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'We All Know That Cigs Are Bad, But What's The Real Damage With Weed?'
Gavin Godfrey | Daily Orange | 02/21/2006

New York -- Everyone was doing it.

David Gil, a senior at State University of New York Upstate Medical University, watched with utter amazement at the different types of people indulging in the act. There were young kids his age, corporate businessmen in three-piece suits, elderly couples and mothers and fathers all smoking marijuana.

Gil remembers every element of the Amsterdam coffee shop he visited with his brother and three close friends during last winter break. The pub-esque style café had an intimate atmosphere to it, equipped with posh, brown leather couches, round tables and dim lighting.

Gil and his friends approached the register where the marijuana was put on display in a glass case, reminiscent of the local bakeries in his native New Jersey. The freedom to purchase and consume the product in public thrilled his friends with every pre-rolled joint.

"It was the most relaxing environment I've ever experienced," Gil said. "There was no worry of the law, the hype and the stress."

After leaving the shop, Gil and his friends trekked the Amsterdam streets, and the vibe carried them throughout the intricate paths and avenues of the European city. Gil recalls the numerous people walking outside smoking joints and hanging out on streets, taking hits from assorted glass devices; however, when he noticed everyone seemed to be smoking cigarettes as well, Gil stopped to contemplate the serious health effects of marijuana.

"If you think about it, cigs are killing people every day," Gil said. "These people were smoking weed and cigs and seemed content with life. We all know that cigs are bad, but what's the real damage with (weed)?"

The Damage

According to studies, no human being has died as a direct result of marijuana consumption. But when it comes to the negative health aspects of marijuana, the list is long. Marijuana users can and will experience any of the following: paranoia, dry mouth, respiratory problems, heart problems, inability to concentrate, impaired memory and motivation loss.

Unlike other drugs, the more serious and immediate health concerns of marijuana are not as urgent as harder drugs like cocaine, heroin and Ecstasy, but that's not to say the ganja, green, bud, Kill Bill, "blueberry yum yum," "Presidential" or whatever alias you choose is devoid of all negative health occurrences.

"The attitude with college students is that they don't see marijuana as benign as, say, cigarettes or more (long-term damaging drugs)," said Dr. Bruce Carter, associate dean of faculty in the child and families studies department. "It is true that marijuana is not as harmful as some of these other drugs, but that does not mean that the drug is not benign."

Carter is partial to his focus on child development and acknowledges marijuana's effect on unborn children, saying he worries about his current students' drug use and the futures of their children. He agrees with the information detailed in brochures circulated by Syracuse University Health Services, which describes the various heath concerns of the drug. Marijuana can cause abnormally light birth weights, as well corrupt the fetus respiratory and cardiac development, according to the pamphlet.

Carter couldn't agree more.

"Kids will use marijuana with a smile and wonder why they have breathing problems in 30 years," said Carter. "In turn, they'll be asking similar questions for their newborn children."

Now and Then

The origins of marijuana can be traced to China, around 6,000 B.C. The Chinese farmers grew cannabis seeds and cultivated the crop for profit. Today, cannabis serves two very distinct purposes: medicinal use and the pastime of just getting high.

According to -- http://www.Erowid.com -- a Web site with the mission of "documenting the complex relationship between humans and psychoactive," 31 percent of the U.S. population ages 12 and older has smoked marijuana. Erowid provides information on any drug, from naming its effects to providing more literature on understanding a particular substance.

Using consumer reports and assorted marijuana surveys, Erowid estimates the yearly retail value of marijuana at around $10 billion. On college campuses around the country, students are buying into this growing business by the ounce, filling their Tommy Chong bongs and Dutch Masters to the brim with marijuana.

According to Tibor Palfai, professor of SU's Drugs and Human Behavior class in the psychology department, these findings should be of no surprise to anyone.

"Before the kids were smoking it, their parents were," Palfai said. "Everyone smokes, has smoked and pretty much will smoke because everyone has in the past."

Palfai shuns the ignorance directed at marijuana by youth and adults alike and believes every smoker should know the habit's cons.

"It is obvious that (marijuana) is harmful," Palfai said. "The word 'drug' entails that the consumption is going to cause your body harm in some way, shape or form."

Mary Jane's Future

Another component of the marijuana debate is medicinal use. So far, nine states, including California, Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Maine, Colorado, Nevada and Vermont, have produced laws that have allowed the use of marijuana to aid in treatment for various diseases and the symptoms that follow.

For some students, these new developments would suggest that even in light of the numerous health concerns, the United States is leaning more toward an Amsterdam-type culture, said Jordan Adams, a senior sociology major and non-user.

"I don't see our society as much different from theirs," Adams said. "People here smoke just as much as people over there, the only difference in the two comes in the form of the laws making it illegal."

Adams has plenty of friends who spend their weekends slouched on couches, inhaling and exhaling every dollar and cent. On several occasions, Adams has been asked to join in the "cipher," but makes it a point to decline every time. Not because he's against the drug, but because he's more into his own well-being.

The senior works out regularly and is focused on good health and staying alive. He admits that his friends who do use marijuana seem to cite stress relief and instant relaxation as the major reason for smoking, but that still is not enough to get Adams rocking Marley T-shirts and a pack of E-Z Widers.

"I've never felt the need to give into the whole (craze)," Adams said. "I'm not the type of person to do something just so I can relate to people and feel in the loop."

Kieran Pickering, a junior psychology major, considers himself "in that loop." Growing up in Manhattan's Upper-East Side, Pickering's first experiences seeing marijuana are rooted in Central Park. As an eighth-grader moseying around the jogging paths of the famous city landmark, Pickering would often run into older kids smoking what look liked cigarettes. Pickering, a cigarette smoker, knew the smell was not that of his favorite Parliament Lights, but something else, something illegal.

"I've been in sticky situations involving (marijuana) since I was young," Pickering said. "Growing up in the city you run into all sorts of crazy characters; it's normal."

Pickering mentioned the endless amounts of "weed delivery services" in New York. Similar to scenes of the cult classic film "Half Baked," these deliverymen travel on bikes or on foot and bring the product to the customer's front door. Think Domino's Pizza, with some "Sour Diesel" and "Dutchman's Haze" in place of the cheesy bread and wings.

One would imagine that with marijuana-based enterprises like this, the concern for marijuana's more harmful aspects is a very low. Pickering does not see it as societal problem.

"(Weed) is everywhere, and it's not going anywhere," Pickering said. "Even if it did, people will sky dive, climb Everest, it doesn't matter. Any way that they can, people will do what they want to get high."

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dedbr

I prefer married iguana, thank you.

Dear Dr. Carter, In the future could you please refer to married iguana as a "herb" and not a "drug." Hemp would also be acceptable, or india rope. Thank you for your consideration,

Your's truly,
Dedbr

P.S.
If you don't do this, we will take you to a foreign country and make you listen to Nixon speeches.

( Dedbr looks at the new sign in front of the bunker...In neon it say's, "We have the Death Penalty, and We Use It!"
Under that , "Open Twenty Four Hour's"....)

That should fool 'em...Ded

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"Starry, starry night, Paint your pallet blue and gray, Look out on a summers day,
With eyes that know the darkness of my soul, Shadows on the hills, Sketch the trees and the daffodils, Catch the breeze and the winter chill, In colors in the snowy linen land......"

Vincent.... Don Mclean


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PotShot

The ...and will... part I must nitpick. It does not seem to me that, at the very least, heart problems, paranoia, and respiratory problems are an eventual outcome of cannabis use.

O.K. article overall...

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Buzzby

Someone should explain to Dr. Carter that "benign" is a synonym for "harmless". He seems to think it means the opposite. It makes me wonder if he knows his stuff.


This information doesn't seem to exist anywhere else... Did they pull it out of thin air?


Evidence? Again, this is information that can't be found in any of the literature.


3) Fiber for rope, textiles, building materials.
4) Pulp for plastics.
5) Oil for food and fuel.
6) Birdseed.
7) Seed residue (after being pressed for oil) for animal feed.


Dr. Palfai should start by shunning his own ignorance. If a "drug" is something that is going to cause harm, why do doctors prescribe them all the time?

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Tokamak

Who wrote this article? A 14 year old? Between the typos, the double negatives, and the misinformation, this article looks more like a report in a high school paper than a serious piece of journalism.

Peace.

__________________
"He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know."
- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

 

Buzzby

It was written by a college "journalist". The Daily Orange is the student newspaper of Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.

Sad, isn't it?

THC Fiend

Get out of my dreams!

Maybe I'm just dull, but something here seems wrong to me.

There's nothing wrong with being too careful.

Wasn't this like top 100 on the most deadly disease list?

Vaporizer, brownies. No **** we're getting respiratory problems, we're inhaling smoke! Do anti-marijuana activists truly think this comes as a big surprise to us. To all the blatantly incompetent human beings corrupted by the impetus of their inane childhood to the degree where they reject a plant: I would trade my lungs for thirty years of being high ANYDAY (or should it be: any life?).

I suppose if you ate enough cannabutter.

Ever hear of Carl Sagan?

Only WHILE YOU ARE HIGH!

You don't lose motivation, you just realize that it's not worth the effort. Umm, I'd quote that but I can't remember the source, and it's not word for word.

Yea man? Blueberry Yum Yum? That's some fine research you did there.

I don't know where Mr Carter got his degree. But last I checked, benign meant 'mild' or 'gentle' and is used medically to mean 'of no danger to health.'

He says, "That does not mean that the drug is not benign."

So, you're saying the drug is benign?

Don't quote me on this, but I thought Erowid was pro-marijuana...??!?! Correct me if I'm wrong.

This is a pretty sound argument.

There's NO WAY he's talking about Amsterdam.

Then do us all a favour and quit breathing.


EDIT: Alas, somebody beat me to the observance of the 'benign' incident (as it will hereafter be known). Well, sorry for diluting your sense of ingenuity.

__________________
"Nietzsche is dead."
-God

brevity is... wit

Lyte it up 420

Haha, I love the little things, like the guy out of "the loop" more interested in staying alive then smoking away every dollar and cent.

And the guy in "the loop", a ciggaretee smoker since grade 8, who has been involved in so many sticky situations and crazy characters.

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Every living creature on earth dies alone.

vladimir

excluding all the weed-crazed tourists, id say that is very true. the dutch probably even smoke less than us, which i think should be another reason for bringing their system over here.

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If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end of, the human experiment.

dedbr

Drug's and doctor's mean pharmacy's and pill's. It doesn't mean herb.

Has anyone here ever eaten fresh ginseng straight from the ground? Drank sassafras tea? Chewed cinnamon bark? Drank valerian tea? If you have, don't tell anyone.

Drug's are made by man....plant's are made courtesy of the planet .

Don't mention goldenseal either... Get your hand's in the dirt.Ded