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The Side Effects Of Marijuana

June 27, 2016 By Tom Hager Leave a Comment

Smoking marijuana is not safe.

There is still a huge controversy whether marijuana should be legalized or not. Unfortunately, some scientists claim that they do not have enough information regarding the long-term effects of smoking pot.

Until now, it is believed that the excessive use of weed, not for a medicinal purpose but entertainment, might be related to psychotic episodes, lower IQ, and deficits in cognitive capacity.

Even if the state of California does not strongly oppose the use of marijuana, the California Hospital Association covering hundreds of health care systems and hospitals together with law enforcement groups are actively opposing the legalization of smoking pot.

Experts underlined that smoking pot cannot be regarded as a source of entertainment but as one of addiction. In addition to this, many of them explain that smoking pot for fun is nothing but an excuse.

Plus, it cannot replace traditional smoking even if it does not affect health as bad as cigarettes do. The primary reason is that pot has a much stronger effect on people compared to other smoking devices or traditional cigarettes.

Therefore, many state agencies and scientists encourage the government to issue a smoke-free law that will set a good example for future generations. Regarding their situation, most psychologists explained that marijuana legalization will have a devastating impact on children and teenagers because they will grow up in a country where smoking pot is regarded as a safe habit.

According to Madeline Meier, Arizona State University psychologist and author of various studies on marijuana, smoking pot could never be considered as safe. Previous research has shown that smoking weed leads to severe gum disease over time.

Plus, based on other studies, smoking pot was found to prevent the healthy development of a teenager’s brain. Worse, people who smoked cannabis for a longer period suffered an eight-point drop off in their IQ.

According to Staci Gruber, Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor and director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery team at Boston’s Mclean Hospital, adults who started smoking marijuana since they were teenagers had a bad performance on cognitive tests during various studies.

Worse, their concentration capacity was severely damaged as they were not able to properly focus on the given task. It is also worth mentioning that based on the latest research, scientists concluded that marijuana use leads to a significant level of addiction among teenagers and adults.

Image Source:Pixabay

Marijuana is Dangerous After All

June 6, 2016 By Sam Doliente 1 Comment

Smoking marijuana is not healthy.

Recent research has shown that long-term marijuana use is related to gum disease. A team of researchers from the Arizona State University observed 1,037 New Zealanders during a study.

Scientists analyzed the participants’ behavior from birth to 38 years old to see how their habits would influence their physical health, including dental health, blood sugar, body weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, systemic inflammation and lung function.

The results showed that the long-term use of marijuana may severely affect dental health. In other words, the participants who smoked weed suffered from gum disease. Plus, researchers learned that pot smokers did not floss and brush their teeth regularly. Still, even after improving dental hygiene, the heavy use of marijuana continued damaging gums and teeth.

Scientists believe that marijuana might have a good effect if you do not smoke it, such as improving glucose control, better lipid profiles, lower body mass index and a smaller waist circumference. Nevertheless, these benefits were discovered only in a small study, making them not relevant enough to be taken into consideration in treatments regarding weight management strategy.

The study also found that the use of tobacco was linked to worse periodontal health, health decline from ages of 26 to 38 years, glucose levels in early life, systemic inflammation, and lung function. A heavy marijuana user may smoke several joints during a day whereas a heavy tobacco user might smoke at least one pack of cigarettes a day.

Besides addiction, the situation looks bad in both cases because marijuana affects the state of mind of the user (the most popular reason why people smoke it), while cigarette users damage their health on a much faster rate.

Furthermore, other studies have shown that long-term use of marijuana is associated with cardiovascular health, diabetes, and sexual dysfunction. Researchers observed the participants’ health condition throughout 20 years to determine the risk of marijuana heavy use.

Periodontal disease is known to damage the gums and the teeth leading to other severe consequences in time. Furthermore, even if most of the marijuana users don’t want to admit, smoking weed is still a form of addiction, one which in time might severely damage your health.

Image Source:Msnbc

Feds Spot another Drug-Smuggling Tunnel under US Southern Border

March 24, 2016 By Kurt Cottrell Leave a Comment

U.S. authorities found another tunnel under the U.S.-Mexican border that Mexican drug lords used to smuggle marijuana into the country.

Federal authorities announced Wednesday that they busted a drug smuggling ring that ferried marijuana from Mexico to the U.S. through a cross-border tunnel. The tunnel is the 12th smuggling tunnel authorities found over the last 10 years in California.

Four people were arrested during the operation and 3,000 pounds of cannabis seized. Unlike other tunnels, this one had a house build on its U.S.-sided entrance, investigators reported.

The newly found smuggling tunnel is 400 yard-long, which is the length of about four football fields. Its northern entrance is located in Calexico, in southern California, while the southern entrance is masked by a restaurant in Mexicali a city in Mexico.

It is the first tunnel found by the U.S. in over a decade in Calexico, a town located 120 miles east of San Diego. Eleven more tunnels were found in San Diego area in the last decade.

According to authorities, the drug traffickers bought U.S. land last spring, while the house masking the tunnel was finished in December. Nevertheless, federal investigators kept an eye on smugglers by wiretapping them and keeping the house on a constant watch all the time.

“This house and tunnel were constructed under the watchful eye of law enforcement,”

noted the U.S. Attorney for Southern California Laura Duffy.

Duffy added that there was ‘no light at the end of the tunnel’ for the people that sponsored, built, and used the construction. Investigators were also dutifully watching a second safe house in Calexico and four possible smugglers before they busted the ring in early March.

The first loads of cannabis were seized on Mar. 7. That day, federal agents confiscated 1,350 pounds of marijuana that were being transported through the tunnel. On Tuesday, U.S. authorities took in custody the first two suspects in Arizona, two women that were relatives.

A day later, two men were arrested in Calexico. Authorities said that one suspect was found in the house while the other one was captured at the separate safe house. Federal agents found an extra load of more than 1,500 of cannabis in the passageway.

All four suspects will face charges for the illegal import and distribution of marijuana, according to prosecution.

Mexican drug cartels often use tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border to smuggle illegal drugs into the country. Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the recently arrested Mexican drug lord, transported drugs and even escaped from a maximum detention center in 2015 through a tunnel.
Image Source: Flickr

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