Quote:
Originally Posted by Frownland
Marijuana induces psychosis mate.
Pure myth. Weed causes lung cancer do your research.
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Well, now, I've done my research, and both of these points need a LOT of qualification to be made accurate.
Cannabis can induce a temporary psychosis-like state, but only at very high doses; it has a bidirectional effect (as do most drugs). In addition, although cannabis has been linked to emergence of symptoms of schizophrenia in certain populations, these studies have been small and causation has not been proven--it is unknown whether those people were destined to have schizophrenia regardless of their cannabis use. As schizophrenia has a strong genetic component, it is unlikely that cannabis caused it. Further, there is budding research that suggests cannabis can help people who DO have schizophrenia control their symptoms of it.
As for the lung cancer thing, this is like 2/3rds correct. Your lungs don't like fine particles of ash building up in them, regardless of what you are smoking. You could smoke kale and you'd have a heightened risk of lung cancer.
That said, cannabis has been an effective component in treatments that have aided or reduced the severity of other kinds of cancer.
It's not as simple as "X is bad for you", because "X" can be either good or bad for you dependent on a host of factors, such as the symptoms you are looking at, the dosage, the quality/makeup of X, etc. If you ate enough carrots they could give you cancer.
Source: My university department has a lab dedicated to the study of cannabis and health with a lesser emphasis on the study of other drugs and their effects, both positive and negative (e.g., psychedelics, opioids, etc.) on health. Some of my friends and previous professors are the leading researchers in Canada in this area.