What Are The Myths About Cannabis?

2009.04.02

There are many myths about the use of marijuana and a decade ago, a book was written on the scientific evidence available at that time. Today the evidence hasn't really changed all that much.

Some people believe smoking pot causes mental illness and psychological damage. They also think irrational and erratic behavior can be linked to continued marijuana use. This has not been proven as fact and though when smoking pot you might experience feelings of panic, anxiety and paranoia, the effects don’t last. It seems only when eaten it can cause a temporary toxic psychosis.

Another misconception is that similar to harder drugs marijuana use can become physically addictive and may require professional help to get off the drug. In fact, there are no proven withdrawal symptoms and less than 1% of people smoke everyday. People who have wanted to quit seemed to have done so without much difficulty.

Another fallacy is that today’s marijuana is much stronger than what was smoked in the 60s and 70s. Truth be told the potency of pot today has no greater THC content than years ago. The effects of weed even with a higher content of Cannabinoids would not make it a dangerous drug and the buzz would be very similar. This has been proven from scientific data from the 1980s.
 
Many people indulge in smoking a joint and the public’s opinion as well as the courts is looking at changing how it’s dealt with as a criminal offense. In the 90s in excess of a ½, million individuals were charged with simple possession and many ended up in jail. Their jobs, their social respectability, driver licenses and even their property have been adversely affected with an arrest of this drug.
Even with the entire stigma attached, marijuana use is thriving and is still available all over the world.

Unfortunately there isn’t a great deal of factual information around concerning in depth studies regarding the effects of cannabis. If a study is conducted with sort of a pre mind set such as negativity towards the use of the substance then the results are going to be a little harder to accept. The same can be said for pro cannabis studies. The key is to find a study that can be approached with no partiality to either side. This would indeed reduce the supporting arguments that a study was biased.

It is highly unlikely that the availability of cannabis will ever come to a complete halt. There will always be a found way to get it to the countries that have individuals who use it for entertainment purposes. Perhaps by some legislation in place it would reduce much of the smuggling that seems to be evident. Just as alcohol used to be in control of the mob during prohibition the same concept applies today with recreational drugs such as marijuana.

Some people are of the opinion that cocaine is something here today and gone tomorrow. That it will just be replaced with some other adverse drug. History certainly doesn’t indicate this give the number of years that pot has been around.