Cobain Quote on Cannabis and Opiates

[Paregoric Kid]

I used to have the paperback edition of Cobain's journals which had like 10 or 15 extra pages of stuff the hardcover didn't have. anyways I swear there was a nearly identical quote in there but I don't remember it starting the way it does here:
"All that pot. All that supposedly, unaddictive, harmless, safe reefer that damaged my nerves, and ruined my memory, and made me feel like wanting to blow up the prom. It just wasn't ever strong enough, so I climbed the ladder to the poppy."
I found that online and it says it was from unused liner notes for the song Dumb. is there a different version of this quote in the journals? I just don't remember him saying it causing him nerve and memory damage.

[dharma bum]

I remember they said something to this effect in another article or book on him, maybe Heavier than Heaven, but he said something about all those people who say pot is a gateway drug, maybe they're right because pot , for him, opened the doors to drug use.

But I don't remember him saying it did anything to his nerve damage or memory damage.

[The_Highwayman]

I read that quote and yes dharma it's from Heavier Than Heaven....

[Deadfiend]

“Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with with your self esteem.”
“I wont eat anything green”-Cobain

[wisegal]

i have this book as well! (the paperback) it was a xmas gift a few years ago and i absolutely love it!

[hydro chris]

wow crazy, funny you mention that. i started reading it over the weekend..
would've loved to meet the man!

[chopstix]

I completely agree with the posted quote, happened to me too.. It's from smoking too much super fucking sticky pot at a young age, your brain isn't fully developed at 14 and by that point, I was smoking the shit everyday, and even back then (I'm close to the age he would have been now) the weed in washington state was **REALLY** fucking potent. We used to test the shit by throwing quarter ounce buds at the wall, the shit would stick and sometimes splatter it was so gooey.. I frequently had buds stuck to my windshield cos me and my friend used to run the shit all over seattle and we thought it was funny..

I bet by 'damaged my nerves' he meant anxiety - it turned on me too at about 18, and one of my friends also.. Suddenly started making us paranoid and I've talked to a lot of people who experienced the same thing (I smoke now and I've pushed through most of the paranoia, but I won't smoke forever and it totally fucks with my memory and attention span). And as far as it not really being strong enough for a fucked up kid, which I was: yeah, heroin was a fuck of a lot more appealing and it worked a fuck of a lot better too..

And I agree, drugs are a waste of time.. There's a couple I like a lot, but most of them I hate whether I do them or not..

[buc]

Weed may have been a gateway for me.......made me paranoid.........and fucked up my memory.

But one thing is for sure.

Opiate addiction "cured" my desire for other drugs.

[Spiritualized]

Weed may have been a gateway for me.......made me paranoid.........and fucked up my memory.

But one thing is for sure.

Opiate addiction "cured" my desire for other drugs.

Ha yeah, totally cured a coke habit with percocet...

[okie dokie]

i have always been i huge nirvana fan, a few months ago i went thru a cobain fascination and watched all the stuff on youtube about him. he was awsome! i bet ALOT of people on here can relate to him

[More Feen]

I bet by 'damaged my nerves' he meant anxiety - it turned on me too at about 18, and one of my friends also.. Suddenly started making us paranoid and I've talked to a lot of people who experienced the same thing ..

I think this is a common experience, I had it as well.

It really pissed me off, because getting high was so fun and it felt so bloody good!

Now, it is a one-way ticket to paranoia and anxiety.

I don't know if the change happens because of anything that changes in the brain, or if it has something to do with one's station in life.

When pot was fun, SWIM was in high school, and his parents took care of all the "heavy shyte." The only thing SWIM worried about was clothes & Chicks.

When pot wasn't no fun no more, SWIM was paying his own bills, had debt, had adult responsibilities.

I've always blamed this change on me (adult responsibilities, etc...)--not the weed or my brain.

I could be wrong though,

M F

[duck]

I also had the change...happened at the same time as well.

[Papa Verine]

I agree, this happened to me too. I just don't like saying this shit anymore... because I smoke weed now, and as far as I can tell it doesn't fuck with me at all. I mean... I don't get paranoid, forget things, act stupid, whatever... It seems pretty harmless now.

I've thought about what Chopstix said too. That maybe we should not have been smoking weed every day when we were 14, and still developing. I don't condone it in children even today, but as adults I believe we should have the right to smoke it. I don't think it's nearly as dangerous for adults as it could be for 14 year-old kids.

[duck]

I know plenty of perfectly brilliant adults that used pot and other hard drugs since they were 14 or 15...I don't think pot prevents development very much.

[30_Units]

I don't think it's a given, but some are definitely prone to getting all fucked up and stupid with drugs-not even from an addiction standpoint, just from a "damn dude, that's fucking dumb" standpoint.

[ryan]

When I first smoked weed in high school I loved it -- but somewhere along the line, things went wrong. Weed turned into an every day thing and the high wasn't the same -- it caused alot of anxiety, shaking, twitching, restlessness, and definitely short term memory loss. That is the reason why I do not smoke weed to this day, and probably never will again. I really wish it would be studdied more and they could find out why it does this to some people after awhile so it could be fixed, but this is also pretty much the reason why I went to opiates...

Another cobain quote "I'd rather hang out with the losers that would sit and smoke a cigarette than the. ones who wanted to throw a baseball." :-P

[CastlesMadeOfSand]

This is coming from the same person that killed himself, rather than watch his daughter grow, and to face the facts that he was not happy with himself, and try to change.

Cobain was a talented songwriter, and had personal demons like all of us, but he let them get the best of him, so he decided to take his own life.

Weed doesn't ruin everyone who smokes it, but it is harder to have a "normal" life and some people can't handle that. Not saying Cobain was a bad guy, he had a lot of problems and used Heroin to escape from his problems, and using any substance to escape your problems is the worst reason to use, and in many cases leads to death.

Use drugs to expand your mind and tune in.. Not drop out.

[ryan]

This is coming from the same person that killed himself, rather than watch his daughter grow, and to face the facts that he was not happy with himself, and try to change.

Cobain was a talented songwriter, and had personal demons like all of us, but he let them get the best of him, so he decided to take his own life.

Weed doesn't ruin everyone who smokes it, but it is harder to have a "normal" life and some people can't handle that. Not saying Cobain was a bad guy, he had a lot of problems and used Heroin to escape from his problems, and using any substance to escape your problems is the worst reason to use, and in many cases leads to death.

Use drugs to expand your mind and tune in.. Not drop out.

No offence dude but it's pretty clear (to me at least) that he did not kill himself.
And for just the reasons that you mentioned as well, he loved his daughter and he wanted to have a life with her -- he just didn't want courtney and he didn't want to be in the music industry anymore. There's no evidence anywhere that said he wanted to die.
If you care, read up on Tom Grant's statements \ websites.

[CastlesMadeOfSand]

No offence dude but it's pretty clear (to me at least) that he did not kill himself.
Yea yea, I've heard all the facts on how he was to loaded on H. to physically get up and shoot himself in the face. That's the only REAL evidence there is, and that can be ruled out with him having a high tolerance.. He talked to friends and people around him about how unhappy he was with his life, and how he despised himself and the "rock star lifestyle" he was living. As much as people argue it, Courtney Love did not kill Cobain, he was an emotional wreck on a downward spiral, and sometimes that is the outcome.

[aDoS]

I am an occasional pot smoker. I RARELY do it unless its just there. I use to smoke on a daily basis when I was younger, age 14 and 15. I really grew to dislike it though. It sort of started making me feel as if I was taking a SSRI. It changed my personality, in a very subtle and deceiving way. Not while I was high, it was an effect that persisted long after the high. I use to think it made me creative too. I had a bunch of writings and stuff I did while I was high, and I thought I was SOOO brilliant. Then a few months later, after being off of pot for awhile, I would read the shit...and it was garbage. Anyways, that is my personal experience with cannabis. (I thought I throw in the creative writing experience since this is the music and art section)

Now...what I see from the other side of the coin, being around other pot smokers. Not all, but most heavy cannabis users I am or have been around, are the most unreliable people I have ever met in my life. A lot of them also have garbage personalities. I know it seems harsh that I say some people have shit personalities, but its something I firmly believe to be true. Heavy cannabis users I have hung out seem like they have had their characters gutted out of them or something. But what makes cannabis so lame in my opinion, is that its deceiving in that way. The user has no awareness of it damaging his/her personality, even when they are no longer high. Not that I think the effect is permanent, but it defintaley is something that takes a few weeks of not using to come out of.

Many cannabis users declare that cannabis is harmless, because it does not have physical withdrawal symptoms, and it does not really damage the body in any kind of significant way. But I have noticed that mental health is always neglected in their claims. Honestly, I am much more conerned with the well being of my mental health than of my physical health.

[ryan]

I am an occasional pot smoker. I RARELY do it unless its just there. I use to smoke on a daily basis when I was younger, age 14 and 15. I really grew to dislike it though. It sort of started making me feel as if I was taking a SSRI. It changed my personality, in a very subtle and deceiving way. Not while I was high, it was an effect that persisted long after the high. I use to think it made me creative too. I had a bunch of writings and stuff I did while I was high, and I thought I was SOOO brilliant. Then a few months later, after being off of pot for awhile, I would read the shit...and it was garbage. Anyways, that is my personal experience with cannabis. (I thought I throw in the creative writing experience since this is the music and art section)

Now...what I see from the other side of the coin, being around other pot smokers. Not all, but most heavy cannabis users I am or have been around, are the most unreliable people I have ever met in my life. A lot of them also have garbage personalities. I know it seems harsh that I say some people have shit personalities, but its something I firmly believe to be true. Heavy cannabis users I have hung out seem like they have had their characters gutted out of them or something. But what makes cannabis so lame in my opinion, is that its deceiving in that way. The user has no awareness of it damaging his/her personality, even when they are no longer high. Not that I think the effect is permanent, but it defintaley is something that takes a few weeks of not using to come out of.

Many cannabis users declare that cannabis is harmless, because it does not have physical withdrawal symptoms, and it does not really damage the body in any kind of significant way. But I have noticed that mental health is always neglected in their claims. Honestly, I am much more conerned with the well being of my mental health than of my physical health.

Good description about the SSRI thing, i feel the same way. Also great point about the whole pot smoker's scene...couldn't agree more. Makes me think back to my college days at UCF and the people I hung around...only one or two of them were my really good friends, but the others were just douchebags with a generic personality and people you can never really count on unless it's weed related.

I don't believe for one second that cannabis is "harmless" -- it obviously fucked me up in a way that whenever I do it now I have extreme twitching and anxiety, and an overall bad experience with it.

Wanna know the biggest thing I hate about pot smokers is though? The way that most of them say "oh it's a natural plant, it's not a drug!" -- what the fuck are opium poppies and coca leaves then? That's another thing, it's really surprising just how uneducated some pot smokers really are.

Honestly though? I would give the world to be able to take my brain chemistry back to the way it was in high school when a few hits from a gravity bong would have me out of this world high, an enjoyable high even. Back then weed really WAS great -- sometimes I would get so high it really did feel like a painkiller, and just going on memories, sometimes it made me feel better than I did years later on H...that's the trouble though -- I'll never be able to get back to that point, with any substance even.

[LorTabitha]

Now...what I see from the other side of the coin, being around other pot smokers... A lot of them also have garbage personalities.

I am not disagreeing with you - just curious what you mean by "garbage personality"? Can you give specific examples?

I also became paranoid after about a year of use. Spacy as hell, too. I would realize that hours and hours had passed me by. I never missed it at all once I quit. I DID miss the "excitement" of finding and buying it but it just wasn't worth it to me anymore.

[aDoS]

I am not disagreeing with you - just curious what you mean by "garbage personality"? Can you give specific examples?

have you ever met someone that had absolutely nothing to offer socially? that is what I mean by garbage personality.

[duck]

what you mean by "garbage personality"?

there are 10x more garbage personalities in this world than worthwhile ones, IMHO.

[LorTabitha]

have you ever met someone that had absolutely nothing to offer socially? that is what I mean by garbage personality.

Yeah, I run into too many GPs for my liking. Thanks for explaining. :D