You may have heard that marijuana is a psychoactive drug, and you must be asking how harmful marijuana is. While some will want to know if it’s dangerous or not, the main question you’re probably asking yourself is, will using marijuana cause any long-term damage to your health? People have been using marijuana for thousands of years. With the help of DigiDrs in Oklahoma, you can get some answers to these questions and much more information about marijuana. The first written record of the use of the cannabis plant takes place in the year 2737 BC. Its use is noted in almost every culture where there has been some form of civilization. But as we all know, marijuana has been subject to significant trouble throughout the years and has had its reputation ruined by unfounded rumors. One such rumor is that it affects physical and mental health, making it seem useless and harmful.
In the long-held view of many people, marijuana is a dangerous drug that causes addiction and severe health problems. More recently, however, marijuana has been used in medicine to manage pain, treat side effects of cancer, and lessen anxiety. The question here is whether marijuana is harmful enough to prohibit its legal use or whether marijuana should get legalized under certain circumstances with appropriate regulation.
There are two main reasons why opponents of marijuana believe that it should not get legalized:
- It is a “gateway” drug that leads to harder drugs like LSD, cocaine, or heroin.
Marijuana is a gateway drug. It means that using marijuana may lead to the use of other medications. Here is a typical claim:
“Smoking marijuana leads to the use of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.” Is this true? Does smoking marijuana lead to the use of harder drugs? When presented with this claim, many people think it’s true. First of all, it seems logical that if you smoke marijuana, you might want to try something more substantial. And secondly, if it’s illegal, there are probably good reasons for making it illegal. One reason might be that it’s a gateway drug. If so, then we should be worried about anyone who smokes marijuana. They will probably become heroin addicts soon enough!
However, there is no evidence that smoking marijuana leads to the use of harder drugs. Studies have shown that most people who smoke marijuana do not go on to use other illegal drugs. Like alcohol and cigarettes, most people who try marijuana do not become regular users. The same goes for harder drugs: most people who try cocaine or heroin do not become normal users (they don’t like how they feel when high).
- It has long-term health consequences such as decreased brain function, lung damage, and possibly mental illness.
Marijuana has long-term health consequences. For one thing, it can decrease brain function in the short term. In addition, it causes lung damage, and it can also lead to mental illness. It is an addictive drug that harms the heart, lungs, and brain. It is not a safe or harmless drug, but it has long-term health consequences.
But others who are pro-marijuana argue that:
In the long term, this drug, marijuana, is essentially harmless. It’s virtually impossible to overdose on it, and it’s not linked to any long-term health problems. The problem with pot is that it’s illegal. While its illegality is arguably advantageous in some ways, .it’s kept the drug out of kids’ hands and limited the advertising and marketing that have hooked generations on cigarettes and alcohol. Its status as an outlaw drug has also fostered all kinds of negative consequences for society.
- For starters, strict marijuana laws have led to a massive underground industry that generates billions of dollars each year for criminal organizations. They use this money to fund other illegal activities, such as human trafficking and the sale of harder drugs. In addition to providing income for bad actors, marijuana prohibition also gives them greater access to firearms and other weapons because they get used to protecting large shipments of pot from police or rival gangs.
- A second negative consequence is the proliferation of street dealers who sell pot alongside other dangerous drugs. When marijuana is illegal, there are no regulations about where it comes from or how pure it is. The result is that people might be buying products laced with more dangerous substances such as PCP or cocaine without even knowing it which can lead to severe overdoses.
In other words, the debate over marijuana’s effects isn’t likely to disappear any time soon. But for many people, the current drug policy in America doesn’t seem to be headed in the right direction. Many states continue to overturn laws prohibiting medical marijuana use or possession. At least a handful of these states have legalized recreational marijuana use. So, while getting stoned could pose some dangers to an individual, legalizing marijuana as a whole seems more effective at reducing those risks. Your best bet is to keep up with changing laws and trends, whether you hope to use the drug recreationally or want to keep yourself informed about its effects on your body and behavior.
