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5 Lies About Marijuana That Won't Die Easy

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posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 01:50 PM
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This information is based off of a 20yr research study: What has research over the last 20yrs revealed about adverse health effects of recreational cannabis use


Though there is new research to work with, the claims we hear from people with an anti-cannabis agenda are the same ones that get dredged up every time someone needs to make the case against legalization. As always, the only way to make a case against full legalization is to claim that pot’s largely innocuous side effects are some kind of scourge on society.

Here are five recent media lies about marijuana:

1. Pot is addictive: In drugs with high rates of addiction, such as nicotine, coc aine and alcohol, we can see a clear pattern of abuse. The drug hijacks the brain’s reward system, so that a smoke, line, drink, etc. is treated with the same urgency and necessity as food and sex. On the behavioral level, there are clear signs of dependency and withdrawal. Marijuana opponents have spent decades trying to show analogous patterns in pot smokers, but the results simply aren’t there. The closest they can get is to show that some people have difficulty quitting, and show signs of anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and other disturbances when they try to quit, as was demonstrated in the Hall study. That does show a non-zero level of dependency in a minority of users, but even in these cases, marijuana has nowhere near the capacity to ruin or end lives the way alcohol and heroin can, and is less addictive than tobacco or even caffeine. As an earlier AlterNet article points out, "9 percent of people who use marijuana will develop dependence at some point in their lives, compared with 15 percent for alcohol, 17 percent for coc aine, 23 percent for
heroin, and 32 percent for tobacco."

2. High people cause car crashes

3. Marijuana causes brain damage.

4. The gateway effect. It’s 2014, and we’re still hearing about the gateway effect. People who use hard drugs are very likely to have tried cannabis first, but the suggestion that smoking pot causes hard drug use falls to the first lesson of any statistics class: correlation is not causality. Pot, being the most popular and available illicit drug, tends to be the one that people try first. Furthermore, gateway theory advocates consistently omit alcohol from their calculations, as if there could be no connection between legal and illegal drugs. Virtually everyone who has tried any recreational drug, marijuana included, has had a drink at some point in their life. Many of them have had a cigarette or two as well. So why is the gateway label never attached to alcohol? Because the people still making noise about the gateway theory have an agenda, and they are willing to ignore logic to push it.

5. Pot makes you stupid

5 lies about marijuana that won't die easy

If you read the full article you can find out the truth to these statements. I didn't want to quote the whole article so I only did two of them.
It is time people get informed of the truth and we forget all the lies we have been told.

Check out this other important thread:
What has research over the past two decades revealed about the adverse health effects of recreational cannabis use
edit on 10 11 2014 by Sabiduria because: added important thread link

edit on 10 11 2014 by Sabiduria because: (no reason given)


(post by Nechash removed for a serious terms and conditions violation)
+20 more 
posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 01:56 PM
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a reply to: Sabiduria

I've always hated marijuana being referred to as "The Gateway Drug." I've always looked at alcohol as being the real "Gateway Drug."



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 01:56 PM
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I'll agree to all of these being lies if you will agree that the whole pot legalization movement is just about people wanting to use it for recreation and get stoned.



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 01:58 PM
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Hell if anything they're making it a gateway drug. Kids are gonna try this evil, evil plant and realize it isn't that bad. Why should they believe what the government says about other drugs too?



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 01:58 PM
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Those aren't lies


+6 more 
posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:02 PM
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a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

Totally valid point, I can look at booze the same way. Why do people drink alcohol? It's legal, and it should be. I think marijuana should be legal as well, the health benefits are just an extra plus.



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:02 PM
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originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
I'll agree to all of these being lies if you will agree that the whole pot legalization movement is just about people wanting to use it for recreation and get stoned.


deal !


+4 more 
posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:03 PM
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OP is obviously a massive advocate of pot who won't be swayed by studies that address all five issues that he mentions.

Extensive studies have shown that people who smoke pot in their teenage years have less neuron development in the brain, leading to less intelligence and lower brain power than their peers. Hence the "pot makes you stupid" argument. If you smoke pot while you're a teenager, you're more likely to have less brain development than your peers.

Studies have also shown that pot is an addictive substance, just like tobacco or anything else that people crave, it fires the addiction and pleasure centers in the brain when smoked. It definitely shouldn't be a class "A" drug, but claiming it's not addictive is ridiculous.

Driving while high is as serious as driving while drunk, maybe more serious. RCMP report that high driving is a huge concern, not just from pot but also from pharmaceutical drugs, and is the cause of many, many crashes. Being high affects your critical thought and reaction centers of the brain, and lowers inhibitions just like alcohol, meaning that being high will absolutely reduce your ability to operate a vehicle and machinery.

The only one here that is somewhat questionable is that pot is a gateway drug. It's not pot itself that's a gateway drug. It's the fact that when you smoke pot, your inhibitions are lowered and you're more likely to take other drugs if suggested by peers. You're also hanging around other people who are regular users of illicit drugs, meaning that the opportunity to take other drugs increases as availability and peer pressure increases.
edit on 11-10-2014 by babybunnies because: (no reason given)



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:04 PM
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posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:06 PM
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Well 2 and 3 are true.

and we could debate number 5

I personally am not against pot, I think if we keep Tobacco legal then it seems a bit daft to say that less harmless pot should be illegal.

Yet at the same time I am not going to deny that driving whilst high is dangerous for example or that it can do some funky stuff to kids brains.
edit on 11-10-2014 by OtherSideOfTheCoin because: (no reason given)

edit on 11-10-2014 by OtherSideOfTheCoin because: (no reason given)



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
Well 2 and 3 are true.

and we could debate number 5

I personally am not against pot, I think if we keep Tabasco legal then it seems a bit daft to say that less harmless pot should be illegal.

Yet at the same time I am not going to deny that driving whilst high is dangerous for example or that it can do some funky stuff to kids brains.


I assume thats a typo unless there is a problem that I am currently unaware of.

This is a big debate that will only grow in the coming years.



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:13 PM
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Well, our fine government solicited the services of the best of the best in medical science who told us he tried marijuana and turned into a bat and flew around the room. And that's when the whole thing started. Had mj never been illegalized, how would the detrimental effects of its use have compared to the mayhem that we see related to mj trafficking?


+8 more 
posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:14 PM
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a reply to: babybunnies

It's pretty funny how reality contradicts everything you have just stated. I do agree that the pleasure of smoking marijuana causes addiction in the same way video games and TV do. Everything else you have stated is flat out wrong. Driving done by occasional smokers and beginners is somewhat unsafe but veteran smokers drive better while high IMO.

I haven't smoked in years but find no problem with it. I also know beyond the shadow of a doubt how it affects its users.

Take my brother for example; he used to be a small minded, uneducated, punk until he started smoking. Now he reads into everything as well as studies science and philosophy. I think marijuana had a profound effect on his intelligence level.
edit on 11-10-2014 by theyknowwhoyouare because: (no reason given)



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:16 PM
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originally posted by: Sabiduria

Though there is new research to work with, the claims we hear from people with an anti-cannabis agenda are the same ones that get dredged up every time someone needs to make the case against legalization. As always, the only way to make a case against full legalization is to claim that pot’s largely innocuous side effects are some kind of scourge on society.

Here are five recent media lies about marijuana:

1. Pot is addictive: In drugs with high rates of addiction, such as nicotine, coc aine and alcohol, we can see a clear pattern of abuse. The drug hijacks the brain’s reward system, so that a smoke, line, drink, etc. is treated with the same urgency and necessity as food and sex. On the behavioral level, there are clear signs of dependency and withdrawal. Marijuana opponents have spent decades trying to show analogous patterns in pot smokers, but the results simply aren’t there. The closest they can get is to show that some people have difficulty quitting, and show signs of anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and other disturbances when they try to quit, as was demonstrated in the Hall study. That does show a non-zero level of dependency in a minority of users, but even in these cases, marijuana has nowhere near the capacity to ruin or end lives the way alcohol and heroin can, and is less addictive than tobacco or even caffeine. As an earlier AlterNet article points out, "9 percent of people who use marijuana will develop dependence at some point in their lives, compared with 15 percent for alcohol, 17 percent for coc aine, 23 percent for
heroin, and 32 percent for tobacco."

2. High people cause car crashes

3. Marijuana causes brain damage.

4. The gateway effect. It’s 2014, and we’re still hearing about the gateway effect. People who use hard drugs are very likely to have tried cannabis first, but the suggestion that smoking pot causes hard drug use falls to the first lesson of any statistics class: correlation is not causality. Pot, being the most popular and available illicit drug, tends to be the one that people try first. Furthermore, gateway theory advocates consistently omit alcohol from their calculations, as if there could be no connection between legal and illegal drugs. Virtually everyone who has tried any recreational drug, marijuana included, has had a drink at some point in their life. Many of them have had a cigarette or two as well. So why is the gateway label never attached to alcohol? Because the people still making noise about the gateway theory have an agenda, and they are willing to ignore logic to push it.

5. Pot makes you stupid

5 lies about marijuana that won't die easy

If you read the full article you can find out the truth to these statements. I didn't want to quote the whole article so I only did two of them.
It is time people get informed of the truth and we forget all the lies we have been told.




I hope I am not violating tees and cees with this, I never did get round to reading them all.

I think theres a big difference between what was the plant in question and the hybrid variations that are commerically grown and sold as a drug. The origional plant has far different properties to the illicit variations available today and I personally think that this is the problem



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:16 PM
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a reply to: nonspecific

No do not under estimate the dangers of Tabasco

Trust me the damage that extra hot stuff is doing to our sewage systems is unspeakable.



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:17 PM
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a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

You are right and this article shows that it is true. No one ever considers alcohol as a gateway drug



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:19 PM
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a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

It is half and half, yes there are a lot of people who want to smoke it for recreation purposes but there are lots who use it medicinally but they don't legally qualify to smoke it medicinally



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:20 PM
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originally posted by: Sabiduria
a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

You are right and this article shows that it is true. No one ever considers alcohol as a gateway drug


That is because alcohol is both socially acceptable and taxable like tobacco.

The plant in question could never be legalised because it already has such a strong supply infastrucure it would be impossible to govern (my opinion only)



posted on Oct, 11 2014 @ 02:27 PM
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Used judiciously, it's a great intellectual tool. It's amazing.
Use it all the time, and your overdoing it.







 
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