Marijuana benefits

First off, I have yet to see the movie. I was made aware of it's existence after many debates over marijuana with my friends/peers. I am making this post to share facts from my findings and hopefully fuel an intelligent debate. Here we go:

In a study funded by the government (in hopes to discover negative effects of marijuana) tobacco smokers, marijuana smokers, and non-smokers were taken for signs of cancer. The tobacco smokers obviously had a high rate of cancer but the marijuana smokers had a slightly LOWER rate of cancer. This lower cancer rate wasn't large enough for it to be recorded as lower and instead was noted to be equal with the non-smokers. There has never been a link between cancer and marijuana use found that had negative effects. In fact, marijuana can help many forms of cancer.

Also, marijuana has been proven to help with asthma as well along with many other medical conditions. Yes, you may cough if you smoke weed but any pot smoker on here knows that the cough isn't the same as a cough from asthma or a cold or whatever you may have.

There has never, at any point in history, been a recorded death due to overdose of marijuana. This is because marijuana simply does not have a certain "dose" you can smoke a lot and you can smoke a little and anywhere in between but you will never overdose the way you would on other drugs.

A lot of people use the "weed kills braincells" argument but that "fact" was actually taken from a study done on monkeys. Years later, a more carefully conducted study was done to show that as long as you are getting oxygen along with the pot smoke (and you do with every hit) that you are not losing braincells.

"Marijuana is a gateway drug" is what we are taught is another "fact" about use of marijuana when in fact, it is just a theory. Over 70% of longtime marijuana smokers have not done any other drugs.

Above The Influence is everywhere with posters stating that marijuana is harmful. One that got to me was a poster that stated that marijuana has more chemicals than tobacco products and what-not. Here's the thing, caffeine has way more chemicals in it than rat poison does yet rat poison is clearly more toxic. The amount of chemicals doesn't determine toxicity.

It has been reported that there is a higher ER visit rate and crime rate due to marijuana. If you are tested or asked if you use marijuana and it is found that you do use marijuana, your visit with the police or the hospital may be taken as marijuana related even though marijuana may have had nothing to do with the actual event.

Countries such as The Netherlands have also shown that when they experimented with legalizing cannabis, there was a decreased rate in crimes involving harder drugs.

The plant is not legal simply because the government can not tax it the way they want to.

Now for my opinion. Throughout my studies, I have seen mostly positive effects. The one negative effect that I found was that it causes a decrease in stamina, BIG DEAL. Marijuana causes problems simply because it is illegal. Think of how many people are in prison or were convicted for marijuana related crimes. The crime rate would drop dramatically if it was legal. Also, not as many people would be cornered into working dead end jobs because of testing positive for marijuana use. In fact, legalizing marijuana would create new jobs. Then there is the obvious economic value. However, since the government can't tax it the way they want, they won't legalize it and end up with publishing propaganda slanted in their favor. Most of the big advertisements that I have seen were stating facts that really weren't negative or positive but since many people aren't willing to look into it, they think that the fact is negative. Also, do you ever hear about studies supporting marijuana in the newspaper? I rarely do. The government funded studies for the sole purpose of finding a FACT proving that marijuana is, in some way, harmful. Don't you see something wrong with this? I smoke, fairly frequently and since I've been smoking, I've noticed that my asthma isn't as bad as it used to be and I have found myself thinking much more in depth and more clearly about many things including the government and mainstream media. I also am in multiple honors classes with good grades. In fact, my grades have increased compared to when I didn't smoke. Yes, you may see an unintelligent stoner but they were most likely unintelligent before they were a stoner. Same goes for violent criminals. If someone commits a violent crime as a pothead, they are most likely violent in nature and not due to the pot. Again, these are my opinions.

I left a few things out because I saw that the post was getting really long. Feel free to add anything you find and we can discuss.