How bad is marijuana for 1. the body and 2. society?

I grew up with the “Just Say No” campaign of the Reagan era

25 years later, we have a lot of libertarians arguing that the war on drugs was a wasteful effort, and some politicians (Ron Paul for example) say that the drug is relatively harmless.

Before we got the politics of whether (recreational) marijuana hurts a nation, let’s get to the science behind it. Does using marijuana hurt the users as bad as Nancy Reagan would have you think?

I feel like I can speak freely and objectively about this topic because I don’t do drugs in my life.

It’s really bad for memory. But from the research I’ve seen, the damage is temporary and fixes itself if you stop (assuming you are already a mature adult). For society, eh I think it’s better than the alternatives (including alcohol)

I previously smoked a lot of pot(more or less daily from say, 18 through 23) and still smoke a handful of times per year. I’m firmly in the “it should be legal” camp, and I also believe that it likely(I say likely simply because I’ve spent 0 seconds examining peer reviewed literature on medically effective uses for marijuana/oils/extracts etc) has some benefits in seizure control, depression, chronic pain, PTSD, etc. Having said that, it’s almost certainly true that it isn’t good for you to smoke it. Harmful? Like lots of things, sure, it’s harmful. You probably shouldn’t do it while driving or swimming or working in most capacities. I’m sure there are carcinogenic concerns with long term, use. But it sure feels like if we’re looking at costs, and including the full cost of policing, justice systems, health care, education, regulation, etc, we’d be better off as a society in the US if we just gave up the fight.

I grew up with the same message from Nancy. There is no denying that the “War on drugs” has been a colossal failure and a monumental waste of resources.

I don’t use drugs either. I have read about and witnessed a lot of recreational marijuana use. It is not bad for the body (besides unfiltered smoke if you smoke it) and it can have a positive effect on society as it has natural medicinal uses and can be taxed & licensed like tobacco and alcohol.

Marijuana is not a hardcore drug. Marijuana is less harmful and less addictive than caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. It’s ridiculous that TCH is classified as a Schedule I drug, on par with heroin, LDS, & MDMA. Lawmakers are finally starting to get their head out of their collective arses by finally starting to legalize THC.

There’s plenty of data on what it does (and doesn’t) do to your body. Google is your friend. The short answer? The only “major” medical downside to pot is if you have underlying predisposition to schizophrenia. MJ has been shown to throw people with schizophrenia down a rabbit hole.

Obviously, eating it is better for you than smoking it, though how it affects your lungs is still up for debate. Certainly not good but not nearly as bad as cigs.

And, yes, it messes with your short-term memory, but really only while high unless you’re a chronic (heh) user. And it also messes with your short-term memory.

As for society? Well, just look around. Anyone that wants to smoke pot is already smoking pot. Making it legal won’t change much.

From personal experience (I was a huge stoner), it absolutely kills your memory, and is terrible for energy and motivation.

As TTM said, there are studies that show it has benefits from a physical and mental health standpoint.

Not that it makes it GOOD, but I beleive its not as bad as alcohol. That said, I am in support of legalization of pot, in addition to many other substances.

Ideally, all smoking should not be legal, and the current legality of tobacco smoking should not be used to justify the smoking of other drugs. With that being said, if the current state of affairs makes suppression of smoking tobacco or marijuana unpractical, then it would be acceptable to tax the consumption of these drugs as a subsidy to non-smokers.

There’s approximately one time a year when I think you’re purely trolling. I don’t believe you believe anything you just wrote.

I think smoking should be legal, but the healthcare costs of smokers are unfairly blended into “society’s” overall costs

It’s probably not an overall benefit for the body/mind, especially if you’re not in some sort of chronic pain. For the majority of cases, things that make you feel good like tobacco, drugs, caffine, sugar etc are likely not “good”; good being makes you live longer, sharper mind, faster etc.

For society, it’s doing more damage being illegal than it would if it was legal. All the black market crime and arrests as a result of pot being illegal is a big social tax we shouldn’t have to incur.

Even without the predisposition to schitzophrenia, I’ve seen pot ruin a fair few people’s lives. they’re not out mugging grannies for some china white or sucking cock for some tina but it just sucks the spirit out of people. takes away all ambition and dulls you.

this is a fairly accurate statement imo

The better question is what gives the government the power to regulate Marijuana? In the USA the powers of the govt are those that the people have delegated to it. Just as my neighbor has no right to forcibly stop me from smoking pot, neither does the govt

Elaborate on that. Do you mean that it distracts people because they’re busy sneaking around trying to buy drugs behind closed doors and dodge drug tests, or do you mean the state of being high makes you just sit on the couch watching tv?

Not that I would ever become a regular MJ user, but couldn’t we see that about World of Warcraft and internet porn sites? haha

I’m not sure it’s much worse than eating an entire deep dish pizza, though often when you do one, you do the other too, in my experience.

statistically speaking. when you have smoked weed. you are more likely a smarter person. it was one of the 15 fun facts i saw on some random article online.

Like everthing in life, always in moderation.

I suspect the statistic is that people who have done MJ (eating, smoking, etc.) at least once are smarter on average (however they measure that) than the people who have never done it at all. This is likely because smarter people tend to be more open minded and willing to experiment.

However, if you look at the constant users (like daily), I suspect you will find that the more time you spend high, the less intelligent you show up on whatever criterion you measure.

I saw a movie about old people trying to deal with being at the end of their useful lives, and there was one scene where they all go out and get high smoking pot. One of the people in the discussion afterwards (this was a film preview society) was all upset about how “it promoted drug use, and therefore was a bad film.”

For myself, I realized that it clarified my thoughts about things like recreational drug use. I thought that the worry with pot is that young people who overindulge will simply sit on the couch laughing and never get up and do anything with their lives, so although an occasional joint isn’t really a big issue, it can be a problem if it prevents people from going out and developing themselves into productive members of society.

But at the end of life, pot can be one of the things that makes decrepitude bearable, both physically (for pain control) and psychologically (combatting depression). No one is really expecting very old people to go out and become useful members of society, and to the extent that they are more content with their lot, they are less of a burden on others. So the context is completely different.

Just my perception of a number of close friends who smoke/smoked daily. The state of being high makes people enjoy different activities to their sober self and over a period of time their goals and ambitions start to change. The people I’m referring to all stopped doing anything that required any sort of social effort and started to get freaked out by a number of things that non smokers don’t bat an eyelid at.

I’m quite sure there are habitual smokers who can function normally and maintain the same level of ambition though.

But then, alcohol has the same effect if you drink everyday. I suppose I’m against taking anything on a daily basis that alters your mind.

Could you elaborate on the “getting freaked out about a number of things” statement?

I’m not debating, just curious.