“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” C.S. Lewis
It doesn’t matter what you call it – astro turf, bhang, dagga, dope, ganja, grass, hemp, home-grown, J., Mary Jane, pot, reefer, roach, Texas Tea or weed – the important thing to remember is that marijuana is an addictive hallucinogen which unfortunately is most addictive to younger adults.
Young adults are more vulnerable to the risks of smoking pot because their brains are not fully developed. Studies have shown that teens that smoke frequently have lower IQs and like alcohol, smoking pot impairs judgment leading to risky behavior from speeding to sex.
People tout marijuana as a better drug than prescription pills because it is all-natural. But, just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Virginia Creeper, often confused for poison ivy, produces berries that if eaten will send you to your maker. Rhododendrons’ leaves can be deadly. The Buckeye which resembles a hickory nut is poisonous. The berries of an American Holly contains toxins. All natural, all deadly!
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects, attaches to the cannabinoid receptors in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, immune system, etc. When concentrated in certain areas of the brain, THC effects affecting memory, pleasure, movements, thinking, concentration, coordination, sensory and time perception which blunts the natural response to positive behaviors.
In addition, THC can induce hallucinations, delusions, trigger a relapse in schizophrenic symptoms, cause bronchitis, pneumonia, and respiratory infections, as well as raising blood pressure and altering blood vessels that increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
A new study by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that THC can accelerate the growth of tumors in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection-related head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most common cancer in the world, according to the research and 30% percent of cases of this disease are related to HPV infection — the kind identified in the study to be accelerated by the presence of THC in the bloodstream.
Concentrations of THC has quadrupled since the 1980s. Some of the new edible marijuana products, from cookies to chocolate, can be 10 times stronger than traditional joints. The average marijuana extract contains over 50% THC with some samples exceeding 80%. Making matters even worse, if that is possible, since there are no commercial pesticides labeled for legal use on cannabis plants, growers are using whatever they find works, leaving users to face unknown future health problems.
THC can be extracted from marijuana, or synthesized, as is the case for the FDA-approved drugs Dronabinol and Nabilone, both used to treat or prevent the nausea and vomiting associated with cancer medicines and to increase the appetites of people with AIDS, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Both are man-made compounds using THC found in the marijuana plant in standardized concentrations, whatever that means. Taking these drugs produce the same side-effects as smoking marijuana but, when you’re battling cancer or AIDS the side effects are the least of your worries.
The long term effect of legalizing pot for recreational use is questionable – more than questionable – it is a giant experiment. More Americans are admitted to treatment facilities for addiction to pot than for any other illegal drug. Making it legal will only make matters worse.
“How did we end up in a world where Big Gulps are being banned in New York while the welcome mat for potheads is being rolled out in Colorado? How is it that cigarette smokers are pariahs, while people smoking weed are being cheered? This is despite the fact that potheads are almost universally recognized as unmotivated, low-class, degenerate – and, yes, smelly failures. Even the ones that get somewhere in life, like Barack Obama, usually turn out to be mediocrities…., but we want to condone pot use on top of that? That’s like saying you’ve got a bad back and a bad shoulder; so why not break your knee cap to top it all off.” John Hawkins
