Pot More Dangerous Than You Know

[bobandtorey]

 

 

 

With the recent article published on May 12, 2013, “Mont. goes its own way on pot,” it seems like the perfect opportunity to provide some clarifying facts about marijuana.

There is no scientific basis for using smoked marijuana as a medicine, no sound scientific studies supporting the medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supporting the safety or effectiveness of marijuana for general medical use. The Food and Drug Administration ruled that smoked marijuana does not meet the modern standards of medicine in the United States. Marijuana is NOT approved nor endorsed by the FDA, the American Medical Association, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Cancer Society or the American Pediatric Society. The National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine has concluded that smoked marijuana should “not be recommended for medical use.”

Marijuana has over 500 components (THC, CBD, etc.) that have been proven to increase the risk of cancer, lung damage, and poor pregnancy outcomes. In comparison, most prescription medication contains a single compound in a standardized dosage.

The use of marijuana under the guise of “medicine” has given rise to numerous problems:

n Affected youth drug use patterns.

n States with “medical” marijuana laws had marijuana abuse/dependence rates almost double the states without such laws.

n There is a direct correlation between “medical” marijuana and decreases in perception of harm and social disapproval.

n Individuals who begin using the drug in their teens have approximately a one-in-six chance of developing marijuana dependence. In fact, children and teens are six times likelier to be in treatment for marijuana than for all other illegal drugs combined.

n Addiction rates among 12- to 17-year-olds are among the highest levels nationally in states that have “medical marijuana” programs.

n Marijuana use negatively impacts adolescent brain development. A recent study found that those who used cannabis heavily in their teens and continued through adulthood showed a permanent drop in IQ of eight points. A loss of eight IQ points could drop a person of average intelligence into the lowest third of the intelligence range.

n “Medical” marijuana could negatively impact employability. More than 6,000 companies nationwide and scores of industries and professions require a pre-employment drug test.

n Twenty percent of crashes in the U.S. are caused by drugged driving. Marijuana is the most prevalent illegal drug detected in impaired drivers, fatally injured drivers, and motor vehicle crash victims.

n States that have fully implemented “medical” marijuana programs, to include dispensaries, are experiencing public safety issues. They have seen first-hand that dispensaries lead to increased crime and adversely affect the quality of life in their communities.

n The total overall costs of substance abuse in the U.S., including loss of productivity, health and crime-related costs exceed $600 billion annually. This includes approximately $235 billion for alcohol, $193 billion for tobacco, and $181 billion for illicit drugs.

n Marijuana is much more powerful today than it was 30 years ago, and so are its mind-altering effects. Average THC levels rose from less than 1 percent in the mid-1970s to more than 6 percent in 2002. Sinsemilla potency increased in the past two decades from 6 percent to more than 13 percent, with some samples containing THC levels of up to 33 percent.

n Legalizing marijuana would significantly decrease the price of the drug and could result in an up to 50 percent increase in use. This can have widespread ramifications in areas such as adolescent brain development, the academic achievement of our nation’s youth, employability, highway and public safety, as well as the economy.

n The average “medical” marijuana user is a 32-year-old white male with a history of alcohol, cocaine and meth use, but NO history of a life-threatening illness.

Marijuana is not a harmless natural compound. The “medical marijuana” movement is a well-developed strategic plan to dupe the common man into believing that an illicit, illegal drug, with no proven medical benefit, should be used as medicine. Take a stand. Become better informed. Help the efforts to make our community a safe, healthy, drug free community.

— Pat Prendergast is the president of Butte Cares and has 20 years of voluntary work experience in abuse prevention.

 

http://mtstandard.com/news/opinion/pot-more-dangerous-than-you-know/article_9b55563c-d621-11e2-82fd-001a4bcf887a.html

Edited June 16, 2013 by bobandtorey

[cristinew]

wow this guy should be living back in the 1930s

[Wild Bill]

Can't stand competition.

[Celliach]

Wow!  That's a huge piece of propaganda. 

[Hydraulic Jack]

and no comments on the article?  HJ

[GrowGoddess]

and no comments on the article?  HJ

Good idea HJ. I went to go leave a comment. The comments must be fully approved before they will be posted. No free speech? The only comments that are allowed are only what they approve? That is straight up B.S. along with the article. Hands on experience. Most of what is written in that article is 100% incorrect and deceptive. Like no studies and tests. Kind of hard to do studies and tests when the Federal Government will put you in prison eh?

 

These days and times, the world is definitely living in the Twilight Zone.

 

I suppose when you hear of studies, polls, and their results, they are all manipulated like the article. They only pick information, comments, and results that they want/need to throw into their equations and get the results they want.

 

It is kind of like unemployment. You look at it through one study and it is around 8%. However, if you look at it realistically, and the actual unemployed it is more like 20-30%. Everything is B.S. these days.

 

Edit:

Any test results on smoking marijuana is straight up ridiculous. Smoking anything could be cancer causing. I would only have a couple of questions for the author. Why must your opinions only be based upon smoking? Why not also include vaporizing or ingesting?

 

I am pretty confident that if the doctor prescribed me any medicine whatsoever, and I put a torch to it and smoked it, it would not be healthy. He needs to get more information based upon all methods of using marijuana as medicine, not just smoking. Is the only reason they focus only on smoking because that is the only method they could find with negative impacts? I would say, Yes.

Edited June 16, 2013 by GrowGoddess

[Celliach]

Right wing propaganda.  They don't care about the facts. They only care about progressing their right-wing agenda, and don't care what they have to say to get there.  To them the end justifies the means.  If we have to lie to get where we want to get, it's alright.  Repeat the lies enough times and you'll get a slice of the population to believe it.  If they leave the comment section open, the lies will be shown to be lies and they can't have that.    Too many grandparents to convince first.

[phaquetoo]

I know this was and article about mm and it not being medicine, but what is up with alcohol, and I have medical records for me smoking/vaping mm with my primary care dr. and its good, my lungs are better than they were, I get tested at least 2 times a yr and I get blood work done once a yr, I could have blood work done more often, I insist on it alot, I get ekg becuase of heart desease in my family, and as i knock on wood all of my blood work and ekg's and blood pressure and sugar level and you name it comes back good!

 

Here is to the happy smokers or how ever you use mm!

 

 

Peace

Jim

[bobandtorey]

I know this was and article about mm and it not being medicine, but what is up with alcohol, and I have medical records for me smoking/vaping mm with my primary care dr. and its good, my lungs are better than they were, I get tested at least 2 times a yr and I get blood work done once a yr, I could have blood work done more often, I insist on it alot, I get ekg becuase of heart desease in my family, and as i knock on wood all of my blood work and ekg's and blood pressure and sugar level and you name it comes back good!

 

Here is to the happy smokers or how ever you use mm!

 

 

Peace

Jim

and Happy Fathers Day to you Jim

[phaquetoo]

and Happy Fathers Day to you Jim

Thank You Bob!

 

Happy Fathers day to all the dads out there!

 

Peace

Jim

[Chauncy Gardner]

I know this was and article about mm and it not being medicine, but what is up with alcohol, and I have medical records for me smoking/vaping mm with my primary care dr. and its good, my lungs are better than they were, I get tested at least 2 times a yr and I get blood work done once a yr, I could have blood work done more often, I insist on it alot, I get ekg becuase of heart desease in my family, and as i knock on wood all of my blood work and ekg's and blood pressure and sugar level and you name it comes back good!

 

Here is to the happy smokers or how ever you use mm!

 

 

Peace

Jim

 

 

Same with me.

[Chauncy Gardner]

Bill Maher had Patrick Kennedy on his show last Friday. Patrick is a rabid anti-marijuana crusader. John F. Kennedy was his uncle. Patrick was spouting the exact same "facts" that the guy who wrote this article is spouting. Bill came back at him the usual reasoned arguments in defense of marijuana, but Patrick would not give in to any of them. He kept citing "studies" done by researchers. The only problem with these studies is that no comprehensive marijuana studies exist because it is against the law to study marijuana. All of the crap cited in this article is from unscientific, sometimes anecdotal evidence that would not stand up under scrutiny.

 

Anyway, Bill had a Republican strategist/pollster, Kelly Ann Conway, on the discussion panel. She is a hard right conservative who has worked on many presidential campaigns. She made a statement that made my jaw drop. She said that, in regards to marijuana legalization, even if a majority of people vote for it to be legal, the government would have to step in and nullify the election because, in her words, "Sometimes people do stupid things and the government has to step in to save them from themselves." An anti-government, freedom spouting Republican saying that the government should nullify elections? WTF? I think they are only against government when it impacts their lifestyle - i.e. the IRS, the EPA, the Dept. of Education, abortions, etc.

Edited June 16, 2013 by Chauncy Gardner

[OG Fire Beaster]

You pretty much nailed it Chauncy. All the talk about state's rights, except when it comes to marijuana, then it is holy federal law that must be followed. I will add that Democrats are not any different. They are both as hypocritical as they can possibly be.

[Dr. Bob]

The more outlandish the 'reefer madness' claims, the more they look like fools.

 

Dr. Bob

[bobandtorey]

They are digging their own hole even deeper but they wont give up and will use every trick they can 

 

Because they Are losing 

[MedicatedJester]

The "smoking marijuana is more harmful than cigarettes" argument is my favorite.  Most people lay this claim for two reasons.  1) The correlation is logical.  How can smoking anything not be bad?  2)  A studies that have found a high level of carcinogens in smoked marijuana.

 

Those two points paint a strong correlation, and humans love to assigned causation to correlation.  In this case however, it does not seem to be the case.

 

A study out of UCLA by Donald Taskin (a 30 year veteran of studying the effects of marijuana on lung health) found that there is  "no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect".

 

Keep in mind this is a researcher who "hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use".  And one that initially came out against legalization.

 

Through his research he is now pro-legalization.  He still says he "would not encourage anyone to smoke any substance", but that "tobacco smoking causes far more harm" and he goes on to say that "in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm".

 

I just think it's fascinating that people are so quick to grab on to the correlation-based carcinogen research, but are so quick to reject the causation based research.  People will always accept data much more readily when it conforms to their existing views.

[bobandtorey]

The "smoking marijuana is more harmful than cigarettes" argument is my favorite.  Most people lay this claim for two reasons.  1) The correlation is logical.  How can smoking anything not be bad?  2)  A studies that have found a high level of carcinogens in smoked marijuana.

 

Those two points paint a strong correlation, and humans love to assigned causation to correlation.  In this case however, it does not seem to be the case.

 

A study out of UCLA by Donald Taskin (a 30 year veteran of studying the effects of marijuana on lung health) found that there is  "no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect".

 

Keep in mind this is a researcher who "hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use".  And one that initially came out against legalization.

 

Through his research he is now pro-legalization.  He still says he "would not encourage anyone to smoke any substance", but that "tobacco smoking causes far more harm" and he goes on to say that "in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm".

 

I just think it's fascinating that people are so quick to grab on to the correlation-based carcinogen research, but are so quick to reject the causation based research.  People will always accept data much more readily when it conforms to their existing views.

i agree and thanks for your input