Four Lies About Marijuana
Lie #1) Marijuana’s not really medical. The government says so!
Marijuana is a Schedule I drug… a high potential for abuse or dependency… no accepted medical value… unsafe to use, even under medical supervision. [M]arijuana has not passed the rigid scrutiny of medicine proposed by the FDA.
The Truth
National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA) puts the lifetime dependence rate on cannabis at 9%, same as caffeine. Alcohol has a 15% rate of abuse and Tobacco’s is 32%.
One third of federal jurisdictions (16 states and DC) accept the medical value of cannabis.
The federal government is supplying four Americans with this “unsafe” medicinewith no medical supervision.
Cannabis has been used medically for 5,000 without a single human death – far greater safety standard than an FDA that approved phen-fen and Vioxx.
Lie #2) Marijuana smoke is much worse than cigarette smoke!
[S]moked marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, many of which are identical to the most harmful chemicals and carcinogens found in cigarette smoke. The fact is that a marijuana cigarette contains four times as much tar as a tobacco cigarette.
The Truth
My pencil contains graphite and wood, which are identical to the graphite found in golf clubs and the wood found in golf tees. This does not make my pencil a golf club or golf tee. Water contains two flammable elements, hydrogen and oxygen. This does not make water flammable. Many recipes call for the same ingredients; it’s how you put them together that matters. Joints aren’t cigarettes, they’re far safer than that.
Dr. Donald Tashkin went looking for that “marijuana causes cancer” connection and found quite the opposite, that cannabis smokers had lower incidence of head, neck, and lung cancer. We even have compelling evidence that cannabinoids may be instrumental in unlocking the cure for cancer.
Very few tokers smoke 20 to 40 joints a day, but even if they did, where are these marijuana smokers with the tar-ravaged lungs filling up our hospitals? Again we have zero recorded deaths from cannabis smoking and over 400,000 annual deaths from tobacco use. Joints aren’t cigarettes.
Lie #3) Marijuana is the gateway drug to cocaine, meth, and heroin!
Legalizing marijuana leads to the use of more dangerous and harmful drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine…. Teens who smoke marijuana were found to be 85 times more likely to use cocaine than those teens who do not smoke marijuana.
The Truth
That same Institute of Medicine report Mr. Summerill referenced in Lie #2 said, “There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.”
According to National Survey on Drug Use and Health, over 100 million American adults have tried cannabis. There are currently about 1.5 million monthly cocaine users, 430 thousand monthly meth users, and 192 thousand monthly heroin users. So for every 46 people who’ve tried pot, only one went on to be a monthly hard drug user. A gateway that only affects 2.1% of the people isn’t much of a gateway.
Lie #4) Marijuana legalization leads to carnage on the highways!
Marijuana use, including its use for medicinal purposes, is directly related to motor vehicle accidents and reckless driving, as cannabis affects psychomotor functioning.
In a study of fatally injured drivers in Washington state, a state with legalized medical marijuana, about one every eight tested positive for marijuana.
The Truth
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said of marijuana testing of drivers, “It is inadvisable to try and predict effects based on blood THC concentrations alone, and currently impossible to predict specific effects based on THC-COOH concentrations” because “[d]etection time is well past the window of intoxication and impairment.” Finding pot in some drivers’ systems following a crash just tells you some people smoke pot.
From 2008-2009, fatal crashes in the states that had medical marijuana declined overall 9.34%. Only one medical marijuana state, Rhode Island, had an increase greater than 3%, which resulted in 18 more deaths. Four other states had 1%-3% increases, leading to 9 additional deaths. Of the remaining eight states that saw declines, half saw double-digit declines, including the laxest medical marijuana state, California, which had 353 fewer traffic fatalities.
Legalizing marijuana does not legalize DUI. People who smoke pot and drive now are busted in all fifty states and legalization doesn’t change that.
Marijuana is a Schedule I drug… a high potential for abuse or dependency… no accepted medical value… unsafe to use, even under medical supervision. [M]arijuana has not passed the rigid scrutiny of medicine proposed by the FDA.
The Truth
National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA) puts the lifetime dependence rate on cannabis at 9%, same as caffeine. Alcohol has a 15% rate of abuse and Tobacco’s is 32%.
One third of federal jurisdictions (16 states and DC) accept the medical value of cannabis.
The federal government is supplying four Americans with this “unsafe” medicinewith no medical supervision.
Cannabis has been used medically for 5,000 without a single human death – far greater safety standard than an FDA that approved phen-fen and Vioxx.
Lie #2) Marijuana smoke is much worse than cigarette smoke!
[S]moked marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, many of which are identical to the most harmful chemicals and carcinogens found in cigarette smoke. The fact is that a marijuana cigarette contains four times as much tar as a tobacco cigarette.
The Truth
My pencil contains graphite and wood, which are identical to the graphite found in golf clubs and the wood found in golf tees. This does not make my pencil a golf club or golf tee. Water contains two flammable elements, hydrogen and oxygen. This does not make water flammable. Many recipes call for the same ingredients; it’s how you put them together that matters. Joints aren’t cigarettes, they’re far safer than that.
Dr. Donald Tashkin went looking for that “marijuana causes cancer” connection and found quite the opposite, that cannabis smokers had lower incidence of head, neck, and lung cancer. We even have compelling evidence that cannabinoids may be instrumental in unlocking the cure for cancer.
Very few tokers smoke 20 to 40 joints a day, but even if they did, where are these marijuana smokers with the tar-ravaged lungs filling up our hospitals? Again we have zero recorded deaths from cannabis smoking and over 400,000 annual deaths from tobacco use. Joints aren’t cigarettes.
Lie #3) Marijuana is the gateway drug to cocaine, meth, and heroin!
Legalizing marijuana leads to the use of more dangerous and harmful drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine…. Teens who smoke marijuana were found to be 85 times more likely to use cocaine than those teens who do not smoke marijuana.
The Truth
That same Institute of Medicine report Mr. Summerill referenced in Lie #2 said, “There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.”
According to National Survey on Drug Use and Health, over 100 million American adults have tried cannabis. There are currently about 1.5 million monthly cocaine users, 430 thousand monthly meth users, and 192 thousand monthly heroin users. So for every 46 people who’ve tried pot, only one went on to be a monthly hard drug user. A gateway that only affects 2.1% of the people isn’t much of a gateway.
Lie #4) Marijuana legalization leads to carnage on the highways!
Marijuana use, including its use for medicinal purposes, is directly related to motor vehicle accidents and reckless driving, as cannabis affects psychomotor functioning.
In a study of fatally injured drivers in Washington state, a state with legalized medical marijuana, about one every eight tested positive for marijuana.
The Truth
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said of marijuana testing of drivers, “It is inadvisable to try and predict effects based on blood THC concentrations alone, and currently impossible to predict specific effects based on THC-COOH concentrations” because “[d]etection time is well past the window of intoxication and impairment.” Finding pot in some drivers’ systems following a crash just tells you some people smoke pot.
From 2008-2009, fatal crashes in the states that had medical marijuana declined overall 9.34%. Only one medical marijuana state, Rhode Island, had an increase greater than 3%, which resulted in 18 more deaths. Four other states had 1%-3% increases, leading to 9 additional deaths. Of the remaining eight states that saw declines, half saw double-digit declines, including the laxest medical marijuana state, California, which had 353 fewer traffic fatalities.
Legalizing marijuana does not legalize DUI. People who smoke pot and drive now are busted in all fifty states and legalization doesn’t change that.
Comments
Personally idc who does what. I dont smoke. I barely drink. I've never smoked weed. They can put it in their bodies, legally or not, but its not going in mine.
I'm not for drugs period.
@jules, I see your point of view, however, cigarettes and alcohol have no health usages for them. With the exception of wine, beer for breastmilk, etc. Marijuana has a plethora of benefits as it decreases occurance of cancer, studies have shown in a rastafarian tribe that mothers who used during pregnancy and breastfeeding's children had higher IQ and less sickness rates than american mothers. There is no debate about the health benefits of marijuana as it is a proven fact. Less than 1% of users use it on a daily basis for recreational benefits. It is proven helpful for nausea, cancer, weight loss, anxiety, antidepressant values and hundreds of others. Someone taking antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti anxiety medications are damaging their bodies more than the one who uses marijuana for these benefits. So, no, it's not needed for survival, but neither is pain medication, anxiety meds or anti depressants. It all boils down to what poisons you want inside of your body. When one decides to forego those and use a natural herb to help their problem that doesn't damage their kidneys and liver, I can't fault them for it
If you look back into the history of why marijuana became illegal, all of those reasons have since been proven false. What holds our country back is the social stigma. The thought and indoctrination of our government that caffeine, alcohol, sugar etc are "acceptable" addictions and marijuana is placed into an "illicit" drug category being compared to heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines.
The man that had lung issues may not have smoked, but do you know for a fact that he wasn't around secondhand smoke as a child? Ever worked in a bar? Went out every weekend or every other weekend back when smoking was allowed indoors? Had a parent that smoked as a child? Etc. Just curious if they addressed that because it has been proven that the lung damage from marijuana is a myth.
I do not smoke, I didn't like the way it made me feel. However, once you are a long term smoker, it does not effect you the way it does a newb. You can be completely functional because you are not effected in a large way.