Marijuana Questions and Answers

Posted by Tony Bylsma on August 24, 2010 under Effective Drug Detox Rehab | Be the First to Comment

Is marijuana natural?

Yes. The plant is natural, it will grow by itself, unaided in many climates. Originating in central Asia, it can grow wild on every continent other that Antarctica.

Smoking marijuana is, however, a very unnatural act. Many dangerous chemicals are created in the burning process and smoke from a marijuana cigarette contains harmful and unnatural chemicals which are proven harmful.

Okay, smoking anything is unnatural, agreed. How about eating marijuana in a cookie or a brownie?

There is no nutritional value to the leaves and flowers of the marijuana plant. Putting it into food such as a brownie or cookie doesn’t magically make it food.
You could put gravel into a brownie and that won’t make it food.

At least it is safer than cigarette smoke, right?

No. Marijuana smoke is not safer than cigarette smoke. Marijuana smoke contains 50% to 70% more cancer causing chemicals that cigarette smoke does. In addition to that, marijuana smoke produces high levels of an enzyme that changes certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form that can further increase the risk of cancerous formations.

Why don’t you hear about people dying from smoking marijuana when so many people die from tobacco use?

Although smoking marijuana can be addicting, the addiction is not the same as with tobacco. Nicotine is the main addictive drug in tobacco and is amazingly toxic.  Nicotine is broken down very quickly by the liver.

The fact that it is destroyed by the liver so quickly and efficiently is good, as the body rids itself of the toxin ASAP. But it is also a problem as the smoker begins to crave more nicotine very soon after smoking. The result? More smoking, more often!  Most tobacco addicts smoke at least 15 to 20 cigarettes every day, from the time they awake and all day long. Because of this, the smoker is exposed to much larger amounts of dangerous chemicals and on a continuing basis.

But the primary active ingredient in marijuana is not nicotine, it is THC. Your liver does not break THC down like it does nicotine. This is good and bad. Good because the smoker doesn’t look for another joint every 45 minutes as the drug is still in the blood stream. But it is bad because the drug persists in the blood and continues to affect the smoker for days and weeks after smoking. It is bad because THC can build up in the fatty tissues of the body of the addict and continue to cause problems for long after it has been cleansed from the bloodstream.

More Marijuana Q and A coming in future posts.