Quote (TheCrimson @ Nov 7 2014 09:30pm)
As a longtime smoker of marijuana, and having many friends that do so on a daily basis, these are what I believe to be the pro's and con's as per my personal experience over the years and confirmed data that has been released over the years. I may have forgotten some pro's or con's, feel free to comment with suggestions.
Pro's of Marijuana:
1) Use as a pain medication without physical addiction as opposed to opiates.
2) To stimulate the urge to eat in patients with medical conditions that result in reduced appetite. (AIDS & HIV wasting for instance)
3) To stimulate economic growth through taxation and new job opportunities.
4) Nowhere near as harmful as alcohol.
5) No loss/impairment of motor control.
6) People that smoke marijuana tend to be less aggressive and more accepting of others.
7) Studies show that marijuana does not damage your lungs in the same capacity as tobacco products, some studies show that it actually cannot damage more than 1% of your lung capacity and is even used to treat asthmatic patients.
8) Marijuana has multiple industrial uses that do not pertain to the actual use of the drug, such as hemp.
9) Can improve shortterm focus
10) Used to treat (Not cure, treat) Glaucoma, epilepsy, Hepatitis C, Tourette Syndrome, Nausea, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Arthritis, Alzheimer's, Asthma & Breathing Disorders, Muscle Spasms, Multiple Sclerosis, Migraines, Psychological Conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychosis.
11) You CANNOT overdose on marijuana. As someone who has smoked enough to knock out a bull moose in a single night I can testify to the truth of this statement.
12) People say stoners are "burnt out" or stupid from extended use of marijuana. All of the people I know that smoke marijuana are extremely intelligent people with higher GPA's than the average person and plenty of intellectual intuitiveness. I've personally smoked marijuana for 15 years, and have scored in the top 10 percentile in the U.S. on every aptitude test i've taken. I've had a 34 on the ACT, 95 on the ASVAB, and one question from perfect on an aptitude test for industrial engineering known as the Missouri Manufacturing WINS program. I was high when I took those tests.
Cons:
1) Commonly misconstrued as a gateway drug, I believe this has more to do with a person's associations than it does with the Marijuana.
2) Marijuana can actually cause depression/anxiety/heart palpitations in certain people, and this also differs with the strain of marijuana being smoked/consumed, but this is common with many drugs and differs from person to person.
Lastly, I would like to show this chart of FDA-approved drug related deaths and marijuana related deaths. It should prove my point that marijuana is not harmful.
http://i.imgur.com/wyqStAV.png
Some of you may say that this is an unfair chart, as it puts 17 different FDA drugs against marijuana. But if you noticed, there are ZERO recorded deaths that occured as a direct result of marijuana. Also, if you divide the total number of FDA approved drug related deaths by 17, the number is still higher than the total of deaths that are related to marijuana use at the time of death.
Note that being a secondary suspect in a death means that, for instance, If i smoked a joint, walked outside of my house and got shot, it would be a secondary suspect in relation to my death.
Ridiciulous bias, you really ought to reconsider your stance because it would be an understatement to call you a marijuana shill.
1) Use as a pain medication without physical addiction as opposed to opiates.
Significantly more mental impairment than opiates.4) Nowhere near as harmful as alcohol.
It not being bad as one of the world's most dangerous drug is a pro?5) No loss/impairment of motor control.
False.6) People that smoke marijuana tend to be less aggressive and more accepting of others.
False.7) Studies show that marijuana does not damage your lungs in the same capacity as tobacco products, some studies show that it actually cannot damage more than 1% of your lung capacity and is even used to treat asthmatic patients.
Many, many studies that show the oppsite.9) Can improve shortterm focus.
Can also hinder short-term focus.10) Used to treat (Not cure, treat) Glaucoma, epilepsy, Hepatitis C, Tourette Syndrome, Nausea, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Arthritis, Alzheimer's, Asthma & Breathing Disorders, Muscle Spasms, Multiple Sclerosis, Migraines, Psychological Conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychosis.
Can also exacerbate tourette syndrome, Alzheimer's, asthma and breathing disorders, migraines, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychosis.12) People say stoners are "burnt out" or stupid from extended use of marijuana. All of the people I know that smoke marijuana are extremely intelligent people with higher GPA's than the average person and plenty of intellectual intuitiveness. I've personally smoked marijuana for 15 years, and have scored in the top 10 percentile in the U.S. on every aptitude test i've taken. I've had a 34 on the ACT, 95 on the ASVAB, and one question from perfect on an aptitude test for industrial engineering known as the Missouri Manufacturing WINS program. I was high when I took those tests.
You being of above average intelligence and scoring well on standardized tests is meaningless. I scored a 35 on the ACT and a 2160 on the SAT while using marijuana, this doesn't mean it doesn't impair thinking.I'm not demonizing marijuana, but your opinions are so wildly biased in favor of it such that you are blind to its potential harms.
Is marijuana physically dangerous? Barely at all, it's one of the safest drugs. It still can have very severe psychological and cognitive repercussions that need to be taken seriously.
This post was edited by Voyaging on Nov 7 2014 09:04pm