It’s awful lonely standing out here in the frozen wilderness. Am I might be only person left in the entire world was advising against the dangers of marijuana? If you look at media coverage it would certainly seem so.
I know from the experience of treating many addicts and writing hundreds of articles on addiction and addiction recovery that there is no group of people more militant about defending their right to use drugs than marijuana smokers.
Look carefully at the topic of this blog: it is about addiction recovery. I firmly maintain that no person addicted to drugs should be smoking marijuana, which seems to be pretty clear. But people love to argue about it. When I publish a piece against marijuana I put on my bulletproof vest and duck.
The increasing danger that I have come to realize is that the media is wholeheartedly on the side of legalized marijuana, covering virtually exclusively only one side of the issue. An anecdotal proof: I have a small specialized piece of trackback software that lets me go out and read the most recent blog posts on a topic for comments and links.
I was looking for some good articles that I could link to from my dangers of marijuana article. I set my little software for 100 and returned 100 results. I was dumbfounded in that of the 100 results every single one of them pro-marijuana usage, or for the legalization of marijuana. Not one person was speaking about the negative effects.
I found that amazing.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I think people are afraid to be different. In having the opinion of minority (i.e. marijuana is a dangerous drug and should not be used, whether legalised or illegal), or speaking their truth (i.e. I don’t think marijuana should be used, and that is by what i stand).
It comes down to people eventually taking responsibility for their own state of life, and embracing changes that will lead them to healthier happier existence.
It comes as no surprise to me at this point, though I am firmly in your camp as well, Bill.
The bottom line for me is that when a person gets stoned on Marijuana, it completely medicates their mood. They can be having a bad day, or be bored, or be having relationship problems, and then choose to get stoned and…..BAM! The problem is temporarily removed.
This is self medicating. You can’t do that with a cigarette (in my opinion). You can’t do that with caffeine (in my opinion). But you CAN do that with booze, or marijuana, or opiates, or other hard drugs.
Marijuana is dangerous because you can self medicate with it, and use it to escape reality. Period.
That is my experience, and my truth. Marijuana was my original drug of choice, before it eventually led me to alcohol and other drugs. But even from the first joint, I was in trouble. I had found my “perfect escape.”
Yes, it will be interesting to watch it all unfold in the next few years….
.-= Patrick´s last blog ..I Have a Son – Daughter – Mother – Father – Girlfriend – Boyfriend Who is Addicted to Drugs or Alcohol – What Can I do to Help Them =-.
Thanks Karina, for the kind thought…I’m with you on independent thinking.
Bill
I read with interest your thoughts on the legalization of marijuana. As a recovering addict, I couldn’t agree more w/your stance that it is “complete abstinence from all mood and mind altering drugs” that is the key, including marijuana. However, supporting marijuana legalization does not necessarily mean that you support the use of marijuana. What it does mean to me and many others who support this is that we begin to de-criminalize the posession and use of marijuana in favor of treating it as health issue rather than a criminal issue. I would suggest that if you are not already familiar with the group, LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), that you check out their website and read the articles and stories related by many law enforcement and judicial professionals who recognize the futility and absurdity of treating marijuana use and addiction as a criminal issue. Prohibition did not work for alcohol and it is not working for marijuana either. All I am saying is that we need to be open minded to consider alternate solutions b/c as they say, “insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results”. Thanks.
I feel there are people out there who just can’t handle Marijuana. It’s not for everyone. A little self medicating these days really can’t hurt if you’re a logical and a good strong person. I have so much stress right now in my life. I may relax with some weed here and there, but don’t you do the same with T.V.? Or a relaxing car ride?
Sure, I’m a daily smoker. (Vaporizer, actually. Smoking is bad for the lungs. Vaporizing eliminates the negative effects of smoking and combustion) But I still get my shit done. I can still run my business, make lots of money, spend time with my loving family or my wife of 8 years. I still address personal and professional issues, I fix my problems, I take care of the people I love around me and they take care of me.
The reason you see mostly pro-marijuana content in the media is because the general population seems to agree – use of Marijuana is pretty much just fine. People who are very weak willed and weak minded will of course suffer from self medication. Do I suffer? Hell no! Some of my greatest business moves were thought out while high. Most of my creative little love inspired surprises for my wife are conjured up while stoned. The Neocortex has a very high concentration of CB1 and CB2 receptors. When you stimulate the neocortex in such a way (the area of the brain for higher thinking), you notice things like your creativity, problem solving, vocabulary and much more increase.
The argument that “it’s a gateway drug” is also hilarious to me. Yeah, people who go on to try meth, heroin, coke and other hard drugs were destined for that route. Weed does not convince a well brought up teen to do hard drugs. A shitty home life or bad parents led that person astray, not weed. Think about it this way, is alcohol a drug? Is it not much much MUCH worse for your health than THC? Is alcohol a gateway to doing meth and heroin? No. But hey, people who do meth also drink. They also probably had alcohol as their first drug. But alcohol did not convince them to try meth. Poor choices got them to try meth. Why is alcohol not seen as a gateway drug anymore? (Yes, anymore. Remember the alcohol prohibition?) Because it’s legal. It’s legality in society makes it an acceptable part of our culture. The only difference between weed and alcohol to me? How I feel in the morning. It’s why I don’t drink. Alcohol is literally damaging to your health. Weed? Not so much.
There are more vending machine related deaths each year than deaths caused by marijuana in it’s entire history. That’s because weed has never killed a single person. I’d certainly even say that there’s a good chance it will overall have a positive impact on your life. But like I said in the beginning, it’s not for everyone. Some people can’t handle the responsibility.