Tuesday, May 08, 2007

A serious issue that needs debate!

I have been talking to one of my good friends here on myspace today about something that has come up in a blog. This is a very sensitive subject for some people, but I belive, and so do some others, that there should be a forum set up here to talk about it. I am refering to drug use. Mainly Marijuana. I know there are some out there that are trying to push off the crazy idea that marijana is not bad for you....just do it! Yeah, I fell into that trap also. I felt like I had no friends and I just needed some weed sometimes. There is nothing wrong with that! Is there?

Well people, I am sorry to say but there is. There is no denying the facts. I am in no way interested in talking about medical things, but I believe this issue should be talked about right now, before we go ahead with other topics.

There is a sad trend in this country. That is there are more children out there using at even younger ages. Below is a chart of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, and their marijana usage!


Percentage of 8th-Graders Who Have Used Marijuana:
Monitoring the Future Study, 2005

..>..>
..>..>
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Lifetime 16.7% 19.9% 23.1% 22.6% 22.2% 22.0%
Annual 13.0 15.8 18.3 17.7 16.9 16.5
30-day 7.8 9.1 11.3 10.2 9.7 9.7
Daily 0.7 0.8 1.5 1.1 1.1 1.4

..>..>
..>..>
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Lifetime 20.3% 20.4% 19.2% 17.5% 16.3% 16.5%
Annual 15.6 15.4 14.6 12.8 11.8 12.2
30-day 9.1 9.2 8.3 7.5 6.4 6.6
Daily 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.0 0.8 1.0


Percentage of 10th-Graders Who Have Used Marijuana:
Monitoring the Future Study, 2005

..>..>
..>..>
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Lifetime 30.4% 34.1% 39.8% 42.3% 39.6% 40.9%
Annual 25.2 28.7 33.6 34.8 31.1 32.1
30-day 15.8 17.2 20.4 20.5 18.7 19.4
Daily 2.2 2.8 3.5 3.7 3.6 3.8

..>..>
..>..>
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Lifetime 40.3% 40.1% 38.7% 36.4% 35.1% 34.1%
Annual 32.2 32.7 30.3 28.2 27.5 26.6
30-day 19.7 19.8 17.8 17.0 15.9 15.2
Daily 3.8 4.5 3.9 3.6 3.2 3.1


Percentage of 12th-Graders Who Have Used Marijuana
Monitoring the Future Study, 2005

..>..>
..>..>
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Lifetime 38.2% 41.7% 44.9% 49.6% 49.1% 49.7%
Annual 30.7 34.7 35.8 38.5 37.5 37.8
30-day 19.0 21.2 21.9 23.7 22.8 23.1
Daily 3.6 4.6 4.9 5.8 5.6 6.0

..>..>
..>..>
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Lifetime 48.8% 49.0% 47.8% 46.1% 45.7% 44.8%
Annual 36.5 37.0 36.2 34.9 34.3 33.6
30-day 21.6 22.4 21.5 21.2 19.9 19.8
Daily 6.0 5.8 6.0 6.0 5.6 5.0

..>..>
* "Lifetime" refers to use at least once during a respondent's lifetime. "Annual" refers to use at least once during the year preceding an individual's response to the survey. "30-day" refers to use at least once during the 30 days preceding an individual's response to the survey.

http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html

As you can see, this shows that CHILDREN are doing this stuff, not just adults! This is not just an issue of should it be legal for medical purposes, this is an issue of wheather it i right for children to be ruining their brains like they are! You think there is no effect to this stuff? Marijana has a main active substance called THC. THC has been shown to cause short to long term memory loss in people that use the drug! of course some people still refute this claim. It has never been proven one way or the other. My decission would be to air on the side of caution!


Effects on the Brain


Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to organs throughout the body, including the brain.

In the brain, THC connects to specific sites called cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells and influences the activity of those cells. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. Many cannabinoid receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement4.

The short-term effects of marijuana can include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate. Research findings for long-term marijuana abuse indicate some changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term abuse of other major drugs. For example, cannabinoid (THC or synthetic forms of THC) withdrawal in chronically exposed animals leads to an increase in the activation of the stress-response system5 and changes in the activity of nerve cells containing dopamine6. Dopamine neurons are involved in the regulation of motivation and reward, and are directly or indirectly affected by all drugs of abuse.
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html


Effects on the Heart

One study has indicated that an abuser's risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana7. The researchers suggest that such an effect might occur from marijuana's effects on blood pressure and heart rate and reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.

Effects on the Lungs

A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers8. Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses.

Even infrequent abuse can cause burning and stinging of the mouth and throat, often accompanied by a heavy cough. Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers do, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, a heightened risk of lung infections, and a greater tendency to obstructed airways9. Smoking marijuana possibly increases the likelihood of developing cancer of the head or neck. A study comparing 173 cancer patients and 176 healthy individuals produced evidence that marijuana smoking doubled or tripled the risk of these cancers10.

Marijuana abuse also has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because it contains irritants and carcinogens9,11. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke12. It also induces high levels of an enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form—levels that may accelerate the changes that ultimately produce malignant cells13. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which increases the lungs' exposure to carcinogenic smoke. These facts suggest that, puff for puff, smoking marijuana may be more harmful to the lungs than smoking tobacco. http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html


I could go on and on with the facts that support that marijana is bad for you. But I think I would just bore the snot out of some of you, so, that is enough!

What I do not get is that why are people so caught up on making this drug legal? Is it going to make your life so much better if it is legal? I highly doubt it! The only thing this drug can do to you is mess you up...

There are KIDS out there right now smoking pot. They are in 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th grades, and people just do not seem to care about them. Once they start, people figure, it is to late. NO, it is not. Educate the kids on how this drug will harm you way more than it will help you!

But some poeple out there will not care about this. They do not care about the facts when I am writing about the War, or Taxes, or even the Hypocrisy from the left! Why would those same people listen NOW that this drug is bad for you.

Go ahead....debate it!!!!

4 Comments:

At 10:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll throw one thought in...first, I am very disturbed to see how many 8th graders are smoking pot. We all thought we were so grownup at 14, but to picture a kid that age now smoking a joint is very sad and scary.

I will venture one argument for some form of legalization (though I'm not at all convinced this fully justifies it). With the current structure of restrictions, people buy their pot from drug dealers, which puts them in direct contact with people who are potentially selling other drugs as well. Teenagers are very open to suggestion...kids who maybe would not go looking for LSD or Ecstasy or other harder drugs are now interacting with someone who has a vested interest in offering it to them.

Kids generally get their other illicit items (cigarettes, alcohol, porn) from a mostly regular person--typically an older friend or "buddy" parent--who'll bypass the rules for them.

If marijuana went through a similar distribution channel--not freely available to kids, but not coming through drug dealers either--maybe it would help to break the link between marijuana and harder drugs that pose a more immediate threat. This wouldn't solve the problem, but could make it easier to manage and make the poor judgment so many of us exhibit at that age less likely to have irreversible consequences.

 
At 2:22 PM, Blogger Conservative T and T said...

I think you make a decent point for legalization, but the fact remains that it would not stop the kids from getting it, because like cigs and alcohol, someone would always buy it for them or even sell it to them when they should not! It is a lose/lose situation in my opinion

 
At 2:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're right, it wouldn't keep them from getting it, and we would still have to work on that problem.

I just know that I would rather deal with a kid who may at some point develop a long-term problem with pot than on who may kill themselves this weekend with a cocaine overdose or an argument with a drug dealer.

Definitely wouldn't solve the problem (there are so many more factors than access), but it might ratchet it down a notch or two.

 
At 5:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Heart attacks are less likely for non-smokers as compared to the smokers. According to WHO, individuals who quit smoking decrease their risk of CAD one year later by 50 %. If you have quit smoking, for 15 years, your risk of dying from CAD is almost as low as a life time non-smoker. http://www.chantixhome.com/

 

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