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To: Always Right

Addictive??? You have some evidence?


8 posted on 06/27/2006 9:18:10 AM PDT by Gone GF
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To: Gone GF
Addictive??? You have some evidence?

I've got some.

A childhood friend of mine came back from Vietnam smoking dope all day long. It's lasted to this day. He can't/won't quit. He doesn't drink because it interferes with his 'buzz'. He's lost his wife and kids and quite a few of his friends, including me, and now his oldest son is a little drug head himself and, of course, pop can't say anything to him.

In addition to that, my first wife was a pothead. Over the last 20 years she's been to doctors, rehab, etc. 45 years old and still smoking dope.

I'm sure that you will discount my evidence as 'random and rare, biased observations', but these two people are hooked and I don't give a damn what kind of evidence that you have to the contrary, it won't diminish their addition.

24 posted on 06/27/2006 9:33:34 AM PDT by cowboyway (My heroes have always been Cowboys)
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To: Gone GF
Addictive??? You have some evidence?

II. Myths and Misperceptions

Many of the things Americans “know” about marijuana are myths or misperceptions. People need to

know the truth about this harmful drug.

M Y T H 1

Marijuana is harmless.

Marijuana is far from harmless; in fact, recent scientific findings about the drug are startling.

Most of the drug treatment for young people in the United States is for marijuana alone. Marijuana

emergency-room mentions have skyrocketed over the past decade, and the drug is associated with an

increased risk of developing schizophrenia, even when personality traits and pre-existing conditions

are taken into account.

FACTS:

Health Consequences

• Marijuana smoke contains 50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons

than does tobacco smoke.10 Using marijuana may promote cancer of the respiratory

tract and disrupt the immune system.11

• Marijuana smokers have a heightened risk of lung infection.12

• Long-term use of marijuana may increase the risk of chronic cough, bronchitis,

and emphysema, as well as cancer of the head, neck, and lungs.13

• Mentions of marijuana use in emergency room visits have

risen 176 percent since 1994, surpassing those of heroin.14

• In 2001, marijuana was a contributing factor in more than

110,000 emergency department visits in the United States.15

• Marijuana can cause the heart rate, normally 70 to 80 beats

per minute, to increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute or, in

some cases, even to double.17

• In a 2003 study, researchers in England found that smoking

marijuana for even less than six years causes a marked

deterioriation in lung function. The study suggests that

marijuana use may rob the body of antioxidants that protect

cells against damage that can lead to heart disease and cancer.18

• Marijuana affects alertness, concentration, perception, coordination, and reaction time—

skills that are necessary for safe driving. A roadside study of reckless drivers in Tennessee

found that 33 percent of all subjects who were not under the influence of alcohol and who

were tested for drugs at the scene of their arrest tested positive for marijuana.20 In a 2003

Canadian study, one in five students admitted to driving within an hour of using marijuana.21

• Marijuana users have more suicidal thoughts and are four

times more likely to report symptoms of depression than

people who never used the drug.22

• The British Medical Journal recently reported: “Cannabis

use is associated with an increased risk of developing

schizophrenia, consistent with a causal relation. This

association is not explained by use of other psychoactive

drugs or personality traits relating to social integration.”23

Social Consequences

• Heavy marijuana use impairs the ability of young people to concentrate and retain

information during their peak learning years. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main

active chemical in marijuana, changes the way sensory information gets into and is

processed by the part of the brain that is crucial for learning and memory.24

• Animal studies indicate that marijuana use may interfere with brain function and create

problems with the perception of time, possibly making the user less adept at tasks that

require sustained attention.25

• Marijuana use has been associated with poor performance in school. One report

showed that youths with an average grade of D or below were more than four times as

likely to have used marijuana in the past year as youths with an average grade of A.26

• Marijuana users in their later teen years are more likely to have an increased risk of

delinquency and more friends who exhibit deviant behavior. They also tend to have

more sexual partners and are more likely to engage in unsafe sex.27

Economic Consequences

• Use of marijuana and other illicit drugs comes at significant expense to society in terms

of lost employee productivity, public health care costs, and accidents.28

• Americans spent $10.6 billion on marijuana purchases in 1999.29

M Y T H 2

Marijuana is not addictive.

Marijuana has been proven to be a psychologically addictive drug. Scientists at the National Institute

on Drug Abuse have demonstrated that laboratory animals will self-administer THC in doses equivalent

to those used by humans who smoke marijuana.30

FACTS:

• Marijuana is much more powerful today than it was 30 years ago, and so are its mindaltering

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.31

• Subjects in an experiment on marijuana withdrawal

experienced symptoms such as restlessness, loss of

appetite, trouble with sleeping, weight loss, and shaky

hands.32

• According to one study, marijuana use by teenagers

with prior serious antisocial problems can quickly lead

to dependence on the drug. The study also found that,

for troubled teenagers using tobacco, alcohol, and

marijuana, progression from their first use of marijuana

to regular use was about as rapid as their progression

to regular tobacco use, and more rapid than the

progression to regular use of alcohol.33

M Y T H 3

Youth experimentation with marijuana is inevitable.

Drug use can be prevented. The majority of young people do not use drugs, and there are proven

ways to keep kids from starting. Contrary to popular belief, marijuana use is not a rite of passage.

It is a risky behavior with serious consequences. Every American has a role to play in the effort to

reduce marijuana use—at home and on the job, in schools, places of worship, and civic or social

organizations. Working together, we can reaffirm healthy attitudes about marijuana use.

FACTS:

• Surveys show that parents are the biggest influence in

their children’s decisions about drug use.34 Parents must

actively engage in educating their children and help them

make healthy decisions.

• We know that when we push back against the drug problem,

it recedes. Marijuana use has been dramatically lower

in the past—even in the last decade—and it can be

reduced again.35

M Y T H 4

Marijuana is not associated with violence, as are drugs like

cocaine and heroin. The criminalization of marijuana is what leads

to crime, not the drug itself.

It’s not simply the trafficking of drugs that causes crime at home and abroad. Crime also results

from the behavior of people who have drug dependencies.

FACTS:

• Research shows a link between frequent marijuana use and increased violent

behavior.36

• Young people who use marijuana weekly are nearly four times more likely than

nonusers to engage in violence.37

• More than 41 percent of male arrestees in sampled U.S. cities tested positive for

marijuana.38

 

 

34 posted on 06/27/2006 9:45:33 AM PDT by Always Right
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