WillyWonka

Although I approve of medicinal mj use, I think there is a funny contradiction inherent in the use of medical marijuana that no one wants to face.

Smoking is bad for you. No that's not the newsflash. We all know that. But whenever people point out that this major negative side effect of smoking significantly reduces marijuana's medicinal value, proponents always point to vaporizers as being a safe alternative.

But vaporizers actually aren't very effective for treating a lot of the medical conditions marijuana targets. (I can't speak for all medical uses, of course.)

Sure, they pack a lot of THC and -- debatably -- other cannabinols in the vapor. But the active substances don't seem to go to the right places in the body. At least based on the experiences of vaporizer users on this forum (I've been doing researach because I was thinking of getting a vaporizer) and on other forums, vaporizers tend to give people cerebral highs that have little or no stoning effect on the rest of the body. That can be great for mental/emotional/creative needs, but it doesn't do much for, say, treating pains in the body. Right?

I haven't used a vaporizer, so I can't speak from personal experience, but I have had a strain of pot that must have been pure sativa because I felt no effect below the neck. If anything, it made my body hurt more. The mental high was a lot of fun, but it didn't relieve my pain, which is what I needed it for in the first place.

So, at least for me, I guess I've just got to decide if the lung damage/cancer risk is worth the relief that smoking -- not vaping -- provides. I think it is, but it's still a very important consideration.