntarily coming forward and saying you did something in the past without apology is a stronger/more mature move than being outed for doing something and apologizing afterward.

Having intimate experience with the problems caused by marijuana addiction, it is definitley not a harmless or victimless drug. They discover more and more health-related issues connected to marijuana use.

On the other hand, I think the current attitude of having a "war on drugs" is dumb, because it doesn't stop the use, creates business for criminals/gangs and wastes tons of money, especially in other countires. It's not the producing counties we should attack, but the using drugs problem here at home.

A better approach would be education and readily available treatment for all people who want to stop and/or their loved ones who are seeking help for them. It's worked quite well for a legal drug (tobacco). The difference in the number of smokers around now compared to 30 years ago is amazing. On the other hand, it hasn't worked so well with another legal drug with severe consequences for society (alcohol).

I agree with your point number 4.

 

[TheFifthMookie]

I agree with you Kennadog. I believe the war on drugs is a farce, is used to keep the prison system profitable (Prison lobbyists push for stiffer drug laws), costs too much money, and hurts society. Further the underground market for them provides an income stream for various forms of organized crime. Legalization, by comparison doesn't infringe on our rights, and if we spent the same amount of money on treatment, rehabilitation, counseling, and education, I believe we as a country would be in a better place.

All conciousness altering substances are likely harmful in some way or another, and its really a question of how we as a society want to handle access to them, since demand for them is going to exist regardless of what we do.

I think Lebron came off looking very young after the ECF last year by not talking to the media, and I think he comes off looking mature by talking about this voluntarily.

 

[Rookie]

We preached to our kids not to use drugs and now because we're hurting in our wallet, it may not be such a bad idea to legalize them?

Winning or loosing on the war on drugs it doesn't matter..we'll keep fighting. Stand by what we believe in, everything else IMO is just giving up.

Maybe this is getting off topic.

 

[drboiffard]

We preached to our kids not to use drugs and now because we're hurting in our wallet, it may not be such a bad idea to legalize them?

Winning or loosing on the war on drugs it doesn't matter..we'll keep fighting. Stand by what we believe in, everything else IMO is just giving up.

I completly disagree.

Precissely the problem is bigger than it should be because of that kind of thoughts: people who see a problem and it's ok with the idea of someone, somehow taking care of it, but who never questions if it's being effective or not.

"War on drugs" is a joke. The point is that being forbidden or not, being "fought" (LOL) or not, drugs are still there. Marihuana is legal in Netherlands and there are proportionally more people who use it in USA or here in Spain than in the Netherlands. So the relationship between the legal status and the increase of use in the population is completely unreal. You can focus it as a problem of principles, but the real wolrd works different. Forbiding does not solve the problem. Forbiding creates more problems: illegal traffic, mafias, corruption.

As I see it here in Spain, there's a foundation against drugs that earns a lot of money "fighting drugs" (LOL) but whose work and pub campaigns does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prevent children or teens to use drugs, whose age of starting using reduces year by year, and the number of them also increases year by year. Teens who have ever used marihuana laugh at them because there are so apocalyptical and so ridiculous that work against their purpose: the problem comes bigger, as these teens are fearless with harder and more addictive drugs than marihuana, as cocaine or extasis.

Yes, drugs are a problem. But if the politics against durgs are proven that doesn't work, well, let's asume it and try to solve the problem . Wining or Losing DOES MATTER. Why still paying a lot of millions to a foundation that doesn't do what it is assumed to do (reduce the use)? Is money thrown to trash, because its effectivity is zero. I don't wanna pay taxes to see my money thrown to trash. I want the problem being solved.

Of course, these kind of foundations and lobbies against drugs are really OK being payed a lot of money without nobody questioning if they're solving the problem or not, so they'll say forever that legalization will be the apocalypsis. Half a century being paying for doing nothing it's really good business. (And I hate conspirations and I won't make a relationship, but mafias and dealers are as OK as them with this situation, too)

 

[VF21]

Closed - for the obvious reason.