How accurate is this site about marijuana? I’ve been doing some research about marijuana and have found very conflicting opinions on the long-term effects. Some sites state that marijuana essentially has no long-term effects where as this site (http://www.drugeducation.net/marijuana.htm) begs to differ. So which is it?
Reads like drug war propaganda to me. I suppose it is possible for a single substance to increase testosterone in females and decrease testosterone in males, but it sounds suspect.
Also, the crack about heavy pot smokers having possibly as much risk of cancer as cigarette smokers seems like a stretch. A pack a day is 20 one gram cigarettes. An ounce is 28 grams. (So I’ve read. ;)) A heavy pot smoker smokes 4 ounces (a quarter pound!) of pot a week? I think not.
I did find the “remedies” pretty funny. Who in the hell needs treatment to stop smoking pot?
Any site that links to the Cult of Scientology should be viewed skeptically.
Complete and utter bullshit.
The site would be funny only if so many people didn’t believe it.
Looking over the information,
How it’s used: Marijuana is smoked in…
Incomplete. You can prepare it for eating or make" tea" as well…
Short-Term Effects of Smoking Marijuana: Drowsiness, Impaired short-term memory, Reduced ability to concentrate, Loss of coordination, Increased heart rate, Dry mouth, Bloodshot eyes, Decreased social inhibitions.
If these are the only effects, why the hell would anyone want to use the drug? Also, do these things not happen, if you drink it? 
Pot smoke has 70% more cancer-causing chemicals than Tobacco smoke, so that heavy pot smokers may have as much or greater potential for developing cancer as cigarette smokers
I’m not sure about the numbers cited above, but you can prepare hash-oil. No tars or carcinogens in smoking that. Else, don’t use smoking as the method of ingestion !!
I would recommend Erowid and Lycaeum as the two definitive pro-drugs but no-nonsense sources of information about most drugs.
Additionally, the editors of the British medical journal The Lancet said in their 14th Nov, 1998 editorial that "it would be reasonable to judge cannabis less of a threat to health than alcohol or tobacco and on the medical evidence available, moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill-effect on health
But, this is now going into GD territory.
The site would be funny only if so many people didn’t believe it.
Looking over the information,
How it’s used: Marijuana is smoked in…
Incomplete. You can prepare it for eating or make" tea" as well…
Short-Term Effects of Smoking Marijuana: Drowsiness, Impaired short-term memory, Reduced ability to concentrate, Loss of coordination, Increased heart rate, Dry mouth, Bloodshot eyes, Decreased social inhibitions.
If these are the only effects, why the hell would anyone want to use the drug? Also, do these things not happen, if you drink it?
Pot smoke has 70% more cancer-causing chemicals than Tobacco smoke, so that heavy pot smokers may have as much or greater potential for developing cancer as cigarette smokers
I’m not sure about the numbers cited above, but you can prepare hash-oil. No tars or carcinogens in smoking that. Else, don’t use smoking as the method of ingestion !!
I would recommend Erowid and Lycaeum as the two definitive pro-drugs but no-nonsense sources of information about most drugs.
Additionally, the editors of the British medical journal The Lancet said in their 14th Nov, 1998 editorial that "it would be reasonable to judge cannabis less of a threat to health than alcohol or tobacco and on the medical evidence available, moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill-effect on health
But, this is now going into GD territory.
Forget pot. They can also help you get over your debilitating er… Zyban addiction. :eek:
I would comment about this site, but man I’m just too drowsy, I’m having trouble concentrating, my mouth is dry and my eyes are bloodshot.
Oh, one thing I noticed they left out: Music sounds way cool if your buzzed.
Well, I can’t remember what else I was going to say.
Spliff mon. ;j
It’s quite possible for people to become dependent on any pleasurable activity whether that be playing golf, sex or smoking pot. Occasionally they need help in getting their life focused.
Most of the information stated about the hormone level fluctuations is taken directly from a document commisioned by the Nixon White House in 1972. The report, known as the Shafer Report contained all sorts of fanciful, and horrific information in regards to marijuana. However, none of the science behind it holds up when attempted to be duplicated, hence it’s approximately zero percent acceptance rate among scientests and researchers.
It’s sad, but marijuana’s lacking any concrete degenerate effects has caused anti drug groups to report this as accurate and reliable information to millions of people, when we all know that all it does is make the user a bloodthirsty maniac who steals to maintain his dope habits, and it causes minorities to get all uppity and play jazz. Oh the horrors!
Sorry dude, but linking to the homepage of High Times is not a cite.
I do remember a story from maybe 10 years ago about a Canadian study (older than 10 years) for the WHO on marijuana that said there was no long term health affects. The US government pressured the Canadians into making sure that the report was not issued. Unfortunatly, I have not been able to find a cite for this story, but I will keep trying. OTOH, it is nice to see that Canada is no longer caving to US pressure on this, essentially, non-issue.
Cite for the WHO study:
And yet, oddly enough, chronic hashish and marijuana smokers are unlikely to develop head, neck, and lung cancer, unlike alcohol and tobacco users.
Others are better qualified to comment upon its objectivity, but I think New Scientist does a very good job of actually discussing the studies of marijuana use.
Having devoted a fair amount of time, uh, “researching” the issue myself, I think it’s GQ-safe to say that in general, marijuana abuse is still bad for you, but it’s less bad than the illicit abuse of many–if not most–other drugs. Lurking behind the science and the studies and the spin placed on both is the influence of two groups which are openly battling over the issue of whether or not recreational drug use is acceptable at all.
You’ve got to push past the max, maaaan… a QP a week is a beautiful plateau… (bloodshot smiley)
That said, I do believe that gram for gram, smoking pot is a lot worse than smoking tobacco… much worse. Have you ever sat down and smoked a few pinners… in a row… by yourself? Generally it’s unfiltered, too (not counting bongs).
My fave part of the website is the claim (which I certainly believe) that marijuana contains over 400 chemicals… if that isn’t truthful propaganda, I don’t know what is. I don’t even want to think of how many chemicals I ingest every day. Hell, I’m probably breathing in thousands as we speak. :eek:
To answer your question, this site (as you’ve noticed) has wildly different opinions of pot use and its effects both short and long term. I am a habitual smoker so most of my opinions come from personal experience, but I have researched this topic for years now. IMHO there are little if any long term effects from smoking pot OTHER THAN its effects on your lungs. We know it can be carcogenic, which we also knows can cause cancer. Its just not good to inhale smoke of any kind into your lungs. So the usual ideas of all things in moderation and so forth really come in to play here. Abuse it, or anything for that matter, and you risk health problems. All thats said, I don’t think there are many drugs on the planet that can make you feel so good for such a small price (not economically, but biologically, good pot is outrageously expensive). You will need to be extremely careful when trying to find good cites to support your position (you’ll notice I did not include any). Opinions vary wildly with the tendency of both sides to stick to extremes. I of course lean towards resources like hightimes.com and norml.org because I feel their agenda is more honest and open than law enforcement. People in charge of keeping pot illegal would do a great deal to keep it that way, so many of them depend on the current war on drugs to stay employed and many more love their work, they think they are working for the greater good. My advice is to become informed by reading what both sides have to say, no matter how silly some of it sounds. You’ll eventually reach your own conclusion which should be somewhere in the middle. I personally recognize the risks of smoking and think it should be legal anyway using the same rationale that keeps alcohol legal right now, and in fact I would say that legalizing pot and criminalizing alcholol consumption would actually save lives.
Seriously? There’s a shocker.
Heh. That was supposed to be a joke.
I would say acid is better in this regard. You don’t smoke or snort or inject it. Due to the transient tolerance, you can’t be high more than 12 hours a week and you might actually learn something cognitively.
The biggest risks associated with acid use for the average user is the ‘bad trip’. But that only happens if you’re paranoid to begin with. There is the risk of mental illnesses like schizophrenia, but that is exacerbation of existing latent tendencies, not creation of the disorder.
D’oh! :smack: