So I've been hearing people say that Marijuana, the favored plant of college students and high school dropouts world wide, is not a drug and the shear ignorance of such a statement is starting to really annoy me. It's time for a quick lesson, there will be a quiz at the end and anyone who fails gets a free size 12 up the ass.
Gov. Schwarzenegger of California has famously stated "Marijuana is not a drug, it's a leaf." and providing stoned fools all over the country with a powerful political figure to point at while whining that their intoxicant of choice is not, in fact, an intoxicant. This was back in 2007 and I still hear it from some fool with blood shot eyes and a stupid hat on once in a while.
The first step (and the only one really needed, not that I won't add more) we will be taking today is to define the word "drug". Let's pull out our dictionary and see what it has to say. There are actually a few legitimate ways to use this term, but we will focus on three for the sake of this argument:
- A substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body.
- A substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.
- Something and often an illegal substance that causes addiction, habituation, or a marked change in consciousness.
"A substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body."
The active ingredient in weed is Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC for short. It produces in people a number of side effects, including:
- Altered state of consciousness
- Euphoria
- Stress reduction
- Increased libido
- Paranoia
- ext*
The very existence of such effects forces THC, and it's carrier Marijuana, into the definition of a drug. These are only some of the most common psychoactive effects, there are many, many, more documented in various pieces of medical literature.
If you don't believe me, go smoke a joint.
"A substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease."
This one is a bit more fun, and a whole other rant, so I'll only touch on it a bit.
I, personally, think that the whole "Medical Marijuana debate" is a bunch of crap. The only reason for it is NORML (National Organization to Reform Marijuana Law) was unable to get legislation making the recreational use of Marijuana legal and decided, along with a few other groups, to attempt to get a foot in the door via another avenue. They found this new route in cancer patients, and others suffering from various illnesses for which current treatment may be inadequate and/or reduce the quality of life more than just the medical condition would do on it's own.
WIth that said, Medical marijuana is legal in a handfull of states and with good cause.
"But you just said medical marijuana was an attempt by hippies to smoke pot legally." This is true, but it really works. I'm not kidding, medical marijuana really really works.
One of the top men arguing for the use of Marijuana for medical use is Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard, and he should know. Dr. Grinspoon's son was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment, side effects and all. After a time of doing that the good Doctor heard about the use of weed and began doing his research. After some time he decided to allow his son to use it and found the claims to be true, noteably he was able to eat after receiving his treatment. Dr. Grinspoon stated that the use of Marijuana increased the quality of life his son had while he still lived, and by extention that of his parents by them not watching him suffer as much.
It's great that marijuana works as far as helping the suffering, but the very use of marijuana in this context forces it to conform to the above drfinition, as well as the first definition noted.
It should be noted that if any substance did not affect the function of the body it could not be used to treat anything.
"Something and often an illegal substance that causes addiction, habituation, or a marked change in consciousness."
This was already covered, but I had to add it just to keep people from complaining.
Marijuana contains the psycoactive ingredent THC which affects consiousness. If you've forgotten about that already it's time to put down the bong and turn off the black light.
So potheads, while it is true that Marijuana is a plant it is also a drug. The good news is that it is, by far, not the most dangerious nor most widly used.
The next time someone gives you a hard time for using weed on the basis that it is a drug don't shoot back with "It's a plant" or "It's natural" just remember that tea and coffee contain caffeine, a drug and one that is used by many more people in much larger quantaties. You don't need to mention that caffeine is addictive, a good deal more than weed is, or that there are a number of documented side effects to heavy use, but you can if you want to.
Keep your mind sharp and your Bic at hand. Until next time.
~Any_Key
