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Marijuana Toxicity
I am a great proponent of medical marijuana as well as using it simply for relaxation, recreation, and de-stressing. However, that does not mean it is a perfect substance without any prejudicing effects. As a medicine, marijuana is without equal carrying less danger than aspirin or any other pharmaceutical on the market. The upside is far greater than the downside when it comes to its use as a medicine.
Many doctors who come out against the use of marijuana as a medicine have conflicts of interest motivating them meaning—they have financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. We can understand why pharmaceutical companies get jealous and possessive about their turf. News sources report that a new study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal finds that states that have legalized medicinal marijuana have significantly fewer deaths from painkiller overdoses. States that had legalized medical pot experienced around 1,700 fewer painkiller overdose deaths in 2010 than what would have happened if those states didn’t make medical marijuana legal and available. “We found there was about a 25% lower rate of prescription painkiller overdose deaths on average after implementation of a medical marijuana law,” said lead study author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber. [1]
“As Americans continue to embrace pot—as medicine and for recreational use—opponents are turning to a set of academic researchers to claim that policymakers should avoid relaxing restrictions around marijuana. It's too dangerous, risky, and untested, they say. Just as drug company-funded research has become incredibly controversial in recent years, forcing major medical schools and journals to institute strict disclosure requirements, could there be a conflict of interest issue in the pot debate? VICE has found that many of the researchers who have advocated against legalizing pot have also been on the payroll of leading pharmaceutical firms with products that could be easily replaced by using marijuana. When these individuals have been quoted in the media, their drug-industry ties have not been revealed,” writes Lee Fang in a well-researched presentation for Vice News.
One can use marijuana safely for a long time and not suffer anything near the damage of using alcohol or most pharmaceuticals. Life is difficult enough on our planet and it is about to get even more difficult. Marijuana can help us endure but sometimes it does its job too well covering up stress that in reality needs to be dealt with. That is one good reason long-term users should take occasional breaks from using it. Such abstinence is a break against dependency and needing higher doses or consuming more than is healthy for an individual.
Ideally, we should seek a life of purity and health. Medicine can mimic this by using natural healing medicines, including marijuana, not dangerous synthetic chemicals. Marijuana does hold short-term danger for some people and long-term risks of addiction. However, when one sees that one can treat cancer with marijuana, using it as a form of natural chemotherapy, and compare the safety of using it instead of radiation and mainstream chemotherapy, then one can appreciate that there is no contest.
Regular chemotherapy helps very few and almost guarantees a nasty death and a life of suffering while it is being administered. In contrast, one should have no fear in using marijuana in concentrated forms to treat a broad range of diseases including cancer. Even when using a gram a day of a high grade hemp oil (50 percent THC, 45 percent CBD) the body gets used to it, if one takes the dosage up slowly. When people talk about addiction to marijuana it is more psychologically oriented in relationship to frequent daily trips to a slightly changed reality that for most is comforting and often creative. When one uses marijuana as a medicine, not as a tool to run away from reality there is little danger of physical addiction.
“ Marijuana has remarkably low toxicity and lethal doses in humans have not been described. This is in stark contrast to a number of commonly prescribed medications used for similar purposes, including opiates, anti-emetics, anti-depressants and muscle relaxants, not to mention legal substances used recreationally including tobacco and alcohol,” writes Dr. Gregory T. Carter, Clinical Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Notice Dr. Carter said low toxicity not no toxicity.
Cannabinoids are usually well tolerated, and do not produce the generalized toxic effects of conventional pharmaceuticals but that does not mean we do not have to be careful with its long-term use. At Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, where a great deal of National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded research takes place, researchers have found that abrupt marijuana withdrawal leads to symptoms similar to depression and nicotine withdrawal. Meaning that no matter how helpful marijuana is as a medicine it is not without its own toxicity and addictive properties. Marijuana is a complex substance affecting each person differently.
I am 55 and I have been smoking pot off and on for the last 30 years… I had no idea of the withdrawal I would experience. Two days in, I thought for sure I had some dreaded disease. One minute I would be freezing, the next sweating. The loss of appetite doesn’t bother me because pot always helped me keep on an extra 5-10 lbs. from the munchies and sweet tooth. Not sure how long it will take, but I do look forward to the day when this has all passed.
Long-term use or overuse of marijuana has been linked to adrenal fatigue, sexual dysfunctions and it has effects on the brain cells that cause short-term memory loss. Marijuana itself usually does not cause liver damage but most marijuana contains various impurities and other plant material that can be damaging to the liver. One way to tell if it is bothering your liver is if you start feeling dizzy and having trouble walking when high. Another way is if the liver itself and the area above it on the rib cage becomes sensitive to the touch.
Rising Potency
The amount of THC in marijuana samples confiscated by police has been increasing steadily over the past few decades. In 2012, THC concentrations in marijuana averaged close to 15 percent, compared to around 4 percent in the 1980s. For a new user, this may mean exposure to higher concentrations of THC, with a greater chance of an adverse or unpredictable reaction.
Increases in potency may account for the rise in emergency department visits involving marijuana use. For frequent users, it may mean a greater risk for addiction if they are exposing themselves to high doses on a regular basis. However, the full range of consequences associated with marijuana's higher potency is not well understood.
Cadmium concentrates in tobacco and marijuana leaves and accumulates in the body when smoked over a long term leading to hypertension, kidney degeneration or disease, heart disease, depressed immune systems, cancers of the lungs and prostate; it also affects bones. In healthy people excess cadmium can be excreted in the urine if adequate levels of zinc are maintained in the body—15-30 mg daily in a supplement, will offer some protection against cadmium problems.
Marijuana has a large benefit curve that varies greatly depending not only on a person’s presenting condition but also on their character and inner strength. Marijuana usually gives more than it takes from the body, mind, and emotions when used as a medicine. Over time though, sometimes a great deal of time, this curve reverses, and it may begin to take more than it gives meaning side effects can creep up to disturb the body, mind and spirit. What can we expect from a substance that greatly affects our brain wave patterns? If a person keeps taking marijuana over years, he may become dependent, addicted and eventually may lose the ability to cope with its toxicity. This dependency varies widely from one person to another and for some never becomes a threat to their health or quality of life.
THC has many hidden medical uses. It can keep a person’s heart safe during a major coronary blockage. According to a study published in Biochemical Pharmacology, administering a tiny dose of tetrahydrocannabinol (a.k.a., THC) can help reduce damage done to your heart if you’re suffering from myocardial ischemia, which is what happens when your heart’s arteries are partially or completely blocked. [2]
Some people notice an increasing sense of restlessness when they get high. This is direct feedback from their bodies telling them that something’s wrong. Most people just go ahead ignoring the body’s feedback signals. This in and of itself creates a biological stress inside a person-creating trauma. The body has to cope; we give it no choice when we ignore negative symptoms. A price is taken out of the central nervous system creating what John Mini M.S.C.M./L.Ac. calls Marijuana Induced Stress Trauma. |
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