Stoners of the world, Unite! Recent medical breakthroughs suggest that smoking crack cocaine cures cancer. Not. Give your head a shake. Smoke is bad for the lungs. That's why the leading cause of death in house fires is smoke inhalation. Smoking weed is no different. Pot smoke is even more cancerous than cigarette smoke. We really have to stop believing everything people say without at least thinking about it first. A new Canadian study states relatively heavy smoking of marijuana may as much as double the risk of someone contracting lung cancer.
Drug dealers are telling kids that smoking pot cures cancer. Aside from being false, don't you think the drug dealers have an ulterior motive for telling kids that kind of bullsh*t? Not only is pot smoke bad for your lungs but scientific research admits that adolescents who regularly smoke pot suffer brain damage and a reduced IQ. Adolescents should not be smoking pot.
Let's think about it. Anything that gets you stoned or baked or wasted, can't be good for you. It's no different than alcohol. Getting sh*t faced isn't good for your health. People respond with anything in moderation to which I concur. But people aren't smoking pot in moderation. If you smoke pot every day or more than once a day that's not moderation.
When I was in high school in Surrey many years ago, lots of people smoked pot. Some smoked way too much pot. We called them stoners. They certainly weren't role models. They were examples of people who elected to waste away their lives. Now if someone is a heavy pot smoker we call them an activist. Times have certainly changed. But that's not all that's changed. The pot now is much stronger than it was in the /60's. BC Bud is a lot stronger than home grown was 25 years ago. It even smells different. It doesn't have that relaxing pleasant smell. It smell sharp and poignant because it is a different strain that is much more powerful. It smells like skunk cabbage.
So this is what's happening. The pot today is a lot more powerful than it was 25 years ago and people are smoking it much more often - every day and sometimes several times a day. What do you get when you tell an alcoholic they have a drinking problem? Rage and denial. It's the same thing with pot. Anything in moderation has been thrown out the window. Now it's an obsession to get high every freaking day. Before work, after work, during work. Even while driving your car.
If you smoke pot while driving your car you should get more than a ticket. You should get an impaired charge because smoking pot while you're driving is irresponsible. People say I'm fine to drive when I smoke pot. That' exactly what I mean. That is the problem right there. People are so obsessed with these insane ideas that they think driving stoned is fine when it's not. Just like driving under the influence of alcohol isn't OK either.
I know this is a sensitive issue. I know way too many people in BC smoke way too much pot. I agree throwing them in jail or giving them a criminal record for smoking pot is ridiculous. But so is claiming that smoking pot every day and several times a day is good for you. It's not.
Almost 50% of the population think pot should be legalized. Slightly over 50% of the population think it should be decriminalized. I don't agree with legalization I agree with decriminalization. So what's their response? If I don't agree with legalization, I'm stupid. Maybe so but if you smoke pot every day, or more than once a day, you have a pot problem.
I agree smoking pot every day is way better than smoking crack or crystal meth. I would much rather see doctors hand out prescriptions for medical marijuana to help crack addicts get off the crack. I just don't think tax dollars should pay for the prescriptions. Turning the not very safe injection site into an inhalation site for people to smoke crack is absolutely insane. I do not support that and totally object to tax dollars being spent on cocaine or heroin at Insite.
I think Stephen Harper is wrong and I think Justin Trudeau is wrong. We are going from one extreme to the other. What ever happened to moderation or balance? It's being thrown out the window with extremism on both sides. Justin Trudeau has been a huge disappointment. I really thought he was going to be the solution. Far from it. Now he's just running around like Justin Bieber trying to usher in the Brave New World of state controlled everything.
In the thread on the Misconceptions about Pot, some argued that pot does cure cancer. If you have a bonafide link, post it there. I don't have time to go through them all but Dr. Smythe has made some pretty relevant observations. One person said pot cured Tommy Chong's cancer. Dr Smythe pointed out that's not what the article said at all.
I didn't realize it was freaking Chong from Cheech and Chong. If smoking pot cures cancer then how and the hell did he get cancer? In the article he claims he stopped smoking pot for three years and that's how he got it. Yeah right. I'm supposed to believe that guy stopped smoking pot for three years. I don't. Even if he did, I don't believe he magically contracted cancer during the three years he stopped smoking pot not before. He didn't say it cured his cancer. He said he's smoking pot in hopes that it will cure his cancer. There's a big difference.
If pot cures cancer how come Bob Marley died of cancer? They call me stupid for having a hard time believing them. There have been interesting claims made about cannabis oil that should definitely be studied but all smoke is bad for you. If you have cancer and you want to try pot to see if it will help, by all means feel free. But don't ignore other medical procedures.
Years ago I knew a lady who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her liver was full of it. Some forms of cancer are treatable: skin cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer. When it hits the liver, that's not a good thing. This woman was given 6 months to live. Since she was a young mother she was understandably desperate to find a cure. She went to a very expensive clinic in Mexico where they gave her raw carrot juice. Her money started to run out so she started calling friends to recommend the clinic to get money from referrals.
Then the magic day happened. She told everyone she was healed. They told her the cancer was gone. Right before she died. It was a heart breaking story of how a wonderful woman was conned and how her family were robbed of the last precious six months of her life. Please be careful. Don't let snake oil claims con you into smoking pot every day. There is a lot more to life than that.
Misconception about Pot
I agree with lots that's going on in this article. At the same time, everyone needs to realize that what does and does not work for one person, may or may not work for another. As far as the comparison to having a beer a day, how does that sit with you? I quit drinking a few years ago aside from the odd beer every other month with some classmates.
ReplyDeleteI smoke daily, a little more than once a day. I play sports every week, hit the gym and my marks are sitting @ a solid 83% in an Albertan post-secondary institution, and I eat grrrrrrrrrrreaaat! Haha, My doctor insists I've never been healthier.
As far as the effect on the brain for youth I would have to agree, I would not recommend anything that kills off brain cells to a developing brain, including contact sports.
I personally think Legalization would do more damage to our economy off the start then people realize. Why does legalization mean that all the hardworking growing families of years are suddenly monopolized. Why should they not be given the opportunity to grow their own and sell it? Why do we HAVE to buy from a government chosen corporate entity.
I understand the criminal empire element that has infiltrated the current system, instead of thinking for one 'giant quick-fix' (which if any of you have noticed, is never ever the case) more should be done to enhance the communities that are entrenched with that flow of economy. Imagine all those wonderful places even more so enriched, and closer to crime free. Those would be glorious places in Canada.
Swearing off modern medicine in favour of more bullshit methods is always a sad story, and I'm sorry to hear about your friend. With anything you find in life, you will always find someone looking to take advantage of a poor and desperate situation, as you obviously know and acknowledge on the regular with referrals to the Vancouver lower east side.
There has not been enough research (legal or illegal) to consistently move forward in either direction, to claim one side has bad or bogus effects or great and miracle side effects are for the most part, just as inconsistent.
Common sense is common sense, if you are burning organic material and inhaling it, there are obviously by products of the smoke.
I choose to smoke MJ every day for a variety of reasons, I am not of the opinion that life is so one dimensional that everything coming your way needs a specific purpose. I can take it as a reward, as preparation, as a way of slowing down the pace a little, to choose to tune in OR out, seeking an alternative perspective, to drowse off or to get my day going.
I am a strong believer that your perspective of how you take MJ will directly correlate with how it will affect you. I'm a strong believer of the placebo effect study too. That's my choice.
What's your opinion on the placebo affect and how it may relate to Mary-Jane?
Finally a reasonable discussion. One beer a day isn’t excessive but one would ask why every day? Is one joint the same as one beer or is it a bit more than that. Obviously after a while you build a resistance to it. I don’t have a problem with people blazing every day. That’s their choice. I just have a problem with people saying it’s healthy and they’re OK to drive afterwards.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol affects different people different ways. One guy might be able to drive after 6 drinks. Another might not. .08 is a fair measuring stick for impaired charges. There has to be continuity in standards. No doubt placebos can have positive effects on the body but like in the case of the mother on carrot juice, a placebo wasn’t enough to save her life. Although in terminal cases I suppose some hope is better than no hope.
I’m also concerned with the saying I smoke pot every day and I’m fine. Many people drink alcohol every day and they are “fine.” I knew a guy in high school that did a lot of hard drugs then went on to University. His specialty was Jamaican high grade but he did a lot of other drugs too. In fact he went on to become a pharmacist so he could make his own drugs. He was a great guy. He was a blast to be around. However, I often wondered if he didn’t do so many hard drugs in university, how much better his grades would have been.
All the science says pot has an adverse effect on adolescent brains while they are still developing. Not so much the adult brain. I’m concerned about all this obsessive brainwashing affecting kids. A friends son smokes a lot of pot now. He is convinced it cures cancer and anyone who doesn’t smoke pot every day is stupid. He smokes it every day and several times a day. His mother was amazed how every hour he and his girlfriend would go out and blaze over Christmas. It was excessive. Now the kid has absolutely no desire to go to school, get a job or do anything but smoke weed all day every day. That isn’t a good thing. It breaks my heart because he is a really good kid. Only he’s not a kid any more. He’s an adult and in many ways life is passing him by.
I work with an adult who says he used to smoke pot every day for years and it never hurt him. He even played hockey stoned. He was an adult who lived at his parents home for 2 to 3 years and had no job. He just smoked weed every day and occasionally played hockey yet he claims pot never had any adverse effect on him whatsoever. Not even his motivation to get off his ass and get a job. Interesting. I just think there are two sides to the story and there is a lot of misinformation out there cramming legalization down our throats when I don’t agree with it.
I just returned from Denver, and they have it together there. It's taxed and regulated. You can't smoke it in the streets, and you can't buy it unless you are 21+. How is that not working? Removing the profit from criminals. Isn't that what this site is about?
ReplyDeleteHere is a list of 20 studies that show that THC has cancer killing properties.
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/08/23/20-medical-studies-that-prove-cannabis-can-cure-cancer/
Thank you for the links. I will have to read through them all fully.
DeleteHowever, one thing that is common in all of them I have read so far is all of these studied the effects of an INGREDIENT of marijuana tested on animals and in cultures.
What that means in the ingredient was isolated and exposed (NOT VIA SMOKING POT) to the cancerous cells or the animals experimented on (again NOT via smoke).
What these studies may show is that isolated properties of the plant may be able to be used in certain fashions for medical purposes.
Not one of these studies shows SMOKING marijuana cures anything.
It would be like telling someone who is sick to go out into mould infested areas and to start eating the mould in the hopes it would act the same as an anti-biotic (penicillin).
No one in their right mind would even consider giving such advice, nor would anyone in their right mind go out and start eating mould claiming if they do that they won't get sick.
As for the side effects of smoke inhalation, all we need to do is look at the effects of cigarette smoke and what it did to a generation or two of children growing up in post-WWII era society where smoking tobacco was accepted.
Those who do not KNOW (i.e. comprehend, understand) history are bound to repeat it.
I do recall these tests were on animals and that is why the American Cancer Society said none have been successful on humans. Something about animals having something in their system that humans don't. I'll try and recall what it was...
DeleteDenver certainly hasn't got it together as far as controlling portions ingested in food or keeping it out of the hands of kids but to each their own. Getting it out of the hands of organized crime is a good thing but that's not the solution here as we saw with the number of medicinal grow ops tied to the Hells Angels busted in Kelowna last year. Legalizing crack in an attempt to get it out of the hands of organized crime is certainly not something I would support either.
ReplyDeleteIt will take me time to dive into the other link. It just seems so contradictory claiming THC kills cancer cells when Chong from Cheech and Chong got cancer and Bob Marley died of cancer. It's just so conflicted.
ReplyDeleteHey K,
ReplyDeleteCheck out this story from yesterday's Globe and Mail. I think there needs to be some serious medical research allowed to be done on CBD
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/toddlers-seizures-stopped-after-consuming-cannabis-oil-parents-say/article18769814/
"On Saturday, the girl’s grandfather spoke publicly about the need for greater access to the medical marijuana-like substance. A former RCMP officer, Chris Nuessler told a crowd of 60 in Summerland, B.C. that his views on marijuana have changed significantly since his granddaughter began showing signs of uncontrollable epilepsy when she was six months old.
“We come from a background where we’ve never dealt with marijuana before in our lives,” said Ms. Nuessler. “We’ve discovered that it’s a healing plant.”