Herb Ninja

A Rush of Blood to the Head

A new study which purports to show that marijuana use is especially dangerous, seems to show the opposite.

2-15-2005 | Scott Henson | AlterNet

It's a shame when politics corrupts science, because the public continues to distrust the scientists for politicizing their findings long after their transient policy goals are a distant memory. That's what's happening, in my view, to the National Institutes on Health's Institute on Drug Abuse.

A new study purports to show us that marijuana use is especially dangerous, but I think it shows the opposite. The study found that pot smoking may cause slight narrowing of blood vessels hindering blood flow to the brain, which the researchers hypothesized may explain examples of memory loss. But the study also found higher blood flow levels to the brain overall among pot smokers, which seems contradictory. Whatever the case, here's the kicker:

"After a month without cannabis – during which the volunteers agreed to remain in a clinic, with no access to marijuana – Cadet repeated the sonography. The resistance to blood flow of light and moderate users – who usually smoked an average of 11 and 44 joints per week, respectively – was starting to return to normal." The heaviest users in the study smoked up to 50 joints per day.

So for those smoking an average of 44 joints per week (!), the discovered ill effects wear off in a month once you quit. They wear off over a longer period for heavier smokers who quit. Either way, the vast majority of marijuana smokers are consuming a lot less than 44 joints per week, if only restricting their intake from pure economic motivations. A "joint" is a pretty imprecise measuring stick, but it sounds like folks who smoked up to a couple of ounces per week get over the described ill effects through abstinence in the short term. That says to me most people aren't at serious risk – that's a helluva lot of pot smoking!

This junk science reminds me a lot of the problems with Texas' forensic labs. Part of the reason the work of forensic scientists helped convict innocent people in Texas is that scientists only answer questions prosecutors ask them, and prosecutors only ask questions where they think the answer will prove their case. That's a problem, because which questions scientists ask dictates, to a large extent, what answers they'll find.

So sure, when they study the fellow who smokes 50 joints per day, they find significant health concerns, but I wonder how bad they are compared to someone who, say, drinks a fifth of whiskey every day, which might be an equivalent level of substance abuse. In fact, I'll bet the 50-joint-a-day smoker has a lot of other problems, too.

Where did they even find somebody who smokes that much pot, and how is it even remotely possible? I'll bet even Tommy Chong in his heyday never strung together too many 50-joint days in a row – how in the world can this be considered indicative of what happens with "heavy use"? I'd have considered 44 joints per week pretty heavy use, but I'm no expert. Then, it would appear that at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the experts aren't so very expert, either; just well-credentialed shills for The Drug War.

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"Truth is treason in an empire of lies." -Ron Paul

PullMyBigToe

I could see 40 or 50 bong hits a week but not 50 joints. Who would have the time to roll and smoke 50 joints a week?

Cassius

Actually it's fifty joints PER DAY.

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{ Cassius, Your Humble Narrator }
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killer12382

That's one joint every 20 minutes based on a sixteen hour day. NOT LIKELY.

killer12382

I figure you got to sleep at least 8 hours a day after smoking that much weed, right?

SacredJellybean

If I smoked that much weed in one day, I would probably sleep about 12 hours.

Back on topic, though, this doesn't surprise me. You can count on the NIDA to conduct bunk, "scientific" experiments and slant the results they get in any way they can.

THIS is the reason I don't see marijuana becoming legal any time soon. This phony science can easily be used to fool the uninformed public about cannabis. It's sad, but true.

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"Every age has its peculiar folly and if Charles Mackay, the author of the 19th century classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds were alive today he would surely see 'cannabinophobia' as a popular delusion along with the 'tulipmania' and 'witch hunts' of earlier ages. ... I also believe that future historians will look at this epoch and recognize it as another instance of the 'madness of crowds.'"
~Dr. Lester Grinspoon

SmokinJoe63

And my wife tells me "I" smoke too much!!!
I've got to meet this person. It can't be possible to
smoke that much , even if the joints were pre-rolled.
Talk about burnt out, I just wish I could get an unbiased
opinion on this subject, and be reasonable with the amounts.

"Can't we all just get along"