Why Does It Matter If You Can Smoke Pot In 'GTA V'?

Forbes - Have you heard? Have you heard? You can smoke weed in Grand Theft Auto V!

Only every gaming news outlet on the planet has reported on this revelation, and for further exploration you can check out their stories here, here, here, here, here, here and alright, you get the idea.

[ABeastNamedTariq]

Mmmm sweet controversy.

Only serves to drive the hype for this game up more. FOX NEWS! GET ON IT!

[brodychet]

Any publicity is good publicity for GTA5 ;)

[gedapeleda]

What's the problem with pot?

[negative]

I'll actually be smoking it while I play this game.

[BABY-JEDI]

Free spiffs with every game FTW. ; D

[BlingBlaine]

For sure puffin while puffin online<real life

[Gster]

Grow up man, read the dangers of this drug on the national institute of drug abuse and learn what it can do to your health.
http://www.drugabuse.gov/pu...

[SirBradders]

So legalise it then and label the hazards. Im sick of people frowning on weed all the time alcohol causes anarchy in the streets and can kill someone over night. All these studies on weed are carried out in controlled environments with hand picked subjects. I know someones grandad who is surviving on it.

I can rant all day because i personally have studied the substance but it does more good then harm trust me it all depends on a persons self addiction level and lifestyle.

[KonsoruMasuta]

I love how you're getting disagrees.

Is weed better than some other drugs? Yes!

Is it absolutely harmless? No!

Like any other drug, weed does have negative side effects and can hurt you, especially when using large quantities at once.

It leads to elevated heart rates and can take a turn on your lungs.

If you're okay with that and don't car for the effects, go for it. Just don't go around and tell people lies about I being harmless.

[dead_eye]

Thanks for the article. Has some nice idea's on how to prepare it. Didn't bother reading after that ;)

Edit: I forgot to say "time for some weed tea"

[Gster]

@SirBrad
Legalize a substance that can potentially lead to psychosis, scizophrenia, depression, personality disorders, and all sorts of mental health problems. That's even before I mention other areas of the body it has an affect on like your lungs and heart, even associated testicular cancer detection in individuals. Get with it SB, and stop trying to make good out of something thats potentially very dangerous and harmful to your health.

[Allsystemgamer]

Alcohol is much much worse.

[Gster]

And I would kindly ask the mature readers of this article who are aware of the dangers associated with this drug and maybe trying to kick the habit themselves, to not condone this or convey this as something harmless to others who may reading this article or this thread, who may be vulnerable or easily lead. As I'm sure there are quite a few young people on board here.

[Kryptix]

Weed is actually safer than alcohol. Even ibuprofen in pain killers can cause liver and kidney damage but it's somehow legalized. Like SirBradders was saying, legalize it then label the potential hazards. The media likes to spread propaganda that weed is "evil" because it calms a person and alleviates stress mentally and physically. With less violence because of weed use, how can the media profit from reporting all the acts from violent people? That's why the media likes to label weed as bad for you though there's growing evidence that it's more beneficial than unhealthy.

http://www.alternet.org/sto...

"In fact, it was only in September when investigators at the Keele University Medical School in Britain smashed the pot = schizophrenia theory to smithereens. Writing in the journal Schizophrenia Research, the team compared trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005. Researchers reported that the “incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining” during this period, even the use of cannabis among the general population was rising."

[ignorantsonsof_]

Maybe YOU should grow up and not believe everything the government tells you. Seriously, find other sources of information. Marijuana is no more harmful than most "medicine" that your doctor can legally prescribe you. You know what also causes mental health problems? Drugs that they give you to treat mental health problems! Have you ever even read the full list of possible side effects for any medicine you've taken?

[ShwankyShpanky]

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaa....

"drugabuse.gov" (with copious claims of "research says," with no reference to any such research)

"psychosis and scizophrenia (sic)" (that's 'scHizophrenia')

Adorable.

But you forgot to direct people to this well-researched documentary that enumerates the danger of marijuana in a measured and comprehensive manner: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Best to just let folks go on sucking down their booze, their scrips, their carbonated chemical swills, etc.

Remember kids, don't smoke weed... you might grow up to be president.

[Thehyph]

Whoa, it's not hard to tell that's an American institution website.

Even a website like Wikipedia will give their sources, and a lot of those sources are highly respected and well known universities.

Why is it that I can ask any doctor I meet about consuming cannabis, and their only suggestion is consuming it in a way that doesn't involve smoke? Certainly, they are knowledgeable on anatomy and pharmacology.

[MysticStrummer]

If you follow the links from that site, you'll see that alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine are far more dangerous than marijuana.

It would make just as much sense to me if those things were also made illegal, but since they won't be because of their powerful lobbies, pot should be legal as well.

You can't have it both ways and expect to make any sense at all.

[mattdillahunty]

because everybody knows smoking a harmless plant that hurts no one is much worse than seeing a human being get violently murdered. i think those people who wanted to ban or heavily control any violence in video games realized they lost that fight (at least for the time being), so now they're moving on to something else they can nitpick.

[Roper316]

I'll be smoking it anyways while playing so I don't need a VG to do it in. Just one more thing the media will complain about while ignoring the rampant drug use the show in movies/tv shows.

[BattleTorn]

I'm not sure if the author realizes that so many people are talking about it for the mere fact that we can now have the player to smoke while we smoke.

I used to have all sorts of hide outs in GTA IV that'd go chill in while still in MP, and going for a smoke.

Now I can literally have the character doing it too. I think it's awesome.

This article could easily been about female-playable characters. Look at COD, we've been virtually murdering men online for years, and what do game-journalist focus on, the fact that women are now playable.

In gaming news, we focus on the new details. All the theft, crimes, sexual context and virtual violence, ect, had all been in GTA before.

[MadMen]

It doesn't.

[Link2DaFutcha]

Hey, If I'm gonna bang some dirty stripper in my car, then kill her for the money I just paid her, I'm probably going to want to smoke a bone after that. Can you kill the dealer to get your money back after though? Are there different qualities of pot? And, most importantly, can I get high and play GTA V then make my character get high and play GTA V in GTA V? (Inception noises) These are the questions that need asking.

[MysticStrummer]

It matters only because big business says so.

Alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine are all more addictive and/or harmful to the human body than THC, but they are big businesses and therefore have lots of lobby power.

Add the pharmaceutical industry to that also, because if pot was legal everywhere they wouldn't make nearly as much money on things like Prozac.

[buynit]

Exactly!

Big pharma has killed more ppl than weed ever will yet they keep using the population as lab rats..

[attilayavuzer]

Lol you guys...

[MysticStrummer]

Look it up. A good place to start is with an organization called LEAP, which stands for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

http://www.leap.cc

If you have 13 minutes or so, here's one of their original videos, which was endorsed by Walter Cronkite of all people. Very eye opening.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

The video mainly talks about what a waste of money, time, and manpower the War on Drugs has been. On their site you can find links to other info.

[ShwankyShpanky]

Don't forget the petrochemical, paper manufacturing, synthetic fiber, etc etc etc industries... industrial hemp is a threat to a wide swath of established concerns. In my opinion, those being the reason for prohibition moreso than potential recreational dangers.

[MysticStrummer]

Yeah there's a great documentary on Netflix about that very subject, and you're right it's more about money than health. Hell one of the main reasons pot was made illegal in the first place was that morphine makers were threatened by it. Follow the money.

[ShwankyShpanky]

And William Randolph Hearst who had just purchased thousands of acres of forest for pulping for newspapers when they came up with an even more efficient method of making hemp paper.

P.S. https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[ricochetmg]

Legalize it

[user7402931]

goddamn right.

[kingmushroom]

or just get a medical marijuana card in Venice beach lmao is so easy.

[ShwankyShpanky]

I think medical cards for recreational use undermine its legitimacy as a therapeutic substance.

And clubs make money hand over fist selling at essentially street prices.

[ginsunuva]

It'll make society stupid and lazy.

Productivity in this already unproductive country will hit rock bottom.

And Mexico will become rich.

[zerocrossing]

The simple truth is, it really doesn't matter.

[buynit]

I love weed :)

And you know what... I still haven't heard of anyone dying over it or over dosing... Can't say that bout alcohol, crack or ny of that other crazy shit..

It's crazy how I can go buy alcohol by the boat load, something we all know can be deadly and a lot more harmful to the body, cigarets too.. But if you get caught with a blunt you're some kind of felon deranged person..

[KonsoruMasuta]

Weren't you able to buy and smoke bongs, joints, and spliffs in SR1 and 2?

Why is this such a big thing now?

[ape007]

imo it does matter, your favorite game of all time can influence a bit when you are 18

[buynit]

Life is nothing but influence, by 18 if you still don't know right from wrong or the consequences.......

[ape007]

i mean Bad Influence, u can get "good" influence even if u are 70

[buynit]

C'mon ape.. It's a big world that's why I said life is nothing but influence good or bad... But to your point gta5 is a bad influence with or with out weed. That's why it's important to know good from bad and it's consequences and if you still don't understand that at 18, 3yrs before you are considered an adult then gta5 is not for you with or with out the drugs.

Rated M for mature..is their a higher rating for games?

[ape007]

GTA is perhaps my fav game ever and i want them to include smoking weed but it might (imo) have a bit of bad influence on younger ones

or maybe im wrong

[dcj0524]

A for adult. 21+

[buynit]

Yea I'm sorry to tell you but you are wrong weed does not need gta lol at the end of the day if someone is going to smoke it it's usually out of peer pressure not a video game but a lot of old ppl in office swear up and down that it's video games fault on why ppl kill ppl and smoke weed..

[ape007]

convincing, thanks for the replies :)

[Eonjay]

It doesn't matter. End

[avengers1978]

Do I get trophies for accomplishing things while high, or say finding the best smoke.
You bought some fire silver trophy

[DxTrixterz]

You can smoke pot? Oh man, my Michael,Franklin and Trevor will be always high then. Hope you can also drink in GTA5. Driving while being drunk and high will be fun. I can't wait for GTA 5.

[user7402931]

pot>kids wife jesus sex

[asiatico]

So many people are still being misslead to believe that weed is such a dangerous thing. SMH. It actually helps with many many health conditions. Its even been found that people who smoke weed don't really run much of a risk from getting lung cancer, no one has suffered a death directly attributed to it. And oo its been found that in many cases it treats cancer better than most other methods including chemotherapy. Just do the research, hemp can also be used in countless ways also for human needs. Including paper and fuel .

[Tzuno]

give me some for my cataract.

[ricochetmg]

Smoke one.

[Pillsbury1]

Every gta there is some kind of controversy, it just sells more because of it.

[dcj0524]

We're waiting fox news.

[swishersweets20031]

plant some seeds to grow some weed. if you know than it will grow.