The longterm effects of marijuana use are disputed. Many websites will twist facts to fit their cause. Cases in point:
This is an excerpt from the NIDA, the National Institute Against Drug Abuse:
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"
Q: What are the long-term effects of marijuana use?
A: Findings so far show that regular use of marijuana or THC may play a role in some kinds of cancer and in problems with the respiratory and immune systems.
- Cancer
Its hard to know for sure whether regular marijuana use causes cancer. But it is known that marijuana contains some of the same, and sometimes even more, of the cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Studies show that someone who smokes five joints per day may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day (15) ."
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People who smoke five joints per day are insane. Rarely will you find somebody who smokes five joints of marijuana a day, and if you do, it should be evident that they abuse the drug. Normally, it is only one or two joints that are smoked, and even then most people do not use it daily. Some use it once a week, others, once a month.
Here is an excerpt from a site that wants to stop the drug war campaign, obviously pro-marijuana users:
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"Myth:
Marijuana's Harms Have Been Proved Scientifically. In the 1960s and 1970s, many people believed that marijuana was harmless. Today we know that marijuana is much more dangerous than previously believed.
Fact: In 1972, after reviewing the scientific evidence, the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse concluded that while marijuana was not entirely safe, its dangers had been grossly overstated. Since then, researchers have conducted thousands of studies of humans, animals, and cell cultures. None reveal any findings dramatically different from those described by the National Commission in 1972. In 1995, based on thirty years of scientific research editors of the British medical journal Lancet concluded that "the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health." "
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People who rarely smoke marijuana (maybe 5 times a year) will
NOT have the same conditions and effects of those that smoke cigs
rarely. People need to read the facts before posting.