Fiction #1: Smoking marijuana causes Reefer Madness.
The 1936 film Tell Your Children introduced marijuana to the masses as, "the new drug menace, a violent narcotic, and the real public enemy number one." While "Mary Jane" may not be the lust, murder, and suicide-inducing culprit it was portrayed to be in that sensational, cult classic, this weed of many names is also not as benign as the pro-marijuana camp would like the public to believe.
Fact: Medical research shows that marijuana can increase the risk of developing mental illness.
In November 2002, the British Medical Journal reported that heavy cannabis use at 18-years-old increased sixfold the likelihood of developing schizophrenia later in life.
At the Second International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference held at Kings College, London in May 2007, numerous experts presented links between cannabis use and psychotic illnesses in adolescents and adults.
In July of the same year, The Lancet reported a 40-percent risk in developing psychosis for those who have ever used marijuana. One of the study's principal authors, Dr. Stanley Zammit told Web MD that there is "a 100% (twofold) increased risk" for daily or weekly users (July 26, 2007).
Fiction #2: Marijuana is not addictive.
Even the "Petition to Reschedule Cannabis," presented to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) n 2002, states that "basic animal research shows that cannabis produces tolerance and withdrawal." The website Drug Science, which is helmed by marijuana reform activist Jon Gettman, shows the drug to be as physically addictive as cocaine, but less physically addictive than alcohol, tobacco, opiates, and benzodiazapenes.
Fact: Heavy marijuana users experience withdrawals when trying to quit.
Drug Science ranks marijuana withdrawal as having less serious effects than caffeine withdrawal. However, a pamphlet called "Cannabis and Mental Health," distributed by London's Royal College of Psychiatrists, describes the following symptoms: Craving, decreased appetite, sleep difficulty, weight loss, aggression and/or anger, irritability, restlessness, and strange dreams. It describes the symptoms to be "about as uncomfortable as withdrawing from tobacco," but also reports, "seven out of ten cannabis abusers switch to tobacco in an attempt to stay off cannabis."
Fiction #3: Pot is good for you.
With a cover claiming that "Hemp Can Save the World," one would expect political activist Jack Herer's book The Emperor Wears No Clothes, to promote marijuana as a very safe drug. However, the idea was also strongly encouraged by a highly respected medical journal. A 1995 editorial in The Lancet stated "The smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health."
The Lancet's editors later told WebMD that research published since then has changed their thinking and that more research is needed (July 26, 2007).
While varying the method of consumption of marijuana can alleviate some of the adverse effects of smoking it, eating, vaporizing, or taking THC as the pill Marinol does not discount the following.
Fact: Marijuana is a medicine with specific uses.
Americans for Safe Access, a member-based organization that describes its mission as "ensuring safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic uses and research," provides pamphlets describing the benefits of medical marijuana for arthritis, cancer, chronic pain, HIV/AIDS, gastrointestinal disorders, multiple sclerosis and diseases associated with aging, such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, and Parkinson's.
Regardless of which side of the marijuana debate you are on, question your own motives; keep doing homework on both sides of the issue; and support science-based, public health research on marijuana, until we fully understand the effects and uses of one of the world's most popular drugs.
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