Marijuana - Another (medical) view.
Marijuana, a.k.a. pot, weed, ganja, dope, spliff, can be smoked with or without tobacco. It is either rolled up in cigarette papers as a joint, or smoked from a pipe. Some people bake marijuana in cakes, or drink it in tea.
Weed will make you chill out and be ‘cool’. All your senses will be heightened. Food tastes delicious and music sounds ‘iree’. You lose track of time, and don’t mind ‘chilling out’ in the corner for a few hours (or a few days). Life is great.
The health effects of marijuana, if you smoke it, are similar to tobacco: there is an increased risk of mouth cancer, lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory infections. In a minority of people, limited marijuana use can trigger serious (and permanent) mental illness, especially if there is a family history of schizophrenia or similar illness. Heavy marijuana use over a long period can also cause this problem.
Some people believe that those who develop serious mental illness with marijuana use were probably predisposed to it in the first place, and point out that the prevalence of serious mental illnesses like psychoses, schizophrenia has stayed fairly constant over years, even though marijuana use still appears to be growing. In addition, alcohol and cigarettes, which are legal, also cause cancers (throat, stomach, colon, prostate), heart disease, respiratory infections, motor vehicle accidents, violent behavior, and mental illnesses (alcohol).
Medicinal uses of marijuana have also been evaluated, and marijuana has been shown to be helpful in some cases of asthma, and chronic pain conditions including multiple sclerosis and some cancers. Should such use be introduced here, it would require a fairly high degree of monitoring, to reduce the opportunities for abuse by both the physician and their ‘patients’. At the very least, town hall meetings with appropriate input from our medical and law enforcement agencies, are necessary prerequisites before such use could be considered here.
Comparisons between marijuana (currently illegal) and alcohol, tobacco (currently legal) confirm society’s ambivalence about drug use; all drugs have the potential for negative health and social effects yet are treated differently by the law. Physicians have to operate in this environment: we believe that all drug use is bad, yet cannot defend the situation where some drugs have legal protection. We have to treat the problems associated with drug use and abuse, but prevention, an ounce of which is said to be better than a pound of cure, requires more than medical intervention.
