Words’ End

If you know me at all, you know that the senseless, expensive, misguided “war on drugs” is a bit of a hobby-horse of mine. Today I saw streetdrugs.org for the first time, and decided to look at what they say about marijuana.

Why pot? Well, because it is (as streetdrugs say) “the most widely used illegal substance in the world today,” and because it’s a Schedule I drug (rated as dangerous as heroin, and more dangerous than cocaine). Also, because marijuana prohibition has a long political history having to do with disliking immigrants. No, really: go read this FAQ (and its various disclaimers) on Erowid.

Before we go any further, here’s another useful link to an article titled “The top 10 pot studies government wished it had never funded.” Now, to the streetdrugs article about marijuana.

Marijuana is made from the plant cannabis sativa…

Actually, sativa is only one of three species of the cannabis genus that qualify as sources of “marijuana”: sativa, indica and ruderalis.

The plant, cannabis sativa, contains chemicals called “cannabinoids.” THC (delta-9-tetrhydrocannabinol) is the cannabinoid believed to be responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis.

THC can be found in all parts of the cannabis plant, including hemp. This is why hemp is regulated carefully–some hemp products such as clothing, rope, yarn, lotion and soap are legal products because they do not cause THC to enter the human body.

Would be nice if you’d mentioned that the cannabinoids are also produced endogenously in our brains. Not only that: in order to react to any chemical, we have to have a receptor for it, and we certainly do have cannabinoid receptors. Studies of whether we can take advantage of having these receptors by tickling them with THC seem to have promise in many areas of medicine, including treatments of Tourette Syndrome and cancer.

Streetdrugs quoting the DEA:

There are no FDA-approved medications that are smoked. For one thing, smoking is generally a poor way to deliver medicine. It is difficult to administer safe, regulated dosages of medicines in smoked form. Secondly, the harmful chemicals and carcinogens that are byproducts of smoking create entirely new health problems. There are four times the level of tar in a marijuana cigarette, for example, than in a tobacco cigarette.

True enough, about tar. Problems, though: (a) I have never heard of anyone smoking the equivalent of 20+ joints a day, whereas the pack-a-day cigarette habit is quite common; and (b) why doesn’t anyone ever talk about vaporizers in the “mainstream”? THC evaporates at a lower temperature than is needed for combustion – voila, no (or few) bad volatiles.

Streetdrugs quoting NIDA:

Smoking marijuana may increase the risk of cancer more than smoking tobacco. Marijuana smoke contains 50% to 70% more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. It also produces high levels of an enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form–levels that may accelerate the canges that ultimately produce malignant cells.

See the link to Ten Studies above. To their credit, Streetdrugs go on to add:

In May 2006, a study was published by UCLA that disputes the claims that marijuana causes lung cancer. To read the press release, click here.

Moving along:

Marijuana is usually smoked in the form of loosely rolled cigarettes called “joints,” hollowed out commercial cigars called “blunts,” smoked in pipes or bongs. Joints and blunts are sometimes laced with a number of adulterants including PCP, cocaine and embalming fluid (a chemical traditionally used to preserve dead bodies)–resulting in a wide range of effects…

You know, you could just say formaldehyde. But whatever. I’ve no idea whether street-purchased marijuana is laced with anything, but somehow I seriously doubt that all those hippies (not to mention the many peoples who used pot way before we were born, we’re talking Biblical times here) would do such a thing. You want to combat drug selling on the streets, fine, but don’t be blaming cannabis for human hubris.

SHORT TERM EFFECTS of marijuana use include impaired short-term memory, impaired concentration, attention, and judgment; impaired coordination and balance, increased heart rate, blood shot or red eyes, dry mouth and increased appetite (the “munchies”).

Fair enough, these are some widely known effects (not all of them necessarily bad, by the way) of ingesting marijuana. But consider this: it’s a plant. It can be bred. Forget human intervention; natural means it mutates. Don’t you think it’s possible that some strains of pot have different effects, like increased concentration? Erowid (link above) lists its classifications as “Intoxicant; Stimulant; Psychedelic; Depressant.” That’s a hell of a range.

LONG TERM EFFECTS of marijuana use include addiction (psychological), paranoia, persistent anxiety, impaired learning skills and memory difficulties.

Kudos – seriously – for not claiming that there’s physical addiction associated with marijuana. As for the rest, particularly learning and memory, see the Tourette’s-treatment link above.

MEDICAL COMPLICATIONS associated with marijuana use include an increased risk of chronic cough, bronchitis, and emphysema; increased risk of cancer of the head, neck, and lungs; a decrease in testosterone levels and lower sperm counts for men and an increase in testosterone levels for women and increased risk of infertility.

Nice, returning to the cancer-risk bogeyman and painting it as a definitive complication even though they themselves linked to the UCLA study. The rest of these aren’t substantiated by Streetdrugs.

More information claimed to be from NIDA:

Within a few minutes after inhaling marijuana smoke, an individual’s heart begins beating more rapidly, the bronchial passages relax and become enlarged, and blood vessels in the eyes expand, making the eyes look red. The heart rate, normally 70 to 80 beats per minute, may increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute or, in some cases, even double. This effect can be greater if other drugs are taken with marijuana.

OK, let’s see. Bronchial passages enlarged… it’s a bronchodilator! I wonder if we can treat asthma with it? Also, I’m assuming the blood-vessel expansion isn’t limited to the eyes (why would it be), and together with an increased heart rate that means better blood flow. Then again, blood vessel dilation is also a “known cause” of headaches (NYTimes article, not freely available so not linking). But is headache listed as one of the effects of smoking pot? No.

Studies show that approximately 6 to 11 percent of fatal accident victims test positive for THC. In many of these cases, alcohol is detected as well. In a study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a moderate dose of marijuana alone was shown to impair driving performance; however, the effects of even a low dose of marijuana combined with alcohol were markedly greater than for either drug alone.

“Many of these cases”? How many? And what other substances are found in their bodies? And how many fatal accident victims have nicotine in their blood? What about alcohol (and only alcohol)? “6 to 11 percent” means little if you don’t compare it with other numbers. As for the NHTSA study: a moderate dose vs. a low dose combined with alcohol. What’s wrong with this comparison?

Cancer of the respiratory tract and lungs may also be promoted by marijuana smoke. A study comparing 173 cancer patients and 176 healthy individuals produced strong evidence that smoking marijuana increases the likelihood of developing cancer of the head or neck, and that the more marijuana smoked, the greater the increase. A statistical analysis of the data suggested that marijuana smoking doubled or tripled the risk of these cancers.

Here we go again! OK, I get it. You want me to think that pot smoking causes cancer. This isn’t presenting information, at this point, because (a) you’ve already mentioned cancer, and (b) what study? Where are the findings?

Necessary disclaimers: I Am Not An Expert. I am not contesting the possibility that marijuana smoking may have negative side effects. I am, however, railing against the ubiquitous misinformation about it out there, and severely displeased with how much money has been spent on holding up this straw man. How about closing the doors on the War on Drugz, and instead pouring all that money into real research? Maybe we’ll cure cancer in our lifetime.