Whatever works for you. Shit some of the side effects of some drugs (over the counter) are worse than the ones you'll ever experience with marijuana.

 

that's a pretty wrong statement. You're probably just saying that cause you've heard that from someone else because had you actually taken the time to do a little research on that, you'd find it's not true. Here's a quick explanation as to why:

tobacco is one of the biggest money making industries in the world, all major tobacco fields are heavily treated with chemicals to make sure nothing goes wrong with the growing process. These chemicals contain a radioactive element called Polonium-210. When you inhale the cigarette, the tar and smoke is irritating your lungs, and over time with more irritation(smoking packs per day) open wounds from the irritation form on the lung wall. The healing process is very slow, and having open wounds causes the Polonium 210 to be in a sense "injected" into those open walls. Radiation = bad......and that is the key difference between weed and cigs.

The smoke in marijuana does irritate your lungs as well; however, *most* people don't put marijuana smoke in their lungs anywhere NEAR the amount your average cigarette smoker puts smoke in their lungs sometimes on an hourly basis.

An interesting note: marijuana has been proved to function as an expectorant for your lungs, and actually has been given to asthma patients to help clear their lung walls of cell buildup. The coughing you experience is a part of the process.

Now don't get me wrong, obviously if you smoke 4 blunts a day for 10 or more years, then you stand a good chance of getting emphizema, but when people say weed is "worse" for you than smoking cigarettes it is just misinformation.

Erowid

That is a link to a non-profit organization that contains a database of independent, non-profit studies collected from reputable research departments from respected universities in terms of research. It is not some government study that was biased and put out through various media in order to help the "War on dope." Click on the Plants&Drugs link and do some browsing. Very informative, and if you choose to do something like smoke weed or cigs, you should be fully informed of what is happening to your body. That's just me.

 

i'm all for it, if there is a benefit to the user.

anyone who has problems with it can come talk to me when they stop taking aspirin and painkillers and cough medicine and caffeine and nicotine and alcohol and ibuprofen and sleep aids and....you see what i mean.....

drugs are drugs. letting someone else decide for you which ones are "okay" and which arent is stupid.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nexus
[B]i'm all for it, if there is a benefit to the user.

 

Pot is illegal because the government doesn't want the American population to think freely and possibly pose a threat to the current system of 1% of the population owning 90% of the wealth. They want us all to remain the proletariate sheep we are so that they can keep ing us in the ass.

[/conspiracy theory]



***runs out the door putting on flamesuit***

 

wow this is an old one... but since it's back just an update.. my friend no longer smokes pot anymore the problem my friend had is now gone and this person did not get addicted after smoking pot for 3 years daily.

 

Is this why my asthma suddenly got better over the past couple of years???



[QUOTE]Originally posted by xpander4
[B]

that's a pretty wrong statement.

 

To clarify some points.
1) Federal pot farm is in LA, and is provided to approved study patients only.
2) "medical marijuana" while legalized under some state laws, is illegal by federal law. Federal law trumps state law in most instances, including this one. Anyone who feels that federal law shouldn't trump state law should recall "states rights" advocates in the south who tried to argue that the federal government couldn't tell states that equal protection under the law with regards to civil rights (such as voting, attending schools where one couldn't be excluded due to race, etc). If one doesn't like the federal law, one should lobby to change it(this point is obviously just my opinion ...)
3) the active ingredient in maijuana (THC) is available for prescription in all 50 states. I have serious issues with "medical marijuana"- in CA, many of it's advocates are really, and openly, about legalizing marijuana. That is fine IF as a society, we have a reasonable informed debate about the pros and cons of such. But to argue that patients are deprived of medicine is BS. Opiates are an appropriate treatment for pain, but it isn't, nor should it be, legal to smoke opium for pain.
4) THC is a relatively benign substance with appropriate uses and side effects which aren't life threatening (or usually even "health threatening"), but smoking marijuana is not benign. An occasional joint isn't going to kill anyone, but because of the manner in which it's usually smoked (unfiltered smoke, inhaled deeply and held in the lungs), a joint can "equal" 4 to 7 filtered tobacco cigarettes (which are horrible things, and should be taxed out the wazoo- sorry smokers out there...), depending on which harmful component of smoke one is talking about - carbon monoxide, particulates, etc.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SFDukie
[B]3) the active ingredient in maijuana (THC) is available for prescription in all 50 states.

 

I have had moderate, and at times severe, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) my entire life, and suffered anxiety problems (general anxiety, acid reflux, panic attacks, etc.) for many years. Compared to any of the *many* prescription medications I've ever tried, smoking weed has helped me much more, and has far fewer side effects. I'm a believer in its therapeutic potential.

Granted, I started smoking weed, and continue to do so, primarily for recreational purposes. I'm not one to lie - getting high from weed is fun! But, something that's so damn fun, relatively harmless, and also provides fringe benefits like lower anxiety and decreased OCD symptoms gets a big thumbs up in my book!

Screw the politicians...they're not scientists by a long shot, and IMO, the driving force behind marijuana's criminal status is simply because that's the status quo. It takes a strong movement, backed by a lot of the general public, to change the status quo, and the USA (and world in general) as a whole simply isn't ready to change the existing marijuana laws. It's just too embarassing to admit that marijuana laws are a crock fueled by propaganda, and there will be growing pains that accompany any legalization movement. The first few political proponents of marijuana legalization will likely be sacrificing their careers for the cause, and that's a step no one wants to take.

For me, the crux of the matter is personal choice. If I'm sitting around with some friends, smoking weed, playing some video games, and just stupidly laughing my ass off, who am I hurting? If the answer is "nobody", then everyone else can get the out of my business. It doesn't matter if weed is detrimental to my health or not - that's not the point. The bottom line is: my body, my choice.