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Lothar121

Marijuana Link to Lethal Behavior
Bill Janes | Daytona Beach News-Journal | 09/25/2006

The Sept. 20 editorial on marijuana legalization ("Straight Talk") continues the misinformation campaign of past years. It resurfaces many of the same points that have been scientifically refuted years ago.

While marijuana is not a lethal drug, using it can lead to potentially lethal behaviors. Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substance Act for a reason: It has a high potential for abuse and no medical value. The Supreme Court (U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Club) and the Food and Drug Administration have determined that marijuana has no medicinal value. The FDA confirmed this position again in 2006.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse and the American Medical Association have documented the substantial risks of using marijuana. Marijuana use can lead to respiratory diseases, increased heart rate, cognitive impairment, poor school performance, automobile accidents and dependence.

Smoking marijuana can promote cancer in the lungs due to 50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke. Marijuana admissions to drug treatment have increased from 8.6 percent of total drug admissions in 1994 to 15.9 percent in 2004. The average age of those admitted to treatment was 24. Of all teenagers in drug treatment, about 60 percent had a primary marijuana diagnosis.

Clearly, marijuana, the most widely used illicit drug in America, is endangering our children and young adults. This editorial perpetuates an all too frequent, unfounded assertion that smoking marijuana is acceptable and harmless. It is not; it is illegal, dangerous and unhealthy.

The discussion on incarceration is also misleading, as it lumps all drugs and drug offenses together. As presented in the editorial, the statistics lump together distribution, trafficking and manufacturing, as well as a variety of drugs, including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Quite to the contrary, however, according to Bureau of Justice statistics, only 2.2 percent of federal inmates in 1997 were sentenced for marijuana possession.

We should also not dismiss the "gateway drug" aspect of marijuana. A 2003 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association states that while an exact causal relationship has not been established because of the inability to scientifically control all variables, the clear association between marijuana use and subsequent use of cocaine, heroin or other illicit drugs "has been well established" much as smoking and cancer have been causally established.

Government and medical science have participated in debates and presented the research evidence. The editorial gives false hope for those who seek any justification to smoke pot or to bash all levels of government that are charged with protecting our youth and society. The author clamors emotionally for marijuana legalization but, like those who have similarly argued over the years, presents no scientific evidence to support his assertions. The result is dangerously misleading at a time when our youth and society need clear, strong messages against illicit drug use.

Janes is director of the Florida Office of Drug Control.

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vladimir

change the first two sentences a little bit
and it just summarized this whole article.

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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.

dredpiratrobert

Yah Vlad, it was difficult to see from Lothar's post if her was stating that MJ is a terribly dangerous drug or if he was only regurgitating some other drivel... I had to go back and read to make sure...

Uhhhhmmm.... about the dangerous behavior bit: Many anti-depressant drugs commonly used and approved by the FDA were recently proven to have the opposite intended effect on an alarming number of patients. Patient's rights avocates have been working to bar doctors from recommending so many perscriptions and to place clearly readable warnings upon medicine vials/bottles. Problems such as insomnia, liver complications, nausea, twitching, and even increased risk of suicide indicate the FDA and the doctors that work for the FDA obviously still have their heads up their asses... when it comes to treating sick people.

is this the way you would run your country's medical system if you were in control? Dosen't it make you wonder who is really represented by the FDA??

so, yes? yes? this is nothing new is it?

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jediborg

I cannot believe that there are still people out there who believe that marijuana is unhealthy, let alone declare it has "no acepted medical use" the amount of research regarding the health benifits of THC that has been conducted in the last few years is staggaring. The doctors in this country had to fight for thier right to reccomend marijuana to thier patients.

How sad is it that our own country refuses to listen to our doctors and medical proffesionals who continue to descover THC's ability to treat cancer, rhumetoid arthritis(not sure of sp), irritable bowel syndrome, and Alshemers disease.

Tell me, what exactly are the percieved medical benifits of tobacco, eh? oh thats right, THERE AREN'T ANY. So why isn't IT on the country's list of shedule 1 drugs containing no medical value? I know i'm just preaching to the choir, but ugh. These kinds of articles make me sick.

king cola

I don't know about pot being 100% un healthy but i do believe in it having medical purposes. I think that no matter what you smoke there is probably a risk of cancer, but the only way to find out if marijuana causes cancer is to test peoples lungs that smoked nothing but marijuana for a few decades. I look at it this way, they talk of marijuana being such and such a greater risk of causing cancer, but the way i see it, cancer is cancer no matter how much more of a chance there is to get it from this or that. Even if marijuana were to cause cancer, whos fault would it be if we came down with it? It's hypocritical to say pot should be banned because of the risk of cancer while the people who give these statements probably smoke tobacco and are addicted to it.

In the article when they mentioned about smoking pot causing cancer, they never mentioned one word about people eating it in foods. I'm sure if someone brought that to their attention they would make up some other bullsh*t excuse to argue against it.

Marijuana has medical value despite what the health risks might be from using it. I always argue that FDA approved drugs cause health problems too. All the chemicals in those drugs pass through the liver, certain legal drugs can even lead to heart attacks over time.

Tell ya what, legalize pot and see how many people walk into a store to get it and then figure out how many of those people were offered hard drugs when they were looking for pot out on the street when it's illegal. If alcohol were still illegal people would be on the street still looking for it, some dealers would probably be selling more than alcohol, offering marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc.

The fact that pot remains illegal makes it easier for someone to offer hard drugs because the person looking for pot is already breaking the law anyway when they are out to buy it and possess it. The dealer is less sketchy about offering the person looking for pot something stronger such as cocaine.

The only message should be that adults have the choice to make over drug use. As of now the kids have that choice to make more often when the drugs are un regulated and remain illegal and someone at any age can buy them on the street. A kid can get drugs easier than a 6 pack of beer.

 

godfather

Hmmm...The last time I checked, the government was hardly trustworthy... That is unless of course you just can't understand what I'm talking about because you A) Work for the government, B) Beleive republicans are angels sent from Heaven to rid the world of filthy Liberals and bring "Democracy" to all the world, C) Don't understand why anyone would bother following one of those false beliefs...or D) All of the above.

Also, I destinctly remember something happening to some people who took these "medications" that were deemed safe by these so called "medical professionals"...Hmmm...What was it?

Oh yes. They died. Not even knowing what hit 'em. I mean, after all they were medications and not drugs, and nothing bad could happen right?...

carlover_36

One more article full of bull.I quit smoking pot in 1982,started again in 1998 because a friend offered and after smoking my back and knees didn't hurt.Even perkiset(sp?) didn't work as well.Medicinal use,ask me.My wife doesn't smoke cigs or pot.I smoke both.She has been fighting cancer for 7 yrs,I am in good health.You decide.

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420godfather

Amen carlover! I still smoke it because it makes the pain in my joints (knees, ankles, wrists) go away.

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......420gf......

replica

Now, I use marijuana for medicinal purposes... So doesn't that automatically nullify the Sched. 1???

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