It is not whether or not anyone has died from using marijuana that is the issue.
240 kids drown a year in swimming pools. That is real. But we do not outlaw swimming pools do we?
But it is a sign of moral sickness and decay of the moral fiber of Society that is the most troubling.
Smoking pot, for recreational purposes, on such a large scale is another indication that our Society is in decay.
Pot affects the hippocampus region of the brain, dopamine levels. On brain scans the damage is also similar to brain injuries.
The main point is why so many people feel that their life has such emptiness that they need to alter their perception of it by using drugs. Pot is a "gateway" drug, it desensitizes the user into experimenting in other drugs And as the dopamine levels from pot, over load the brains receptors, more and more dopamine is needed to " feel" high.
Since some think that pot is harmless, as far as cancer they are wrong.
But to me the more serious feature of the current legalization of pot is the " slacker" mentality that is spreading throughout our Society. People cannot name their Congressman, but know what pot is the best, and what is the best price.
Our schools have failed, the US places near the bottom in education in the World. While 3rd World Nations like Estonia, and Poland.
This is just another step in the long march of a dying and decaying Nation.
Drugs are used and encouraged, to pacify the Citizens, so they are unmotivated to change their political taskmasters. Who make themselves rich and powerful and the expense of the People.
We do not demand much of ourselves, so we demand even less of our "Leaders".
There are more cancer causing agents in Pot than in tobacco cigarettes.
Marijuana Smoke Contains Higher Levels Of Certain Toxins Than Tobacco Smoke
Date:
December 18, 2007
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
Here's another reason to "keep off the grass." Researchers report that marijuana smoke contains significantly higher levels of several toxic compounds -- including ammonia and hydrogen cyanide -- than tobacco smoke and may therefore pose similar health risks. The scientists found that ammonia levels were 20 times higher in the marijuana smoke than in the tobacco smoke, while hydrogen cyanide, nitric oxide and certain aromatic amines occurred at levels 3-5 times higher in the marijuana smoke, they say.
From a NPR article;
The teenager's brain has a lot of developing to do: It must transform from the brain of a child into the brain of an adult. Some researchers worry how marijuana might affect that crucial process.
C. Nash smokes after possession of marijuana became legal in Washington state on Dec. 6, 2012.
Shots - Health News
Evidence On Marijuana's Health Effects Is Hazy At Best
"Actually, in childhood our brain is larger," says Krista Lisdahl, director of the brain imaging and neuropsychology lab at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. "Then, during the teenage years, our brain is getting rid of those connections that weren't really used, and it prunes back.
"It actually makes the brain faster and more efficient."
The streamlining process ultimately helps the brain make judgments, think critically and remember what it has learned.
Lisdahl says it's a mistake for teenagers to use cannabis.
"It's the absolute worst time," she says, because the mind-altering drug can disrupt development. Think of the teen years, she says, as the "last golden opportunity to make the brain as healthy and smart as possible."
Lisdahl points to a growing number of studies that show regular marijuana use — once a week or more — actually changes the structure of the teenage brain, specifically in areas dealing with memory and problem solving.
That can affect cognition and academic performance, she says.
"And, indeed, we see, if we look at actual grades, that chronic marijuana-using teens do have, on average, one grade point lower than their matched peers that don't smoke pot," Lisdahl says.
In one study, researchers from Duke University analyzed data gathered over many years from people living in New Zealand. They compared IQs in childhood through age 38 among marijuana users and nonusers.
"We found that people who began using marijuana in their teenage years and then continued to use marijuana for many years lost about eight IQ points from childhood to adulthood," says study author Madeline Meier, now a professor at Arizona State University, "whereas those who never used marijuana did not lose any IQ points."
From the Daily Mail, UK
Why cannabis is a greater cancer risk than tobacco
by JENNY HOPE, Daily Mail
Smoking cannabis is more harmful than cigarettes and more likely to trigger cancer, according to a report.
Just three cannabis 'joints' a day can cause the same amount of damage to the lungs as an entire packet of 20 cigarettes.
The British Lung Foundation says that when cannabis and tobacco are smoked together, the harmful effects are significantly worse.
Its research suggests young cannabis smokers may also be at greater risk of throat and gullet cancers.
The foundation found that tar from cannabis joints contains 50 per cent more cancer-causing toxins than cigarettes made from tobacco alone.
Eight million Britons are thought to smoke cannabis, which some experts believe is a 'gateway' to harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
Earlier this year, researchers found that 79 per cent of children thought cannabis was safe while only 2 per cent recognised there are health risks from smoking the drug.
Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said the harmful effects of cannabis had been swept under the carpet.
'People are under the illusion it is safe to smoke cannabis. Our report shows it is very dangerous to lung health, at least as dangerous as tobacco.
'It seems society is in the same position as when research first showed the harm caused by tobacco. It took 15 years for the Government to take notice but we don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past.'
Dame Helena said cannabis available today is 15 times stronger than the drug smoked in the 1960s. 'This means studies carried out at that time will probably have underestimated the effects of cannabis smoking,' she explained.
'Puff and inhalation volume with cannabis is up to four times higher than with tobacco - in other words you inhale deeper and hold your breath with the smoke for longer before exhaling.
'This results in more poisonous carbon monoxide and tar entering into the lungs,' Dame Helena said.
The foundation's report - A Smoking Gun? - analyses research from around the world.
It found cannabis smokers have a higher level of chronic and acute respiratory-conditions such as coughingwheezing and bronchitis. 'When cannabis is smoked together with tobacco then the effects are additive', it says.
Some studies suggest cannabis smoking may trigger chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which kills 32,000 people in Britain every year, the foundation's report adds.
'Research linking cannabis smoking to the development of respiratory cancer exists although there have also been conflicting findings.
'Not only does the tar in a cannabis cigarette contain many of the same carcinogens as tobacco smoke, but the concentrations of these are up to 50 per cent higher in the smoke of a cannabis cigarette,' it says.
Benzyprene, found in the tar of cannabis joints, can change the make-up of one of the genes which suppresses tumours and could therefore make cancer more likely for people who smoke joints.
There are also more than 75 case studies of young cannabis smokers with cancers of the throat and gullet - diseases usually rare in people under 60.
Read more: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-146853/Why-cannabis-great...ml#ixzz2ybUA7kuT
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