Study: Early Marijuana Use May Increase Brain Damage

some of my friends do it and its real scary

lol @ the potheads getting angry

It's fox news. I mean c'mon...

Sjors said:

It's fox news. I mean c'mon...

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It's a study from Harvard University.

Stop being so close minded.

Plain and simple. The US Government is a bunch of greedy bastards.

Cuban Cigars are illegal because of past conflicts.
Moonshine anyone?

Cocaine used to be legal and used in many medicines until people went nuts and started thinking that cocaine caused rage in blacks and caused them to rape white woman. WTF really? So then it became illegal.

Most of the things that are illegal, became illegal because of bs reasons.

Marijuana is illegal because the government doesn't want to look bad to all the white collar upper class. They are mostly old farts who stick their pinky finger out to drink their tea that their illegal imported maid served up for them. They all think pot is so damn bad, and they are old and stubborn to think any different. On top of that, pot is grown or imported so easily, they still fear they can't control it.

If pot became legal, would that stop growers from still growing illegally? There still would be tons of illegally obtained pot going around. They can't control it. That is what the US government fears. They want control, money and power.

Lets face it, how are you going to convince a bunch of tight ass white old fogies that pot is better for you than alcohol? You don't. Every year pot is more accepted, generation after generation. In a few more generations of people passing through the white house, then we may actually have a shot.

Pot is harmless when used properly. When used 24/7 you become a stoner, lazy and slightly tarded. When used to relax, wind down, or just have fun.. there are no side effects.

stoners kept on saying that LEGALIZE MARIJUANA!! but dont you know that when it gets legalize the goverment add tax thus making it expensive lol..

DONT LEGALIZE MARIJUANA!

Double Rainbow

SaraJ said:

You missed my point.

People try cigarettes and alcohol before weed. Therefore weed is not a doorway to harder drugs. The current legal drugs are.

You say that weed should be illegal since it's a doorway. The real doorways are legal cigarettes and alcohol. Therefore your defense of weed being illegal for being a doorway is illogical.

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Where did you get that idea? Hopefully not from some catholic school pamphlet. Caffeine is a very highly addictive substance, is that a 'real' doorway too? It'd be like pork is a doorway to red wine and fish a doorway to white wine.

Also, most people try their mother's milk first, how about that being a doorway?

Cigarettes, alcohol and weed have 0 in common, they work on different neuro receptors and cause different responses. Like appetite, cigs supress it, weed increases it and alcohol is not playing any role (it irritates the stomach which leads to its activation and increased digestion but has no effect on hunger).

The doorway argument is based on the issue that a pot dealer likely carries hard drugs too AND has a financial interest in hooking his clients on a more profitable line of products. And given that heroin offers relaxation in magnitudes higher than marijuana it is not hard to see why most junkies started with weed and later moved to the next level.

Alcohol can't be a doorway in this sense as we don't find many ex hard alcoholics who've become junkies. And the nicotine addiction is more powerful than the heroin addiction so both can be neighbours but no smoker is going to substitute smoking for heroin. On the contrary actually, many ex junkies become chain smokers and not the other way around.

Pls. think before you use therefores to call others' arguments illogical.

Monrox said:

Where did you get that idea? Hopefully not from some catholic school pamphlet. Caffeine is a very highly addictive substance, is that a 'real' doorway too? It'd be like pork is a doorway to red wine and fish a doorway to white wine.

Also, most people try their mother's milk first, how about that being a doorway?

Cigarettes, alcohol and weed have 0 in common, they work on different neuro receptors and cause different responses. Like appetite, cigs supress it, weed increases it and alcohol is not playing any role (it irritates the stomach which leads to its activation and increased digestion but has no effect on hunger).

The doorway argument is based on the issue that a pot dealer likely carries hard drugs too AND has a financial interest in hooking his clients on a more profitable line of products. And given that heroin offers relaxation in magnitudes higher than marijuana it is not hard to see why most junkies started with weed and later moved to the next level.

Alcohol can't be a doorway in this sense as we don't find many ex hard alcoholics who've become junkies. And the nicotine addiction is more powerful than the heroin addiction so both can be neighbours but no smoker is going to substitute smoking for heroin. On the contrary actually, many ex junkies become chain smokers and not the other way around.

Pls. think before you use therefores to call others' arguments illogical.

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I don't believe any of them are real doorways. My point was that picking out one in the middle of a long chain of events and calling that the reason for hard core drug problems is illogical. I was just being silly saying that almost anything could be considered a doorway as you point out. I was trying to show that this doorway thinking is just stupid because anything could be called a doorway. Once it's called a "doorway" does that mean everything in that chain is now illegal? Clearly it's not.

If weed is associated with harder drugs, the only association is because like you said, it's being sold by the same people. Legalization is the only answer to break that relationship completely.

These relationships are being created by the government by banning the substances and not keeping them legal.

Just like in prohibition of alcohol, would you rather Jack Daniels or Al Capone make the profits? For one reason or another many feel that criminals making the profits is best for some strange reason.

Monrox said:

I've been to the Netherlands where both pot and hash are 100% legal. ...

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"(AP) ? 1 day ago

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? The new conservative Dutch government wants to force the country's marijuana cafes to become "members only" clubs, a move that would effectively block foreigners from buying the drug.
...
While marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, it has been sold openly in designated cafes for decades, and police make no arrests for possession of small amounts."

Seems quite clear to me that it increases brain damage.. I mean really, you have to be devoted to the stuff to stand that smell. The smell is not just in Amsterdam, you can find coffee shops everywhere here. I don't care whether someone does it, but the smell is just disgusting (same with smoking), IMO. Soon, very soon it'll be fully legal here so that they can raise taxes over it and increase prices. Fine with me They should up the tobacco prices as well, like 10E per pack. Serious brain damage if you're willing to pay for that

Cannabis is called a "weed" for a reason, it is VERY easy to grow. So talk about what you know. Explain the experience that has proven these statement to be true for you.

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It's called grass too, and grass is not always so easy to grow, especially without weeds. lol
Cannabis has been also called weed since the 1920's. The word origin for weed is from the Old English word "weod"
"plant not valued for use or beauty," O.E. weod, uueod "grass, herb, weed,"

I have been smoking for almost 20 years and it has not effected my brain function at all.

My hippi'sh friend does not know anything about moderation lmao, he just had too much weed with him so he wake&bake for few months... time fly and he didnt even realise that he havent paid the rent

All ORGANIC drugs are OK if you can moderate them so that the drug aint the thing that your live for, my friend did not live for weed but he did not have disciplin over it cause he had too much of it stachet.

I dont think weed has any negative effects in adults, but i dont like the idea 14yr old kids smoking it... nothing about their health, but the concern that 14yr old "rebels" will love jamming and there goes idea of accomplishing in the future education meltdown maaaan!

Impairs brain function?

Every person handles being high differently. It also has different effects on them afterwards. It is a powerful and unique thing, as with every drug. Smart, well balanced people can experiment and even regularly use any substance responsibly and perhaps to gain competitive advantage in whatever it is they care about. They ask why to everything, constantly try to find the best way to do things, and are always thirsty to understand. These people, in my opinion, greatly benefit by gaining the unique experiences one can only achieve with substances. It is only people who have other mental issues, the ones who need an escape from their reality, who abuse substances, as they would over-use ANY solution to escape from the reality they created for themselves. These people dont see any benefit from drugs, just as they barely see benefits from anything, because benefits, in their mind, is temporary escape. Or perhaps the "cool" feeling they get doing it. If they were well rounded and half intelligent and otherwise happy, they wouldnt need this feeling, and thus would be able to control and even benefit intellectually.

tl;dr - It is all about how you treat it, which is in your attitude with or without any drug. Weed makes smart, responsible people more smart and responsible. Weed makes dumb, lazy people more dumb and lazy.

524 PM is the TIME right now

Monrox said:

...Marijuana seems to be pretty harmless and it is proven that it's not causing addiction. The problem with it is that it's a doorway for hard drugs. Not all users become junkies but almost all junkies started with weed.

That is why impartial politicians keep trying to block its legalization. The rest of the opponents just have some financial agenda.

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The doorway to harder drugs is a fallacious argument. The fact that almost all junkies started with weed means nothing. The fact is that most people that use marijuana DON'T move on to harder drugs.

As far as the impartial politicians trying to block it's legislation... Well the impartial ones aren't who are blocking it. The anti marijuana propaganda has become so well entrenched that many politicians find it beneficial to use that propaganda machine so they can claim a 'Tough on Crime' stance.

If marijuana were to be rescheduled and left to the states to regulate, the DOJ and DEA would be able to fight a much more efficient battle against the drugs that really are dangerous and addictive. The problem for though is the same as when alchohol prohibition ended. The manpower and funding necessary to fight those drugs would be significantly less.

Doing so would actually be a much more efficient use of resources, most likely achieve better results where it actually is necessary, and reduce the budget at a time when it would be of such benefit to the country. In spite of that DOJ and DEA will fight ending prohibition as much as possible and they will use whatever propaganda they feel necessary to keep public and political sentiment aligned against ending prohibition. The reason is the DOJ and DEA know they'll lose a tremendous amount of funding if marijuana prohibition were to end. A bureaucratic agency will never voluntarily scale itself back.

For the people who's jobs depend on marijuana prohibition, they will never support ending it. That would include agencies such as the DOJ and DEA, as well as the various drug cartels. When it comes to ending prohibition those two opposing sides of the 'War on Drugs' both have the most to lose.

That's why our legislators should be less gullible about the lobbying done by the DOJ regarding marijuana prohibition. The DOJ has too much conflict of interest for anyone to trust their input. It's sad that some of our congressmen are allowing the DOJ propaganda to influence them on the matter. The bill recently submitted by Barney Frank and Ron Paul will probably languish in committee.

The committee members that have made the decision to let that happen are nothing more than obstructionists that should be removed from office when the next election comes up. Regardless of your opinion regarding prohibition, it's an important enough bill that it should at least pass it's way through the committee process.

edit - and btw, I smoked weed when I was younger, but haven't used it myself for many years. I do know a lot of responsible successful contributing members of society that do still use it though. I also know a lot of people who actually do use it for the medicinal benefits. The opinions I express on the matter are based mostly on the fact I don't think it's right for the government to prohibit something based on propaganda. I think it's our duty as citizens to do whatever we can to prevent that type of government abuse.

The facts are that while marijuana may not be a miracle drug, it does have medicinal value. The more research that is done the more we learn how much more value than was ever previously thought. It's also the only drug that has virtually no chance of overdosing, and is very well suited for use in home remedies. Using marijuana isn't going to eliminate the need for traditional medicine and the pharmaceutical companies, but in many cases it actually is safer and more effective than many 'acceptable' drugs. Like alcohol it is probably best to restrict it from minors, but there's really no valid reason to prohibit it's use by responsible adults.

While I may not use marijuana now, I'm certainly not against using it in the future. Especially as a home remedy for whatever maladies I may develop. Things like arthritis, chronic back pain, etc.

Anyone that questions the medicinal value for things like that as well as many much more serious ailments should take a look at this pdf ebook some time. It's not my only source of this type information, but it's a pretty thorough resource for the average person to get some good information regarding the topic.
Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids

I was going to post something brilliant, but I forgot it..

GreyWolf said:

The doorway to harder drugs is a fallacious argument. The fact that almost all junkies started with weed means nothing. The fact is that most people that use marijuana DON'T move on to harder drugs.
...

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Why wouldn't that mean anything? There are even less lung cancer patients among all that smoke, but that connection is still widely accepted.

But I think weed's illegal status is to be blamed so leglaizing it will (imao)reduce the number of drug addicts.

But where would it stop? Technically, pure cocaine isn't harmful at all. It is like caffeine on speed. Also, if caffeine was illegal, there would be many deaths from needle infections, impurities and ovedosing it as well.

So I think the whole situation has turned into a huge mess but the 'fighting drugs' refrain still works politically and as such isn't going away soon. Too bad for the millions about to go to jail for not being smart enough to fight while it wasn't too late (for them).

Monrox said:

Why wouldn't that mean anything? There are even less lung cancer patients among all that smoke, but that connection is still widely accepted...

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The argument that marijuana is a gateway drug suggests that by using marijuana you are at a high risk of proceeding on to harder drugs. But that's not what the statistics show. The fact is that most people who use marijuana never progress to harder drugs.

Somewhere I read something that had the actual statistics, but I don't have time to find it right now. Here is one study though disputing the idea that marijuana leads to other drug use. Safety for Use: Cannabis as a Gateway Drug



The lung cancer debate is a totally different topic, and there are actually many other studies disputing that it causes lung cancer. There are actually even studies that some of the components in marijuana actually help prevent some forms of lung cancer. Also that debate is only involved as far as smoked marijuana is concerned. That still doesn't mean that marijuana itself is dangerous since there are many other ways of using marijuana. Vaporizers, poultices, teas, edibles, etc. are all very good methods for ingesting marijuana and getting positive health benefits without the concern of lung cancer.