Koopa Troopa, sorry to hear about your dad.
Nug lover, you don't have a clue what your talking about. There being deaths due to cannabis is pretty vague, a lot of people that have died in connection with smoking cannabis; probably smoked cigs too. Smoke just isn't that great for you, no matter what your smoking or even smoked foods. There really are not a lot of studies into the health effects of smoking cannabis that contribute to death. Mostly since a lot of cannabis smokers that die from smoking probably smoked tobacco too.
I'm still pretty young, I was an athlete for a long time; but I know smoking ANYTHING has taken a toll. I don't confuse tobacco and cannabis as being the same hazard, but they are similar when you smoke. But I don't smoke nearly as much cannabis as tobacco, I just don't need to inhale that much smoke from cannabis.
Cannabis is not perfectly safe, I do know that the criminal area of what the law does with societies views are not wise. Cannabis has it's issues, it is up to people to decide what is worthy for them at the costs associated with the risks.
I will probably never quite smoking tobacco, cutting back is good but with my lifestyle it just probably won't happen. I would like to quite if I ever go back to jail for an extended period and get through the most part of the withdrawal.
But really, honestly saying that cannabis has no documented deaths is pretty wrong. Cannabis in itself has not been documented to cause a death, but mostly because of other exposures. That and we know that people have made decisions on cannabis that have lead to their death. A father figure in my life knew a guy that wrecked his car after getting stoned his first time. Well, this guy was probably driving a muscle car (the 70's) and probably drove like a mad man before getting stoned. But drugs are a complex issue, the social education just doesn't cover the full spectrum of reality.
It is true however, that when you bring up the politics of cannabis verses the legality of tobacco and alcohol. That you are making a point, but that point is not that cannabis does not have health risks. The safest way of ingesting cannabis would be an alcohol tincture with a little vaporizing here and there. Anything foreign in the lungs is not good, there is just no way around that. But even the chemicals in cannabis do affect organs in the body and neural signals. It just isn't as dramatic as other drugs, even legal ones; so that is the beef. But it isn't as if changes do not occur, or that there could always never be any possibility of cannabis contributing to health issues (just a lot of times, people find it is to small of a worry).
What gets me though, is that sooooo many work environments expose people to to many hazards. Then they are told how to live their private life when what they do, is likely to be far less dangerous than at work.
So anyhow, Cannabis has contributed to many deaths; in reality you cannot even say that tobacco has caused deaths. Just because every body reacts differently, some people live to be very old smoking tobacco when another may die in their twenties from oral tobacco "causing" cancer. There are just so many variables that contribute to cancer, but yes tobacco is a big indicator, it is very powerful.
My way of seeing cause of death is a direct and sudden reaction, other than that it is a contributing factor. I'm sure that cannabis wouldn't help you survive a high dose of benzi's (they both work with GABA) or other depressants. But no coriner is going to find a list of drugs in someones toxicological report and say," yep, there it is, the cannabis did it".
But yes it hasn't been proven that cannabis has in itself caused any deaths. But 8 blunts a day isn't that good for you and there are people that smoke like that. I bet if they really searched for people that only smoked LOADS of cannabis, that there would be a shorter life span and higher rates of organ problems (I know that cannabis impacts a few, but it can also be good for your heart like wine and maybe you sleep better so you live longer....less stress and so forth).....and maybe even higher rates of cancer, but less than tobacco (which there has never been a study to separate organic tobacco and work environments from tobacco studies......or even lifestyles.
Like I said, a lot of variables. Not trying to start a rant against weed, but excessive is excessive. Imagine if people were smarter and turned those eight blunts into hash, but people like to just burn things.....without getting technical and sophisticated (hash was pretty high tech several thousand years ago and still can be, THANKS BUBBLE MAN!)
Anyhow, I have done research and have understood what I read. Try thinking with less personal emotions attached to the information that you read. You will get a broader sense, people getting emotional doesn't really help the area of cannabis legalization/decriminalization.
I would bet that there are less health risks of more potent pot than smoking that same amount of cannabinoids from a more field strain (as a whole bud, in it's impotent form). I do agree that the actual desired chemicals in cannabis have very minimal health risks, than the plant itself. You could smoke any plant and have problems, smoke just isn't the best for the lungs.
Imagine how many plants you would have to smoke to get all the resin that bubble man smokes. That much plant matter that is unneeded just cannot ever be good for you, just never. I am certain that if people vaporized organic tobacco, the health risks would probably be as good for you as "cannabis", the oils. The Cannabis plant is a separate issue than the oils, we live in a time where we can separate and be very technical about what we imply.
It is true however, that there are health benefits to what we are ingesting these herbs for. The way we ingest these herbs just are not the best for us. Cannabis can help certain things and so can nicotine (memory areas mostly).
So, it's all very relative.....in fact just the right amount of cannabis might help you not get cancer from smoking tobacco (or even get it, who knows). There are studies that indicate that woman that worked third shift and were exposed to CFL lights, had higher rates of cancer. This was due to melatonin being all messed up and lower in these people. Well cannabis raises melatonin a great deal and there are indicators that higher melatonin levels results in lower risks of cancer.
The only really obvious issue that doctors see with cannabis, are respiratory issues. I don't even think the short term memory is all that big of a deal, but I smoke tobacco and that helps that........soooo:mad0233:
I am not pushing any issue and I wish people on either side of the fence wouldn't take offense. I understand people standing up for their own views, that is a right. But pushing views is an issue, other than that Grey area where our view being noticed, observed and respected helps us maintain or gain freedoms. I don't like hearing how drug free wanna be's (nobody is drug free) say that they just don't want it. Well, they don't have it if they don't want, they just don't want anyone to have it but don't have the balls to put it that way. But I don't like drug users saying things that are just emotional bullshits, drugs are never harmless just perhaps often 99.9% harmless. People just get so freaked out about their bodies, the psychological aspects of cannabis are actually the greatest risk and we all know that. People might hear things about weed when they are stoned and just learning and totally wig out. So a persons reaction psychologically has a lot to do with the physical reaction. If someone has panic attacks every time they smoke, that will impact the heart and circulation system...resulting in a shorter life if kept up and a lower immune system.
So these bold statements are never fair or proper, life is just to darn vast.
I prefer to sit on the fence (preferably with a little butt crack hanging out), that is where the truth is being debated anyway.