Over the past few years the debate over this common weed has grown more and more intense, and the fact is there are an incredible amount of myths and downright lies out there about marijuana, both supporting making it legal and opposed to it. In light of the vote to legalize the drug in Breckenridge, Colorado, it appears to be a good time to take a good objective look at marijuana, and the health benefits and risks associated with the drug according to published research.

In the United States there is a significant dearth of clinical studies fueled by both its illegal status and by concerns of liability by legal types. However, research in other countries and opinions put forth in some medical circles two things seem to be more and more evident that a lot of the anti-pot propaganda is just that a combination of myth, supposition, and fear without any clinical basis. Marijuana has some serious health issues that should not be over looked but compared with some legal substances it is relatively tame.

According to Joshua Levine of Askmen.com there is no clinical evidence of anyone dying from a marijuana overdose. Tests performed on mice have shown that the ratio of cannabinoids (the chemicals in marijuana that make you high) necessary for overdose to the amount necessary for intoxication is 40,000:1. For comparison’s sake, that ratio for alcohol is generally between 4:1 and 10:1. Alcohol overdoses claim approximately 5,000 casualties yearly, but marijuana overdoses have no documented direct links to death by overdose. There are in fairness significant evidence of marijuana cigarettes tainted with other substances that have caused death, much of this is due to the illegal status of the drug and the lack of quality control and inspections afforded other legal substances. This does not suggest that it is not possible to OD from marijuana, in truth it is possible to die of water intoxication

Marijuana is considered a psychoactive drug. It stimulates specific brain receptors, but there is no published clinical evidence that marijuana destroys brain cells. In fact, two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1977 showed no brain damage . It appears that despite the fact that it does stimulate brain receptors it does not produce toxins that kill them (like alcohol. Following the publications, , the American Medical Association (AMA) officially announced its support for the decriminalization of marijuana.

Studies suggest that marijuana does impair short-term memory. A study performed in 2001 by Pope indicated some persistent impairment of short-term memory from heavy marijuana smokers, up to 6 and 12 weeks following abstinence.

Smoking marijuana has the potential to cause both bronchitis and cancer of the lungs, throat, and neck, but this is generally no different than inhaling any other burnt carbon-containing matter since they all increase the number of lesions (and therefore possible infections) in your airways. Because inhaling burning smoke of any kind has significant negative effects on the lungs. There is no reliable study comparing tobacco and marijuana in this respect, but again because of the illegal status and lack of quality control marijuana may contain additives and does not contain a filter, it seems reasonable to assume the unfiltered smoke may have significant health risks on its own.

Marijuana was long thought to be a gateway drug to the use of harder drug, but studies show that when the Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 70′s, heroin and cocaine use substantially declined, despite a slight increase in marijuana use.

Some conclusions we can reasonably make based on available evidence are as follows:

* Because smoked marijuana contains a variety of combustion compounds, it can damage the lungs and possibly the immune system. Several health committees recommended the development of an inhalation device that delivers pure THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — to the lungs, but such a device has not yet been created.
* There is some evidence — but no scientifically valid studies — that marijuana is useful in treating some forms of epilepsy and spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis.
* Some studies show that smoked marijuana is effective for some patients in relieving nausea caused by cancer and chemotherapy.
* There is evidence that marijuana may improve the appetite and help patients gain weight. This could be lifesaving for AIDS patients who develop wasting , a severe weight-loss condition.
* Smoking this or any other plant has significant health related risks, but if the product was quality controlled and filtered as with cigarettes, it appears that the health risks would not be any greater than that of tobacco smoking.
* Marijuana use does produce intoxication and impairs judgment during intoxication just as with alcohol , but it appears that the negative affects associated with intoxication with alcohol last much longer than those associated with marijuana use. There has also been shown to be less violent tendencies than with alcohol.

Personally, I am not a user and do not consume much alcohol and don’t smoke. I teach health related classes at the college level, and based on studies that I have seen, I believe marijuana should be decriminalized as it appears to be as safe or safer than alcohol or tobacco. There does not appear to be any compelling evidence for the price we pay as a society for criminalizing and trying to enforce a law that is largely without merit and is unenforceable.

November 5, 2009
By Steven Carter

Overall drug use among Indiana’s schoolchildren has declined, but marijuana use is up slightly.
A survey to be released today finds that the biggest bump was in marijuana use among 10th-graders.

In 2008, 13.5 percent of sophomores interviewed reported they had smoked marijuana in the previous month. This year: 14.6 percent said they had.

Marijuana use can affect the ability to learn and remember information. “The more a student uses marijuana, the more likely it can affect school performance,” said Ruth Gassman, director of Indiana University’s Indiana Prevention Resource Center.

Gassman said the rise in marijuana use is “something we need to pay attention to,” but “a one-year hike does not mean a trend for increasing usage.”

The interviews were conducted in the spring by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center. The research was funded by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.

The increases ranged from 0.5 percent to 1.2 percent, but marijuana usage remains below its levels of a decade ago.

In the peak year of 1996, the IPRC study found that 25 percent of high school seniors reported using marijuana, compared with 17 percent this year.

Jamie Guilfoy, a narcotics detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, says the uptick in marijuana use among youths reflects the pattern of the greater population of drug users.

“Marijuana is being used a little more” among all populations, Guilfoy said.

He said the drug’s potency varies but is no different from that of recent years.

The study found that the use of psychedelic drugs, cocaine, crack, inhalants and amphetamines decreased. Alcohol and methamphetamine use held steady or declined.

Survey respondents included 182,000 students in 556 public and private schools.

Call Star reporter Will Higgins at (317) 444-6043.
September 9, 2009

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em: Craig Johnson, executive director of ProtectYouth.org, a Dallas-based nonprofit and lobbying group, doesn’t smoke marijuana himself, he says. He doesn’t think your kids should be smoking it either. No drug dealings in the neighborhood; none in the schoolyard either. But he and his group have a thought about how to protect children from the demon weed: legalize, regulate and tax the marijuana market, the way we do tobacco.

OK, so what? Lots of people think the same thing. But not many supporters of regulated marijuana have undertaken the work completed recently by Johnson’s 3-year-old group, which has spent the past year or so compiling reams of government and law enforcement data to support a fairly straightforward, reasonable case: Since 1997, when the government started cracking down on cigarette retailers who sell to minors, the percentage of high school students who smoke cigarettes has dropped dramatically, while the percentage of kids who smoke grass has held pretty steady. In fact, in Dallas ISD, the percentage of kids who admitted “current” marijuana use in surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outstripped tobacco smokers around 2000, and today the potheads lead the nicotine fiends by more than 5 percentage points.

The gist of the catchy-titled Tobacco and Marijuana Market Impact Index Volume I: Texas Trends, which is available online, is this: In 1996, 56 percent of Texas retailers who sold tobacco reported they sold to minors. Thanks to stricter enforcement since then, that number has fallen to 11.3 percent. In the meantime, despite thousands of arrests for marijuana possession among youths, the typical price of marijuana has fallen or held steady and kids are still toking away.

“We’re more able to efficiently regulate the tobacco market than the marijuana market,” Johnson tells Buzz, so why not adapt some of the same regulation to both weeds? Effective regulation beats our current system of ineffective criminalization any day.

Like we said, it’s a straightforward, reasonable argument for a change that could have beneficial affects on government budgets, not to mention kids. So, of course, Buzz figures it’s all just pissing in the wind (see: health care reform). Johnson, though, is a little more sanguine. Demographics are changing, old people are giving up seats of power and a younger, more reform-minded generation (you know, stoners) is taking the reins.

So there’s hope. All we need is for some more old people to die off. Hmm, say, here’s a thought. Suppose we create these government-funded death panels…

Growing up in the ’60′s, marijuana was the preferred recreational drug of my generation. While beer and other alcohol may have been the choice of the fraternity crowd, the cool kids recreational drug of choice was marijuana.

Living close to Santa Monica Bay, my wife and I frequently stroll the Venice boardwalk to soak in the flavor of the beach and witness the antics of the wacky local Venetians. For the last several years, we couldn’t walk the boardwalk without being approached by a local vendor inviting us to meet with a local doctor to get our marijuana prescription filled. “Whatever ails you, marijuana will cure you”.

I always considered the prospect of decriminalization of marijuana as a positive step since its use was no worse than alcohol or cigarettes and enforcement of antiquated marijuana laws were a waste of resources. I really didn’t believe that marijuana had a legitimate medical use but, with a wink and a nod, I supported initiatives designed to legalize its use.

Well, it looks as though current marijuana research may be changing my original opinion of its medical benefits. According to an L.A. Times article, recent research points to the following benefits and risks of marijuana consumption:

THE GOOD

Pain:

Marijuana has been shown to be effective against various forms of pain ranging from chronic low grade pain to severe pain and seems to be effective against nerve pain that’s resistant to opiates.

Cancer:

While no one is arguing that marijuana will cure cancer in humans (at least not yet), it has been shown to be effective in combating pain, nausea and loss of appetite in cancer patients undergoing traditional cancer treatments. According to an October 2003 review article in the journal Nature, marijuana may even have a positive effect on blocking the growth of tumors in lab animals.

Other Potential Benefits:

Multiple Sclerosis

AIDS wasting syndrome

Muscle spasms

Tourette’s syndrome

Glaucoma

THE BAD

Addiction:

The same National Institute on Drug Abuse that has yet to determine whether marijuana increase the risk of lung and other cancers, says that repeated use could lead to addiction and heavy users may experience withdrawal systems such as irritability and sleep loss if they stop suddenly.

Respiratory disease:

Several studies in New Zealand and Australia have concluded that smoking one marijuana joint is at least 2.5 times more harmful to the lungs than one cigarette and that pot smoking can lead to one type of lung disease 20 years earlier than cigarette smoking.

Psychological effects:

It appears that heavy pot smoking affects the parts of the brain that controls memory, attention and learning. (Those readers who have partaken in this herb can relate to that last sentence). Also, studies have showed loss of tissue in two areas of the brain, the hippocampus and amygdala which are areas of the brain that are rich in receptors for marijuana and are a vital memory and emotional region of the brain.

THE ANSWER

Perhaps a way to overcome the adverse health concerns that will allow consumers to reap the benefits of marijuana is to not smoke marijuana (as a joint or in a pipe) but to inhale its vapor. According to a study published in 2007 in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, vaporizing is a safe and effective way of getting THC, the active ingredient, into the blood-steam and does not result in consuming toxic carbon monoxide.

While inhaling marijuana vapor and not its smoke will help alleviate the adverse physical affects; regular, heavy non medicinal pot smoking or THC vapor ingestion should be avoided. It’s not good for your brain. Otherwise, contrary to the original conventional wisdom, for some of us marijuana may offer more benefits than risks.
© Examiner

Hopefully, one learns from previous mistakes. The parallels between then and now, are not easily dismissed.

Recently, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment declared that marijuana smoke causes cancer. Whether that call came from a statistical evaluation or hard science, we should be able to extrapolate from tobacco’s history how big a mistake adding another toxic drug to those already legal would cost society.

Can you recall the unethical tactics tobacco companies used or have you been told? Is the same thing going on with marijuana proponents?

In 1964 the Surgeon General, Dr. Luther L. Terry, issued a report stating that cigarette smoking was the primary cause of lung cancer. The 1971 book “Cigarette Country”, written by Susan Wagner, documented how the tobacco industry and the media worked together to discredit the surgeon general’s report and keep the public in the dark.

This same phenomenon is going on today with illicit drugs, particularly with marijuana and ecstasy, the two drugs favored by the media.

In 1968 Free lance writer Stanley Frank wrote an article for True Magazine entitled “To Smoke or Not to Smoke — that Is Still the Question,” which concluded that the “hazards of cigarette smoking may not be so real as we have been led to believe”(1) and that “Statistics alone link cigarettes with lung cancer, a correlation that is not accepted as scientific proof of the cause and effect.”

He stated further that “…there is absolutely no proof that smoking causes human cancer.” (2).

A few months later another article “Cigarette Cancer Link Is Bunk” echoing the exact same refrain, appeared in the National Inquirer. This article carried the byline Charles Golden. In 1968 a curious senator, Warren Magnuson, asked the new Surgeon General, William H. Stewart to take a look at the two articles. It was discovered that Frank “worked for a public relations firm that had been on retainer to the Tobacco Institute since 1963.” Alerted to a possible conspiracy, writer Ronald Kessler of the Wall Street Journal looked into the matter and found that that at least 600,000 copies of the True article had been sent out by a Tobacco Institute PR firm to influential individuals throughout the country, and further, that writer Stanley Frank had authored both articles. (3)

The FTC inquiry further found that a tobacco company attorney had supplied Stanley Frank with “the materials used in writing the True article.”. … the result is the purest trash–dated, biased and without present justification.” (4)

Surgeon General Stewart stated that “According to the Public Health Service, the True article conformed to a pattern of attack on former Surgeon General Terry and his advisory committee on smoking and health.” Dr. Terry had stated several years earlier that such attacks “are repetitious and cleverly manipulated in a continuing program to shake public confidence in the [Surgeon General's 1964 tobacco] Report.” (5)

This was despite the fact that “…the most common type of lung cancer–bronchogenic or squamos-cell carcinoma–occurs almost entirely among cigarette smokers and rarely in those who have never smoked.” (6)

What we see here is a complicity of the media in writing articles supporting a political agenda rather than doing the labor-intensive investigative reporting necessary to provide an unbiased and factual story.

The most glaring example of this today, and an exact parallel, are the articles being written by John Cloud of Time Magazine. Last February Cloud was one of the plenary presenters at a San Francisco conference promoting Ecstasy.

The “State of Ecstasy” conference was co-hosted by the Soros-funded Lindesmith Center, directed since its inception by pro-drug proponent Ethan Nadelmann. Cloud stated, “… Ethan [Nadelmann] … He calls me every couple of months about pitching stories.

Cloud has recently written another article for Time Magazine titled “This Bud’s Not for You,” protesting the Drug Enforcement Administration’s position against the use of hemp oil in food products.

… This is not journalism. At best, it is ‘tabloid-ism.’ The beat goes on … more tomorrow, but are you seeing a pattern here yet?


© Examiner

Effects of Marijuana Smoking on Pulmonary Function and Respiratory Complications
The relationship between marijuana smoking and pulmonary function or respiratory complications is poorly understood; therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the impact of marijuana smoking on pulmonary function and respiratory complications.

Methods: Studies that evaluated the effect of marijuana smoking on pulmonary function and respiratory complications were selected from the MEDLINE, PsychINFO, and EMBASE databases according to predefined criteria from January 1, 1966, to October 28, 2005. Two independent reviewers extracted data and evaluated study quality based on established criteria. Study results were critically appraised for clinical applicability and research methods.

Results: Thirty-four publications met selection criteria. Reports were classified as challenge studies if they examined the association between short-term marijuana use and airway response; other reports were classified as studies of long-term marijuana smoking and pulmonary function or respiratory complications. Eleven of 12 challenge studies found an association between short term marijuana administration and bronchodilation (eg, increases of 0.15-0.25 L in forced expiratory volume in 1 second). No consistent association was found between long-term marijuana smoking and airflow obstruction measures. All 14 studies that assessed long-term marijuana smoking and respiratory complications noted an association with increased respiratory symptoms, including cough, phlegm, and wheeze (eg, odds ratio, 2.00; 95% confidence interval, 1.32-3.01, for the association between marijuana smoking and cough). Studies were variable in their overall quality (eg, controlling for confounders, including tobacco smoking).

Conclusions: Short-term exposure to marijuana is associated with bronchodilation. Physiologic data were inconclusive regarding an association between long-term marijuana smoking and airflow obstruction measures. Long-term marijuana smoking is associated with increased respiratory symptoms suggestive of obstructive lung disease.
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:221-228.

Marijuana remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, with 14.6 million people 12 years and older reporting current use. [ 1 ] The prevalence of marijuana abuse and dependence continues to increase and occurs in 18% of past-year marijuana users. [ 2 ] Given the persistently high prevalence of marijuana use, abuse, and dependence in the community, it is important to understand the potential adverse health outcomes that result from both short-term and long-term marijuana smoking.

Marijuana and tobacco smoke share many of the same compounds. Tobacco smoking is associated with numerous adverse pulmonary clinical outcomes, affecting both pulmonary function and respiratory complications. Some of the known tobacco smoking–related adverse effects include cough, chronic bronchitis, impairment of gas exchange, and airway obstruction that leads to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. [ 3,4 ] The adverse impact of marijuana smoking on pulmonary function and respiratory complications has not been systematically assessed.

The purpose of the current review is to determine the association between short-term marijuana smoking and airway response and the association between long-term marijuana smoking and pulmonary function or respiratory complications.

It seems Detroit is intent on turning Motor City strip clubs into burlesque halls for the straight-edges. In the spirit of the blue law, the Detroit City Council is cracking down on strip clubs by proposing to ban alcohol from the clubs. They also want to stop lap dancing and make dancers wear pasties. What’s the point?

Attorney Richard Mack who is a member of Perfecting Church and other pastors are working with Scott Bergthold, an attorney from Tennessee who has been shutting down strip clubs nationwide. In addition to the pasties rule and liquor ban, the clubs will be required to keep dancers 6 feet from the patrons and the dancers must be on stage at all times. The stage itself must be 18 inches from the ground.

Strip club owners are worried that their places will go out of business without liquor. Mack is hoping that happens. Boobs remain boobs and lonely men will remain lonely. Strip clubs in Detroit, however, may not remain any longer.

The Kettle Called the Pot Dangerous
In the war of words on the legalization of marijuana comes one argument for the party poopers. Researchers at the University of Leicester found that marijuana smoke can damage DNA and increase the risk of cancer. Rajinder Singh, who is involved in the study, says that marijuana smoke has 50% more carcinogens than tobacco smoke. He also said that smoking four joints a day was the equivalent of smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes in the damaging of mucus membranes. The evidence is laid out in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology. Your move, pro-legalizer.

It’s Not KOOL Anymore
Recently, a bill was passed by Congress that would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco. The bill is waiting a signature from President Obama who is “looking forward” to passing the law. The bill would outlaw flavored cigarettes such as chocolate, cherry and cloves. These flavors are said to lure kids to smoking and taste great. One flavor, however, was left alone – menthol. This may change later down the road as opponents to menthol say that it makes smoking easier due to its mild anethestic property. Kools and Newports are being targeted for their minty taste.
© Digitalcity

Police seized marijuana cigarettes made with different flavors, including chocolate, strawberry, kiwi, peach and apple, being shipped from the southwestern Colombian city of Cartago to a city on the border with Ecuador, officials said.

Officers conducting an inspection at a checkpoint found 2,450 high-quality marijuana cigarettes on Saturday “wrapped in special paper impregnated with different flavors,” Cali Metropolitan Police chief Gen. Gustavo Ricaurte said.

The marijuana cigarettes, which were in glossy plastic packages resembling those used to sell candy, had been packed “in 49 cardboard boxes that have an excellent appearance and are very catchy for young people,” the police chief said.

The boxes had been shipped by an express company from Cartago to Ipiales, a city on the border with Ecuador.

“The cigarettes made from the hallucinogen come so they can be displayed in two units, according to investigative work conducted by specialists, and could cost between 30,000 and 40,000 pesos ($14 and $19), depending on the market where they are sold,” Ricaurte said.

Smugglers pack the marijuana cigarettes in colorful vacuum-packed containers to get them across national borders, the police chief said.

The flavoring, moreover, masks the smell of the marijuana, Ricaurte said.

© Laht