Marijuana: Does it kill brain cells or does it affect only the lungs?

No one in their right mind would argue it does no harm. But in very small amounts, it does good also. The problem with maryJ is its advocates are breaking the law and they argue from the point of view of having to justify themselves to begin with. If it does harm and is illegal, then that makes them rather stupid. So to justify breaking the law, they cant admit it does harm but they do it anyway. cigarette smokers do the same thing.

It is human nature. Al Capone said he wasnt doing anything wrong, just providing a public service. Drug dealers say the same thing. It is in the nature of survival. If you get killed you stop doing it. If it works you continue.

Mild drug use opens up different ways of thinking. It was a survival advantage when the drugs were very limited in their potency and availability eg only shamans, or only once a year during celebrations. Humans are also meant to be far more uncomfortable than they are now. By removing hardship from lives, civilisation has removed the cyclic nature of pain and comfort, but the up part towards comfort produced natural drugs of considerable effect. People now tend to flat line in their lives, so they look for something that produces the same effect to go from a normal start rather than pain and discomfort. Drug use does that.

If I ever visit remind me to buy a pair of snowshoes first.

As the scotsman said when he visited Cananda, if thats the size of your mooses, I'd hate to see what your cats look like..

The actual chemicals in the blood are very well known and simple blood tests can nowadays determine a great deal.

And that is....?



haha ...Duh. You can't keep doing it.



That's the perfect explaination. They don't want to feel the "bad emotions" such as guilt, rejection, etc, so they get into drugs. Then they don't want to feel guilty for doing drugs and don't want to suffer the consequences, so they again hide all of those emotions by constantly getting high.



Wellllll, I guessss sooo...

MaryJ in the original form helps relax without taking too much of an edge off fitness, if used in very small quantities. However, it also does harm even in small quantities and there is no safe level. For prolonged use over many years, it is clearly undesirable. The question is whether the good justifies the harm even if used only for a short time and it seems clear that especially if it is smoked it does more harm than good. But we can not deny that it does good in some circumstances, it is just that the bad always outweighs the good.

always is a very strong word, my friend...

If the bad outweighs the good, then the good doesn't count and should never be considered in an argument.

Lets examine if it is smoked. It has the same problems as cigarette smoke and there are no safe levels for cigarette smoke. Some people will never get lung cancer, but smoking is not a good way to find out. Some who smoke it do so in front of their children.

If it is ingested, it can cause cancers of the gut. As it usually looks like a cookie, this has also resulted in harming children.

It is always associated with peer groups. No-one thinks, I am alone, I will try some maryJ for the first time. Susceptibility to peer groups is also associated with moving on to harder drugs.

The relaxation it induces is a good thing, but it is not the only way to achieve relaxation. The mind opening qualities are a good thing, but it is not the only way to expand your mind.

Making it illegal at the time was a mistake as it attracted just as many as it drove away. However with hindsight, it was good idea as the world of drugs was just beginning and it was a sensible place to start banning harmful drugs.

Drugs in general cause havoc with everything from the workplace to the family.

There are no safe dosages for the long term. The harm it causes in the short term might be outweighed by an individual need but people rarely stop drinking alcohol and they rarely stop smoking maryJ. Also by their very nature it is difficult to stop any drug. They arent called addicts due to some inappropriate slur.

In any argument, you lose creditability if you are not 100% honest about what the facts are...it is pointless to say drugs do no good.

you are just full of absolutes, aren't you.

I am too close to bed to dissect this for you, but I think you need to practice with a smaller brush before you work up to an argument like this...

That comes as a surprise for me. Would I have been less extreme if I supported maryJ absolutely ? Regardless of the facts ?

Have a good night, rocky.

Thank you for the advice, but I will continue anyway.

LOL and more LOL in my 61 years of life I had smoke all of three repeat three marijuana cigs. All the damn things did for me was to put me to sleep in short order.

My drug "experimentation” was in order to get lay by a young lady who like to do so before having sex and to make it even more funny she was a Metro Dade cop at the time.

But anyone who disagree with you must be an evil drug user how interesting an outlook on life you have.

Why because most of us who had been on this earth for many decades know too many people who are users who did not go on to other drugs or did not have any ill effects over decades of using marijuana.

Sorry your common sense is not sense even if it is sadly common.

Anything can cause harm in fact there are people who harm themselves from drinking too must coffee.

We should therefore ban coffee?

Bullshit and as must as you would love to label anyone who disagree with you as a user I am not your silly person.

Ionus with a coffee cup in my hands I am posting this information. So if you like to charge me with being a user of the evil bean instead of the evil weed for once you would be correct.

The use of caffeine seem even worst then marijuana as no one had die from an overdose of the weed that I am aware of in the history of the human race.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Caffeine_intoxication


An acute overdose of caffeine, usually in excess of about 300 milligrams, dependent on body weight and level of caffeine tolerance, can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called caffeine intoxication (DSM-IV 305.90),[91] or colloquially the "caffeine jitters". The symptoms of caffeine intoxication are not unlike overdoses of other stimulants. It may include restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushing of the face, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability, irregular or rapid heart beat, and psychomotor agitation.[89] In cases of much larger overdoses, mania, depression, lapses in judgment, disorientation, disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations, and psychosis may occur, and rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue) can be provoked.[92][93]

In cases of extreme overdose, death can result. The median lethal dose (LD50) given orally, is 192 milligrams per kilogram in rats.[2] The LD50 of caffeine in humans is dependent on weight and individual sensitivity and estimated to be about 150 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body mass, roughly 80 to 100 cups of coffee for an average adult taken within a limited time frame that is dependent on half-life. Though achieving lethal dose with caffeine would be exceptionally difficult with regular coffee, there have been reported deaths from overdosing on caffeine pills, with serious symptoms of overdose requiring hospitalization occurring from as little as 2 grams of caffeine. An exception to this would be taking a drug such as fluvoxamine, which blocks the liver enzyme responsible for the metabolism of caffeine, thus increasing the central effects and blood concentrations of caffeine dramatically at 5-fold. It is not contraindicated, but highly advisable to minimize the intake of caffeinated beverages, as drinking one cup of coffee will have the same effect as drinking five under normal conditions.[94][95][96][97] Death typically occurs due to ventricular fibrillation brought about by effects of caffeine on the cardiovascular system.

Treatment of severe caffeine intoxication is generally supportive, providing treatment of the immediate symptoms, but if the patient has very high serum levels of caffeine then peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis, or hemofiltration may be required.

[edit] Anxiety and sleep disorders
Two infrequently diagnosed caffeine-induced disorders that are recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) are caffeine-induced sleep disorder and caffeine-induced anxiety disorder, which can result from long-term excessive caffeine intake.

In the case of caffeine-induced sleep disorder, an individual regularly ingests high doses of caffeine sufficient to induce a significant disturbance in his or her sleep, sufficiently severe to warrant clinical attention.[91]

In some individuals, the large amounts of caffeine can induce anxiety severe enough to necessitate clinical attention. This caffeine-induced anxiety disorder can take many forms, from generalized anxiety to panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, or even phobic symptoms.[91] Because this condition can mimic organic mental disorders, such as panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, or even schizophrenia, a number of medical professionals believe caffeine-intoxicated people are routinely misdiagnosed and unnecessarily medicated when the treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis would simply be to stop further caffeine intake.[98] A study in the British Journal of Addiction concluded that caffeinism, although infrequently diagnosed, may afflict as many as one person in ten of the population.[87] Co administration of theanine was shown to greatly reduce this caffeine-induced anxiety.[99]

[edit] Effects on memory and learning

Anhydrous caffeineAn array of studies found that caffeine could have nootropic effects, inducing certain changes in memory and learning.

Researchers have found that long-term consumption of low dose caffeine slowed hippocampus-dependent learning and impaired long-term memory in mice. Caffeine consumption for 4 weeks also significantly reduced hippocampal neurogenesis compared to controls during the experiment. The conclusion was that long-term consumption of caffeine could inhibit hippocampus-dependent learning and memory partially through inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis.[100].

In another study, caffeine was added to rat neurons in vitro. The dendritic spines (a part of the brain cell used in forming connections between neurons) taken from the hippocampus (a part of the brain associated with memory) grew by 33% and new spines formed. After an hour or two, however, these cells returned to their original shape.[101]

Another study showed that human subjects " after receiving 100 milligrams of caffeine " had increased activity in brain regions located in the frontal lobe, where a part of the working memory network is located, and the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain that controls attention. The caffeinated subjects also performed better on the memory tasks.[102]

However, a different study showed that caffeine could impair short-term memory and increase the likelihood of the tip of the tongue phenomenon. The study allowed the researchers to suggest that caffeine could aid short-term memory when the information to be recalled is related to the current train of thought, but also to hypothesize that caffeine hinders short-term memory when the train of thought is unrelated.[103] In essence, caffeine consumption increases mental performance related to focused thought while it may decrease broad-range thinking abilities.

[edit] Effects on the heart
Caffeine binds to receptors on the surface of heart muscle cells, which leads to an increase in the level of cAMP inside the cells (by blocking the enzyme that degrades cAMP), mimicking the effects of epinephrine (which binds to receptors on the cell that activate cAMP production). cAMP acts as a "second messenger," and activates a large number of protein kinase A (PKA; cAMP-dependent protein kinase). This has the overall effect of increasing the rate of glycolysis and increases the amount of ATP available for muscle contraction and relaxation. According to one study, caffeine in the form of coffee, significantly reduces the risk of heart disease in epidemiological studies. However, the protective effect was found only in participants who were not severely hypertensive (i.e., patients that are not suffering from a very high blood pressure). Furthermore, no significant protective effect was found in participants aged less than 65 years or in cerebrovascular disease mortality for those aged equal or more than 65 years.[104]

[edit] Effects on children
It is a common myth that excessive intake of caffeine results in stunted growth within children, particularly younger children and teenagers.[105] - recently, scientific studies[which?] have disproved the notion. Children are found to experience the same effects from caffeine as adults.

However, subsidiary beverages that contain caffeine, such as energy drinks, most of which contain high amounts of caffeine, have been banned in many schools throughout the world, due to other adverse effects having been observed in prolonged consumption of caffeine.[106] Furthermone, in one study, caffeinated Cola has been linked to hyperactivity in children.[107]

[edit] Caffeine intake during pregnancy
Despite its widespread use and the conventional view that it is a safe substance, a 2008 study suggested that pregnant women who consume 200 milligrams or more of caffeine per day have about twice the miscarriage risk as women who consume none. However, another 2008 study found no correlation between miscarriage and caffeine consumption.[108] The UK Food Standards Agency has recommended that pregnant women should limit their caffeine intake to less than 200 mg of caffeine a day"the equivalent of two cups of instant coffee or a half to two cups of fresh coffee.[109][110] The FSA noted that the design of the studies made it impossible to be certain that the differences were due to caffeine per se, instead of other lifestyle differences possibly associated with high levels of caffeine consumption, but judged the advice to be prudent.

Dr De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, writing in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, concluded that an intake of 200 milligrams or more per day, representing two or more cups, "significantly increases the risk of miscarriage".[111] However, Dr. David A. Savitz, a professor in community and preventive medicine at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the other new study on the subject published in the January issue of Epidemiology, found no link between miscarriage and caffeine consumption.[108]

[edit] Genetics and caffeine metabolism
A 2006 study by Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy at the University of Toronto discovered a link between a gene affecting caffeine metabolism and the effects of coffee on health.[112] Some people metabolize caffeine more slowly than the general population due to variations in a specific cytochrome P450 gene[113], and there is evidence people with this gene may be at a higher risk of myocardial infarction when consuming large amounts of coffee. For rapid metabolizers, however, coffee seemed to have a preventative effect. Slow and fast metabolizers are comparably common in the general population, and this has been blamed for the wide variation in studies of the health effects of caffeine.

[edit] Intraocular Pressure and caffeine
Recent data has suggested that caffeine consumption can raise intraocular pressure.[114] This may be a significant consideration for those with open angle glaucoma.[115]

[edit] Decaffeination
Main article: Decaffeination
Extraction of caffeine from coffee, to produce decaffeinated coffee and caffeine, is an important industrial process and can be performed using a number of different solvents. Benzene, chloroform, trichloroethylene and dichloromethane have all been used over the years but for reasons of safety, environmental impact, cost and flavor, they have been superseded by the following main methods:

[edit] Water extraction

When I was in my early 20s and a college student, I was called for Federal jury duty and found myself being interviewed by the judge.

It would seem that a group of gentlemen was being charge with bringing in a few tons worth of the evil weed.

Two women in a row had already stated to the judge that they was so anti-drug they could not be fair jurors and you could tell he was getting annoy.

When they call me to the stand the judge place the same question to me IE is there any reason why I could not serve on this panel and I have to reply yes to that question.

In a very angry tone of voice, he asks what the reason could be and my reply seems to drive him over the wall.

Sir, I do not believe in the marijuana laws nor would I convict anyone under them.

For a moment, I had a picture of him dropping dead and having my face and name public in the Miami Herald as the killer of a Federal judge.

Oh Ionus at that time, I had not as yet even smoke my three evil weed cigarettes, so believe it or not people who are not users can have such an opinion.

Why would you say that ? Do you really think the drug users are evil ? They are rather ordinary people and you should rethink that statement.

Unlike you of course, who have so much sense that it is uncommon ?? Do you really think that ??

Correct.

Incorrect.