Marijuana may cause heart problems in young adults

@ bfg4987

One thing for use, bfg4987, the USA wasn't forcing its politics and legislation down other nations throats for the goodness of their citizens' health.

In fact, there is just as much evidence to illustrate how the USA government has covertly engaged in promoting drug cultures and industries, internally and externally, again to suit its political agenda when expedient. MKUltra, the Contras and Cocaine, inner cities flood with Class A drugs etc.

I am not promoting it. I don't think it is a terrible thing, and it's certainly has a less worse effect on society than alcohol, but does anyone know if there was a dope smoking history in Japan? I can only find history of hemp cloth and associated industries.

Yeah Jim, lots of Iraq war vets use it to treat their PTSD as well. They use it 'cause it works.

It's amazing to me that people still try to claim it's a terrible and dangerous thing.

p.s. Why is Canada so much more sensible than America?

When I was researching the literature on PTSD back in 1991, I came across a study of Vietnam vets who had managed to rehabilitate themselves from the effects of PTSD and addictions to cocaine or heroin. They were managing okay in their communities, had jobs, families, and appeared normal. The study found they all shared a common trait, that in the evenings they smoked a joint of marijuana, which they attributed their recovery to. Instead of recognizing the medicinal value of marijuana in treating their PTSD and hard drug addiction, the study concluded "more research is needed to determine why marijuana is so much more addictive than cocaine or heroin"! Here in Canada, 55% of people admit to having smoked marijuana. Even the police don't claim it is harmful, they say it is political "Prohibition", and will be happy to see it ended, likely following our next federal election in 2015.

The US government forcing another country to adopt it's ridiculous anti-cannabis policy is not equivalent to an individual doctor or doctors being a lap dog for anyone. If you can't understand that I don't know what to tell you.

Any of those groups that are federally funded will of course take the federal government's stance. The federal government's stance is absurd, which is why this social change is being led by the states. Also, any organization dealing with addiction will as a matter of course be against cannabis. It's called vested interests.

Also, I think you're wrong about there being a "a plethora of individual studies exist which show either extremely limited benefits, or harsh negative long-term effects". Quite the opposite, as I've been saying all along.

And there is nothing to justify. I'm simply trying to educate you.

I didn't say that any one was a lap dog for US policy. I said the US government has forced other countries to adopt its drug policy, and it has.

Those two statements are essentially equivalent.

What loads disagree?

The American FDA, the AMA, MMA, American Society of Addiction Medicine, the National Institute on Drug abuse, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, Cancer Research UK, take your pick. Not only those entire organizations, but a plethora of individual studies exist which show either extremely limited benefits, or harsh negative long-term effects, or both.

But you just want to justify your addiction, so I'll leave you in peace.

I didn't say that any one was a lap dog for US policy. I said the US government has forced other countries to adopt its drug policy, and it has.

What loads disagree? American states that legally allow the use of marijuana are increasing. This wouldn't be happening if the medical establishments in those states were against it.

And, I'm going to have to disagree with your last claim, as well. On the contrary, more and more information is coming out about the benefits and medical uses of pot. There have been several studies in the last couple years that show promising anti-cancer properties of cannabis, in addition to all the other studies that show it to be useful in treating glaucoma, reducing spasms and seizures in multiple sclerosis and other neuro-muscular type diseases, reducing stress in PTSD, reducing pain in chronic pain conditions, stimulating appetite in cancer and HIV patients, etc...

The fact that so many medical uses are know for it despite the US's schedule 1 classification making the study of medical cannabis difficult is amazing. More wonderful medicinal properties are likely to be discovered yet.

I'm pretty sure I haven't belittled any doctors here

Except when you claimed they were just being lapdogs for the U.S's anti-pot policy.

there are loads of scientific studies that back up my viewpoint

And loads that disagree.

there are 20 states or so that have legalized medical marijuana in America. Many doctors think as I do and prescribe marijuana as medicine.

And as a result, more information is coming out about the dangers of pot.

@bfg

I'm pretty sure I haven't belittled any doctors here, and there are loads of scientific studies that back up my viewpoint, which is why there are 20 states or so that have legalized medical marijuana in America. Many doctors think as I do and prescribe marijuana as medicine.

the US government has forced its allies to adopt harsh anti-cannabis laws in line with its own

What makes you think the French would want to do anything the U.S. wanted them to? They kinda hate Americans, in case you didn't know.

What's really funny is you attempting to belittle what are easily verifiable facts.

Like you, belittling what doctor's and scientists say as "anti-pot propaganda?"

The fact is it's a mostly benign herb

Seems to me that's not a "fact." That's your opinion which is not really backed up by science. Your opinions are not facts.

Hemp, without any doubt, is a marvellous crop and deeply written into Japanese history. It's ideally suited for the climate and terrain. Many of the samurai/martial art uniforms, sail cloths, ropes and other ritual artefacts for Buddhist pilgrims, Shinto shrines and the Imperial household, canvases for great art works, paper, treaties etc were all made out of it. It was seen as divine and a symbol of purity.

As the quote above refers to, it's removal via legislation was everything to do with the dominance of US industrial interests in both its own and Japan's political and economic spheres. They wanted to sell Japan those "artificial fibers", e.g. nylons etc.

Terrible materials both for the user, climate and environment by comparison.

The native hemp industry was destroyed. The hoops required for licensing were deliberately obstructive. It's worth studying the history of it. When the Americans insisted on the anti-hemp legislation, it was at first ignored as no one could understand what the issue was, but Japan was then pressed again later by the US to clamp down on it in the 60s, so paranoid were they about the rise of the pacifist left etc.

Just why America has a global agenda to eliminate cannabis from every country, I cannot really understand, except for the economical ... but that time has moved on now.

As to smoking the dope version, I really don't know if it went on and would be very interested to know. It would start to paint a very different picture of traditional Japan if it did.

It's so much part of its history, Japan could just have had a dope leaf on white background as it national flag.

How good or bad it is for this or that part of your body is irrelevant. If you get drawn down that path, you've already given up the high ground and are just talking about what kind of stick you agree to be beaten with. Same story with the foolish "medical marijuana" approach. The real point is, why and how are you regulating what I choose to put into my own body? It is not done to help me or society--the tragic and astronomical costs of the war on drugs have been shown again and again. I could drink bleach or smoke ground PET bottle caps, and the police would not smash down my door and waste vast amounts of public funds processing, trying and jailing me. There are so many vested interests, people and entities with a huge stake in keeping a few recreational drugs illegal, that it will never change much. As a famous man once said, "Thanks for a country in which no one is allowed to mind their own business."

@It'S ME

True, hemp was never banned outright, but it was discouraged. There are a few different possible reasons for this. I stated the economic one above, but others could have been a factor as well.

In 1950, for example, there were approximately 25,000 cannabis farms nationwide. In the following decades, however, this number plummeted. Takayasu attributes this to a slump in demand caused by the popularity of artificial fibers and the costs of the new licenses cannabis farmers were required to possess under the 1948 act. Nowadays, Takayasu said, there are fewer than 60 licensed cannabis farms in Japan

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/04/19/lifestyle/cannabis-the-fiber-of-japan/#.U1t2L6JWiRh

Hemp products never been illegal in Japan, like hemp string & hemp clothing. All hemp growers are licenced and monitored.

MJ is illegal though.

@bfg

I really don't know the general French attitude towards cannabis, but it is actually possible, because the US government has forced its allies to adopt harsh anti-cannabis laws in line with its own. Just take Japan as an example. Japan's anti-cannabis law was written by the Americans during the occupation after WW2. Probably to weaken the local textile industry, as it was based on hemp, thereby preparing Japan's market for foreign synthetic fiber imports. Prior to then, it wasn't illegal. There are numerous other instances where allies were coerced into adopting America's strict anti-cannabis stance in order to maintain good relations or poor countries had aid money tied to towing the anti-cannabis line started and proselytized around the world by the American government.

What's really funny is you attempting to belittle what are easily verifiable facts. The American has spouted so many lies regarding marijuana its incredible that anyone believes anything they have to say. When they first moved to outlaw it in the late 30's their initial line was that it turned people into blood-thirsty maniacs. Newspapers were full of fake stories about axe-murderers who had smoked a joint just before killing. Then, in the 60's, they did a 180 degree about face and started claiming that cannabis turned everyone into lazy, hazy hippie pacifists and that the spread of pot was encouraged by the communists to weaken the American fighting man and hasten America's departure from Vietnam.

When I was in elementary school it was "It's a gateway drug. It kills your brain cells and will turn into a dirty, stupid loser.. It reduces your sperm count, and other total nonsense."

The fact is it's a mostly benign herb that has been used for thousands upon thousands of years to little or no ill effect until America outlawed it in 1937.

"My left arm went numb."

Wow, funniest thing I've heard in a while. The kind of stuff that gets posted on satirical anti-pot Facebook pages.

So lets do a little math. Out of the 2,000 people that actually went to the hospital for Marijuana related problems over a 5 year period 35 had heart related problems. Or approximately 7 people a year. Now lets see, France has 66 Million people. Of those probably around 4 million could be classified in the young adult category. Now lets say 15% of them smoke weed. That would put the number at 600,000. So of the roughly 600,000 young adult French citizens 7 saw heart complications due to MJ on a yearly basis. I agree that there may be some compelling evidence.... but 7 out of 600,000 individuals is not an epidemic nor something the average parent would worry about. Driving and accidents along with alcohol would worry me much more.

Thanks to an OSI "This is what marijuana smells like." briefing, I found out that could be me doing the cardiac thing. After they lit up the ashtray and passed it around the room, my left arm went numb. Checked my pulse (about 150) and noticed the missed beats. That was forty years ago and I've been real careful since then. So, I would give that study some respect.

70 odd years of lies, misinformation and yellow science put forth by the U.S. Government in its attempt to unjustly demonize the plant.

Funny you should say that, since one of the doctors quoted in this article is from France. Are the French doctors trying to demonize pot, too?

@Novenachama

Hilarious. You quietly drop the claim for cannabis causing strokes and then couch the dubious claim for it causing psychosis in a bunch of generic information that, in my experience, is common knowledge among people who have any significant experience with it.

And then you claim bias on my part, though admitting cannabis is a positive thing. (You're sending mixed signals here.) It seems painfully obvious to me that there is an anti-cannabis bias to your viewpoint. If some defenders of cannabis are over zealous in their defense of it (and I don't think I've been) it probably has something to do with trying to counter 70 odd years of lies, misinformation and yellow science put forth by the U.S. Government in its attempt to unjustly demonize the plant.

If you define psychosis as a temporary disconnect from reality, which seems incredibly vague to me, Wiki says cannabis "may lower the threshold for psychosis, and thus help to trigger full-blown psychosis in some people." while alcohol is "a common cause of psychotic disorders or episodes."

Funnily enough, there is a hemp-Japan connection. Hemp used to be widely grown and used in Japan throughout its history, until the Americans enacted anti-hemp laws after the war, primarily to benefit large US manufactures ... the old Du Pont conspiracy angle.

Even then, the laws were widely ignored as it was not considered an issue within Japan until the 60s in the peacenik/hippy days when, again, the US prompted Japan to get strict on it.

Stranger-in-a-Strange-Land - Sound scientifically based research conducted by scientist have identified more than 400 chemicals in marijuana. At least 66 compounds called cannabinoids are unique to marijuana. THC is the most well-known cannabinoids. Research indicates that THC binds to a nerve cell and changes the activity of the nerve cell. THC has been known to decrease pressure with the eyes, raise anxiety and cause paranoia. On the other hand other cannabinoids produce different effects and can counter THC therefore it can actually reduce anxiety and paranoia. The proportion of the THC to the other compounds varies by the cultivated strain, so the psychological effects of using the marijuana can depend on the particular strain at hand. In the end marijuana produce a range of psychological and physical effects that can be unpredictable at times, and can cause acute psychosis, or temporary break with reality. However marijuana induced psychosis happens more often in new users or people prone to mental illness. Of course people that smoke marijuana enjoy the high feeling of well-being so they will not believe any scientific evidence or facts no matter what and that's understandable. Why should they? They don't want to give it up because it doesn't fit into their belief system and is a very positive thing to them.

“It is a shame that we simply don’t know more about a substance that potentially carries the risk of serious bodily harm. It seems that public perception is ahead of the science. We should remain open to the scientific facts as they evolve.”

I would say that Gov/media perception (propaganda) has been ahead of science in regards to marijuana for at least 100 years.

-Juice marijuana and you do not have the negative smoking effects and it is not even psychoactive when not heated (or dried).

On the contrary, the adverse affects are quite exaggerated in comments like yours. Not the other way around.

Really, psychosis and strokes? I don't think so.

Unfortunately besides raising the heart rate most acutely after smoking, marijuana can have adverse effects on the brain, lungs, and heart. It can impair short-term memory, alter judgment and decision-making, and affects moods, potentially producing severe anxiety, paranoia, and psychosis in extreme cases. Marijuana smoke is an irritant to the lungs similar to tobacco smoking and marijuana smokers have the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers, including an increased risk of lung infections. Other cardiovascular effects of marijuana use include reversible strokes, and permanent strokes. In the end I believe marijuana-related health problems are likely to be underreported.

Wow, JT is really going all out with its anti-cannabis propaganda, er, I mean articles, lately. Tellingly, it didn't run the two pro-cannabis articles The Japan Times ran on 4/20.

As someone has already noted, the fact that smoke damages lungs is nothing new, hence this is not even news. It's just an agenda being pushed.

Seriously, that inhaling smoke into your lungs is bad for your health in many ways is not new folks. People think it's not so bad if it's just weed, but smoke is smoke. Some people have several joints a day and that is as bad or worse than as many cigarettes.

Marijuana increases awareness, so people with pre-existing problems they were unaware of are likely to become aware of them and seek help under the influence of marijuana.

This...is God-tier straw-grasping, hahahaha.

A 2% incidence of circulation problems in 2000 people who sought medical attention for complications associated with marijuana? Marijuana increases awareness, so people with pre-existing problems they were unaware of are likely to become aware of them and seek help under the influence of marijuana. That explanation alone could account for this 2% incidence, without marijuana being a causative factor at all, but rather a beneficial assistance to a diagnosis!

“It is a shame that we simply don’t know more about a substance that potentially carries the risk of serious bodily harm....”

We know tobacco does...