so im guessing you smoke weed because your so emotional+defensive about something that completely doesn't matter, and which also leads to the reason why you came up with this stupid claim/ topic that humorously happens to be in an off-topic section of a website, "that weed is not a drug..." I hate when people defend weed, just shut up and smoke it who the F cares when people try to arrest you/govern your behavior. you just sound like an ignorant monkey rambling on about some random studies that support marijuana use when you know for a fact deep down in your stupid heart, that it clearly has negative affects on its users. stupid ass hippy pot head.

Cannabis has about 118 carcinogens when smoked, nicotine cigarettes have 70 carcinogens when smoked. A study of 1000-2000+ people in the National British Lung and Cancer foundation found that 9 percent of people who smoked 1-2 cannabis joints succumbed to lung cancer whereas 8 percent of people who smoked 20-30 tobacco cigarettes succumbed to lung cancer. Smoking weed has been linked to a significant increase of susceptibility to testicular cancers, demonstrated innumerous studies. One published article in a very respectable journal even pointed to the fact that it's likely people who smoke joints are as much as twice as likely to develop cancer of the testes. THC mimics a natural neurotransmitter found in the human brain known as cannabanoids, meaning it has direct access to wreak havoc on various networks of neurons in the brain. Due to THC being a foreign substance and yet being able to bind to cannabanoid receptors in the brain, it can induce foreign effects on the brain that evolution did not want our brain to experience. An example of this is when THC binds to cannabanoid receptors, it induces a foreign biochemical response that decreases the amount of protein kinase A, which has been linked to increased inhibition among neurons, meaning less synaptic transmission in important areas like gray matter (one of the main parts of the brain that has been atrributed to intellectual capabalities). Since weed inhibits neurons in these regions, it creates a dampening effect, which suppresses neural activity, even showing emperically observed decrease in intellectual capabilities of particapants in published studies. Because THC naturally mimics cannabanoids, the brain actually responds by releasing burts of dopamine, because the brain likes foreign substances that produce a "new pattern" of neural activity (or less activity in this case). Smoke too much constantly, enough dopamine (which is a very powerful neuromodulator that creates new neural networks or modifies pre existing ones), that new neural networks that respond to the cannabis, and when they don't get their fix of cannabis, they create havoc (this is known as an addiction). A few years ago, people didn't believe cannabis wans't a powerful enough drug to create this phenomena, but with new research proceeding, evidence suggests otherwise. Since the THC in cannabis can influence neuron activity, it's been suggested psychological studies (with emperical date backing it) that weed takes a part in causing schizophrenia in people who are predisposed to the condition. Now, it's known as an addictive substance, and the DSM IV, the BIBLE of psychiatrists and psychologists worldwide, often looked as the ultimate authority of psychological disorders, is including cannabis withdrawal and addiction as an official psychological/psychiatric phenomena in its next edition coming out in the fall. As for the whole "weed suppresses cancer" hype, it's been most recently linked to ONE chemical (cannabinol) of the 400 other chemicals (118 which are directly linked to causing cancer) and only induces its effects (that have been demonstrated so far in lab studies) in LATE stage cancer cells. In fact, scientists have extracted cannabinol solely from cannabis extracts and modifiying it to create a medication (i.e. a pill or vaccine) that chiefly uses this ONE chemical of weed to suppress cancer in patients (i.e. if created, it will lack the pleasure inducing chemicals found in regular cannabis). There's some propaganda, I mean science, suggesting cannabis is a legitimate drug, and does wreak many negative effects on the body.

THC in weed is a drug. It's still harmless and beneficial to health, though. (Just like ethanol in alcoholic beverages is a drug)

Started a new topic: Debunking arguments against weed mentioned in the flood(19 Replies))

*a herb

[quote]use of marijuana before age 18 was associated with lasting harm to a person's intelligence, attention and memory, and were suggestive of neurological harm from cannabis. Quitting cannabis did not appear to reverse the loss.[/quote]I dun want 2 be dumd, mang.

I think we've made him cry enough Flood, let's leave it where it lays. At the fact that he's wrong :)

Then heroine shouldn't be classified as a drug either, right?

Soooooo shrooms shouldn't be classified as a drug

I bet every character in Resident Evil is a pothead. Damn herbs.

how often do people smoke oregano and sage? Is weed used in the KFC secret recipe? Comparing something that gets you high to something that flavors your food doesn't make sense. Also, I don't believe it affects your "spiritual mentality", it just gets you a little bit high and makes anyone who smokes it who's under 18 a tool who thinks he/she is spiritually superior to people who don't smoke. In my experience, it impairs people's capacity for genuine intellectual thought and learning, while destroying people's sense of respect towards other people's opinions. The people who think they're the most open, intelligent, and humble are actually just idiots who define themselves by their abuse of a plant's intoxicating effects.

It has physiological effects, thus it's a drug. If you care that much about weed that you try to rationalize using an obvious drug, then you need to reevaluate your life.

[quote]If weed's classified as "a drug", then so should oregano and sage. Just because it affects your spiritual mentality doesn't mean that it deserves to be lumped in with Aspirin and vaccines. Also, don't give me the propaganda definition of a "drug".[/quote] what im getting from this post, [i]I'M NOT PART OF YOUR SYSTEM[/i]