TRUTH - help out!

[Shrooms]

So recently I've had people asking me about the health hazards of smoking marijuana, and I've had people arguing with me saying that it is dangerous and causes deaths, etc. I would love it if we could all contribute to put together a thread with all the TRUE facts about weed, that are common misconceptions about smoking it. I would like to show people that they shouldn't listen to lies about how pot is terrible for you, and instead learn the facts about how much safer it is than alcohol and tobacco. Use the internet, your own knowledge (as long as it is TRUE), daily factoids, or whatever to help. So I'd love if if you would contribute, and I'll post the final list when we are done. Thanks :thumbsup:

I'll start:

In america alone, 75,000 people are killed due to alcohol related incidents per YEAR. The death toll for smoking marijuana has yet to start.

Delta 9-THC, the active cannaboid in marijuana smoke, is not physically or chemically addicting. A marijuana smoker can stop at any time they wish, with their own control, with no harmfull side effects, unlike tobacco smokers.

please continue...

Shrooms Reviewed by Shrooms on 09-11-2006. TRUTH - help out! So recently I've had people asking me about the health hazards of smoking marijuana, and I've had people arguing with me saying that it is dangerous and causes deaths, etc. I would love it if we could all contribute to put together a thread with all the TRUE facts about weed, that are common misconceptions about smoking it. I would like to show people that they shouldn't listen to lies about how pot is terrible for you, and instead learn the facts about how much safer it is than alcohol and Rating: 5

[usedchemicals]

unlike tobacco, marijuana is 100% natural, no big companies put additives in to hook you

[couch-potato]

Marijuana has been proven to be effective in reducing the nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma.

None of the medical tests currently used to detect brain damge in humans have found harm from marijuana, even from long term high-dose use. The claim that marijuana kills brain cells is based on a speculative report dating back a quarter of a century that has never been supported by any scientific study.

[Shrooms]

thats what im looking for couch potato! thanks man! you too used chemicals thanks

[Inferius]

Marijuana does not `cause' psychosis. Psychotic people can smoke marijuana and have an episode, but there is nothing in marijuana that actually initiates or increases these episodes. Of course, if any mentally ill person is given marijuana for the first time or without their knowledge, they might get scared and `freak.' Persons who suffer from severe psychological disorders often use marijuana as a way of coping. Because of this, some researchers have assumed that marijuana is the cause of these problems, when it is actually a symptom. If you have heard that marijuana makes people go crazy, this is probably why.
Is it true that marijuana makes you lazy and unmotivated? Not if you are a responsible adult, it doesn't. Ask the U.S. Army. They did a study and showed no effect. If this were true, why would many Eastern cultures, and Jamaicans, use marijuana to help them work harder? `Amotivational syndrome' started as a media myth based on the racial stereotype of a lazy Mexican borracho. The prohibitionists claimed that marijuana made people worthless and sluggish. Since then, however, it has been scientifically researched, and a symptom resembling amotivational syndrome has actually been found. However, it only occurs in adolescent teenagers -- adults are not affected.

When a person reaches adolescence, their willingness to work usually increases, but this does not happen for teenagers using marijuana regularly -- even just on the weekends. The actual studies involved monkeys, not humans, and the results are not verified, but older studies which tried to show `amotivational syndrome' usually only suceeded when they studied adolescents. Adults are not effected.
Doesn't marijuana cause a lot of automobile accidents? Not really. The marijuana using public has the same or lower rate of automobile accidents as the general public. Studies of marijuana smoking while driving showed that it does affect reaction time, but not nearly as much as alcohol. Also, those who drive `stoned' have been shown to be less foolish on the road (they demonstrate `increased risk aversion'.) Recent studies have emphasized that alcohol is the major problem on our highways, and that illicit drugs do not even come close to being as dangerous.
But ... isn't today's marijuana much more potent than it was in the Sixties?
(Or, more often ... Marijuana is 10 times more powerful than it was in the Sixties!) GOOD! Actually, this is not true, but if it were, it would mean that marijuana is safer to smoke today than it was in the Sixties. (More potent cannabis means less smoking means less lung damage.) People who use this statistic just plain do not know what they are talking about. Sometimes they will even claim that marijuana is now twenty to thirty times stronger, which is physically impossible because it would have to be *over* 100% Delta-9-THC. The truth is, marijuana has not really changed potency all that much, if at all, in the last several hundred years. Growing potent cannabis is an ancient art which has not improved in centuries, despite all our modern technology. Before marijuana was even made illegal, drug stores sold tinctures of cannabis which were over 40% THC.

Even so, the point is moot because marijuana smokers engage in something called `auto-titration.' This basically means smoking until they are satisfied and then stopping, so it does not really matter if the marijuana is more potent because they will smoke less of it. Marijuana is not like pre-moistened towelettes or snow-cones. There is nothing forcing marijuana smokers to smoke an entire joint.

Experienced marijuana users are accustomed to smoking marijuana from many different suppliers, and they know that if they smoke a whole joint of very potent bud they will get `TOO STONED'. Since being `too stoned' is a rather unpleasant experience, smokers quickly learn to take their time and `test the waters' when they do not know how strong their marijuana is.
I tried to get a thread about this started a while ago, but it never got going... Erowid.com has all the answers.

[Captin]

1 in 3 users of marijuana will smoke crack within 1 year of their first joint.

[Th3 Chr0nic]

year?

[Storm Crow]

Granny Storm Crow here to delight you kiddies with some scientific studies!

MODERATE use of cannabis will raise the IQ in young users! :stoned: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/abstract/166/7/887

Marijuana kills cancer cells! (there are a LOT of these studies!)
(colorectal) http://www.hempworld.com/HempPharm/a...loncancer.html
(glioma) http://www.hempworld.com/HempPharm/a...ilanstudy.html
(breast) http://www.freedomactivist.net/canna...ml#cannabidiol
(leukemia) http://mcr.aacrjournals.org/cgi/cont...stract/4/8/549

Marijuana will not mess up your hormones.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...564&query_h1=1


Marijuana may protect your brain from Alzheimers.
http://erowid.org/references/refs_vi...owDoc1&ID=6544
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n307/a10.html

Guys, if you are interested in the medical aspect of marijuana, just do this--Pick a disease, type it out in a search engine and add cannabis abstract, like this--cancer cannabis abstract. It will make you sick to read what I have already found. Cannabis heals! Diabetes, ALS, MS, strokes, IBS, asthma, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis- all of them are helped by cannabis! It is criminal that cannabis is illegal! I have over 200 pages of these abstracts and studies! You want facts? Well, they are out there for those who look! Our govenment lies to us constantly about marijuana! If the public knew about these studies, pot would be legal. :dance:
Make yourself a notebook like mine and share the info with friends, doctors and anyone else who might listen. What I've given you here is just a taste of what is out there. Knowledge is power! :thumbsup:

[ShadowGate420]

Marijuana: 60% of the time, it works everytime. End of thread.

[phytokind]

Scientific Evidence for the Safety and Classification of Marijuana

The United States Drug Scheduling list states that Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) is a Schedule I drug, and therefore implies that it is potentially more harmful than Cocaine (including Crack), Opium, Oxycodone, Morphine, Lysergenic Acid, Dronobinol (Marinol, synthetic THC), and a multitude of other substances (1). THC is the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis. The other components of cannabis, such as CBN and CBD are present in smaller quantities and are not believed to make a significant contribution to the total effect of marijuana on behavior or perception (2). Cannabis smoke has not been causally linked with cancers such as lung, colon or rectal cancers. Compounds found in cannabis have been shown to kill numerous cancer types including: lung cancer, breast and prostate, leukemia and lymphoma, glioma, skin cancer, and pheochromocytoma. Low doses of THC may stimulate the growth of lung cancer cells in vitro (3). Synthetic THC is a Schedule III substance (1). Acute toxicity studies show that it is virtually impossible to die from acute administration of marijuana or THC. For example, one study found no deaths in monkeys with oral administration of up to 9 grams per kilogram of body weight. Extrapolated to humans, a 150 pound person could consume 21 ounces or 1.35 pounds of pure THC before reaching a lethal dose (4). This contrasts with the lethal oral dose of Tylenol, which is stated to be 15 grams, or just one half ounce. This evidence indicates that Cannabis sativa (Marijuana) is improperly classified as a Schedule I substance.

References:

1. http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html

2. McGilveray IJ. Pharmacokinetics of cannabinoids. Pain Res Manage 2005;10(Suppl A):15A-22A.

3. Melamede R. Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic. Harm Reduct J 2005;2:21.

4. Beaulieu P. Toxic effects of cannabis and cannabinoids: Animal data. Pain Res Manage 2005;10(Suppl A):23A-26A.