Posted on 11/21/2004 9:15:23 PM PST by april15Bendovr
The truth about marijuana. Me
Posted on 11/21/2004 9:00:46 PM PST by april15Bendovr
I was asked to write this for my hospital newsletter. I hope it will help people here to understand a little bit better.
The truth about marijuana As a psychiatric counselor, many clients report to me that at an early age they suffered from anxiety, stress, agitation and depression. In an effort to avoid or treat their problems, many decided to medicate themselves with alcohol, marijuana or other street drugs. And while the problems of alcohol addiction are well-known, there is a popular myth that marijuana is an innocuous and harmless drug. Unfortunately, marijuana's addictive repercussions can be just as devastating as alcohol.
The Hazelden Foundation, which runs treatment centers for chemical dependency, has produced an educational documentary videotape titled "Marijuana, the Escape to Nowhere," about addictive issues, side effects and marijuana's use as a mood altering substance. Participants in the video report resorting to acts of desperation, such as scraping bongs and pot pipes and pulling their bedroom dresser out from the wall, to retrieve just enough marijuana to give them their next high. Many of my clients as a psychiatric counselor have recounted the same kinds of behavior.
I believe it's imperative that our society understand the addictive nature of marijuana and its harmful side effects. The drug has gained support from people with various ailments who praise the drug for its potential use in treating pain and nausea medically. Although there's a synthetic prescription pill developed for this purpose (Marinol), advocates for smoking the leaf continue to push for marijuana cigarette legalization. Advocates also argue that pot has few and short-term--side effects, if any. I believe such a claim is dangerously wrong.
In Oldsmobile car ads, the slogan was: "It's not your father's Oldsmobile." Well, the same can be said for marijuana today. Hazelden reports the amount of THC (the main active chemical) in marijuana has increased 5 times since 1974, with the typical strength today being 15 percent. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Intelligence Division December Report 2000 states that a form of marijuana called BC Bud (British Columbia), with Canadian growers using sophisticated cultivating techniques, has increased THC levels from 15 percent to 25 percent, compared with 2 percent in 1970.
There's evidence to support claims of long-term damage. Studies referenced in the Hazelden booklet "Marijuana: Current Facts, Figures and Information," by Brent Q. Hafen, Ph.D., and David Soulier, show long-term and permanent damage. This book cites research using instruments to trace brain waves, showing slight changes in the brain's electrical activity from marijuana use. Other studies cited in the book, using electrodes placed deep inside the brain stem, showed that the effects of marijuana use lingered. Researchers at Tulane University studied long-term effects, revealing damage to brain cells and nerve synapses in monkeys. A 2-month to 5-year study at the University of California Davis revealed, via CAT scan, damage to the brains of monkeys from long-term use.
Visual signs of long-term pot smoking are poor motor coordination, uncontrolled laughter, a lag or hesitation between thoughts, and unsteady hands. At one time, these were all thought to be short-term side effects--now known in many cases to be long-term with frequent use, according to a 1968 study by researchers W.H. McGlothin and L.J. West, published in the Hazelden booklet mentioned above. Other linked side effects include a symptom called amotivational syndrome, in which people become passive, apathetic, unmotivated, hedonistic, unconcerned about the future, unable to make plans and increasingly introverted.
A marijuana information fact sheet from the National Institute on Drug Abuse states that THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that lead to the high after smoking. It rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to organs throughout the body, including the brain. THC travels inside the brain, where it connects with THC receptors on nerve cells. The areas of the brain with the most THC receptors are the cerebellum, the cerebral cortex, and the limbic system, which includes the hippocampus. This is why marijuana affects thinking, problem solving, sensory perception, movement, balance and memory. (For a more detailed image of the brain and acute side effects of marijuana, visit www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/marijuana/marijuana3.html.
In 2001, 12 million Americans aged 12 and older used marijuana at least once in the month prior to being surveyed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in its 2001 Monitoring the Future Surveys. Students who smoke pot get lower grades and are less likely to graduate from high school compared with their non-smoking peers. Researchers studying the survey compared test results of marijuana-smoking 12th graders and non-smokers; in standardized tests of verbal and mathematical skills, the pot smokers scored significantly lower. The same NIDA Monitoring the Future survey of 129 college students found that someone who smokes pot once daily may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level all of the time.
Other Hazelden-reported side effects include damage to the lungs: Marijuana cigarettes have 15 times more tar content than tobacco cigarettes and 50 percent more cancer-causing hydrocarbons than cigarettes. Liver biopsies of long-term marijuana users show significant damage. It effects the heart due to reduced oxygen to the blood stream. It causes cell damage--tests on animals show changes in gene structure. These effects are becoming more apparent to the public. Information in the National Institute on Drug Abuse marijuana fact sheet shows that marijuana-related hospital emergency department visits in the United States recently experienced a 15 percent increase.
If all these negatives are not enough, I recently discovered more: On Nov. 23, 2002, The British Journal of Medicine published a study linking frequent marijuana use at a young age to an increased risk of depression and schizophrenia later in life.
Without knowledge, education, and an understanding of the problems and myths of marijuana, it is dangerous to advocate for such a drug. If we do not discourage vulnerable young people from using marijuana, the future could be very grim for our country. With the increase of THC levels and the apathy about marijuana, I unfortunately see a preview of that future and fear more mental health and overall health problems as a result.
"The Hazelden Foundation, which runs treatment centers for chemical dependency". No financial incentive here is there?
This isn't about the effects of dope it's about religion.
This is true only to a point.
Tobacco can be grown, cured, and smoked just like pot but millions of people still buy their cigarettes from the store premade.
Why? Convenience.
I still buy my tobacco post-cured, even if I do stuff my own cigs, but that doesn't mean I WANT to raise my own tobacco.
Some people do grow their own tobacco but they are few and far between.
The same point could probably be made for pot.
Millions would buy their pot already grown, cured, and rolled for the convenience.
Sure, some would still grow their own, if for no other reason than they enjoy the process.
It could be legalized, and taxed, only if there was a verifiable, quick, easy test for the police to use similar to the breathalizer for alcohol.
"ref: your post #3; I agree wholeheartedly. And anything put out by Hazelden must be viewed as them having a vested interest in the "addiction counseling mill/industry""
Thanks! I agree with your assessment of Hazelden too. I'm sure they do a great deal of good for some people, but it's always easy to see the uniquely American strain of puritanism in these things.
But I guess the UKer are getting almost as bad as we are. Soon all us freepers may have to go to France to have a drink and a smoke, or worse, Amsterdam!
This one wasn't "proven false", it was immediately buried in the deepest, darkest bureaucratic hole they could find never to see daylight again. On the web, you will find many web sites funded by the federal government that will give you infomation about selected research done on the subject. You will not find a single link to or reference from this research project conducted by the government, and paid for by the tax payers because it didn't say what they wanted it to.
I pretty much agree with that assessment. In my experience as an oncologist, it is not useful in treating pain, and is minimally useful for nausea. We have about 8 drugs that are more useful than Marinol for nausea, many of which are considerably less expensive. It occasionally will stimulate a patient's appetite, but there are other medicines that do the same.
Know your rights wrote: "marijuana-related" means they asked the patient if they'd smoked marijuana recently and they said yes. By this standard, 100% of hospital emergency department visits are oxygen-related.
Heh heh. Looks like Hazelden has been taking lessons from the old media.
Buried by the government. It's a federal study, paid for by the taxpayers, and you won't find it published on a government site anywhere. Read it, and you'll know why.
Is that supposed to mean something? I'm old enough to have watched it happen. They couldn't get rid of that thing and change the subject fast enough.
Me too.
I still pray that the people who have such a hard time with reality - that they have to resort to mind altering drugs, get the help that they truly need. It's really sad.
Funyuns Bump!
If it's out of it's hole, then you shouldn't have any trouble finding a link to it with a .gov tld.
Do you include social drinkers in that group?
BTW, do you ever consume alcohol? The reason I ask is that the drug alcohol is mind altering after only one or two drinks.
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