Marijuana, the Truth?

Great Debates
#1

I was debating whether to put this in General Questions or here. I chose here because in the end I feel this will turn into a debate. I am looking for two things, first the true after-effects of smoking pot. Second, based on the correct facts, which I have found difficult to find, whether or not it should be legalized.

I found a web site here which tells of more serious effects.
On the contrary, I found a web site here which really says there are no bad effects.

I have found numerous other web sites backing up both sides of the argument. Since there is so much contradictory information, I felt compelled to ask the educated members of this site for the truth, and based on the truth (which I hope someone knows) whether or not pot should be legalized.

#2

I just found a web site here which is VERY anti-marijuana. I’ll admit that’s the side I take at the moment. My friend, who obviously smokes pot, is trying to convince me there are no ill effects. But he has offered little proof. So here I am. Tell me the truth.

#3

I’ve smoked pot fairly regularly for the last few years with absolutely no ill effects. I’m not “less smart”, as my GPA is very high.
The last I read, there had never been a documented case of cancer caused solely by marijuana and I think I’d like to review the studies that claim it has has 5 times more carcinogens that tobbaco.

Even if it did, very few people smoke 25 joints a day but I know quite a few pack a day tobacco smokers.

All the long term effects on the website you linked to in your second post uses language ment to mislead, (eg. “regular use of marijuana or THC may play a role in some kinds of cancer”) because no definative conclusions have been made regarding the impact that marijuana has on the health of the user. However,over 12,000 years of being used with no serious effects reported in healthy individuals speaks for itself.

FL Young, a DEA Administrative Law Judge got it right:

#4

It seems to me that the reason there is so little conclusive data on the effects of marijuana is that it is illegal, and that probably keeps it from being studied as thouroughly as it should be studied since people who smoke it are generally very careful about who they discuss it with.

#5

My dad has smoked two packs a day of tobacco cigarettes for at least 30 years. I can count the number of times he was sick in this time - and by sick I mean a cold or flu-type illness - on one hand. He claims (and has no reason to lie) to have never had a headache in his life.

I guess tobacco is not harmful.

#6

Our cook lives in the house with us. He smokes a pack a day. He lives in the room next to mine. I hear him coughing all night (I pulled an all nighter last night, I mean that literally). It sounds nasty. He doesn’t have a cold.

My grandfather also smoked. He also had a pre-emphezematic cough.

The original Marlboro Man died of lung cancer.

There’s THREE pieces of anecdotal evidence against your one, Satan! I win!

Of course, your point was that the anecdotal evidence that pot-smokers haven’t gotten sick yet is of no value. So, rather than continue with a very pointless side-argument, I’ll simply say that a definite connection has not been shown between smoking marijuana and any disease, that I know of. I also contend, without much proof, I must admit, that no connection will be shown (in unbiased literature), until marijuana is legal.

#7

Oh, and I should add, that though no connection has been shown, that does not give evidence either way as to whether evidence will indicate a connection.

#8

The British science weekly New Scientist has built up a nice site containing all sorts of information about marijuana. They seem to be more rational in their approach to drug related issues than most places are.
http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/drugs/marijuana/marijuana.html

#9

Pot smokers can be smart people, and the good ones have an intimate relationship with math.

Dope in America is measured in fractions: quarters, eighths, halfs, QPs. Woe betide the budding dealer who fails to convert the twenty-eight grams (plus one for bag, stem and seeds if you’re cool) into an ounce and its subsequent divisions, and vice versa.

Mexican dirtweed will get you high for “a while” and will be cheap. Hydroponic Pluton will get you high “for hours” and will cost you a week’s pay at the video store. It’s a cost over time over quality over the kind of assholes you have to deal with to get it kind of equasion. It’s urban calculus.

You deresinated the bowl somewhere between Poughkeepsie and Pittsburgh. You’ve got $15.79 in your pocket, plus the purchase money, which was untouchable at $180 and is now $160 after the Slim Jims and Yoo-Hoo. Ten Soft Tacos cost $7.90 plus tax but you only want six, so it’s like half, but more, plus whatever your girlfirend wants–the chince. You’ve gotta drift into Kenyon before the kegs get tapped at eight tonight, and then shave off enough to make gas money to get to Buckeye Lake before the show. How’s it gonna happen, man? Urban Calculus.

Are good potsmokers just lucky? Hell no. They’re smart. They’re just not smart the way that sober people are. But then again, the two don’t interact a whole helluva lot, do they, so what’s the problem, man? Just pretend we’re Republicans who just want to be left alone and everything’s cool, right?

Oh, man! You were asking for facts. I’ll get back to you with those, like tomorrow and shit.

#10

Sofa King,
You rule! My kind of Doper!