5 Things the Media Doesn't Tell You About Pot

[AbramIsaac]

1. Marijuana Use Is Not Associated With a Rise in Incidences of Schizophrenia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19560900

Investigators at the Keele University Medical School in Britain compared trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005. Researchers reported that the "incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining" during this period, even the use of cannabis among the general population was rising.

"[T]he expected rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychoses did not occur over a 10-year period," the authors concluded. "This study does not therefore support the specific causal link between cannabis use and incidence of psychotic disorders. … This concurs with other reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence."

2. Marijuana Smoke Doesn't Damage the Lungs Like Tobacco
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19679602

Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand compared the effects of cannabis and tobacco smoke on lung function in over 1,000 adults.

They reported: "Cumulative cannabis use was associated with higher forced vital capacity [the volume of air that can forcibly be blown out after full inspiration], total lung capacity, functional residual capacity [the volume of air present in the lungs at the end of passive expiration] and residual volume.

"Cannabis was also associated with higher airways resistance but not with forced expiratory volume in one second [the maximum volume of air that can be forcibly blown out in the first second during the FVC test], forced expiratory ratio, or transfer factor. These findings were similar amongst those who did not smoke tobacco. … By contrast, tobacco use was associated with lower forced expiratory volume in one second, lower forced expiratory ratio, lower transfer factor and higher static lung volumes, but not with airways resistance."

They concluded, "Cannabis appears to have different effects on lung function to those of tobacco."

3. Cannabis Use Potentially Protects, Rather Than Harms, the Brain
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19631736

Investigators at the University of California at San Diego examined white matter integrity in adolescents with histories of binge drinking and marijuana use. They reported that binge drinkers (defined as boys who consumed five or more drinks in one sitting, or girls who consumed four or more drinks at one time) showed signs of white matter damage in eight regions of the brain.

By contrast, the binge drinkers who also used marijuana experienced less damage in 7 out of the 8 brain regions.

"Binge drinkers who also use marijuana did not show as consistent a divergence from non-users as did the binge drink-only group," authors concluded. "[It is] possible that marijuana may have some neuroprotective properties in mitigating alcohol-related oxidative stress or excitotoxic cell death."

4. Marijuana Is a Terminus, Not a 'Gateway,' to Hard Drug Use
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7926

Alarmist claims that experimenting with cannabis will inevitably lead to the use of other illicit drugs persist in the media despite statistical data indicating that the overwhelming majority of those who try pot never go on to use cocaine or heroin.

Moreover, recent research is emerging that indicates that pot may also suppress one's desire to use so-called hard drugs.

In June, Paris researchers writing in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology concluded that the administration of oral THC in animals suppressed sensitivity to opiate dependence.

Also this summer, investigators at the New York State Psychiatric Institute reported in the American Journal on Addictions that drug-treatment subjects who use cannabis intermittently were more likely to adhere to treatment for opioid dependence.

5. Government's Anti-Pot Ads Encourage, Rather Than Discourage, Marijuana Use
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19735026

According to a new study posted online in the journal Health Communication, survey data published by investigators at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania found that many of the government's public-service announcements actually encouraged pot use.

Researchers assessed the attitudes of over 600 adolescents, age 12 to 18, after viewing 60 government-funded anti-marijuana television spots.

Specifically, researchers evaluated whether the presence of marijuana-related imagery in the ads (e.g., the handling of marijuana cigarettes or the depiction of marijuana-smoking behavior) were more likely or less likely to discourage viewers' use of cannabis.

Messages that depict teens associating with cannabis are "significantly less effective than others," the researchers found.

"This negative impact of marijuana scenes is not reversed in the presence of strong anti-marijuana arguments in the ads and is mainly present for the group of adolescents who are often targets of such anti-marijuana ads (i.e., high-risk adolescents)," the authors determined. "For this segment of adolescents, including marijuana scenes in anti-marijuana (public-service announcements) may not be a good strategy."

Original Article (I paraphrased some in this post): http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/142815/5_things_the_corporate_media_don%27t_want_you_to_know_about_cannabis/?page=1

Not as cool as Axe's largest animal thread, but interesting, nonetheless.

[Xray]

That's what I'm talking about man, mad props for this.

Let's hope it becomes legal once and for all.

[SajN]

2. Marijuana Smoke Doesn't Damage the Lungs Like Tobacco

Dope

My lungs are bad, cuz of a desease.

[AbramIsaac]

Thanks for the props guys.

SajN, on the lung thing...if you want to minimize damage to your lungs even further when consuming your...whatever...using a vaporizer will pretty much eliminate the negative effects (however minimal in the first place) of marijuana use.

[Xray]

2. Marijuana Smoke Doesn't Damage the Lungs Like Tobacco

Dope

My lungs are bad, cuz of a desease.

Haha good news for ya, maybe we can smoke it up one day man.

[SajN]

Thanks for the props guys.

SajN, on the lung thing...if you want to minimize damage to your lungs even further when consuming your...whatever...using a vaporizer will pretty much eliminate the negative effects (however minimal in the first place) of marijuana use.

I see. Well, I have never smoked any type of smoke before, so I dont have any experience lol.
But I see what you're saying, and I will take that info with me to the grave

2. Marijuana Smoke Doesn't Damage the Lungs Like Tobacco

Dope

My lungs are bad, cuz of a desease.

Haha good news for ya, maybe we can smoke it up one day man.

Awesome