[Newsbot]

Title: The terrible truth about cannabis
Category: Health
Posted By: N_Fiddledog
Date: 2014-10-07 00:45:04

[OnTheIce]

Well then....

[Zipperfish]

Throw it on the pile with the other studies. The thing is that so mnay Canadians have trioed pot for themselves, so they don't have to rely on the judgement of others as to it's harms or benefits.

it certainly isn't harmless, but it doesn't do much harm either.

[OnTheIce]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Throw it on the pile with the other studies. The thing is that so mnay Canadians have trioed pot for themselves, so they don't have to rely on the judgement of others as to it's harms or benefits.

it certainly isn't harmless, but it doesn't do much harm either.

Didn't read the article, did you?

[martin14]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Throw it on the pile with the other studies. The thing is that so mnay Canadians have trioed pot for themselves, so they don't have to rely on the judgement of others as to it's harms or benefits.

it certainly isn't harmless, but it doesn't do much harm either.

Didn't read the article, did you?

If it ain't pro global warming, Zippy ain' reading nuthin'.

[Brenda]

$1:

One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it,
Cannabis doubles the risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia,
Cannabis users do worse at school. Heavy use in adolescence appears to impair intellectual development
One in ten adults who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it and those who use it are more likely to go on to use harder drugs,
Driving after smoking cannabis doubles the risk of a car crash, a risk which increases substantially if the driver has also had a drink,
Smoking it while pregnant reduces the baby’s birth weight.

So kind of like over the counter painkillers...

[Zipperfish]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Throw it on the pile with the other studies. The thing is that so mnay Canadians have trioed pot for themselves, so they don't have to rely on the judgement of others as to it's harms or benefits.

it certainly isn't harmless, but it doesn't do much harm either.

Didn't read the article, did you?

I read it. There are several dozen major studies a year on marijuana use. They run quite a spectrum. This one is on the far end of the harm spectrum. I tend to go with the middle of that probability distribution.

It's not surprising that smoking pot causes cancer, since the products of imconplete combustion that are so damaging in cigarettes are also present in joints. However, most people don't smoke the same amount of pot as tobacco, so the cancer risk is smaller. Some people are dependent on pot, but not that many. Most people just outgrow it. It appears to increase the risk of schizophrenia-type disorders when taken by adolescents, although the degree of that is up for debate.

The claim that pot is as addictive as heroin is silly. These public health authorities have inflated the meaning of "addiction" to be virtually meaningless.

The author of this paper is very much an advocate of prohibition, so I have suspicions that the reason his paper finds pot so much more harmful than most other papers may have to do with confirmation bias, which is prevalent in advocacy science. He's presented, in the past, his view that marijuana/THC has no medical benefits, which is very much a minority opinion from what I've read.

All in all, to my mind, it's harmful, but mostly a personal risk. Leave it up to adults to decide whether or not they want to take the risk. Personally, I don't want to take that risk, but I don't insist that everyone do as I do.

[Zipperfish]

martin14 martin14:

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Throw it on the pile with the other studies. The thing is that so mnay Canadians have trioed pot for themselves, so they don't have to rely on the judgement of others as to it's harms or benefits.

it certainly isn't harmless, but it doesn't do much harm either.

Didn't read the article, did you?

If it ain't pro global warming, Zippy ain' reading nuthin'.

I didn't read your comment, btw.

[raydan]

Brenda Brenda:

$1:

One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it,
Cannabis doubles the risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia,
Cannabis users do worse at school. Heavy use in adolescence appears to impair intellectual development
One in ten adults who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it and those who use it are more likely to go on to use harder drugs,
Driving after smoking cannabis doubles the risk of a car crash, a risk which increases substantially if the driver has also had a drink,
Smoking it while pregnant reduces the baby’s birth weight.

So kind of like over the counter painkillers...

...and pretty much like booze.

[andyt]

Brenda Brenda:

$1:

One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it,
Cannabis doubles the risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia,
Cannabis users do worse at school. Heavy use in adolescence appears to impair intellectual development
One in ten adults who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it and those who use it are more likely to go on to use harder drugs,
Driving after smoking cannabis doubles the risk of a car crash, a risk which increases substantially if the driver has also had a drink,
Smoking it while pregnant reduces the baby’s birth weight.

So kind of like over the counter painkillers...

Nope, more like booze, but less harmful. The risk of cancer has been shown much more clearly with booze (may change with more research) and booze causes brain damage. As for car crashes... nuff said.

[Jabberwalker]

The terrible truth about cannibals

They kills you and ets you.

[Public_Domain]

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Throw it on the pile with the other studies. The thing is that so mnay Canadians have trioed pot for themselves, so they don't have to rely on the judgement of others as to it's harms or benefits.

it certainly isn't harmless, but it doesn't do much harm either.

Didn't read the article, did you?

I read it. There are several dozen major studies a year on marijuana use. They run quite a spectrum. This one is on the far end of the harm spectrum. I tend to go with the middle of that probability distribution.

It's not surprising that smoking pot causes cancer, since the products of imconplete combustion that are so damaging in cigarettes are also present in joints. However, most people don't smoke the same amount of pot as tobacco, so the cancer risk is smaller. Some people are dependent on pot, but not that many. Most people just outgrow it. It appears to increase the risk of schizophrenia-type disorders when taken by adolescents, although the degree of that is up for debate.

The claim that pot is as addictive as heroin is silly.

It's not just silly, it's an outright lie. Tobacco is about as close as you can get to the addiction factor of heroin. Hell, I know ex heroin addicts that STILL can't quit smoking.

People get "addicted" to marijuana in the same way people become addicted to food, or sex, or working out. However, marijuana doesn't even stimulate dopamine production, which is where most addictions come from.

Then we have the same repeated nonsense about it being a gateway drug. For the VAST majority of those who "moved up" from weed, it wasn't the weed that caused it, it was the contact they were getting their weed from that caused it.
While there are those who sell only weed, there are others who sell the bad shit too. And even though marijuana provides mega bucks for the criminal organizations, for the individual dealer it's better for him(or her) if you buy the other shit because it's generally more expensive which means more money, faster, in the dealer's pocket. It's in their best financial interest to get you to "trade up", as it were.

The only "terrible truth" about cannabis is the lie about why it became an illegal substance in the first place. And the lie that gets told depends entirely on what country you live in.

[OnTheIce]

And yet, the pot smokers continue with the same old song and dance...."but it's not as bad as".

That's not the point.

The point is that people (and many here) have been saying that pot is harmless. It's just a plant with no adverse affects. It's all false.

[andyt]

Can you back that up with a link for where somebody here said that?

Anything you smoke will have adverse effects, anything that gets you high, ie alters brain chemistry can have adverse effects. But, just as a drink or two can actually have positive effects (while still causing cancer and affecting your brain) or several cups of coffee are deemed good for you these days, so moderate marijuana consumption may also have positive effects. Overdoing anything is bad for you - people have died from water intoxication.