Compared to alcohol and cigarettes, what's so bad about marijuana?!
Question: Compared to alcohol and cigarettes, what's so bad about marijuana.?
-->there are much MUCH more deaths because of alcohol/tabacco
-->cigs are more addicting, both alcohol and weed can be addicting but not a whole lot
.? honestly..
im not for any of it but its weird that 2 are legal only. from my view, i think they should either all be legal, or all be illegal.Health Question & Answer
-->cigs are more addicting, both alcohol and weed can be addicting but not a whole lot
.? honestly..
im not for any of it but its weird that 2 are legal only. from my view, i think they should either all be legal, or all be illegal.Health Question & Answer
Answers:
Its good to see that people are beginning to have a more tolerant attitude toward personal cannabis use. However, I do not think all three should be banned. I do believe in personal choice and individual liberty. We have the right to make our own choices concerning ourselves.
But to give you a more straightforward and credible answer, here is a quick pharmacology summary of all three:
Alcohol: Serves as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant that can cause death when as little as 4 times the intoxica.tion dose is ingested. It slows heart and brain rates, eventually resulting in cardiac arrest, coma, choking on vomit, or simply stopping respiration.
In moderate amounts, alcohol can be very beneficial actually showing a slight neuroprotective tendency. Studies show people who drink 1-2 drinks of alcohol a day have lower rates of heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. However, alcohol is very addictive both physically and mentally and alcoholism is a potentially deadly disease that can result in cirrhosis of the liver (permanent replacement of liver tissue with swollen, fatty scar tissue).
Nicotine: An alkaloid that functions as a pesticide and is found mainly in plants of the tobacco and to a lesser extent coca variety. In mammals, it functions as a stimulant in small amounts, but at slightly larger doses it is a deadly neurotoxin with an LD50 (the dose at which 50% of administered test subjects die) calculated at only 40-60mg in humans. The LD50 of cocaine in comparison is 500mg in humans, about 100 times less lethal than nicotine.
Additionally, nicotine has its own carcinogenic properties in addition to those of burning organic plant matter. There are nicotine receptors in the throat and upper airways that are activated and serve to protect cells that are damaged by the smoke. These cells should initiate something called apostosis or cell programmed death. This is where the damaged cell commits suicide and dies so new healthy cells can replace it. Nicotine causes these cells to live on, usually they mutate due to DNA damage and exposure to mutagens (chemicals that cause mutation in DNA, often carcinogens). These cells then can form tumors in the lungs and throat, fusing of the alveoli, and chronic emphazema.
Marijuana in comparison is relatively harmless. The active ingredient, delta-9 tetrahydracannabinol, or THC, is technically safer by weight than water (this does not really mean that it is safer than water, it just means that if the same amount of water were introduced to your body, your cells would swell, burst, and die).
The estimated LD50 of THC is 1500 hundred pounds of marijuana smoked within 15 minutes, a feat that is physically impossible to accomplish within the timeframe and without dying from suffocation.
Lets recap the "safety ratio" that is the effective dose and the LD50 dose.
Alcohol 1:4 (meaning you only have to drink 4 times as much as you would normally drink to intoxication and death would occur about 50% of the time)
Cocaine 1:15
Heroin 1:6
THC 1:1000 (meaning you have to smoke 1000 times the normal amount)
Evidence shows marijuana is much safer in the body than other commonly used substances. Even concerns about lung cancer have been put to rest by clinical trials that show THC inhibits lung tumor growth and is also one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory airway dilators known. Smoking weed can actually stop an asthma attack by opening the bronchial tubes and small airways.
Clearly if anything should be illegal based on health concerns, it should be nicotine and alcohol, physically drugs like cocaine and heroin are better for you and less destructive than alcohol and nicotine. However, the social destructiveness of cocaine and heroin abuse should not be ignored.
Marijuana use on the other hand does not lead to addiction, tolerance builds slightly over long periods of constant use but remains lower than most all other drugs. Marijuana has been shown not to be a gateway drug and also causes no social harm on a user level.
Legalization would bankrupt the cotton and paper industries as industrial hemp is better for both applications. For paper, 1 acre of hemp is equivalent to 4.1 acres of trees. Hemp also is also one of the fastest and densest growing plants in the world making it one of the few actually profitable biodiesel sources. If legal, hemp would be the most desirable crop due to myriad applications and yield. Not to mention that cannabis seeds, which are often used in bird seed (sterilized so they cannot be grown) are second only to soy as a source of high quality plant based proteins and essential fatty acids. The leaves can even be eaten in salads as a source of chlorophyll and fiber.
Clearly marijuana is the safest choice. When eaten, the arguable health risks of smoking are eliminated. Oral ingestion of marijuana is completely safe in every known way. People have been consuming it in various forms since prehisHealth Question & Answer
But to give you a more straightforward and credible answer, here is a quick pharmacology summary of all three:
Alcohol: Serves as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant that can cause death when as little as 4 times the intoxica.tion dose is ingested. It slows heart and brain rates, eventually resulting in cardiac arrest, coma, choking on vomit, or simply stopping respiration.
In moderate amounts, alcohol can be very beneficial actually showing a slight neuroprotective tendency. Studies show people who drink 1-2 drinks of alcohol a day have lower rates of heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. However, alcohol is very addictive both physically and mentally and alcoholism is a potentially deadly disease that can result in cirrhosis of the liver (permanent replacement of liver tissue with swollen, fatty scar tissue).
Nicotine: An alkaloid that functions as a pesticide and is found mainly in plants of the tobacco and to a lesser extent coca variety. In mammals, it functions as a stimulant in small amounts, but at slightly larger doses it is a deadly neurotoxin with an LD50 (the dose at which 50% of administered test subjects die) calculated at only 40-60mg in humans. The LD50 of cocaine in comparison is 500mg in humans, about 100 times less lethal than nicotine.
Additionally, nicotine has its own carcinogenic properties in addition to those of burning organic plant matter. There are nicotine receptors in the throat and upper airways that are activated and serve to protect cells that are damaged by the smoke. These cells should initiate something called apostosis or cell programmed death. This is where the damaged cell commits suicide and dies so new healthy cells can replace it. Nicotine causes these cells to live on, usually they mutate due to DNA damage and exposure to mutagens (chemicals that cause mutation in DNA, often carcinogens). These cells then can form tumors in the lungs and throat, fusing of the alveoli, and chronic emphazema.
Marijuana in comparison is relatively harmless. The active ingredient, delta-9 tetrahydracannabinol, or THC, is technically safer by weight than water (this does not really mean that it is safer than water, it just means that if the same amount of water were introduced to your body, your cells would swell, burst, and die).
The estimated LD50 of THC is 1500 hundred pounds of marijuana smoked within 15 minutes, a feat that is physically impossible to accomplish within the timeframe and without dying from suffocation.
Lets recap the "safety ratio" that is the effective dose and the LD50 dose.
Alcohol 1:4 (meaning you only have to drink 4 times as much as you would normally drink to intoxication and death would occur about 50% of the time)
Cocaine 1:15
Heroin 1:6
THC 1:1000 (meaning you have to smoke 1000 times the normal amount)
Evidence shows marijuana is much safer in the body than other commonly used substances. Even concerns about lung cancer have been put to rest by clinical trials that show THC inhibits lung tumor growth and is also one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory airway dilators known. Smoking weed can actually stop an asthma attack by opening the bronchial tubes and small airways.
Clearly if anything should be illegal based on health concerns, it should be nicotine and alcohol, physically drugs like cocaine and heroin are better for you and less destructive than alcohol and nicotine. However, the social destructiveness of cocaine and heroin abuse should not be ignored.
Marijuana use on the other hand does not lead to addiction, tolerance builds slightly over long periods of constant use but remains lower than most all other drugs. Marijuana has been shown not to be a gateway drug and also causes no social harm on a user level.
Legalization would bankrupt the cotton and paper industries as industrial hemp is better for both applications. For paper, 1 acre of hemp is equivalent to 4.1 acres of trees. Hemp also is also one of the fastest and densest growing plants in the world making it one of the few actually profitable biodiesel sources. If legal, hemp would be the most desirable crop due to myriad applications and yield. Not to mention that cannabis seeds, which are often used in bird seed (sterilized so they cannot be grown) are second only to soy as a source of high quality plant based proteins and essential fatty acids. The leaves can even be eaten in salads as a source of chlorophyll and fiber.
Clearly marijuana is the safest choice. When eaten, the arguable health risks of smoking are eliminated. Oral ingestion of marijuana is completely safe in every known way. People have been consuming it in various forms since prehisHealth Question & Answer
the only thing to fear about marijuana is the fact that people who fear it know nothing about it. You can't die from smoking pot unless your stupid enough to get behind the wheel of a car and end up killing yourself. Alcohol makes you just plain stupid and kills your liver and cigarettes slowly kill you and your lungs look like they are covered in tar black and just nasty plus you smell bad and your teeth are yellow. Pot doesn't do anything but make you laugh and happy. Anyone that tells you pot is bad has probably never tried it and probably goes by what the media says about it. If it is so bad why do they give it to sick people. BTW whoever told you Pot is addictive is seriously misinformed i smoke it but i sure as hell am not addicted to it. I can go months or years without it after smoking it for a few days.Health Question & Answer
The thing that is so bad about pot is that the tobacco and alcohol industries are making too much money and have a lot of influence over the government. Think about it. Why not legalize it and tax the **** out of it.? It would get the US out of the economic situation that we are in. But no too much influence from tobacco and alcohol companies.
In my opinion it should be legal. But no one will listen to me.Health Question & Answer
In my opinion it should be legal. But no one will listen to me.Health Question & Answer
I'm not really sure. Personally, I think they should legalize pot and TAX it. Think of how fast we could make up some of the national deficit! :)
But yeah, pot is just as likely to cause lung cancer as a cigarette, so no help there... and most stoners dont' go out and kill someone with a car.. they sit in a garage and giggle into a bag of chips :p
My room-mate says it's because it makes you high, but there is no test that measures how much is in your system.. they can regulate your alcohol use because we can test and set a legal limit... with the marajuana test, you've either smoked in the last say..20 days or you haven't..There's no way to tell for sure you're high "right now" like while driving so they can regulate it...... she makes a good point there.
PS. "pot" addiction, is totally a myth made up by the same people that created Regean's war on drugs. No one is acutually addicted. You just like being on it more than you like not being on it. There's no physical addiction.... You can stop and start anytime, unlike cigarettes....it was just a way to scare people into not doing it anymore (tons of people did pot in the 60's and don't now lol).
It's also not a gateway drug, unless you consider Taco Bell a stronger, more addictvie drug.. cuz that's they only thing pot smoking really leeds to, taco bell trips :-pHealth Question & Answer
But yeah, pot is just as likely to cause lung cancer as a cigarette, so no help there... and most stoners dont' go out and kill someone with a car.. they sit in a garage and giggle into a bag of chips :p
My room-mate says it's because it makes you high, but there is no test that measures how much is in your system.. they can regulate your alcohol use because we can test and set a legal limit... with the marajuana test, you've either smoked in the last say..20 days or you haven't..There's no way to tell for sure you're high "right now" like while driving so they can regulate it...... she makes a good point there.
PS. "pot" addiction, is totally a myth made up by the same people that created Regean's war on drugs. No one is acutually addicted. You just like being on it more than you like not being on it. There's no physical addiction.... You can stop and start anytime, unlike cigarettes....it was just a way to scare people into not doing it anymore (tons of people did pot in the 60's and don't now lol).
It's also not a gateway drug, unless you consider Taco Bell a stronger, more addictvie drug.. cuz that's they only thing pot smoking really leeds to, taco bell trips :-pHealth Question & Answer
I think all three should be banned for good. No exception; not even for sick people. Alcohol, Maijuana, and cigarettes are all bad. People who drink are stupid, just because the government says alcohol is legal and ok to drink doesn't mean it is.Health Question & Answer
the only reason why marijuana illegal is b/c the govt cant tax it.
thats the only reason Health Question & Answer
thats the only reason Health Question & Answer
I think that alcohol/tobacco should be illegal and marijuana should be legalHealth Question & Answer