Let me assure you that I am making no assumptions about you or your beliefs about marijuana. The following are merely my observations.
I worked in a city at fire stations that responded multiple times every day to people with substance abuse problems. I will admit that my experience is anecdotal, but you can’t see the same thing day after day for 25 years and not draw some conclusions. I would guess that there are others here with the similar experiences and whenever we share them we tend to be belittled and ignored.
People who are heavy marijuana users almost always have psychological problems. Many of them are psychotic. It is possible that many may have had mental problems to begin with, but in my experience it appeared that heavy use of marijuana was a strong contributor.
Heavy users of marijuana tend to also have serious health problems. It seems obvious that it would contribute to heart and lung problems, but to me they seem unhealthier than tobacco smokers and have a lot of medical issues relating to other parts of their body as well. Many tobacco smokers will give it up when their health starts to decline, but most marijuana users actually seem to increase their consumption when they start having health problems. At that point they call it “medical marijuana” and in our state it becomes even easier and cheaper for them to get. I should mention that I have lived my entire life in Washington State where even before marijuana was legalized the attitude here was very permissive.
We often would show up to persons with breathing difficulties from COPD who were smoking tobacco. When we would ask them to put their cigarette out because burning material is dangerous around our oxygen equipment, they would all comply. Marijuana users would sometimes continue to object because they would insist that they needed the marijuana.
I could just go on and on. There are lots of problems from alcohol and tobacco that everyone knows about. People will not try and justify their abuse of alcohol and tobacco. With marijuana they actually have some sort of righteous indignation.
I cannot tell you how many times I listened to a heavy marijuana user with health or mental problems lecture my crew and I about the dangers of eating food that is not grown organically, or food that is grown from genetically modified seeds, or drinking water that is not purified by some complex means, or caffeine, or diet soda. In almost the same breath they will insist that marijuana is 100% safe and is part of their “healthy life style”. It is the oddest thing to listen to someone who has COPD with extreme breathing difficulties talk about the health benefits of marijuana. It is also odd to listen to someone who has a severe mental issue explain how marijuana is the only “medication” which helps them.
I will be the first to admit that my observations are not scientific, but my feeling is that marijuana use is a big contributor to numerous health and mental problems. I don’t know what the solution is. Any attempts to educate the public about the dangers it poses will be met with stiff resistance. Making it more easily available is going to cause more problems. I have seen it happen where we live and I am pretty sure that it is going to be getting used more not less just about everywhere.
Thanks for the measured, informative reply!
I sincerely respect your opinions and observations. If I had accompanied you on only a few of those calls, I probably would have experienced even more disgust and/or resignation. I have even made similar observations regarding blood-relatives who are users.
Having said that: Freedom has a price. And denying freedom also has a price. (The War on [Some] Drugs is a golden opportunity for the Nanny State to further erode our hard-earned civil liberties.) That's why I favor legalization - and in the same breath, I also advocate the imposition of strict regulations about mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients, etc.
Regards,
drugs?...pot?...maybe not so much...they can be off in their little fairy land but still driving the school bus...
its scary....
I hope TPTB soon start testing every so called "drunken" driver for pot and other drugs....IMO, a large number of "drunk" drivers are also stoned....once they start testing, it will be clearly known.