Marijuana is not harmless

With recent relaxation of marijuana laws one might think that pot is not so bad. Recreational, periodic use might not be so bad, but remember that alcohol is legal, and it still kills more people each year than all the other drugs, legal or illegal. Marijuana is not harmless to those who start smoking young and smoke on a regular basis for years.

Research shows that long-term pot use harms memory and learning, and it damages a person’s ability to socialize. There are many social skills we learn during our teen years. Regular pot use during the formative years interferes with social learning. Marijuana studies show that early and steady use creates changes in brain chemistry in the area associated with memory and learning. It’s still uncertain if these changes are reversible when the person abstains from use, but at least, if a person stops using pot, they’re not making it worse.

Researchers are still studying the relationship between pot and cancer. Studies show that marijuana irritates the lungs and that pot contains carcinogens. There is a proven association between long-term pot use and reduction of testosterone. It’s also recorded that pot increases the heart rate significantly and puts the susceptible user at risk of a heart attack.

The myth is that marijuana is not addictive, but this is not true. About 9 percent of pot users become addicted and have noticeable withdrawal symptoms when the stop using. This is from CSAM:

In summary, marijuana has been shown to be addicting to 9% of people who begin smoking at 18 years or older. Withdrawal symptoms — irritability, anxiety, sleep disturbances — often contribute to relapse. Because adolescent brains are still developing, marijuana use before 18 results in higher rates of addiction — up to 17% within 2 years — and disruption to an individual’s life. The younger the use, the greater the risk.

It’s a mistake to write marijuana off as a “safe” drug. The very fact that pot users are quiet and withdrawn, for the most part, helps to hide the insidious nature of the drug — for a young person who’s addicted and smokes regularly, they are doing serious damage to their ability to function in the real world and be a productive part of society. This is especially true as marijuana becomes more and more potent with higher levels of THC. Science doesn’t know yet the full extent of the damage cause by pot-smoking,