Is Marijuana actually bad for you?

I have listed sources about brain damage, and lung cancer to be disproven false, please read (or probably just skim through it ) and anwser my question at the end of the 2 articles.

Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn’t Damage Brain

By Sid Kirchheimer
Study: Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer

By FRED GARDNER
So, basically could anyone tell me if marijuana is actually bad for you at all, or disprove one of these studies?

I suspect inhaling any irritant on a regular basis will have detrimental effects over time. Be it the particulates in marijuana smoke or coal mines.

Bah. When was the last time you heard of someone dying from a marijuana overdose. NEVER. Marijuana is safer than aspriin. They only damage I think would come from the smoking effect. Although probably not near as dangerous as smoking because marijuana users take a few hits vs someone smoking all day.

It looks like it’s even safer than alcohol! It reminds me of an earlier thread, about why it’s illegal. It was about some guy a century ago blaming weed on African American violence.

Wow. That makes even less sense than blaming African American violence on weed!

heheheh, but either way round, then it ought to be okay in Britain, or anywhere not America, relaly. Interesting notion, that one. :slight_smile:

Nicely silly, but it has a certian appeal. Methinks I should invest in chocolate futures.

There are different things to consider:

(1) Does marijuana have any acute detrimental effects?

I’m pretty sure even the biggest potheads will agree there are effects - you relax, your reaction time slows, brain activity drops - in short, you get stoned. Whether that effect is detrimental or not, I suppose, is up to the observer.

(2) Does marijuana have any long-term detrimental effects?

This is a subject of debate, and I will leave it up to people who are more informed to post.

(3) Is marijuana “safer” than X? (X = tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, etc.)

Usually this question is phrased in a way to skew the answer towards whichever answer the questioner wants. If marijuana turns out to have acute, but not long-term effects, how “safe” is it relative to tobacco (which has fewer acute, but more long-term effects)?

And keep in mind that just because marijuana is “safer” than X doesn’t necessarily mean that marijuana should be legal. If both marijuana and X are unsafe, then both marijuana and X should be illegal.

(4) Does marijuana have any benefits?

This wasn’t posed by the OP, but it is a question that is directly relevant to the concept of medical marijuana, which I’m sure will work its way into this discussion.

As with any potential medicine (for example, a pharmaceutical that is up for FDA approval), the benefit of the drug (as measured by clinical trials by physicians, not home-remedies by biased pro-legalization fanatics) is weighed against its deleterious effects and also the other options for treatment. A remedy that has tremendous side effects and marginal benefit for a life-threatening disease may be approved if no other treatment exists, whereas the same side effects may not be tolerable for treatment of the flu.

I, if you hadn’t noticed, certainly have my personal biases, but in terms of making sure the right question gets answered, I’ll leave my opinion out of it.

Speaking from a purely personal, anecdotal, and non-scientific view, I used marijuana daily for about 3 years and I don’t feel any long-term physical or mental detriment from doing so. In fact I only quit because my wife was uncomfortable with it. However, one adverse effect I did notice was a serious compromising of social function. I lost a lot of awareness of what would be socially appropriate or inappropriate to say or do in certain situations. Looking back, I offended people in ways I know I never would have done before or after that period, and at the time I had no awareness that I was doing something inappropriate. This was not just while stoned… it occurred during my whole stoner period. Having quit, I can now see this behavior in others. I would be interested to see studies done on that particular effect of marijuana use.

Ice Fluid
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DrMatrix - GQ Moderator

I know of two instances where marijuana is “bad for you” :

-It can cause panick attacks for some people

-It can be aggravating for people suffering from schizophrenia.