(Updated – to see my conclusion please go here.)

June 1st 2003 – Marijuana

I live in Los Angeles, I recycle, eat things like seaweed and tofu, and call myself a pagan. I meditate and do yoga, I believe in things like karma, and I dress a bit like a hippy. That’s not so strange for someone living in Los Angeles, which is why most people would probably assume I am for the legalization of marijuana. But they would be wrong. Now, I’m not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, as evidenced by my other site, The Pervert Club. I don’t have the severe phobia of things new and strange as it seems so many people do. I’m open to just about anything, and try very hard not to unfairly prejudge anything without some kind of first hand experience. Which is why I think marijuana on the whole is a good thing. I just don’t think some of it’s uses are.

Lets look at the facts.
Early American colonists grew marijuana crops for the production of paper, clothing and rope. It was so important, farmers were fined if they didn’t grow it. Marijuana can be used medicinally to treat lack of appetite, pain and depression, treatment of glaucoma, nausea. Non-harmful side effects of marijuana use include: being very hungry or thirsty, feelings of euphoria or peacefulness, increase of sexual appetite, fatigue, listlessness. Hemp can be used to make a lot of useful things. I used to have a very nice purse made of hemp. And there happens to be some mixed into my granola. Used medicinally, marijuana is great at treating cancer and aids patients. It’s biodegradable and easy to grow. Which is why I think it definitely has it’s positives.

On the flip side you have the negatives:
All forms of marijuana alters how the brain works. Harmful side effect of marijuana use include: changes in memory, perception, and judgement, dry mouth, rapid heart beat, loss of coordination, slower reflexes, caught and phlegm,chronic bronchitis, chest colds, abnormally functioning lungs and airways, paranoia, suppression of immune system, etc. Marijuana contains some of the same (and sometimes in higher quantities) cancer causing agents as tobacco. By smoking five joints a day you may be ingesting as many cancer causing chemicals as you would be if you smoked an entire pack of cigarettes. Marijuana contains over four hundred known carcinogens. Marijuana may contain toxic quantities of pesticides or the herbicide paraquat. THC, the chemical in marijuana most responsible for intoxication, suppresses the neurons in the information-processing system of the hippocampus, the area of the brain that governs learning, memory, and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivation.

I didn’t know much about marijuana having never used it. So I spent a good deal of time researching it. I wasn’t looking for the good or the bad just the facts. I’m a facts kind of girl. The fact is that while marijuana can be used industrially and medically for many positive purposes, it simply shouldn’t be legalized. There is entirely to much information regarding it’s negative effects that can’t be ignored.

Now before you decide I don’t know what I’m talking about let me say this. I am looking at this from two perspectives. I am in pain every day of my life due to Liver Disease and I had to watch my mother suffer and almost die of cancer. I am fully aware of the pain relief that is positively essential to some peoples survival gained from using marijuana. I believe with ever fiber of my being that people in severe chronic pain should be allowed to take the pills made from marijuana to ease their pain if nothing else works. But I don’t think that anyone under any circumstances should smoke marijuana, and I’ll tell you why. Aside form all the facts we have on how marijuana screws with your brains chemistry, it changes a persons personality. My father and my brother are addicted to marijuana. When they aren’t high, they are perfectly nice people. Not saints mind you, but normal, coherent, friendly. But when they’re high, they are completely different. They get defensive, mean, angry or silly, incoherent and lose their inhibitions. They aren’t the same people and that’s my objection. Anything that changes how you behave, think and feel so drastically can not be good for you.

It is my belief that we should live as cleanly as possible. By this I mean eat right, exercise, meditate, abstain from and type of drugs unless absolutely necessary. I won’t even take an aspirin unless I have too. There are so many natural alternatives to man made drugs that to put something artificial in yourself of your own free will seems ludicrous. All things in nature were created for a reason and have a purpose, even seemingly harmfull or useless things. But for what and to what degree they are used is the question.

I’ve had people tell me they need to smoke marijuana to calm down, to relieve stress and to loosen up. I hear the same excuses for drinking and smoking. But I say that if you have a problem you should deal with it, not run from it. Why fog your mind so you don’t remember when your problems will still be there when you lose your high? And as far as loosening up goes, we’re entirely to lose as it is. My friend says she needs her drugs so when she parties she will be uninhibited. Inhibitions are there for a reason, they keep us from doing stupid things we later regret, like sleeping with a stranger or driving to fast. Another couple tells me that they only smoke a little on the weekends to help them relax. In the same breath they tell me how very poor they are. I can’t understand this. Surely you can see that if you spend money you don’t have on drugs there is a problem.

When it comes right down to it, it really doesn’t matter what I think or don’t think, not now anyway. Possessing, selling and using marijuana is against the law. We may not like it but that’s to bad. You don’t break a law just because you don’t agree. If you truly feel a law is wrong you fight to have it changed, you work within the system. Can you imagine if we all went around breaking the law just because we didn’t agree. And do you think that excuse will hold up in court? Furthermore, using drugs can royally fubar your life. Many high schools and universities have rules against the use of marijuana which can result in being cut from extra curricular activities. This would go on your permanent record and could jeopardize future education opportunities such as the allocation of scholarships. Many jobs also require drug testing. So is it really worth it to damage the welfare of yourself and your family for a temporary high? There are so many other ways to feel good, release stress and feel good besides drugs. Exercise is one, meditation, natural herbal alternatives with no mind altering side effects.

So in the end I believe that hemp should be used to make products such as clothing and rope and medical marijuana should be legal for those truly in need. But marijuana should not be used by the general public, it should be against the law and is a danger to most people. We must way the benefits and drawbacks to any drug. According to studies, marijuana isn’t any better than other drugs on the market to alieve pain and nausea. But if it’s all that works for you exceptions must be made. For terminally ill patients or patients with chronic severe pain, it can be argued that the positive effects outwiegh the negative side effects. But in a perfectly healthy person, this is not true. We don’t allow other addictive drugs on the street, such as morphine, so why should marijuana be different. All Drugs should be regulated and if found unsafe for common use they should be available only to those who truly need it. Anyone selling or using an illegal drug should punished according to the law with a sentence that fits the crime.

Perhaps you can change my mind, perhaps not. Here’s your chance to speak out. Good luck and blessings, Prana

Sources:
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The statements and opinions expressed on other sites are not my statements and opinions nor do the represent my beliefs in any way. I am not responsible for any objectionable material on other people sites.

http://marijuana.bdtzone.com

http://www.marijuanaaddiction.info/facts-about-marijuana.htm

http://www.marijuanaaddiction.info/news-2.htmhttp://www.marijuanaaddiction.info/harmful-effects-of-marijuana.htm

http://www.pathguy.com/lxa/cannabis.txt

http://mindprod.com/marijuana.html

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