Marijuana Essay, Research Paper

Marijuana

Some call it the demon weed some call it just plane fun well here

is the official statistics on the plant known as Marijuana. For

starters we?ll go with the health part of the plant. Many

?Educational? and or other health videos in school have you believe that

Marijuana is going to ruin your life and leave you brain dead, but there

has been no known proof that it has had any long term brain damage to

the human brain. The only damage suggested by American Medical

Association (AMA) is that it effects the short term memory and they only

believe your memory will be affected as long as you smoke it in large

amounts afterwards when you quit they say memory should return to

normal. The AMA also states that the drug is better in your lungs than

Tabacco in the way that it does less damage because people smoke it less

to get the effects needed. They also say that you still shouldn?t smoke

it and it would be healthier to ingest the drug. There have also been

false reports made on the drug to scare people away from using it. For

instance Dr. Gabriel Nahas was fired for falsifying reports that the

drug did kill humans by experimenting on monkeys. He put the animals

into a room and exposed them to proportionally more Marijuana than a

human would smoke in a life time to prove his point, but he hid the fact

of the amount of smoke used. The AMA supports the legalization of

Marijuana because its applications to medical use in many ways.

Deaths due to weed. So far there have been no deaths due to

Marijuana recorded, in fact the only way to actually overdose on the

drug is by smoking three quarters of a ton of it in fifteen minutes!!

yes you heard it folks fifteen minutes! Doing this is humanly

impossible in fact you are more likely to pass out before accomplishing

this task. The only deaths are related to people using the drug then

trying to perform other tasks like driving or to perform some other task

which involves large amounts of concentration. In fact a only 75 people

in America are killed in Marijuana related incidents a year.

Here is a chart showing the deaths in overdose and or long term use of

other drugs in comparison to Marijuana per year.

*

Tabbacco………………………………..

340,000-395,000

Alcohol (excluding accident or crime)…… 125,000 +

Prescription……………………………………………

24,000-27,000

Illegal Drugs (excluding Marijuana)………. 3,800-5,200

Marijuana……………………………………………… 0

* Source Government Bureau of Mortality Statistics

The drug hasn?t been involved in many if at all any violent

crimes. In fact Federal Bureau of Narcotics Director Harry Anslinger

reports that Marijuana is not a violence inducing drug, it is the exact

opposite it is a anti-violent drug or a pacifist. Every year Twenty

million people either smoke or attempt to smoke the drug they include

Artists, Musicians, Writers, Inventors and yes even Lawyers. He says

that they could be some of the happiest people you know.

Marijuana is in no way addictive and the statement of the drug

being a stepping stone for greater more dangerous drugs is false.

Studies have shown that it has the same effect as Caffeine, sugar, or

alcohol. The only crimes usually ever committed are having the

possession or smoking the drug.

THC

THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol is the active ingredient in Marijuana

it causes minor hallucinations, what appears to be the slowing down of

time and is also considered a downer or depressant. THC can be found in

three forms Marijuana, Hashish, and Hashish Oil. Marijuana or Cannabis

sativa also known ?weed the most widely used for of THC and is the

only plant known to produce it. The plant is most commonly know as a

weed usually takes six to seven months to start ?budding? the bud is the

part of the plant that is usually smoked and or eaten. The plant

requires a rather warm and moist place to grow properly. If not grown

properly the plants THC level is reduced dramatically.

Hashish is defined in the websters dictionary as a narcotic

derived from hemp that is chewed, smoked or drunk for its intoxicating

effects. Well… I guess that is about the best way you could put it.

Hashish is most widely used in the Netherlands and Germany in places

called well… Hashish Bars. There you can purchase it and use it which

is very uncommon for most countries because it is illegal every where

else. Hashish Oil is pretty much the same thing but it is in an oil

form therefor making it more potent.

The first known use of marijuana is in 8000 B.C. where it was used

for clothing and other useful little items. The first known time that

marijuana was smoked was in the year 2700 B.C. in the country of China

for religious purposes. Famous people that are have said to smoke the

drug were Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and yes

it was even rumored that John F. Kennedy Jr. was to have smoked it

because it remedied his back problems.

How Marijuana is Smoked

There are many different ways that people have invented to smoke

it. The three main ways are the Joint, the Bowl, and one of the most

liked styles the Bong. Joints are one of the most commonly used types

of ?weed? smoking. It involves using a small sheet of paper called

rolling papers these can be bought at any local convenience store. You

roll the Marijuana by hand into the paper like a cigarette.

Another common way of taking in the smoke is through a small pipe

or ?Bowl?. This is the easiest version of smoking it in that you only

have to put the drug into a relatively small container like you would

stuff Tabacco into a pipe. These are usually found in Cigarette and

Tabacco selling locations.

The least common but ?healthiest? way to smoke the drug is through

what the inventive, yet scientifically smart smokers have come up with

called a ?Bong?. This device has many features to it, for instance you

use water in this device to filter out the worst part of the smoke and

leave nearly all THC. Some Bongs and Bowls come with what smokers call

a carb which increases the hits intensity and volume.

The governments standing on Marijuana seems to be constantly

changing. Most States spend millions of dollars in trying to control the

substance and stop its use and distribution. Some people think that its

a waste of time to spend the money and time on doing so but others seem

to feel differently about it ( probably because they never used it

before ) and try to futile stamp out its use. Just recently California

pass a law saying that it was legal to have the possession of and smoke

the drug but only for medical use and even then the law is very strict

on the people that smoke it legally.

Drug testing for Marijuana is relatively simple yet kind of odd. A

doctor will walk up to you with a small plastic disposable cup and he

will ask you for a urine sample. Now do not take offense at this, this

is what you have to do for the test hes not some weirdo asking for a

urine sample for his collection back at home. He will then take the

sample to a lab and go through the gruesome progress of seeing if you

urine sample has traces of THC in it the average test will take about a

day. There are a few good but extremely odd ways of defeating the test

if you now your going to test positive one of which is a pill called

Golden seal not much is known about how it does it but it does flush

your system of the drug. Another way is a little more odd than the

first you drink lots of vinegar (yuk!) I know what your going to say I

wont do that ever! Well your wrong when it comes down to it, if you

nice paying job is on the line well… chug chug chug away cause that is

a quick way to do it.

There is another way to test for Marijuana and that is though hair

sampling. This process is allot more expensive than urine sampling but

it is more effective in detecting the drug. In fact the only way to not

get detected is to shave every single hair off your body, and that

means EVERY hair including eyelashes, eyebrows, armpit hairs, leg hairs,

arm hairs, and yes even down in the spot where it counts. If you do

know your going to take a hair test well kiss the job goodbye cause well

I think they will know when you come in for the test with out a single

hair on your body.

Well I?m going to cut things short hope you dont mind but I?m

going to pass out otherwise. Its been fun ta ta.

Bibliography

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