What’s happening?
Legalizing cannabis has been a huge topic of discussion recently, even over the past couple years. It makes me wonder why legalization has been long overdue, and alcohol is purchasable almost anywhere. Alcohol isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there are a lot of negatives. I believe weed is better and more beneficial. Weed has its downsides too, as does everything in this world. Yet, one thing it stands by is having no deaths by THC, while alcohol averages around 88,000 deaths per year (Brownstein 1).
Risk for death
Death by alcohol is due to over consumption, as your liver fails to metabolize faster than you are consuming the beverage. Death with alcohol can also occur if it is combined with other drugs (opioids, cocaine, weed, etc), as it enhances or decreases the activity of the drug you’re taking. While marijuana increases heart rate and blood pressure, one can’t simply “overdose” on weed as one can on alcohol.
Long term effects-
When it comes to alcohol, there are some health conditions at risk. Excessive drinking can lead to alcoholic liver disease, which can then progress into liver cancer (worst case scenario). Marijuana might have some effects such as memory loss or possibly inflation of the lungs, but there really aren’t any severe health issues that are linked to the drug. In the past, marijuana was linked to lung cancer, now that is being debunked, as scientists are realizing marijuana does not do the same harm tobacco does on your lungs.
Here are some things that I believe are benefits from marijuana
- Eye opening
- Weed can cause one to be more open minded and look at all perspectives from a variety of issues.
- Generating new ideas
- By lessening your inhibitions and providing dopamine, it seems easier to link concepts together and find answers, maybe try studying for a test high (if you’re of legal age of course).
- Calming
- It’s a well known fact that weed can make one relax and have a good body high. Some use medical weed for certain health conditions, even cancer. It’s also seen to help with anxiety and depression, only short term though.
This post may seem bias, I’m not completely disregarding alcohol, it’s a socially accepted, legal drug that is everywhere and there’s no getting rid of it. Although, I have seen way more damage done from alcohol in comparison to weed. Acting extremely irrational and mean, making very poor decisions, embarrassing yourself…it just doesn’t seem like the ideal drug to be honest. I’ve honestly never seen someone that is high off weed do those things mentioned above, usually people just chill out, (or freak out depending on the person). There are more benefits to weed but a lot of people are probably educated from the media due to the controversy with the legalization of it. It’s frustrating because I know so many people that I wished would smoke weed because I can truly see them benefiting from it, yet because it was seen as detrimental for the longest time they refuse to give it a try. I hope in the future using the drug is normalized and acceptable just as alcohol is today.
Cannabis is truly a miraculous substance. I will qualify a couple of your points though. While cannabis is not physically addictive, like most other drugs one can become mentally dependant on it. As such, it’s important to exercise caution and make sure you’re getting high to enhance life, not simply getting high to get high. Also, any smoke will harm your lungs and cannabis smoke is no different. As such, this is why I fiercely advocate for dry herb vaporizers which I’m sure you’re familiar with. All the effects of smoking cannabis are still there, yet it’s a lot less damaging to the lungs than regular smoke. Also, the packaging for weed in dispensaries/online orders in Canada is quite wasteful with all the layers and cardboard and plastic and such, but I guess that’s less of a problem with the drug itself and more who ships it out.
Besides that, I agree with what you’ve said. Speaking from my, er, ‘research’, there’s a lot of beneficial effects that come from being high, particularly if one practices mindfulness. It can teach an appreciation of oneself as well as the beauty of music, friends, and the world (not that this can’t be achieved soberly, of course).
Additionally, my cousin uses medical marijuana for his Crohn’s disease. I’ve used his CBD (21% CBD 0.1% THC strain) for my anxiety and it’s quite miraculous. Having calming bodily effects and anti-anxiety effects without actually being high is extremely beneficial for me since I appreciate being in control of my mind most of the time, and I won’t have any of the negative developmental effects that come from THC usage under 25 y/o.
Good post.
Yes, 100% there are negative effects to weed. I have been “researching” for a couple of years now so I definitely can see how weed has affected me negatively and positively.