# Do you consider weed a drug? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 24, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344 "2007-03-24T18:54:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344/41 "2007-03-25T18:45:07Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Borgia] Of course it’s a drug. So is alcohol. So is asprin. ETA: The plant itself isn’t a drug, of course. It contains the drug THC. [/QUOTE] Marijuana is the weed that contains the drug. As I understand it, hemp, a different but related weed with many practical and beneficial uses, and which does _not_ contain THC, is nevertheless banned anyway because it _looks_ like marijuana. Our laws relating to all things drug are often stupid. Sure, marijuana is a drug. In general it is less harmful than alcohol. It should be legalaized not only for medical use, but recreational use as well, not because it can’t be abused, but because prohibition has never worked and never will. I would not say it is harmless, for the same reason that I wouldn’t declare alcohol harmless. It is capable of abuse. I wouldn’t choose to share a freeway with drivers who are high on either booze or weed (although obviously I do so every day), and I sure wouldn’t want the pilot of a plane I was flyiing in to have come from a pot party. But criminalizing weed hasn’t even slowed its use. It merely creates criminals who are otherwise good citizens. What was the question again? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344/42 "2007-03-25T19:06:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Marijuana is the weed that contains the drug. As I understand it, hemp, a different but related weed with many practical and beneficial uses, and which does not contain THC, is nevertheless banned anyway because it looks like marijuana. Our laws relating to all things drug are often stupid. All plants of the species _Cannabis sativa_ contain some amount of THC, and all plants of that species also have tough fibers. Some _C. sativa_ plants have been selectively bred to produce more fiber, and some have been selectively bred to produce more THC. Even of the ones which have been bred for fiber or other non-drug uses, they aren’t very good at it, compared to other plants which can be bred for the same purpose. And there’s a continuum of varieties possible between those bred for THC and those bred for other purposes, so if the government is going to ban the plants bred for THC, it’s hard for them not to ban all of them. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344/43 "2007-03-25T19:09:15Z")
> [@](#): > > And my “moderately and responsibly” line before that, of course, was because I’ve known far more people who smoke weed sometimes and keep their lives together than actually become total slackers. And I know none at all who are clinically psychotic as a result of 10 years of weed use, nor have I seen any medical reports of such a phenomenon. I could have said “cite?”, but it seemed too effortey.) Moderately and resposibly is one thing. I personally think (no I’m not going to provide a cite for my opinion.) that people overlook the the longer term effects that the drug has on ones life because the effects are vague. That is simply my experience YMMV. Of the people that I know that have smoked it heavily (That is more than once a day every day.) They are neither the brightest folks I have met, or the most in control of their faculties. I don’t think that marijuana is a scourge on the earth. Is it less harmful than alcohol? Debatable I think. Should it be legalized? It should be more legal than it is. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344/44 "2007-03-25T19:23:01Z")
As a glaucoma patient, I have one of the diseases that can benefit from medicinal use of marijuana. Glaucoma manifests itself as the lack of control of the inner pressure of the eye. As this pressure builds up, it damages the optic nerve, eventually resulting in blindness. (Ray Charles went blind as a result of glaucoma) Marijuana lowers this internal eye pressure. If I were to smoke a joint every couple of hours, i would not need the eye drops I use every morning. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344/45 "2007-03-25T20:26:38Z")
[QUOTE=zagloba] I don’t know about alcohol, but THC binds to [cannabinoid receptors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabinoid_receptor) [/QUOTE] It’s almost as if the human body was _made_ to get high. And refusing to smoke up is nothing less than an affront to God. That’s how I interpret it anyway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344/46 "2007-03-25T20:49:16Z")
Sure it’s a drug, same as Advil and Robitussin. It alters your body chemistry to effect a change in perception or physiological function, so yeah, it’s a drug. Is it a harmful drug? Is it a baaaaaaaaad drug? Nah. Honestly, it’s probably less harmful to you in the long run than daily doses of caffeine (also a drug). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-weed-a-drug/397344.md?page=2)