i was recently involved (passively) in an argument about marijuana and its health impacts. while those against it have a great arsenal of cheesy improbable ads and medical reports (atleast part of the report) to back them up, the otherside of the argument was decidely weak. to be fair, i sat down to see if there were indeed balancing arguments. to my knowledge, marijuana does have valued medicinal properties, both as an anti-emetic, and as an analgesic. it also has a wide realm of other possible applications including memory functions, and seizure treatment. according to the studies i looked at, these benefits do not surpass the existing chemical substitutes when both pros and cons are layed out. but to say that marijuana is "bad" for you, is a bit of copout. afterall, alcohol is bad for you, potato chips are bad for you, the sun is bad for you ... in fact, it is difficult these days to find something not bad for you. look at the classic medicines, penicillin and tylenol. one is an antibiotic, the other an analgesic (oh yeah, that means pain reliever). the problem with penicillin is, if you dont take the full dosage, and even if you do sometimes, bacteria is allowed to develop immunities slowly but surely making a supposed wonder drug less and less useful as well as creating penicillin immune bacteria. in the same respect, antibacterial soaps and cremes are also bad for the environment. tylenol, a widely accepted analgesic, is not good for your liver. plus it lowers your immune system. by pumping pain relievers into your body every time you get a headache or muscle pain you are stunting your bodies ability to repair itself, and you are creating a dependancy that otherwise would not have existed. on top of that, pain relievers used for simple headaches are turning our world (atleast the US) into a bunch of pussies who can handle less and less of the reality of life. but thats a different issue altogether.
so, in short, yeah marijuana is bad for you. but so are the alternatives. if the US government took its head out of its ass it would see the absurd amount of money spent to prosecute, and detain marijuana users, and how much revenue could be created by regulating manufacture and sales of the plant. but instead those millions are being paid by the taxpayers, and the revenue goes to the black market. way to go.
i forget what i was talking about initially, but i know i didnt intend to create an argument for decriminalization .... oh well. smoke up friends.