Parents find your pot and freak?

[JohnnyZ]

If smoking pot wasnâ??t harmful to the respiratory system, vaporizers wouldnâ??t be so highly touted.

Dude, if you noticed, Blue pointed out that cannabis itself is not harmful. Then you come in swinging for the fences with smoking. Obviously smoking anything is harmful man.. but cannabis itself is not. Compare to a real drug.. let's say.. meth. Put that shit in your body any which way you want and it'll fuck you proper. Now that is harmful drug..

But the real effect is on the brain. You donâ??t call slowing down cognitive function harmful? How about dulling emotional responsiveness? Especially when weâ??re talking about kids. The brain doesnâ??t stop developing until a personâ??s early twenties, and of course a powerful psychoactive chemical like THC stunts development. I am so glad I didnâ??t try it till I was almost 18 and didnâ??t become a regular till 19, and I wish Iâ??d have waited even later.

Iâ??m not too worried about memory loss b/c, whatever, I remember the important stuff, but that effect is undeniable in anyone smoking even semi-regularly. Also, donâ??t forget the increased levels of paranoia and anxiety in some people (I said some).

Consider the following..

A powerful synthetic version of a cannabinoid called HU-210, which is similar to a group of chemicals found in marijuana, stimulates brain cell growth and may point toward new treatments for anxiety and depression, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Xia Zhang, an associate professor in the University of Saskatchewan neuropsychiatry research unit, led the team that tested the effects of HU-210. The synthetic version is about 100 times as powerful as THC, the compound responsible for the high experienced by recreational users."This is a very potent cannabinoid oil," Zhang says. "It's not something that would be available on the street."

Rats treated with HU-210 a regular basis showed neurogenesis -- the growth of new brain cells -- in the hippocampus, the researchers found. This region of the brain is associated with learning and memory, as well as anxiety and depression.
The effect is the opposite of alcohol, nicotine, heroin and cocaine.
"Most 'drugs of abuse' suppress neurogenesis," Zhang says. "Only marijuana promotes neurogenesis." Depression may be sparked when too few new brain cells are grown in the hippocampus, scientists believe. It is unclear whether anxiety is part of this process but, if true, HU-210 could offer a treatment for both mood disorders by stimulating the growth of new brain cells.

See? It's all in your head bro.. :jointsmile:

That was the sanest thing I've read in quite some time. As to slowing down the brain, I am passionately convinced from my own (admittedly young) experience of the fallacy of that. It really doesn't make a bit of difference. If you're stupid and you smoke, you'll just find a new and funner way of being stupid. If you have it going on upstairs, it's going to stay that way. I've been smoking HEAVILY since I was 15, and I'm in the middle of writing a novel, having read all of Shakespeare, Paradise Lost, War and Peace, etc. There's no bearing.

Bro, that is exactly my viewpoint. I've always maintained that cannabis does not make you something you aren't; it simply amplifies the character traits you already possess. So if you like to veg out on the couch once a week with a bag of chips.. start hitting the bong.. and that turns into every night.

Me.. I like to blaze on the way up the chairlift, then slide down snow and fly through the air. Or go on any adventure available.. I like to experience new things when I'm high. That's life to me.