Many Drugs Are Bad, but Marijuana is Not

Every time I open up the television and see an anti-drugs commercial, or whenever I read "facts" (facts that are based on studies 50 years old that have been proven wrong countless time since then...) on marijuana from the government, I can't help but laugh.

At the same time, it's sad that people can't open up their eyes: Marijuana is not the Devil society try to convince us it is.

But let's get some false fact first, and try to correct them.

"Marijuana has some of the same cancer-causing substances as tobacco. One joint can deliver four times as much cancer-causing tar as one cigarette."

This is true if you take a ratio of marijuana plant / tobacco. But if you take the buds (the part that is smoked in marijuana), then it delivers 1/3 of the Tar the same weight of tobacco would deliver. In the first study on Marijuana smoke, scientists have burned the whole plant - leaves, stems, buds, everything. That is why there was this much tar. Even if this fact was proven wrong with a recent study, there's no way the government or groups like Above the Influence would change their sayings to "Tobacco can deliver three times as much cancer-causing tar as one joint", now would they?

I guess Anti-drugs groups would still say it's wrong to smoke weed even if government made it legal. They remind me of preacher telling people not to masturbate because they would become deaf. But anyway, I'm getting away from the subject.

"Marijuana is Illegal" I can't say it's not true, but it's illegal because the government can't say "Hey, we were wrong on the War on Drugs, we spent X billions but thing is... marijuana is actually good, sorry to everyone we put in jail". It's illegal because it's part of the politics game, not because it's bad.

"Smoking pot affects alertness, concentration, perception, coordination and reaction time, many of the skills required for safe driving and other tasks. These effects can last several hours after smoking."

Wait, it affects alertness, concentration, perception, coordination and reaction time? Let me remember you that alcohol do this too and that alcohol is perfectly legal. While the "high" on marijuana still leaves you clear-headed, alcohol clouds your judgement. And when I drink a 13oz of 40% alcohol, the effects also last several hours. Alcohol is legal, so why would marijuana be illegal because of its "effects" and their duration? Because Marijuana can impair driving? Well, just do like alcohol: make it clear it's illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana.

After the quotes and facts, let's get to the best part.

Why is marijuana illegal?

Because it's bad? Then why is it used medicinally in many countries, including Canada?

Because it alters judgement? We should make alcohol illegal too then...

Because it kills brain cells? Wait, actually it does NOT kill brain cells. The study that says Marijuana kills brain cells was conducted on monkeys that were in a cage while marijuana smoke was slowly replacing oxygen. The "brain damages" they found was not the cause of Marijuana, but of Oxygen Deprivation. A study conducted after on Rhesus Monkey has shown no evidence of any damages to the brain, and the technology is much better than 50 years ago. "Scientifical facts show that, for cannabis, no neurotoxicity is demonstrated, to the contrary of alcohol and cocaine." Alcohol can damage them because it creates toxins... But I guess alcohol will never be illegal, so why not legalize marijuana?

Because it has tar and tar is not good for your lungs? Knowing what we now know, that there is less tar in marijuana than in Tobacco, we can say this is not a good argument. Plus, THC (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active compound in Marijuana) opens up airways, which means it makes elimination of waste like tar easier, while Nicotine on the other side does just the opposite : it constricts air way and contributes to mucus secretion, which ends up in black lungs. And also, there are many ways of getting THC in your blood without smoking. You can vaporize the buds, which gives you pure THC smoke, or you can cook marijuana into things like Cannabutter or Bhang (although I find marijuana and milk is disgusting).

Because Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, some of which are carcinogenic?

Coffee also contains more than 400 chemicals, and contains rat carcinogens. Still, it is legal. There is no evidence Marijuana can induce cancer, because the prime chemical in Tobacco that causes cancer is not present in marijuana.

There is more, but I guess I will leave some information so you can look for them yourself. I may be Pro-marijuana, but it's because that I'm fed up with all the lies I've been told. "One joint would make you an addict", "It damages your brain", "Etc.".
When a teenager finds that these are all lies, he may think "Wait, they said the exact same thing about cocaine and heroin, I should try it, it can't be really worst than weed..." and that is where there is a problem: How do you want teenagers to believe half of what you say while they know the other half is lie? They can't trust you since you already broke their trust by telling them lies, so they think cocaine addiction is just another joke... and it is not.

If every parent, instead of saying things like "If I ever happen to know you tried marijuana, I will put you in rehab!" were to explain to their children the truth (Most of the parents don't know the truth either... Maybe the government could tell them), then we wouldn't have 13 years old girl addicted to Meth because they thought it couldn't be really worst than weed.

As a final note, I'd like to say Marijuana IS a stepping stone (good job to all the anti-drugs groups, you got one fact right... at least) but not in the way you'd think. It's not the substance that brings the user to try harder drugs, but the moment they discover everything they were told from childhood is bullshit. And also that most dealers sells more than one kind of drug, which means teens have access to all kind of things right from the start. If weed was being sold in Weed Shop or Weed Bars or something, legally, then you would have young adults smoking pot, and by legalizing it, you can make it only available to adults. (In Amsterdam, the legalization of weed increased the number of user at first, but settled and slowly dropped.)

Smoke weed as much as you want (avoid doing it at school since it affects short-term memory during the high, even if you shouldn't have to use your short-term memory much but the long-term one in school), but stay away from other drugs as most of those are REALLY damaging to your body. In the short-term, but also in the long-term, and some damages are there forever. So before taking any drugs, look up for the effects on internet (and I'm not talking about full-of-bullshit-sites like Above the Influence, but hard facts like erowid.org. Or you could just use any encyclopaedia that is up-to-date). That means you need to do some research on marijuana, just like I did, so you can see by yourself that I'm not all making this up.

1 -1998 INSERM-CNRS report, directed by Pr. Bernard Roques and commissioned by Health Secretary of State Bernard Kouchner