Cannabis and adverse health effects

[lamchopz]

When I participated in the discussion here (the subforum is hiden from guests so you need to register to see the thread), I was reminded of someone on FiestaFan who once said that cannabis wasn't harmful. Well, I've done some research and here's what I found (taken from a 2009 study):

Cannabis abuse can result in the following:

Panel 1

Acute adverse effects
• Anxiety and panic, especially in naive users
• Psychotic symptoms (at high doses)
• Road crashes if a person drives while intoxicated

Chronic adverse effects
• Cannabis dependence syndrome (in around one in ten users)
• Chronic bronchitis and impaired respiratory function in regular smokers
• Psychotic symptoms and disorders in heavy users, especially those with a history of psychotic symptoms or a family history of these disorders
• Impaired educational attainment in adolescents who are regular users
• Subtle cognitive impairment in those who are daily users for 10 years or more

Panel 2

Possible adverse effects of regular cannabis use with unknown causal relation
• Respiratory cancers
• Behavioural disorders in children whose mothers used cannabis while pregnant
• Depressive disorders, mania, and suicide
• Use of other illicit drugs by adolescents

source (You need a subscription to view the full article. If you're a uni student, you already have a free membership)

According to the review cited, cannabis use is associated with a lot of things including schizophrenia:

Cannabis use has been associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders. A 15-year follow-up of
50 465 Swedish male conscripts reported that those who had tried cannabis by age 18 years were 2·4 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than those who had not. Risk increased with the frequency of cannabis use and remained signifi cant after statistical adjustment for a few confounding variables. Those who had used cannabis ten or more times by 18 years of age were 2·3 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than those who had not.

Nonetheless, a lot of the reported effects may not be caused by cannabis abuse:

Some other adverse eff ects are associated with regular cannabis use (panel 2), but whether they are causal is not
known because of the possible confounding effects of other drugs (tobacco for respiratory cancers; tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs for behavioural disorders in children whose mothers smoked cannabis during pregnancy).

[MikeyG]

• Road crashes if a person drives while intoxicated

As with alcohol or other substances that alter your mind, like prescription drugs or anything else.

• Cannabis dependence syndrome (in around one in ten users)

One in ten, who obviously have an addictive personality, with that statistic you can't really say anything about addiction .. as anyone who has tried anything would tell you it is the easiest substance to quit.

• Chronic bronchitis and impaired respiratory function in regular smokers

Never did anyone say inhaling smoke was good for your lungs.

• Impaired educational attainment in adolescents who are regular users

LOL not me personally, but some people focus better and do their work more when they blaze. I get lit for every class and I have a c+ / b average ... and yes I'm in normal classes and in the grade I should be in.


Not gunna say it's all fine and dandy but definetly the LEAST by far harmful out of any drugs/substances.

[lamchopz]

At least you now recognise its negative effects.

[MikeyG]

I blaze to much not to.

[Drake1]

all the upper classmen in my school blaze, even the one with the highest GPA blazes. One hasn't done it in 3 months and said its easy to start and stop whenever u want to, its not like tobacco where u constantly need it.

[Havoc]

You guys make this stuff sound like it's nothing to be worried about. Wait until one of your family members does it and hes some schitzo fcker because of it. My brother in law does this stuff heavy.

He is like way out there. Completely lost in his own world. He came over to my house the other day and was talking about how the popes in the old days took shrooms. And that Juan Diego was on shrooms when he saw the virgin mary "but they won't tell you that". Im like, "Who! Who wont tell me that?" And he just replies "Them".

He's so lost in it. And he swears aliens exist, he looks up youtube videos as proof. And then I show him the forums of the video as it being a hoax and he still doesn't think its a hoax. He's got my sister brainwashed with this shit. I swear, I think he's got mental issues now because of it. When I first met him he was nothing like this.

Please, don't smoke it. You will be slow to think, react, remember and everything else. You will become an idiot. I don't care what you say about grades, shit on paper means nothing. It's how you will interact in the real world that matters. Book smart means nothing when you're some slow ass idiot. Sorry for the Rant/curses, my brother in law just really gets on my nerves.

[Hessah]

Good on you for sharing that side of what you've seen Havoc.

[MikeyG]

LOL and I can guarentee he just liked other drugs. I've accepted the fact that it can be a gateway drug now, cause it opens you up to the concept of gettin high .. then your like eh that high wasn't bad lets try some crack! lmao. All depends on the person, it's not going to turn u into some fuckin nut low life, usually nut low lifes just might smoke pot. I've had 100s of drug related, violence related experiences, non caused by pot.

If you want to be succesful and smart, marijuana is not going to cause you to lose that want, or the ability to be so. And yeah I know more then a few parents/adults who have a good life, good jobs ( some very rich ) and kids, and arn't stupid. So speak for your uncle, not all stoners.

[Belaslav]

Excuses, excuses...

[Blaaaaaaaah]

Keep in mind this is in Mature Discussions, even though the thread is old. Keep posts a little more constructive.


I think it's kind of.. weird.. to "encourage" smoking it @_@" Obviously it's a different case for everyone and I certainly don't encourage smoking it, even if it's just a little bit, but for me.. the most important thing is for it to not affect others. Smoke it if you want, but don't encourage others or smoke enough to have your behaviour affect others. I mean, even if a person's health gets affected by it later on in life cos they smoked too much when they were young, it's their own fault and they will have to suffer the consequences... in this day, people at a young age can get access to so many sources of information from the media/internet, they can decide whether what they're doing is good or bad for themselves (with the help of good parenting too, perhaps).

But, too much of one thing is never good, no matter what it is. Self control is the main thing here, I guess.