Common Cannabis Misconception

[Nature Boy]

I'm new here but already I'm a little pissed off because of how naive some people here are on the topic of cannabis/marijuana.

I keep hearing the same thing over and over again throughout the labyrinth of threads:

"Marijuana damages the brain"

This is 100% false and there is absolutely NO concrete scientific evidence to back it up. Marijuana in no way damages or destroys braincells. It merely "tickles" receptors in the brain that leads to the relaxed, giddy feeling. Alcohol in comparison kills braincells due to the poisonous toxins it can create in the brain. And when a braincell is killed, it doesn't come back or gets replaced.

I just wanted to clear that up. Happy smoking! Edited by: nature_boy_liam

[sands of time]

Though I am a avid fan of cannabis, I think that it will be a long time before we can be absolutely sure how marijuana effects the brain. I have not seen much strong evidence to suggest that marijuana damages brain cells, but at the same token, no one can be sure that it doesn't. Just remember this, people used to think cigarettes were harmless.

[radiometer]

Originally Posted by nature_boy_liam

I keep hearing the same thing over and over
again throughout the labyrinth of threads:

"Marijuana damages the brain"

This is 100% false and there is absolutely NO concrete scientific evidence
to back it up.

What you should do is post in those threads, saying, "do you have any
proof to back up that statement, please provide references?"

It is up to the person who makes such a statement to back it up. It is not
necessary for doubters to prove it wrong. If the poster fails to defend a
statement such as "cannabis kills brain cells" with proof, and no
references to back up their claims, they have forfeited the argument. Edited by: radiometer

[Nature Boy]

I'm not looking for argument though. People are just throwing shit around about marijuana that simply isn't true. This stems back to the "reefer madness" days. People still have the same dumbass attitude towards pot even if they like it.

The thing with marijuana and damage to the brain is that it's been looked into many, many times and yet there is zero evidence. At this stage even mainstream science is pretty sure that marijuana is harmless to the mind.

You gotta remember that tobacco covered its tracks for years and that's why the truth about that wasn't known sooner. Marijuana research is mostly unbiased due to the fact that there's no financial backing behind it.

[radiometer]

I hear you - except when I get myself worked up, I'm non-confrontational
as well. However, you need to challenge ignorance if you expect it to
disappear.

[Pinkavvy]

I don't think very many people that belong to this community beleive that marijuana kills brain cells.

thc has not shown to cause any damage or kill brain cells at all.

however smoking anything is unsafe, due to health problems caused by smoking.

[Creeping Death]

The facts about cannabis SHOCK most people. Thats why it's not legalised yet. Few people know the real unbaised facts about it.

[xMeTaL HeAdx]

my psychiatrist keeps telling me that cannabis will do permanant damage to my brain if i smoke it cuz im a teen. I kno this isn't true, anyway i can prove it to him?

[korky8097]

no, that is why i would really like to start some type of donation
drive or something to like NORML and have them go to a lab and run a
test of their own. So we get real info, not the government
version.

[Chaote]

Cince you are a teen your brain is still rewiring so it could potentially do some damage but thats true about anything. and its not like you will ever notice a difference because its how you are now so you dont know the other side btw neither do I and Im hapy with that. I frankly dont care if it does damage or not the air we breathe is so fulll of pollutants already so I dont care.

[Solidly-here]

Marijuana has been time-tested for Centuries.


Does marijuana use kill brain cells? There are people (especially in the Middle East) who have smoked Hashish nearly every day for 40 years (I saw this on PBS several years ago). These guys were leading normal lives (not just drooling). This means that if their brain cells had been dying all along during those years, then these people would have empty heads. Maybe (just to prove this issue), some of these guys will allow their heads to be MRI'd.


I, personally, know 2 people who (claim to) have been smoking pot just about every day since the late 60s. They are both professionals; they are both still sharp as ever. If they have had many of their brain cells killed, they are certainly doing quite well without them.


If this were indeed true, the US Government would prepare a video about it, and play it over-and-over: Here are the brain-less wonders. Just a few months ago these guys were Rocket Scientists ... now they work as mannequins at Macys.


And when the US "Drug Czar" would go from place to place, he would be screaming about all of the poor dead brain cells, piling up. And this guy is not averse to stretching the truth, AND ignoring everything which does not agree with his one-sided view.


Everything in moderation. Most things will not kill us, or almost kill us. If you're really worried, then just stop doing it (then you can ensure yourself of dying from something else).

[shneddi]

doesnt it ?


what about all of my friends who have no ambition, are too lazy to move out of there rooms, cant remember what day it is, and generaly look like small rats.


cannabis can also cause skizophrenia


it might not kill brains cells, but it fucks you up still.

[Creeping Death]

Cannabis can trigger schitzophrenia in people who already have it, but it hasn't shown itself yet. It doesn't happen very often, and cannabis itself does not cause any illnesses, mental or physical.

Your friends are unmotivated and have bad memory because it's their personality. I was like that before i started smoking. Weed has even turned me around.

[sands of time]

Originally Posted by Creeping Death

Cannabis can trigger schitzophrenia in people who already have it, but it hasn't shown itself yet. It doesn't happen very often, and cannabis itself does not cause any illnesses, mental or physical.

Your friends are unmotivated and have bad memory because it's their personality. I was like that before i started smoking. Weed has even turned me around.

This is what I believe as well. I have grown up with many stoners, and believe me, the lazy ones were lazy to begin with. I know many hard working people who use it to relax though. Despite being daily smokers, they are still motivated and do great in life. Aslo consider this... Whose gonna smoke an illegal drug daily? Probably the people who have nothing to loose. If your doing well and have many nice things, a nice job, car, ect, you would be less likely to risk it all for a pot high.

[shneddi]

Originally Posted by Creeping Death

Your friends are unmotivated and have bad memory because it's their personality. I was like that before i started smoking. Weed has even turned me around.

ahahah


but I was the same as them - before I quit smoking every day. Now im fine. I even used to say what you said, until I quit and really saw how it changes people.


Also, ive known them from when they were like 12-14 years old, they werent lazy, we were the most motivepeople in school. Now there fucked in the head. This isnt just a few people, im talking like most of the people who I know, or have known.


Maybe its because we smoked it while growing up, while our brains were develping like what was said before.


Either way, it still messes some people up. Edited by: shneddi

[potsmokingpimp]

Maybe environment is the reason for their laziness. If they would get off of their asses and get jobs the laziness would stop and they could continue smoking.


I wont argue that it messes some people up but only if they let it. I function everyday and i do everyday things that other people do Marijuana just increases the level of enjoyment i recieve preforming these tasks.

[Nature Boy]

The schizophrenia theory is also a myth. According to studies, marijuana is no more likely to cause schizophrenia than alcohol.

[metalslug0]

man, taking a hard shit or being constipated could cause more damage to a brain than cannabis.

[metalslug0]

Another thing. Cannabis cannot cause schizophenia. People are born with schizophrenia. People usually find out they are schizophrenic around their teens to twenties. It is a mental illness that people are BORN with. I'm sure cannabis can cause symptoms similar to schizophrenia, but actually causing someone to have a it is completely false. I don't care what you have to back that up either. I know plenty of schizophrenics, and NOTHING can cause someone to have it. They have always had it, it just chooses when to come out. I've heard of people finding out they were schizophrenic their entire life in their late fourties. It is the way your brain starts out. I, for instance, have had chronic obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar, my entire life. I thought everyone was like that and I was normal, and I was seriously wrong.

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by metalslug0

Another thing. Cannabis cannot cause schizophenia. People are born with schizophrenia. People usually find out they are schizophrenic around their teens to twenties. It is a mental illness that people are BORN with. I'm sure cannabis can cause symptoms similar to schizophrenia, but actually causing someone to have a it is completely false. I don't care what you have to back that up either. I know plenty of schizophrenics, and NOTHING can cause someone to have it. They have always had it, it just chooses when to come out. I've heard of people finding out they were schizophrenic their entire life in their late fourties. It is the way your brain starts out. I, for instance, have had chronic obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar, my entire life. I thought everyone was like that and I was normal, and I was seriously wrong.

Exactly. I smoked up some caramello the other night and started shivering uncontrollably for two minutes in bed. Does that make me a schizo? Hell no.

[IvoryQueen]

sands of time has a point.


there isn't enuff research to know what the long term effects of cannabis are.

[amd6568]

Ahaha, SWIM's friend said that weed causes a hole to burn in your brain. SWIM found this extrememly ammusing.

[deadmoap]

I think in the recent years it's became more well known that it doesn't
cause brain damage, like alcohol. Pour some high proof vodka onto a
paper towel, and it will make all your windows spotless. Soak your
glass pipe in it, and in the morning it will look brand new. Now if you
try scrubbing your windows with a bud, all it will do is make it sticky.



What pisses me off the most, is when people say "Marijuana eats away
your brain cells and that's what gets you 'high'". Well if killing
braincells gets you high, then how come I don't feel like I smoked a
joint when I hit my head with a sledgehammer?

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by deadmoap

I think in the recent years it's became more well known that it doesn't
cause brain damage, like alcohol. Pour some high proof vodka onto a
paper towel, and it will make all your windows spotless. Soak your
glass pipe in it, and in the morning it will look brand new. Now if you
try scrubbing your windows with a bud, all it will do is make it sticky.

What pisses me off the most, is when people say "Marijuana eats away
your brain cells and that's what gets you 'high'". Well if killing
braincells gets you high, then how come I don't feel like I smoked a
joint when I hit my head with a sledgehammer?

Very apt example.

It still sickens me when people who know nothing about pot (apart from the governmental bullshit that's been spewed around) tell me that it's bad for your mind. Current evidence hasn't been well spread to the status quo at all. Most people aren't even aware that there are THC receptors in the brain.

[kj_hash420]

i know guy in my brothers band who is fucked up because of pot...he was already a bit messed to begin with but now he is totally fucked.. but this kid smokes at least 1/8 a day and he has smoked half ounces in a daybeforeanumber oftimes


but i think that it's pretty obvious with anything if u abuse it that much u are going to get fucked up, if he would have only smoked once or twice a day, he prolly wouldn't be a lunatic right now