265 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
265 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
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MARIJUANA MYTHS
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by Paul Hager
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Hoosier Cannabis Re-legalization Coalition
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1. Marijuana causes brain damage
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The most celebrated study that claims to show brain damage
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is the rhesus monkey study of Dr. Robert Heath, done in the late
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1970s. This study was reviewed by a distinguished panel of
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scientists sponsored by the Institute of Medicine and the
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National Academy of Sciences. Their results were published under
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the title, Marijuana and Health in 1982. Heath's work was
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sharply criticized for its insufficient sample size (only four
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monkeys), its failure to control experimental bias, and the
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misidentification of normal monkey brain structure as "damaged".
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Actual studies of human populations of marijuana users have shown
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no evidence of brain damage. For example, two studies from 1977,
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published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
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(JAMA) showed no evidence of brain damage in heavy users of
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marijuana. That same year, the American Medical Association
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(AMA) officially came out in favor of decriminalizing marijuana.
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That's not the sort of thing you'd expect if the AMA thought
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marijuana damaged the brain.
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2. Marijuana damages the reproductive system
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This claim is based chiefly on the work of Dr. Gabriel
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Nahas, who experimented with tissue (cells) isolated in petri
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dishes, and with researchers who dosed animals with near-lethal
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amounts of cannabinoids (i.e., the intoxicating part of
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marijuana). Nahas' generalizations from his petri dishes to
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human beings have been rejected by the scientific community as
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being invalid. In the case of the animal experiments, the
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animals that survived their ordeal returned to normal within 30
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days of the end of the experiment. Studies of actual human
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populations have failed to demonstrate that marijuana adversely
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affects the reproductive system.
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3. Marijuana is a "gateway" drug -- it leads to hard drugs
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This is one of the more persistent myths. A real world
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example of what happens when marijuana is readily available can
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be found in Holland. The Dutch functionally decriminalized
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marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard drug use -- heroin and
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cocaine -- have DECLINED substantially. Even use of marijuana
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has declined. If marijuana really were a gateway drug, one would
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have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up. Actual studies
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of hard drug "addicts" reveal that they start with alcohol or
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tobacco more frequently than marijuana.
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4. Marijuana suppresses the immune system
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Like the studies claiming to show damage to the reproductive
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system, this myth is based on studies where animals were given
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extremely high doses of cannabinoids. These results have never
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been duplicated in human beings. Interestingly, two studies done
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in 1978 and one done in 1988 showed that hashish and marijuana
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may have actually stimulated the immune system in the people
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studied.
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5. Marijuana is much more dangerous than tobacco
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Smoked marijuana contains more carcinogens than does an
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equivalent amount of tobacco (1.5 to 3 times). Marijuana,
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however, unlike tobacco, actually dilates (enlarges) the air
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passages in the lungs which promotes self-cleaning. This is one
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reason why cannabis has been found useful in the past in treating
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asthmatics. It should be remembered that a heavy tobacco smoker
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consumes much more tobacco than a heavy marijuana smoker consumes
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marijuana. Two other factors are important. The first is that
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paraphernalia laws directed against marijuana users make it
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difficult to smoke safely. These laws make water pipes and
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bongs, which filter some of the carcinogens out of the smoke,
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illegal and, hence, unavailable. The second is that, if
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marijuana were legal, it would be more economical to have
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cannabis drinks like bhang (a traditional drink in the Middle
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East) or tea which are totally non-carcinogenic. This is in
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stark contrast with "smokeless" tobacco products like snuff which
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can cause cancer of the mouth and throat. Nicotine itself is
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very toxic in even small quantities. In contrast, the
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cannabinoids are relatively non-toxic. When all of these facts
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are taken together, it can be clearly seen that the reverse is
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true: marijuana is much SAFER than tobacco.
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6. Legal marijuana would cause carnage on the highways
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Although marijuana, when used to intoxication, does impair
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performance in a manner similar to alcohol, actual studies of the
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effect of marijuana on the automobile accident rate suggest that
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it poses LESS of a hazard than alcohol. When a random sample of
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fatal accident victims was studied, it was initially found that
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marijuana was associated with RELATIVELY as many accidents as
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alcohol. In other words, the number of accident victims
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intoxicated on marijuana relative to the number of marijuana
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users in society gave a ratio similar to that for accident
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victims intoxicated on alcohol relative to the total number of
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alcohol users. However, a closer examination of the victims
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revealed that around 85% of the people intoxicated on marijuana
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WERE ALSO INTOXICATED ON ALCOHOL. For people only intoxicated on
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marijuana, the rate was much lower than for alcohol alone. This
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would suggest that legal marijuana would not pose as serious a
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hazard as legal alcohol.
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NOTE: We of the HCRC believe that DUI laws pertaining to
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driving under the influence of alcohol should apply to driving
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under the influence of marijuana. We believe in the RESPONSIBLE
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USE of marijuana, NOT IRRESPONSIBLE ABUSE.
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7. Marijuana "flattens" human brainwaves
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This is an out-and-out lie perpetrated by the Partnership
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for a Drug-Free America. A few years ago, they ran a TV ad that
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purported to show, first, a normal human brainwave, and second, a
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flat brainwave from a 14-year-old "on marijuana". When
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researchers called up the TV networks to complain about this
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commercial, the Partnership had to pull it from the air. It
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seems that the Partnership faked the flat "marijuana brainwave".
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In reality, marijuana has the effect of slightly INCREASING alpha
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wave activity. Alpha waves are associated with meditative and
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relaxed states which are, in turn, often associated with human
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creativity.
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8. Marijuana impairs short-term memory
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This is true but misleading. When one is intoxicated on
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alcohol, one's motor control is affected. When one is
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intoxicated on marijuana, one's concentration is affected. Any
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impairment of short-term memory disappears when one is no longer
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intoxicated. Often, the short-term memory effect is paired with
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a reference to Dr. Heath's poor rhesus monkeys to imply that the
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condition is permanent.
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9. Marijuana lingers in the body like DDT
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This is also true but misleading. Cannabinoids are fat
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soluble as are innumerable nutrients and, yes, some poisons like
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DDT. For example, the essential nutrient, Vitamin A, is fat
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soluble but one never hears people who favor marijuana
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prohibition making this comparison.
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10. There are over a thousand chemicals in marijuana smoke
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Again, true but misleading. The 31 August 1990 issue of the
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magazine Science notes that of the over 800 volatile chemicals
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present in roasted COFFEE, only 21 have actually been tested on
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animals and 16 of these cause cancer in rodents. Yet, coffee
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remains legal and is generally considered fairly safe.
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11. No one has ever died of a marijuana overdose
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This is true. It was put in to see if you are paying
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attention. Animal tests have revealed that extremely high doses
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of cannabinoids are needed to have lethal effect. This has led
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scientists to conclude that the ratio of the amount of
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cannabinoids necessary to get a person intoxicated (i.e., stoned)
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relative to the amount necessary to kill them is 1 to 40,000. In
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other words, to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times
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as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned. In contrast, the
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ratio for alcohol varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. It is easy
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to see how upwards of 5000 people die from alcohol overdoses
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every year and no one EVER dies of marijuana overdoses.
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Check us out
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We believe that the truth is our strongest weapon. To date,
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the prohibitionists have refused to meet us in public debate:
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they fear the truth and know that they stand to lose in any
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direct confrontation. They cower behind a wall of myths, lies,
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and half truths. In the battles that lie ahead we will try to
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flush the prohibitionists into the open. In order to be
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successful in this goal, we will need to batter down the myths
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and lies by giving our message the widest possible distribution.
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Check us out. Listen to our Truth Squad, check our sources,
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and ask us the tough questions. Examine our claims with a
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skeptical, but open, mind. We feel that after looking at the
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facts you will find it very hard to side with the prohibitionists
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ever again.
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We're looking for allies, declared or undeclared. Getting
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the message out costs money. Our opponents dispose of literally
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hundreds-of-millions of dollars. If you'd like to quietly donate
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to the cause, send your contributions to the Hoosier Cannabis
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Re-legalization Coalition at P.O. Box 5325, Bloomington, IN
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47407. If you'd like to help in a more direct way contact me,
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Paul Hager, at (812) 333-1384. Our meetings are open to the
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public and we welcome new members. Contact us for more
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information.
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Sources
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1) Marijuana and Health, Institute of Medicine, National
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Academy of Sciences, 1982. Note: the Committee on Substance
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Abuse and Habitual Behavior of the "Marijuana and Health"
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study had its part of the final report suppressed when it
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reviewed the evidence and recommended that possession of
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small amounts of marijuana should no longer be a crime (TIME
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magazine, July 19, 1982). The two JAMA studies are: Co,
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B.T., Goodwin, D.W., Gado, M., Mikhael, M., and Hill, S.Y.:
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"Absence of cerebral atrophy in chronic cannabis users",
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JAMA, 237:1229-1230, 1977; and, Kuehnle, J., Mendelson,
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J.H., Davis, K.R., and New, P.F.J.: "Computed tomographic
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examination of heavy marijuana smokers", JAMA, 237:1231-
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1232, 1977.
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2) See Marijuana and Health, ibid., for information on this
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research. See also, Marijuana Reconsidered (1978) by Dr.
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Lester Grinspoon.
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3) See "A Comparison of Marijuana Users and Non-users" by
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Norman Zinberg and Andrew Weil (1971). This showed a
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negative correlation between use of marijuana and use of
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alcohol. A recent article about the Dutch experience is
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written up in "The Economics of Legalizing Drugs", by
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Richard J. Dennis, The Atlantic Monthly, Vol 266, No. 5, Nov
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1990, p. 130.
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4) See a review of studies and their methodology in "Marijuana
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and Immunity", Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Vol 20(1),
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Jan-Mar 1988. Studies showing stimulation of the immune
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system: Kaklamani, et al., "Hashish smoking and T-
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lymphocytes", 1978; Kalofoutis et al., "The significance of
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lymphocyte lipid changes after smoking hashish", 1978. The
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1988 study: Wallace, J.M., Tashkin, D.P., Oishi, J.S.,
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Barbers, R.G., "Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Subpopulations
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and Mitogen Responsiveness in Tobacco and Marijuana
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Smokers", 1988, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, ibid.
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5) For current information on cannabis drinks see Working Men
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and Ganja: Marijuana Use in Rural Jamaica by M. C. Dreher,
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Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1982, ISBN 0-89727-
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025-8. For information on cannabis and actual cancer risk,
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see Marijuana and Health, ibid.
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6) For a survey of studies relating to cannabis and highway
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accidents see "Marijuana, Driving and Accident Safety", by
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Dale Gieringer, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, ibid.
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7) For information about the Partnership ad, see Jack Herer's
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book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 1990, p. 74. For
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information on memory and the alpha brainwave enhancement
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effect, see "Marijuana, Memory, and Perception", by R. L.
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Dornbush, M.D., M. Fink, M.D., and A. M. Freedman, M.D.,
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presented at the 124th annual meeting of the American
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Psychiatric Association, May 3-7, 1971.
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8) See Marijuana and Health, ibid. Also see "Marijuana,
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Memory, and Perception", ibid.
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9) The fat solubility of cannabinoids and certain vitamins is
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well known. See Marijuana and Health, ibid. For some
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information on vitamin A, see "The A Team" in Scientific
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American, Vol 264, No. 2, February 1991, p. 16.
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10) See "Too Many Rodent Carcinogens: Mitogenesis Increases
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Mutagenesis", Bruce N. Ames and Lois Swirsky Gold, Science,
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Vol 249, 31 August 1990, p. 971.
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11) Cannabis and alcohol toxicity is compared in Marijuana
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Reconsidered, ibid., p. 227. Yearly alcohol overdoses was
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taken from "Drug Prohibition in the United States: Costs,
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Consequences, and Alternatives" by Ethan A. Nadelmann,
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Science, Vol 245, 1 September 1989, p. 943.
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