Health - Marijuana is safer than aspirin

[trptamene]

When Bayer introduced aspirin in 1899, cannabis was America’s number one painkiller. Until marijuana prohibition began in 1937, the US Pharmacopoeia listed cannabis as the primary medicine for over 100 diseases. Cannabis was such an effective analgesic that the American Medical Association (AMA) argued against prohibition on behalf of medical progress. Since the herb is extremely potent and essentially non-toxic, the AMA considered it a potential wonder drug.

Instead, the invention of aspirin gave birth to the modern pharmaceutical industry and Americans switched away from cannabis in the name of “progress.” But was it really progress? There can be no doubt that aspirin has a long history as the drug of choice for the self-treatment of migraines, arthritis, and other chronic pain. It is cheap and effective.

But is it as safe as cannabis?

History:
Marijuana has been used for over 5,000 years.
No one has ever overdosed on marijuana.
Aspirin has been used for 108 years.
Approximately 500 people die every year by taking aspirin

The Law:
Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, meaning the US government believes it is extremely dangerous, highly addictive, and of no medical value.
Aspirin is available for pennies and can be purchased by children at any drug, grocery, or convenience store. Often they are just handed out free by people with no medical education.

Marijuana side effects and dangers:
The dangers of marijuana include possible respiratory problems caused by the deposition of burnt plant material on the lungs. This danger can be eliminated with alternate forms of consumption such as eating or vaporizing the medicine.
For two to four hours, marijuana causes short-term memory loss, a slight reduction in reaction time, and a reduction in cognitive ability. (It makes you stupid for a little while.)These conditions DO NOT persist after the herb wears off.
Hunger
Paranoia
Depression
Laughter
Introspection
Creative Impulse
Euphoria
Tiredness
Forgetfulness

Aspirin side effects and dangers:
When taken with alcohol, aspirin can cause stomach bleeding.
Reye Syndrome in children: fat begins to develop around the liver and other organs of the child, eventually putting severe pressure on the brain. Death is common within a few days.
People with hemophilia can die.
People with hyperthyroidism suffer elevated T4 levels.
Stomach problems include dyspepsia, heartburn, upset stomach, stomach ulcers with gross bleeding, and internal bleeding leading to anemia.
Dizziness, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, vertigo, vision disturbances, and headaches.
Heavy sweating
Irreversible liver damage
Inflamation and gradual destruction of the kidneys
Nausea and vomiting
Abdominal pain
Lethargy
Hyperthermia
Dyspepsia: a gnawing or burning stomach pain accompanied by bloating, heartburn, nausea, vomiting and burping.
Tachypnea: Abnormally fast breathing
Respiratory Alkalosis: a condition where the amount of carbon dioxide found in the blood drops to a level below normal range brought on by abnormally fast breathing.
Cerebral Edema: Water accumulates on the brain. Symptoms include headaches, decreased level of consciousness, loss of eyesight, hallucinations, psychotic behavior, memory loss and coma. If left untreated, it can lead to death.
Hallucinations, confusion, and seizure.
Prolonged bleeding after operations or post-trauma for up to 10 days after last aspirin.
Aspirin can interact with some other drugs, such as diabetes medication. Aspirin changes the way the body handles these drugs and can lead to a drug overdose and death.

If you think that cannabis is actually safer than aspirin, you are not alone. In October 2000, Dr. Leslie Iversen of the Oxford University Department of Pharmacology said the same thing.

In her book, ‘The Science of Marijuana,’ Dr. Iversen presents the scientific evidence that cannabis is, by-and-large, a safe drug. Dr. Iversen found cannabis had “an impressive record” when compared to tobacco, alcohol, or even aspirin.

“Tetrahydrocannabinol is a very safe drug,” she said. “Even such apparently innocuous medicines as aspirin and related steroidal anti-inflammatory compunds are not safe.”

So if safety is your concern, cannabis is clearly a much better choice than aspirin. If you eat it or vaporize it, it just might be the safest painkiller the world has ever known

Terms:

Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.

Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.

Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.

Reinforcement: A measure of the substance’s ability, in human and animal tests, to get users to take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.

Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.


from:

http://www.onmarijuana.com/2007/03/2...-than-aspirin/


EDIT: crap, this should go in the cannabis using subfora-can someone move it? mod?

Reputation Comments on this post:

An interesting contribution along with good references

[RaoulDuke]

Marijuana increases your heart rate and raises your blood pressure, putting you at greater risk of a heart attack. In fact, the first hour of THC intoxication, one is at 4 times the risk of having a heart attack.

Aspirin, when taken on a daily regimen in low doses reduces your overall risk of a heart attack. Even on the onset of a heart attack it is recommended to take aspirin.

Aspirin saves lives

Just my $.02

[stoneinfocus]

And costs lives and is toxic to numerous viscera, especailla kidneys, liver and as a cox-inhib. to the mucus membranen of the stomach.

Hell, Heroin is safer than aspirine, that´s why Hoechst or was it Bayer marketed it before and instead of Aspirine, because they saw the sides to be too unethical to throw it on the market over Heroin.

In the USA there´re 36000 deaths related to Aspirine and if one counted in the dialysis and all organ failures even OTC Heroin would be safer.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good point, but it'd be nice if you could reference statistics.

[FuBai]

Firstly I would like to point out that fighting against prohibition on health grounds is to acknowledge that the state has the right to prohibit the voluntary and personal use of substances on the grounds that they are bad for you.

As for cannabis being less harmful than aspirin I would agree with you, in the long term, but this is only under the following conditions:

1) The Marijuana is eaten(or vaporised) rather than smoked
2) The Subject has no existing mental health disorders or any particular vulnerability to metal health disorders
3) The Subject is able to responsibly handle the intoxication of Marijuana - unlike aspirin where there is no great intoxication you are far more prone to mistakes whilst in an intoxicated state - not the fault of the drug but useful when talking about health risks

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good point, it is good to remind people of this point.

[MaryJaneBenzo]

Of course cannabis is safer than aspirin..
It's safer than nearly EVERY legal drug on the market..
That figures why the American Government spend Billions
of dollars trying to keep it ILLEGAL.. Because if/when it's
eventually Legalised,, the pharmaceutical multi national's will
lose Billions of dollars in revenue because people will be using
cannabis to treat there symptoms instead of there Pills..

Peace...

[stoneinfocus]

and they´d use opiates more often, like laudanum, peragoric etc...

[lexifer]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

In fact, the first hour of THC intoxication, one is at 4 times the risk of having a heart attack.

i'll believe that when i see a quote to accompany it. just seems a little farfetched.

[st3v3]

Responsibility
If one eats Mary, if one found ways to control any depression they have, if one does not drive blazed out, the list goes on... but basically if one lowers as many risks as they can with it then hell yeah it's safer. Otherwise why would it be safer? One just has to take it responsibly in order for it to be more safe. There's a list of longer things with aspirin, but not a better list of things either with Mary. I wouldn't call anything on that list with Mary very positive and enjoyable either, even though you aren't probably going to wind up psychically diseased or dead right away...unless you have a fatal wreck, kill yourself (depression), or do something stupid while loaded.

Quality Of Life And What Really Matters
When it comes down to everything, it's the fact of what happens to somebody with either of these drugs in the long term, that's what matters. It's about the quality of our Lives, that's what matters the most. Mary equals lung disease IF you smoke it. Do you know how nasty and ugly lung cancer is? or emphysema(Eeek). Now let's look at any of side effects from aspirin, those things also are damn horrible to live with. You don't want none of those from either drug. Read about the symptoms and what type of hell you have to go through with those diseases everyday of your Life, what gets affected, who else gets affected(loved ones), goto the hospital, really look at people with those diseases, it's not pleasant at all. Yeah--you could die from any moment on from the day you were born, but you could also live until your old enough to have to go through the damage you have done to yourself, and that can be a freaky thought. You want to get healthy as you grow older, not vice versa, let that sink for a moment.

Closing Thoughts
I think that article is a failed attempt to make Mary look safer in general, or else why compare it? When both can mess you up-- it also depends on the rest of ones lifestyle as an individual and about a zillion other things. So the conclusion? I say it once more of course Mary CAN be just a bit more safer than aspirin . . . but that depends on the user, really, and that's without counting in the factor that abusing drugs is already being irresponsible as it is, health wise.

[trptamene]

Originally Posted by st3v3

Mary equals lung disease IF you smoke it. Do you know how nasty and ugly lung cancer is? or emphysema(Eeek).

Do you have sources to back this claim up...

Irvin Rosenfeld HB 5470 Michigan Medical Marijuana Testimony <<this guy has smoked weed for like 25 years and is fine.

[st3v3]

Smoke inhalation, look it up.

[Paracelsus]

Originally Posted by trptamene

<<this guy has smoked weed for like 25 years and is fine.

And Winston Churchill smoked opium as a young man, was into N2O, and also drank & smoked heavily. He died at age 90. One isolated case doesn't work as an argument.

Cannabis smoke was shown to be carcinogenic. There are several studies to back this up. And even more news articles to exaggerate this in a retarded way.

[trptamene]

Originally Posted by Paracelsus

Cannabis smoke was shown to be carcinogenic. There are several studies to back this up. And even more news articles to exaggerate this in a retarded way.

Do you know of any documented cases for the smoke causing cancer?

[psyche]

In fact, the first hour of THC intoxication, one is at 4 times the risk of having a heart attack.

i'll believe this when i see a quote to accompany it. just seems a little farfetched.

I think that misconception is from this fraudulent site: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html

It says: "One study has indicated that an abuser's risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana(6). The researchers suggest that such an effect might occur from marijuana's effects on blood pressure and heart rate and reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of blood."

Bullshit, I thought to myself and checked out the study. How did they conclude something like that?

"We used the case-crossover study design to compare the reported use of marijuana in the hour preceding symptoms of myocardial infarction onset to its expected frequency using self-matched control data."

It isn't any surprise that cannabis can trigger heart attack in the vulnerable people. So many things like caffeine, exercise, unhealthy food can drive someone with underlying condition overboard, and with fast food you don't even need to have an underlying condition. It is so usual and easy for propagandists to dismiss underlying factors, such as preexisting condition. You can't possibly conclude from that study that cannabis quadruples your risk of heart attack because most people don't have that serious heart condition. Many of those people were doomed to have a heart attack at some point, and cannabis can be one of the triggers. That study doesn't prove the direction of causality, but cannabis is so throughly studied with millions if not billions of dollars of your tax money that it if cannabis really had that dramatic effect on heart they would be roaming around the city announcing the danger of evil weed with loudspeakers turned to the max.

[dr ACE]

[[QUOTE=FuBai;322648]Firstly I would like to point out that fighting against prohibition on health grounds is to acknowledge that the state has the right to prohibit the voluntary and personal use of substances on the grounds that they are bad for you.[QUOTE]

this is exactly what the state dose,prohibits the personal use of substances that they(the government) deems to be bad for the public.wether they are or not is irrelavant to the government

the main argument for the legalization of illegal drugs is the simple fact they are not as dangerous as the laws and state try to make out. its not about trying to fight against the current prohibition, as much as fighting against ignorance and stigmas surrounding simple plants and plant alkaloids

swims opinion cannabis is one of the most safest drugs on the earth if used wisely. the majority of 'man-made' drugs have the worst consequences for society ie; herion,cocaine,amphetamine,ethyl alcohol,asprin,paracetamol,thorazine ect,ect...

[Paracelsus]

trptamene: No. There are documented cases of so-called 'pre-malignant' or 'precancerous' lesions of the oral mucosa, but there is no definite link between cannabis smoke and cancer. Since cannabis smoke contains tar and other carcinogens (this is well-documented), it may cause cancer is some models like those used to show that tobacco smoke is carcinogenic (for example applying condensed smoke on rat skin, etc).

See this paper for some of the respiratory symptoms. You can search PubMed for "cannabis oral lesions" or similar for the info about the precancerous lesions.