A couple questions.

[Mr. Purple]

I just got into a conversation today with a couple people about marijuana and its effects, a couple don't believe it doesn't kill brain cells, when i have read articles about MD with PH.Ds who are qualified for researching this shit, so how can they be wrong?

Another thing is this guy, he is in his late 50s to early 60s and his been around longer than i have, from what he has experienced he knows buddies and people that have DIED from marijuana, now i know for a fact there is no way they have possibly died from it alone, there had to be other factors such as the user and the enviroment they were in.

Thats the only way i can think of someone dieing from marijuana.

Also how can have undisputed prove marijuana doesn't brain cells, anyone know?

Or maybe is it that i just want to be right?

[killerweed420]

I have never read a legitimate medical research article that says you can die from weed. Does it cause cancer? I imagine it probably does.Any time your taking any kind of smoke and tar into your lungs if you get enough of it I'm sure it can eventually lead to emphysema and cancer.The thing about pot is that you inhale so much less smoke and tar than say a cigar or cigarette smoker does.

[GreenGiant07]

You can't die from smoking too much pot, a THC overdose is borderline impossible, the sheer mechanics behind it are mind-boggling according to most sources, these deaths due to weed you're thinking of are most likely the result of these people smoking laced weed (as in laced with stuff like PCP, cocaine, and in some circumstances, chemical agents) I know a girl who smoked weed laced with windex, it wasnt a pretty sight afterwards..anyways, off topic.

Dead brain cells are most likely the result of holding in the smoke far too long and the lack of oxygen kills them.

It's good you came to the boards rather then take the information whole without questioning it, todays society expects people to question their surroundings, props to ya

[birdgirl73]

We have this brain-cell killing discussion regularly in this forum. In in-vitro (in glass, like in a petri dish) and in mouse studies, they've discovered that the active compounds in marijuana do kill brain cells, but it appears to be a beneficial killing, a process of helping out with natural cell-pruning process called apoptosis. Here's a link to a thread where we last talked about this subject a week or two ago.

http://boards.cannabis.com/medicinal-cannabis-health/12363-brain-cells-2.html#post1672767

You might also enjoy reading the sticky at the top of this sub-forum containing health-related abstracts.

As far as marijuana being capable of killing people, the folklore holds that no one has died from it--or that possibly one or two deaths are all that have been officially attributed to it. My personal theory is that, if 14 million people smoke cannabis in the United States, it's entirely likely that someone has probably died from it, but if they had co-morbid conditions like heart or lung disease or other serious medical problems, the cause of death wouldn't necessarily be attributed to cannabis. I doubt we'll ever really have an accurate answer to this question since research isn't allowed on cannabis and since no one's doing large-scale studies or surveys. I personally know two men who were heavy cannabis smokers and who both died of lung cancer within the last six months. Neither of them was ever a cigarette smoker. But they were serious stoners for a period of at least 25 years, smoking it as heavily as plenty of people do cigarettes. We won't know what caused their deaths because it could just as easily have been some environmental sensitivity or genetic predisposition they had.

I think the conclusion everyone needs to draw with cannabis is that it's not without some risks and that it needs to be used with caution just like other medicines and other recreational substances. For people with certain conditions like heart or lung disease and a few others, it does present some risks. But I'm never going to believe that it's as harmful or sinister as alcohol or most other illicit substances. I mostly want people, including the medical community, to see it objectively instead of through the anti-drug propaganda filter and to realize that it's neither all good or all bad.

[ohkelly]

Isn't that the Cliff Claven (Cheers) theory of why beer makes you smarter?

"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

"In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

"In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

-Cliff Claven