What ARE the long-term affects of using marijuana?

[WHATFG]

I have been thinking about his for a while.

I don't understand how or why doctors use this as an excuse to not prescribe marihuana for whatever ailment a patient chooses to use it for. Isn't the society that uses, as a whole, one giant experiment? I mean really, how much hard evidence does it take to convince these guys that "it ain't gonna kill me if it I take it"? I have personally been using marihuana since I was 16 years old. That's 35 years of history for Christ's sake? Now multiply that by, let's be ridiculously conservative (no pun intended) 1 million users (I said ridiculous!!)...is it really that difficult to determine what the long-term affects are? Yet the government can claim that home based growing rooms are toxic mould bearing fire hazards and almost the entire existing medical program in this country comes to a screaming halt?

I have said this before...I think that mj has actually protected me from things like common colds. Everyone around me would be ill and I would be taking care of everyone else. I was the only one using mj. I used to be a smoker. I don't have a little cough anymore. I used mushrooms and acid maybe a dozen times when I was in my late teens and that's about it. I drink socially sometimes. ( I really like tea these days lol) I guess the point of that confession is that had I continued with the other intoxicants I probably would be locked up sucking my thumb or something worse! But with mj...nothing untoward that I can think of affecting my health.

So my conclusion is that there really are no long term affects and it's like saying what the long term affects of garlic? And we all know that it is good!

 

[symptum]

I would agree with you on most of what you said. Except that psilocybin and LSD are pretty much harmless too. Unless you religiously take heroic doses of acid. They are probably the 2 safest recreational "drugs" next to marijuana. And they come with their own sets of benefits too. Psilocybin reduces or eliminates migraines and cluster headaches and LSD is great for getting people off of other drugs. Not to mention the psychological effects. Bar a bad trip, most people come out of the experience with a new outlook on life and tend to be a bit more open minded....maybe someone should send over some tabs to Harper and his cronies at HC so they can become a bit more enlightened...

 

[robert 14617]

ever see the short film reefer madness

 

[johny sunset]

That's what I wanted to know too. Why do dr say their isn't enough evidence on cannabis to be able to confidently prescribe it with out fear of ramification. So the question is. What happens when a dr prescribes opiates to a patient who then od's or becomes addicted ?
Can that patient sue said dr?

 

[rnr]

really? you think lsd is harmless? omg, im going to stop coming to this site cause yall don't have a clue of what you are talking about. do you understand how lsd is made???????????? um chemicals from the sink or to clean with, bleaches ect. theres not enough kids overdosing cause 1 hit is enough to fuck most up good, take a sheet or 10 hit ull be dead allright or have serious bran damage. but im done, good luck to all patients, and hope the others get help

 

[cannadan]

All substances taken in orally can cause harm....depending on a few factors..like personality being one...availability being another....methodology of use....
so I think" moderation in all things" fits better as a life example....
Sure plenty of us experimented with other substances....as younger adults...most got thru without doing serious damage...once again....moderation is key...
As far a MMJ doing long term harm...it usually boils down to the same thing as other pharma choices ,the positive benifits are out-weighing the negative side effects...so you are then taking it for the right reasons...
We all know smoking of any kind ...can be harmful ...so thats one negative....however it is also known that mj use will thin mucus production, making the expulsion of phlegm easier during a coughing session...
usually harmful substance you have taken in will be rejected in this manner...
Vaporizer is better then.....? Hmmm maybe to a point...but again...moderation is the key....
I know for me personally the benefits definitely out weigh the side effects....just the reduction in my pill intake could be reason enough alone...but
the side effects of enhancement of my appetite ,and falling asleep on occasion ,and some memory loss...(which it is also as important to be able to forget some things, as it is to remember )
as all positives in my book and very minor side effects when compared to Drugs like cymbalta or Lyrica..(non Narcotic but very addictive).which are some of the newer go to drugs for pain management....(which do not work for me )and cost 500 to 800 a month..
or opiates/morphine which are less expensive but super addictive...so not the greatest choice....and plenty of nasty side effects too...

 

[symptum]

Actually, the L50 of LSD and psilocybin are so high, it's is nearly impossible to ingest a lethal dose. Will you temporarily go INSANE? Sure, but you won't be dead and you'll never do it again. I wasn't talking about some moron in a trailer trying to cook up some acid with household cleaners and some morning glory seeds. Chances are that what ever he does end up with won't be acid and secondly a dose of LSD is measured in micrograms. So really any other chemicals left behind won't be present in high enough doses to harm you seriously. And I also have to add, if you don't trust your source don't buy it. Common sense plays a really big part of drug safety too. All I was trying to say RNR is that those are safer substances. If your dumb enough to buy off a guy that makes it himself in his bathtub it guess you assume all the risks, albeit small that come with the territory.

 

[j0yr1d3]

People have been smoking cannabis for 5000+ years. There's people alive today that have been heavy users since the 40's. If there was some horrible long term effects they would be showing up by now, fact is cannabis just isn't toxic enough to do long term harm. That being said I don't advocate anybody under the age of 16 to use it really, any mind altering substance can (but not necessarily will) have negative affects on the developing brain whether its THC or alcohol or a million other things. I don't need to see any clinical data or research studies, I know first hand the benefits of using cannabis. I took handfuls of horrible muscle relaxers (ativan, baclofen, valium, zanaflex, botox injections) for years, they would only ever be semi affective and the side effects (fatigue, foggy thinking, inability to focus, basically a zombie) would often vastly outweigh any benefit I was receiving. Once my kidney function started shutting down from all the pills I refused to take any more. Cannabis is the best muscle relaxant there is without all the shitty side effects. I don't think a little euphoria and the munchies is such a horrible thing for somebody that is generally miserable.

 

[vostok]

What ARE the long-term affects of using marijuana? ...many on average it affects the short term memory, you forget stuff that you really should know! ...many old druggies and hippies need to write stuff down, all the time,, many pro druggies will deny this ...wait and see!
The next time you are at a grow store, you will be amazed as to how quickly the grow store talks young and old growers into buying stuff, almost like they are in a dream ....lol

 

[WHATFG]

What ARE the long-term affects of using marijuana? ...many on average it affects the short term memory, you forget stuff that you really should know! ...many old druggies and hippies need to write stuff down, all the time,, many pro druggies will deny this ...wait and see!
The next time you are at a grow store, you will be amazed as to how quickly the grow store talks young and old growers into buying stuff, almost like they are in a dream ....lol

I totally agree that mj affects short term memory. But I also think it is a function of age. I have to write stuff down all the time lol I guess I was referring more to things like kidney failure liver damage...I just would have thought if mj had such bad affects it would be showing up as being the cause of some of this shit.
I totally agree that mj affects short term memory. But I also think it is a function of age. I have to write stuff down all the time lol I guess I was referring more to things like kidney failure liver damage...I just would have thought if mj had such bad affects it would be showing up as being the cause of some of this shit.
Just kidding!!

 

[cannadan]

Rofl...Rofl Rofl

 

[jessica d]

short term memory loss is the beauty of:mj to become a medicine. you forget pain

 

[racerboy71]

really? you think lsd is harmless? omg, im going to stop coming to this site cause yall don't have a clue of what you are talking about. do you understand how lsd is made???????????? um chemicals from the sink or to clean with, bleaches ect. theres not enough kids overdosing cause 1 hit is enough to fuck most up good, take a sheet or 10 hit ull be dead allright or have serious bran damage. but im done, good luck to all patients, and hope the others get help

hate to derail your thread whatf, but i thought that this needed addressing.. first of all, lsd is not made with sink cleaner, nor bleaches, etc, complete horse shit.. if you're going to talk about something being bad, at least have the sense to know wtf you're talking about in the first place in order to not spread misinformation.
some copy and paste below about the ld50, or lethal dose in 1/2 of the people who take a certain drug below..

erence McKenna explains the concept of LD50.
"We want to take an excursion here and learn a little pharmacology. If you're going to talk about pharmacology, there is one concept that you should get straight, and that's called LD50. It means "lethal dose 50". What does this mean? Well, you have 20 rats and you give them a certain amount of, let's say, mescaline. When half the rats die, that dose, expressed as milligrams per kilogram of body weight, is called the LD50. And when pharmacologists assess the danger in a drug, they ask the following question, "what is the relation of the LD50 to the effective dose?", and if the LD50 of a drug is only 20 times the effective dose, that's considered an incredibly toxic, dangerous, and dubious drug. A good drug is a drug where the LD50 is 200 times more than the effective dose. In the case of LSD, the LD50 for man has never been determined. That's how safe LSD is. We're talking about lethality here, not you know. So people say, "Well are there unsafe psychedelics?" Well, yes, you just look up the LD50s, line them up, and see which ones have the better ratios. By that measurement, by that standard, LSD is the most desirable. But the LD50 of psilocybin is very impressive. You can take 100 times the effective dose of psilocybin and expect to live. Mescaline, not. Mescaline has a bad profile. As an amphetamine, if you took 20 times the effective dose of mescaline, you would probably die. Of course, an effective dose of mescaline is nearly a gram of pure material, 700 milligrams. If you took 20 times 700 milligrams you would be taking nearly 2/3 of an ounce of mescaline..." (Terence McKenna)
http://researchlsd.blogspot.com/2009/11/ld50-lethal-dose-50.html

sorry to hi-jack the thread what, just couldn't not say anything..

 

[symptum]

Wicked stuff racer boy.

 

[qwizoking]

mj doesn't really have long term side effects, they tend to go away with cessation..but that's not really a factor in anything regarding legality or whatever your talkin bout...
but it can have serious effects on an unhealthy individual. it does effect the circulatory system, heart rate, blood pressure, flow to extremities and organs etc..effects the liver and pancreas(blood sugar levels are a concern for me specifically, I smoke too much) as well. brain excitation especially in individuals without a tolerance is a concern.. and those are the big ones..

I love weed as much as everyone on this website, Probly smoke more than anyone here too.. but it's not a miracle drug. for some reason people forget, it will easily kill a cat or dog, it has the same effect on humans.. under the right conditions it can kill you. people say nobody has died from weed. really? like 250 people just in the last decade. weed will never be accepted pharmaceutically because there are too many compounds at varying ratios that behave differently and interact to produce different effects. when we selected thc it was lacking, we added some terps and cbd. y'all should be happy about that.. it's biphasic nature causes difficulty dosing and correcting for tolerance as well. in another 10 years pharmaceutical applications will be alot further. my favorite is the inhaler, like what asthmatics use. can take huge hits..but people need to leave these companies alone. it's not some sort of conspiracy I promise. doing the best we can. the cannabis community should show more appreciation.

 

[bird mcbride]

Weed will never harm you. I once had a short term memory problem but it turned out to be a staff infection in the blood from an operation I had on my left index finger.
I make my acid from shrooms

 

[bird mcbride]

My wife is half my age and has never done alcohol ar any other drug. She is a mennonite. i have to remind her about stuff all the time I have been smoking weed daily since 1974, not to mention all the alcohol and acid. I even smoke cigarettes and depite the fact that I'm a senior cityzen I can still out run her. I don't do alcohol, acid or anything but cigs and pot anymore.

 

[WHATFG]

hate to derail your thread whatf, but i thought that this needed addressing.. first of all, lsd is not made with sink cleaner, nor bleaches, etc, complete horse shit.. if you're going to talk about something being bad, at least have the sense to know wtf you're talking about in the first place in order to not spread misinformation.
some copy and paste below about the ld50, or lethal dose in 1/2 of the people who take a certain drug below..

erence McKenna explains the concept of LD50.
"We want to take an excursion here and learn a little pharmacology. If you're going to talk about pharmacology, there is one concept that you should get straight, and that's called LD50. It means "lethal dose 50". What does this mean? Well, you have 20 rats and you give them a certain amount of, let's say, mescaline. When half the rats die, that dose, expressed as milligrams per kilogram of body weight, is called the LD50. And when pharmacologists assess the danger in a drug, they ask the following question, "what is the relation of the LD50 to the effective dose?", and if the LD50 of a drug is only 20 times the effective dose, that's considered an incredibly toxic, dangerous, and dubious drug. A good drug is a drug where the LD50 is 200 times more than the effective dose. In the case of LSD, the LD50 for man has never been determined. That's how safe LSD is. We're talking about lethality here, not you know. So people say, "Well are there unsafe psychedelics?" Well, yes, you just look up the LD50s, line them up, and see which ones have the better ratios. By that measurement, by that standard, LSD is the most desirable. But the LD50 of psilocybin is very impressive. You can take 100 times the effective dose of psilocybin and expect to live. Mescaline, not. Mescaline has a bad profile. As an amphetamine, if you took 20 times the effective dose of mescaline, you would probably die. Of course, an effective dose of mescaline is nearly a gram of pure material, 700 milligrams. If you took 20 times 700 milligrams you would be taking nearly 2/3 of an ounce of mescaline..." (Terence McKenna)
http://researchlsd.blogspot.com/2009/11/ld50-lethal-dose-50.html

sorry to hi-jack the thread what, just couldn't not say anything..

Absolutely not a problem. I believe our beloved mj falls up there on the favourable side. Do you have a number for that too?

 

[Jackal69]

a lot of times ppl will say paranoid feelings but I only felt that as a teen smoking up, ummm afraid to get caught ..... Since MMJ legal I have no paranoia, lol cured

 

[leaffan]

An extra 50 lbs, mostly in my waistline.