Young People Ask . . .
‘Can Smoking Pot Ruin My Health?’
The eye drops seem to help. At least they get enough of the red out of his eyes so that his parents do not notice it. And if they do, he can always tell them that they put too much chlorine in the school swimming pool. As for the odor, Mom’s room deodorizer gets rid of that just fine. True, he sometimes worries that his folks will one day find the joints he has stashed away in his closet. But he has the cure for worry: another puff on his marijuana cigarette.
THE young marijuana smoker tends to view his habit as a harmless pastime. He often frets more about keeping his habit a secret than about what he may be doing to his mind and body.
A survey sponsored by the National Institute of Drug Abuse in the United States, however, reveals that marijuana use is down among high school students. The reason? Apparently fears that marijuana can damage one’s health.
Teenagers, though, are not the only ones who are worried. The Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service went on record as saying: “I urge other physicians and professionals to advise parents and patients about the harmful effects of using marijuana and to urge discontinuation of its use.” But is there real evidence that smoking marijuana is a “defilement of flesh”?—2 Corinthians 7:1.
Effects on Your Lungs and Throat
Just minutes after its being inhaled, the smoke from a marijuana cigarette begins affecting the user. His pulse rate soars, his mouth and throat get dry, his eyes redden—and the user is often thrown into a state of euphoria, albeit temporarily. But after studying thousands of research papers on the subject, the Institute of Medicine in the United States concluded that there is reason for “serious national concern” that marijuana users may pay a high price for pleasure.
Consider your lungs. Even marijuana’s staunchest supporters admit that inhaling smoke cannot possibly be good for you. Marijuana smoke, like the smoke from tobacco, consists of a number of toxic substances such as tars. However, some argue that since even heavy marijuana users smoke far less than tobacco users, the danger is minimal.
But David, a former marijuana user, says: “I’ve smoked cigarettes and marijuana, and I’d say that marijuana is harder on your lungs, if only because of how marijuana smoke is inhaled. Most cigarette smokers will suck the smoke into their mouths and then inhale it along with some air, which dilutes the smoke. They don’t suck the smoke right out of the cigarette down into their lungs, but marijuana smokers do. We used to suck on a joint for dear life, and then hold the smoke in our lungs as long as we could stand it. After all, a joint of marijuana costs a lot, and we wanted all the smoke we could get!”
Interestingly, Dr. Forest S. Tennant, Jr., surveyed 492 U.S. Army soldiers who had used marijuana. Nearly 25 percent of them “suffered sore throats from smoking cannabis, and some 6 percent reported that they had suffered from bronchitis.” In another study, Tennant and associates examined 30 marijuana users. Of these, 24 were found to have bronchial “lesions characteristic of the early stages of cancer.” True, no one can guarantee that such ones actually will develop cancer later on. But who wants to be a guinea pig for cancer research?
The Bible shows that God “gives to all persons life and breath.” (Acts 17:25) Would it show respect to the Giver of life to inhale something that damages the lungs and the throat?
Marijuana and Your Brain
At Ecclesiastes 12:6 the human brain is poetically called “the golden bowl.” Barely larger than your fist and weighing a scant three pounds (1.4 kg), the brain is not only the precious receptacle of your memories but also the command center for your entire nervous system. Yet, warns the Institute of Medicine: “We can say with confidence that marijuana produces acute effects on the brain, including chemical and electrophysiological changes.”—Italics ours.
Exactly how the drug performs its mind-altering tricks is unknown. Nor is there conclusive proof that marijuana permanently damages the brain. Dr. Robert Heath has done some experiments in which monkeys were exposed to heavy doses of marijuana. An examination of the monkeys’ brains revealed brain cell damage. Heath’s studies, though, have come under fire for being limited (reportedly only four monkeys were examined) and lacking scientific controls. Nevertheless, as the Institute of Medicine acknowledged, the possibility that marijuana might damage “the golden bowl” should not be dismissed lightly.
Birth Defects?
Parenthood may seem light-years away right now. But likely you have given some thought to the prospect of getting married and having children. Could smoking marijuana pose some sort of threat to your as-yet-unborn offspring? Researchers fear that it may.
The publication Marijuana Effects on the Endocrine and Reproductive Systems reports that marijuana appeared to induce spontaneous abortions in female mice. The drug also seemed to suppress the production of certain hormones in male animals. True, a man is not a mouse. However, say researchers: “Clinical [marijuana] studies on human subjects generally agree with the animal findings.” Exactly how significant or even dangerous the effect is upon the reproductive system is still unknown. Nevertheless, the researchers warn that marijuana seems to pose the greatest threat to adolescents since their reproductive systems are still developing.
The Institute of Medicine further reports that marijuana is known “to cause birth defects when administered in large doses to experimental animals.” True, “no adequate clinical studies have been carried out to determine if marijuana use can harm the human fetus.” However, “a slowly developing or low-level effect [of marijuana on human offspring] might be undetected by the studies done so far.” (Italics ours.) This is because birth defects do not always manifest themselves immediately.
For example, years ago doctors administered the hormone DES to prevent miscarriages. Children born to mothers using this drug seemed perfectly healthy. However, years later, as those children grew up, some of the females developed cancer. It could likewise take years to prove that marijuana induces birth defects. But the Institute of Medicine acknowledges that “nervous system abnormalities, and reductions in birth weight and height may indeed exist” because some parents used marijuana.
Dr. Gabriel Nahas thus says that smoking marijuana may be “genetic roulette.” Could anyone who views children as “an inheritance from Jehovah” take such risks?—Psalm 127:3.
“Nothing Like It”
There is therefore ample reason to avoid smoking marijuana. Says the Bible, “The beauty of young men is their power.” (Proverbs 20:29) Why even risk throwing away vibrant health for the pleasures of a mind-altering drug?
The book Self-Destructive Behavior in Children and Adolescents observes that using drugs “remains one of the few pleasurable options for many young people; it may be a predictable, reliable way to punctuate an otherwise unrewarding existence.” There are less dangerous ways, though, to add meaning to life. One former marijuana user says: “I no longer need to get high anymore. I know the truth and have a relationship with Jehovah God—and there’s just nothing like it.”
So rather than polluting your body, work at developing this relationship with God! It is not too difficult. In fact, God makes this promise to those who conscientiously ‘cleanse themselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit’: “‘I will take you in.’ ‘And I shall be a father to you.’” (2 Corinthians 6:17–7:1) You, too, will find that when you enjoy God’s friendship, there is nothing like it!
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Marijuana—A New Wonder Drug?
Much ado has been made over claims that marijuana may have therapeutic value in treating glaucoma, asthma, and in easing the nausea that cancer patients experience during chemotherapy. An Institute of Medicine report acknowledges that there is some truth to these claims. But does this mean that in the near future doctors will be prescribing joints (marijuana cigarettes)?
Not likely. For while some of marijuana’s over 400 chemical compounds may prove useful, smoking marijuana would hardly be the logical way to take such medicines. “Using marijuana,” says noted authority Dr. Carlton Turner, “would be like giving people molded bread to eat to get penicillin.” So if any marijuana compounds ever become bona fide medicines, it will be marijuana “derivatives or analogues,” chemical compounds similar thereto, that doctors will prescribe. No wonder, then, that the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services wrote: “It should be emphasized that possible therapeutic benefits in no way modify the significance of the negative health effects of marijuana.”
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Is smoking marijuana worth the risk?
DAMAGED REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
LUNG CANCER
Brain Damage