Marijuana – Page 108 – Family Council

Marijuana—It Does the Body Bad

Oct 7, 2016Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

The following blog post is by Family Council staff member Deborah Beuerman.

Marijuana is certainly not like milk that “does a body good.” Milk is especially good for babies and children and growing teens. Marijuana is not.

The human brain is not fully developed until about age 25. During development, the brain is more vulnerable to the effects of marijuana. Marijuana is especially damaging to children, teens, and young adults—even with just occasional use. This is permanent damage. There is much scientific evidence to back this up.

One researcher looked at the serious problems and bad consequences of using marijuana and said, “I’ve developed a severe worry about whether we should be allowing anybody under age 30 to use pot unless they have a terminal illness and need it for pain.”

Marijuana can cause severe problems with thinking, reasoning, and memory. One writer and minister, who has the reputation of being very bright and a good thinker, said that he used marijuana casually in college, and then stopped. He says his thinking before was sharper, clearer, and easier. He realizes he did that to himself by smoking marijuana, and has learned to live with his lost mental abilities.

Marijuana can cause a permanent loss of IQ points. A recent newspaper article talked about brain injury to a football player who played for 14 years. Common symptoms of this progressive degenerative disease of the brain include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgement, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, suicidal thoughts, and eventually progressive dementia. That sounds a lot like brain damage caused from smoking marijuana! Could marijuana cause the same type of damage to the brain that “repetitive brain trauma” does? Is smoking marijuana like being hit in the head over and over?

Many studies show that marijuana affects brain development. It affects thinking, memory, attention, motivation, learning, and judgement. That causes problems in school. It leads to lower graduation rates. It leads to problems with jobs and careers. It effects relationships and socializing. It can cause moodiness and personality changes. It can lead to psychosis and schizophrenia.

It is interesting that surveys of marijuana users later in life show they agree marijuana had negative effects in many areas of their lives: thinking abilities, career achievements, social lives, and physical and mental health.

Parents need to know what marijuana can do to their kids’ brains. We all need to tell our kids, and we need to protect them. Marijuana does not need to be easily available to them. Making marijuana legal sends the message that using it is alright; marijuana may even be good for you—“it’s medicine.”

It’s not good. It’s bad. Vote AGAINST Issues 6 and 7.

Marijuana’s Misbehavior in the Human Brain

Oct 5, 2016Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

The following blog post is by Family Council staff member Deborah Beuerman.

What does marijuana do in the body? What does it do in the brain?

We learned in science class that the brain is the commander of the body. It sends out messages through the nervous system to tell other body parts what to do. The brain controls even involuntary actions like breathing and heart beating, constantly sending working orders. We can think about an action, and tell the brain to pick up a cup, for example. There are little chemical transmitters that connect the nerve cells together passing the brain’s order from cell to cell until it reaches the arm and the fingers and the action is completed.

Chemicals in marijuana jump in and take the place of the chemicals in the brain so that the natural flow of the nerve messages is disrupted or changed.

There is one particular chemical compound in marijuana that causes this disruption and creates the “high”—the psychoactive effects—THC. Smokers of marijuana who like the “high” have bred the marijuana plant to have higher and higher amounts of THC. The marijuana smoked today is not the same as in the “good old days” of mellowed out hippies. Their marijuana had less than 1% THC. Today’s smokers get an average of 20% THC. Some tests have shown levels over 37%. That’s some kind of high flying!

What happens when marijuana enters the body? Smoked marijuana goes quickly to the brain—one puff will do it. Marijuana that is swallowed in food or drinks has to go through the stomach first so it takes about 30 minutes for the effects to be felt. That’s why there’s a greater chance of overdose from eating and drinking—you don’t feel the effects right away, so you have more. Think about what happens to children who are just enjoying 2 or 3 cookies, or 4, that they may or may not know contain marijuana.

People who are intoxicated with marijuana don’t have very good short-term memory. They can’t think very clearly, don’t have good judgement, and have trouble problem-solving. They don’t have good balance or coordination. They have an increased heart rate and increased blood pressure. The bronchial passages relax and become enlarged, and blood vessels in the eyes get larger, making the eyes red.

The pleasure centers of the brain are one of the main places marijuana attaches. That’s why it can become addictive—you want to keep “feelin’ good.” Common effects are euphoria, relaxation, laughter, an altered sense of time, and an increased appetite. Perception of the senses becomes more intense, like colors looking brighter.

What’s bad about “feelin’ good”? It comes at the cost of damage and effects to the brain that are permanent, like loss of IQ points, loss of memory, and risk of mental disorders.

The increased heart rate could lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Not everyone has a so-called pleasant experience. Some users experience fear, anxiety, paranoia, distrust or panic. With large doses, or potent marijuana, some people may have an acute psychosis which includes hallucinations, delusions, and a loss of the sense of personal identity—confusion about who they are.

Marijuana’s behavior in the brain is not good. It does not obey the brain’s orders. It’s worth some serious thought about having those little misdirecting messengers running around in your brain before you decide that trying marijuana might be okay.

A Marijuana Masquerade Ball

Oct 3, 2016Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

The following blog post is by Family Council staff member Deborah Deuerman.

The effort to make “medical” marijuana legal in Arkansas is a ploy, a ruse, a scam. It’s a masquerade, a facade, camouflage. The goal is not to make marijuana available to a few sick people for medical use. It’s to make marijuana legal for everyone—they want recreational marijuana.

Marijuana is now fully legal in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia. Oregon, Alaska and Washington legalized “medical” marijuana in 1998; Colorado in 2000 and D.C. in 2010. Marijuana was decriminalized (lessens the criminal penalties or makes it a misdemeanor instead of a felony) years before in all these places.

So-called “medical” marijuana is legal now in 21 other states. Voters in 5 of them will determine in November this year whether marijuana will be fully legal, that is, approved for recreational use.

Campaigns to legalize marijuana at any level are funded by national groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). They have contributed millions of dollars to these efforts.

These legalization “pushers” don’t hide their plans:

“The key to it is medical access, because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be bought. Once there’s medical access…then we will get full legalization.”

-Richard Cowan, former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Note he says “scam.” We can stop this masquerade ball in Arkansas. We don’t want to dance. We don’t want recreational marijuana. Let’s not take the first step toward it. We must VOTE AGAINST MARIJUANA on November 8.

Photo Credit: “Cannabis Plant” by Cannabis Training University – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.