10 Facts About Marijuana
Marijuana is a plant containing a psychoactive chemical,
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in its leaves, buds and flowers. Marijuana
is the most commonly used illicit drug, with forty-two percent of
American adults reporting that they have used it.
Despite the fact that marijuana's effects are less harmful than those
of most other drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, it is the most
common drug that people are arrested for possessing. U.S. marijuana
policy is unique among American criminal laws in being enforced so
widely and harshly, yet deemed unnecessary by such a substantial portion
of the population.
Fact #1: Most marijuana users never use any other illicit drug.
Marijuana does not cause people to use hard drugs. Marijuana is the
most popular illegal drug in the United States today. Therefore, people
who have used less popular drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, are
likely to have also used marijuana. Most marijuana users never use any
other illegal drug and the vast majority of those who do try another
drug never become addicted or go on to have associated problems. Indeed,
for the large majority of people, marijuana is a terminus rather than a
so-called gateway drug.
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Fact #2: Most people who
use marijuana do so occasionally. Increasing admissions for treatment do
not reflect increasing rates of clinical dependence.
According to a federal Institute of Medicine study in 1999, fewer than
10 percent of those who try marijuana ever meet the clinical criteria
for dependence, while 32 percent of tobacco users and 15 percent of
alcohol users do. According to federal data, marijuana treatment
admissions referred by the criminal justice system rose from 48 percent
in 1992 to 58 percent in 2006. Just 45 percent of marijuana admissions
met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria
for marijuana dependence. More than a third hadn’t used marijuana in the
30 days prior to admission for treatment.
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Fact #3: Claims about
increases in marijuana potency are vastly overstated. In addition,
potency is not related to risk of dependence or health impacts.
Although marijuana potency may have increased somewhat in recent
decades, claims about enormous increases in potency are vastly
overstated and not supported by evidence. Nonetheless, potency is not
related to risks of dependence or health impacts. According to the
federal government's own data, the average THC in domestically grown
marijuana – which comprises the bulk of the US market – is less than 5
percent, a figure that has remained unchanged for nearly a decade. In
the 1980s, by comparison, the THC content averaged around 3 percent.
Regardless of potency, THC is virtually non-toxic to healthy cells or
organs, and is incapable of causing a fatal overdose. Currently, doctors
may legally prescribe Marinol, an FDA-approved pill that contains 100
percent THC. The Food and Drug Administration found THC to be safe and
effective for the treatment of nausea, vomiting, and wasting diseases.
When consumers encounter unusually strong varieties of marijuana, they
adjust their use accordingly and smoke less.
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Fact #4: Marijuana has not been shown to cause mental illness.
Some effects of marijuana ingestion may include feelings of panic,
anxiety, and paranoia. Such experiences can be frightening, but the
effects are temporary.
That said, none of this is to suggest that there may not be some
correlation (but
not causation) between marijuana use and certain psychiatric ailments.
Marijuana use can correlate with mental illness for many reasons. People
often turn to the alleviating effects of marijuana to treat symptoms of
distress. One study demonstrated that psychotic symptoms
predict later use of marijuana, suggesting that people might turn to the plant for help rather than become ill after use.
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Fact #5: Marijuana use has not been shown to increase risk of cancer.
Several longitudinal studies have established that even long-term
use of marijuana (via smoking) in humans is not associated with elevated
cancer risk, including tobacco-related cancers or with cancer of the
following sites: colorectal, lung, melanoma, prostate, breast, cervix. A
more recent (2009) population-based case-control study found that
moderate marijuana smoking over a 20 year period was associated with
reduced risk of head and neck cancer (See
Liang et al).
And a 5-year-long population-based case control study found even
long-term heavy marijuana smoking was not associated with lung cancer or
UAT (upper aerodigestive tract) cancers.
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Fact #6: Marijuana has been proven helpful for treating the symptoms of a variety of medical conditions.
Marijuana has been shown to be effective in reducing the nausea
induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients,
and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma. There is also
appreciable evidence that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity in
patients with neurological disorders. A synthetic capsule is available
by prescription, but it is not as effective as smoked marijuana for many
patients.
Learn more about medical marijuana. [6]
Fact #7: Marijuana use rates in the Netherlands are similar to those in the U.S. despite very different policies.
The Netherlands' drug policy is one of the most nonpunitive in
Europe. For more than twenty years, Dutch citizens over age eighteen
have been permitted to buy and use cannabis (marijuana and hashish) in
government-regulated coffee shops. This policy has not resulted in
dramatically escalating marijuana use. For most age groups, rates of
marijuana use in the Netherlands are similar to those in the United
States. However, for young adolescents, rates of marijuana use are lower
in the Netherlands than in the United States. The Dutch government
occasionally revises existing marijuana policy, but it remains committed
to decriminalization.
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Fact #8: Marijuana has not been shown to cause long-term cognitive impairment.
The short-term effects of marijuana include immediate, temporary
changes in thoughts, perceptions, and information processing. The
cognitive process most clearly affected by marijuana is short-term
memory. In laboratory studies, subjects under the influence of marijuana
have no trouble remembering things they learned previously. However,
they display diminished capacity to learn and recall new information.
This diminishment only lasts for the duration of the intoxication. There
is no convincing evidence that heavy long-term marijuana use
permanently impairs memory or other cognitive functions.
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Fact #9: There is no compelling evidence that marijuana contributes substantially to traffic accidents and fatalities.
At some doses, marijuana affects perception and psychomotor
performance – changes which could impair driving ability. However, in
driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairment
– consistently less than produced by low to moderate doses of alcohol
and many legal medications. In contrast to alcohol, which tends to
increase risky driving practices, marijuana tends to make subjects more
cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is
detected in the blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. For
some individuals, marijuana may play a role in bad driving. The overall
rate of highway accidents appears not to be significantly affected by
marijuana's widespread use in society.
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Fact #10: More than 800,000 people are arrested for marijuana each year, the vast majority of them for simple possession.
Police prosecuted 858,408 persons for marijuana violations in 2009,
according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime
Report. Marijuana arrests now comprise more than one-half (approximately
52 percent) of all drug arrests reported in the United States. A decade
ago, marijuana arrests comprised just 44 percent of all drug arrests.
Approximately 46 percent of all drug prosecutions nationwide are for
marijuana possession. Of those charged with marijuana violations,
approximately 88 percent (758,593 Americans) were charged with
possession only. The remaining 99,815 individuals were charged with
“sale/manufacture,” a category that includes virtually all cultivation
offenses.
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