Okay, so i know that there hasn’t been any reported deaths caused by smoking pot. I also know that smoking pot is one of the safer “extracurricular activites” compaired to say drinking or snorting coke. However, I would like to know what the downside of smoking pot is. Are there any side effects or can it cause any long term damage other than weight gain??
You know, I used to know all that stuff, but I’ve forgotten . . .
And I’m too lazy to go look it up.
Check the net…there are plenty of studies done on the long term effects of pot use. Cancer and lung disease being the most cited. I would say if you were doing damage control a joint or two now and then might be a little better than an 8 ball or a fifth of vodka. None of that shit is good for you if you do it often enough.
Needs2know
I had an editor once who was a major pothead (every day, for years) and—aside from the smoke-inhaling dangers—he had terrible short-term memory loss and violent mood swings.
He was a total jerk, too, but I doubt that was pot-related.
for an accurate display of the dangers of pot, go to your local video store and pick up a copy of reefer madness.
Additionally, marijuana is not regulated and the people who grow it are not law abiding citizens. This means that you have no way of knowing what type of pesticide and fertilizer residues you are smoking with your weed.
On a related note, I know many people here in Asheville, NC, who will only eat organic vegetables, and the ones who eat meat will only eat free range beef and poultry. The reason they give for this is that they don’t want any crazy chemicals getting into their bodies. Yet almost everyone I know who holds this view smokes weed.
The people who grow weed are drug dealers. I’m sure they wouldn’t hesitate to use DDT if it would make them more money in the short term.
Cecil Adams on The long-term effects of marijuana.
Well, it will kill your short term memory, as previously stated. Also, try driving while stoned. I’m quite sure someone has died trying that!
Here’s a long term effect few people bother to mention. Times are great now, and even a guy like me who looks and acts like The Dude can get a good job and keep it so long as I perform well. My employers wouldn’t dare to ask me to take a test because I do excellent work and it would be difficult and expensive to replace. But just wait until the next recession.
Anyone unemployed in the early 90’s? I was told I’d have to submit to a lie-detector and a piss test to be eligible for the position of stock boy at Evans. Filtering out those who had a history of drug abuse was a popular way of keeping the number of applicants for a given job manageable, and it has been upheld in court in such a way that employers can come up with a valid reason to test you in many, or even most, cases.
Of course this is not a physical effect, unless Johnny Potseed dies outside of the unemployment office from starvation. Nevertheless, I have personally experienced it, and I assure you that the next time things get a little tight, drug-screening will return with a vengeance.
I doubt very much that growers use any pesticeds or other chemicals as they use their own product.
One other thing to keep in mind…
If you are hurt on the job and covered by workmans comp…
There is an automatic drug test.
Also…if you work for a company with government contracts…they can do it at any time.
Asmodeus wrote:
You can doubt it all you want, that doesn’t prove a whole lot.
Pretty negative bias in here (puff-puff). I smoke regularly and don’t feel bad about it. Marijuana is HARMLESS–considering you are not mentally ill and you don’t have high blood pressure. I also drink tons of water and exercise every day. So as long as you flush your system of metabolites and some other chemicals stored in fat tissue, marijuana is fine. Relax people…have a couple bong hits–you could probably use it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Three different studies - one Canadian, one Australian, and one conducted by the U.S. government, concluded that stoned drivers were safe drivers. In fact, in one of the studies, their driving proved to be slightly safer than those that hadn’t used anything! Unlike drunks, pot users tend to drive slow and cautiously. This applies to experienced pot smokers only, of course. The first couple dozen times you get high are really out-of-this-world and I wouldn’t recommend riding a bicycle, let alone driving a car for an inexperienced toker.
Weight gain? Maybe in some cases, but I haven’t seen it. Raising appettite doesn’t equal weight gain, as your eating after getting high could very well been the normal time/amount you eat anyways.
I question this argument on fertilizers and insecticides. Most of the things I’ve read on growing the stuff seem to indicate that on the whole they don’t NEED much of the stuff. It a friggin weed! Stuff a seed in the crack of a sidewalk and it’ll grow. Just using good dirt will get high quality product, and dirt is cheap (hence the idiom). I’ve read that it naturally repels most insects so even insecticide isn’t needed. As for your observation about the organic friends and their tastes, I would make an observation that they probably don’t buy the stuff on a street corner. They probably have a good connection from a trusted friend. Having to go to a bad part of town to pick up a regular supply just doesn’t make sense. And if they have the cash to pay extra for organic meat, then they probably buy the good shit, which is probably grown with care. As for the amounts of what you would inhale, its minimal as well- eating a commercial apple full of chemicals is far removed from inhaling 0.5 grams of pot. Plus, of course, the argument of comparison arises: Tobacco is cancerous no matter how they grow it (and they use tons of insecticides on it as well), and all alcohol is dangerous too- from rot-gut rye to Dom Perignon.
On the whole, all things considered and compared, weed is a much safer recreational drug.
Let me preface this by saying that I too partake of the glorious weed on a regular basis.
My point about not knowing what pot has been treated with speaks to the OP’s question about possible side effects. While most pot is probably not treated with anything, I can’t say with certainty that all pot is free of pesticide residue. Therefore, smoking DDT with your pot is not outside the realm of possibility. Most of the people I know who smoke pot do not know the precise origin of the pot they are smoking. They buy it from a friend, who knows a guy, who lives next to a guy who grows pot in the Pisgah National Forest or some such thing. These stories usually have all the believability of an urban legend.
People who grow pot are usually not long term thinkers. They focus on the short term goal of big money for little work, while the long term, which may include jail time and cancer, often eludes them. So, I wouldn’t put it past some pot farmer to spray his crop with god knows what, if he thought it would get him a little more cash come harvest time. It wouldn’t really matter if said spraying actually helped the plant or not, the residues would still be there.
Additionally, pot growers are not accountable for their product. If I buy a product from a legitimate company that causes me harm, I can sue that company. If my weed gives me inoperable bone cancer because it was sprayed with a Mountain Dew/Dioxin cocktail, I can’t sue the guy at the park who I bought the weed from.
I conclusion, I’m not saying that all weed has unknown chemicals on it. I am saying that it is possible that some weed does. Pot is grown by people who have no qualms about breaking the law or hurting people to make money. Smoking residues of harmful chemicals is undoubtedly a possible side effect of marijuana use.
Pot is absolutely NOT HARMLESS to some people. I’ve been smoking it since I was 13. I’ve done all of the above but not on a regular basis. I do drive better when I’m stoned. I HATE TO DRIVE STONED! Because I’m paranoid as hell. And even though not documented, this is only from conversations with all my friends and old heads…there is a little bit of a paranoia symptom associated with long term use. Not that I get that way everytime. Just sometimes I get get paranoid in certain situations. This has also been observed by some of my friends.
Then of course there are different growing conditions of weed and the mellowing factor that make the buzz different. I say that bud is harmful to some people because they become very psychologically addicted to it and do nothing with their lives. Or they move on to something a little more hard to control like cocaine. If you don’t have what they term an addictive personality then you might be able to experiment with a line or two and not have it take over your life. But I saw way to much of this in the 80’s. People going places that lost it all including their health. They should have stuck with the pot. I’m not even going to mention how many white, suburban males I’ve met over the last couple of years that started with pot then went to cocaine and are now addicted to crack. Once you get there you’re pretty much fucked. You’ll have that jones the rest of your life.
Recreational drugs can be dangerous in any form. They are to an awful lot of people.
Needs2know
Good arguments and discussions.
I wonder if any test kits are sold to determine if there are pesticides/chemicals in food. Might make your high a little smoother if you knew it was in FACT free of any other substances. I agree that you can’t completely take out the possibility, but, for one thing, most of the chemicals used to combat diseases and insects and such do go through a fair amount of testing. I worked in landscaping for awhile and had to deal with these products all the time, and the worst stuff out there was weed-killers, thus not applicable to this argument. DDT, as far as I know, isn’t even produced anymore, let alone sold (for only one example). I know the organic camp will quote other sources, but on the whole, I believe that most commercially available products are, in fact, safe. In addition, I have read in a few books and on the net about the growing of pot, and the suggestions by people such as Ed Rosenthal tend to lean towards organic fertilizers and bio-hummus and such. The main fertilizers that one uses are N, P (phospherous), and K (look ‘em up on your periodic table, my brain ain’t workin’ tonight). Benign stuff. Its the insecticides that would then be a problem, but as I have said before, that isn’t needed nearly as much as in the case of fruits and vegetables.
ANYWAYS, point taken that it MIGHT be harmful. But I doubt it. This sorta reminds me of those ‘scare’ tactics that people were using to deter people from smoking by saying that “It could be laced with something, you never know!” B.S. Do you know how difficult it is to make PCP? Or how expensive it is? You will NEVER get ‘laced’ pot- its not economical. Why add something? It takes time, money and is a worse crime than growing pot alone. Makes no sense. So again it boils down to this: other things will harm you a lot more. In fact, I bet the Dorito’s you eat while munchin out are much more harmful to your body than just about anything that would be used to increase yield on a pot plant. So stick to apples, well, organic ones that is. 
Interesting discussion indeed.
Speaking only for myself…
I have smoked daily for wayyyy too long now. I can smoke most of you under the table anyday. 
While I do have to write down some things (phone #'s, ect…) my short term memory is fine. My lungs are not so great. I smoked cigs along with the pot, and that is not a good combo for anyone. I’m quitting smoking (uggh) but not pot. Doubt I ever will quit that.
Other effects? It was not a gateway drug for me. I am my own gateway, I got myself into and out of whatever I felt like experiencing.
Other info - most experienced pot smokers can tell what they are smoking. Most of us can tell if it was grown indoors or outside, if it was grown in this country or Mexico or Columbia, stuff like that. You get to know the taste and texture, just like any other substance. I remember the good ole’ days of Paraquat. Remember that taste? It’s good to know these things, so you know what not to smoke.
aenea wrote:
Am I correct in assuming that this means you have smoked pot that had been treated with paraquat?
If that is the case, I say, “A-ha! I knew that some pot farmer from somewhere would spray deadly chemicals on his weed crop.”
From Encyclopaedia Britanica: