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Originally Posted by Aether
For your reading pleasure
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Thanks.
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Marijuana is an addictive drug with significant health consequences to its users and others. Many harmful short-term and long-term problems have been documented with its use:
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The same is true for alcohol and cigerettes.
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The short term effects of marijuana use include: memory loss, distorted perception, trouble with thinking and problem solving, loss of motor skills, decrease in muscle strength, increased heart rate, and anxiety.
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The same is true for alcohol and cigerettes.
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There are also many long-term health consequences of marijuana use. According to the National Institutes of Health, studies show that someone who smokes five joints per week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day.
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And yet, smoking a full pack of cigerettes a day is legal, right?
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Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, including most of the harmful substances found in tobacco smoke. Smoking one marijuana cigarette deposits about four times more tar into the lungs than a filtered tobacco cigarette.
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And yet, smoking four cigerettes a day is legal, right?
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Harvard University researchers report that the risk of a heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after smoking marijuana.
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Alcohol, cigerettes, and red meat also raise the risk of a heart attack. And, they are all legal.
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Users can become dependent on marijuana to the point they must seek treatment to stop abusing it. In 1999, more than 200,000 Americans entered substance abuse treatment primarily for marijuana abuse and dependence.
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And many more people enter treatment to stop drinking alcohol.
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More teens are in treatment for marijuana use than for any other drug or for alcohol. Adolescent admissions to substance abuse facilities for marijuana grew from 43 percent of all adolescent admissions in 1994 to 60 percent in 1999.
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And, if they could not get access to pot, they would probably resort to alcohol.
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Marijuana affects many skills required for safe driving: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination, and reaction time. These effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana. Marijuana use can make it difficult to judge distances and react to signals and signs on the road.
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No one is advocating that people under the influence of pot be allowed to drive.
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In a 1990 report, the National Transportation Safety Board studied 182 fatal truck accidents. It found that just as many of the accidents were caused by drivers using marijuana as were caused by alcohol -- 12.5 percent in each case.
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So, they immediately banned alcohol?
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Consider also that drug use, including marijuana, contributes to crime. A large percentage of those arrested for crimes test positive for marijuana. Nationwide, 40 percent of adult males tested positive for marijuana at the time of their arrest.
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Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc.