Marijuana does not cause cancer or emphysema. The government has made claims that one joint contains as much carcinogenic tar as four cigarettes. Marijuana does contain tars like tobacco. However, marijuana tars collect in the larger central passageways to the lung, but tobacco tars get deposited over the capillaries and air sacs causing less oxygen intake. (Gil 39-46) This means that tobacco causes lung disease, marijuana doesn’t help but it hurts а lot less. It is not the tars themselves but where they land and what they do that causes cancer or emphysema.
(Stitching) No case of lung cancer resulting from marijuana has ever been documented. Interestingly enough, THC is а proven bronchial dilator, which means it opens the lungs to help clear out smoke and dirt. (Gil 39-46) Marijuana does not cause sterility, high blood pressure, birth defects, or death. Lab tests have shown that chronic smoking can temporarily lower sperm count, however it does not stop production or cause sterility. If marijuana caused sterility the Rastafarian population would have ceased а long time ago.
THC does increase pulse rate for about an hour after smoking, but this is not harmful since exercise does the same thing. Jamaican women who smoke throughout pregnancy found that their babies registered higher on developmental scores. “While cannabis use is not recommended in pregnancy, it may be of medical value to some women in treating morning sickness or easing childbirth. ” Finally there is no evidence to warrant any claims of death by over-dose. Throughout all of recorded history there is not one documented case of overdose although in very rare cases people can have an allergic reaction.
(Barnes 16-41) Marijuana has hundreds of medical uses. The case studies prove that it works as well as having very few and mild side affects. Dr. Ethan Russo recently studied smokers who have been smoking government grown medical marijuana daily for more than а decade. The study found “no significant physical or cognitive impairments attributable to marijuana” and advanced tests including MRI brain scans, chest X-rays, neuropsychological tests, immunological assays (used to test the immune system’s response abilities), and EEGs all found the patients to be free of any adverse side-effects.
(Belle-Isle & Hathaway 5000-506) Russo stated, “… this study is the first of its kind to examine chronic cannabis usage in medical patients using а consistent source of medicine of а known potency. ” (Gil 39-46) The study also notes that all of the patients have taken significantly fewer standard pharmaceuticals than before they started using medicinal marijuana. (Gil 39-46) European and American medical journals from 1840 to 1900 contain more than а hundred articles on the therapeutic use of cannabis.
Marijuana is recommended as an appetite stimulant, analgesic, hypnotic, and anticonvulsant. In 1913 Sir William Osler said it was the most satisfactory remedy for migraines. (Pawluch et. all 251-64) Analysis Unfortunately, marijuana has been ignored in favour of injectable opiates, and later synthetic drugs like aspirin and other various over-the-counter medicines. Dr.
Lester Greenspoon, in а letter to the American Medical Association, said, “In the United States, the final blow was struck by the marijuana Tax Act of 1937 designed to prevent non-medical purposes that it was removed from the pharmacopoeia. The government makes а large profit off the taxation of tobacco which they could be doing the same with marijuana. Instead of thousands and thousands of dollars going to drug lord it could be going to the government which eventually goes back to the public. (Manderson 121-34)