Which pisses me off. One of the things I was trained in when taking this job was how to help people in other states, where laws differ from the laws of our state. Being told "no" based on ignorance is very frustrating.
So I go off, looking for... I dunno... marijuana information. And I come across a forum about how long THC (the active drug found in most marijuana) stays in your system. It's a forum of Internet users, and their expertise needs not be any deeper than they navigated to the page and started typing. In other words, they, too, are ignorant.
However, I'm fascinated with communication and how we communicate to each other. This forum provided some anger/entertainment for me, and I wanted to share it.
Here's the address for the forum:
http://www.drugs.com/answers/how-long-does-marijuana-stay-in-system-53067.html
Here's the original question asked in the forum:
aquanaut
How long does Marijuana stay in your system?
Details:
How long do you need to wait before you are clear to take a drug test?
There were several answers from people who don't know. Some sound better than others. Some people claim to have firsthand knowledge. Some say that it's based on the way your specific body interacts with that drug, as well as your metabolism rate and other factors specific to you as an individual (I tend to believe these answers more than any others). But this was an answer that stuck out to me, as posted by "Anonymous":
hi there I´m 41 years old i have been clean for 8 years now, and was addicted to almost every durg out there ... started with the occasional joint, the problem is not how long it stays in your system, the problem is that in time you are killing brain cells( becoming a walking
zombie), and the worse is the mental dependency ( first twice a week ... then believe me everyday and more than one joint... tolerance) and the worst is that it opens the doors for more hardcore drugs. I wasted 20 years of my life 2 wives my children ... MY DIGNITY.My advice to you as you seem young is to stop now, while you have time and stop worrying about how long TCH (is what gets you high) stays in your system.
There was a response to this post:
Shuey001518 Apr 2011
There is no proof that it kills your brain cells. Scientist experimented with monkeys by putting a gas mask over their whole face and pumped 30 joints a day, but the weed didnt kill their brain cells the gas mask suffocated them causing no oxygen to get to the brain (i found this info in the movie "The Union: Business Behind Getting High.") Great marijuana documentary and will change your beliefs about marijuana.
Behind Getting High.") Great marijuana documentary and will change your beliefs about marijuana.So here's my first beef: the initial question was, essentially, "How long does THC stay in your body?" And Anonymous answered that question with, "Don't do drugs." Actually, the answer Anonymous gave was "Don't do DURGS," but that's really just me being a little bitch about the typo in Anonymous' response. This answer isn't helpful, in any way. The question asked might insinuate somebody is using drugs, especially when paired with the question about taking a drug test, but nobody has admitted to using drugs or stated that somebody is using drugs. So telling somebody to not do drugs is pointless for this question. Secondly, Anonymous goes on to state that he became a walking zombie, lost two wives, his children, and his dignity. This has nothing to do with the question being asked and simply lets us know how completely fucked up Anonymous is. Also, Anonymous says "you seem young". This indicates that Anonymous is an idiot, as there is not even the slightest indication as to how old the asker of the question is based on the question. Anonymous, therefore, has proven himself to be a person not to be listened to or given access to a computer with Internet. Also, the argument of marijuana leading to other drugs is absolutely ridiculous, as this puts blame on marijuana for the sins of other drugs. It's like blaming steak for obesity, or Hitler's parents for the actions of Hitler. "They came first, so they're the gateway dictator! Don't be their child!" Asinine.
The response from Shuey0015 is interesting, as well. Shuey0015 first asserts, without citation, that there is no proof that THC kills brain cells.
So I went searching.
I found, according to one source, that THC causes more cancer than five regular cigarettes smoked one right after the other. I found this to be, at face value, entirely inaccurate. Cigarette papers from all major cigarette manufacturers contain ammonia and gunpowder in them, and those two ingredients alone make this assertion ridiculous. This website also goes on to say that marijuana has 50-70% more cancer causing agents than cigarettes, causes rapid heartbeat, psychosis, disorientation, depression, anxiety, changes in the brain and semen. However, this information comes from the following website:
http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/the-harmful-effects.html
With a name like "Drug Free World", I can see how their website might be askewed. It saddens me, though, knowing that I have navigated to this page, so others can navigate there as well and potentially believe what they read there. By the way, there are no citations on any of the claims made on this website. No journals, doctors, specialists, addicts, junkies, hustlers, peddlers, fry cooks, ampidextrians, benches, free radicals, or politicians were noted to give any information on this page. It might as well be a work of fiction.
So I went searching more.
This site seemed a little more reputable than my first site...
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana
...only because it's got a ".gov" suffix. But in all honesty, when has the government really been concerned with honesty? As I read through this site, I also noted a lack of citations, even though they made some claims completely opposite of those made on the first site, like marijuana smoke had not yet been determined to have a link with lung cancer. They also state this:
"Although the federal government considers marijuana a Schedule I substance (having no medicinal uses and high risk for abuse), two states have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use, and 21 states have passed laws allowing its use as a treatment for certain medical conditions (see “Is Marijuana Medicine?”, below)."
While they say that marijuana affects the brain, there is no indication that marijuana kills brain cells. At the very bottom of the page, there is a link to find out more about NIDA's marijuana research. If you click that link (I'll include it here...)
http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/marijuana/marijuana-research-nida
you find that the second question asked is about the benefits of marijuana. To which the site responds yes, there are therapeutic benefits to marijuana:
"Research suggests that THC and/or other cannabinoids (chemicals that act on the same receptors as THC in the brain and body) may have potential in the treatment of pain, nausea, obesity, wasting disease, addiction, autoimmune disorders, and other conditions. NIDA has provided and continues to provide funding for research related to therapeutic uses of cannabinoids, as it pertains to its mission, including studies on the use of THC and cannabidiol, another chemical constituent of marijuana, for the treatment of pain (as an alternative to opioid pain relievers), addiction, and other disorders. For example, one currently ongoing study is examining the antipsychotic effects of cannabidiol which may lead to new treatment options for people with schizophrenia. View the list of current NIDA-funded projects related to the therapeutic benefits of cannabis or cannabinoids. ...A few medications derived from THC, however, are now FDA approved for relieving nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy and stimulating appetite in patients with wasting syndrome that often accompanies AIDS."
This quote is weird, because I had just read (just one page earlier!) that marijuana was considered to have no medicinal uses and high risk for abuse according to the federal government, research suggests otherwise. Weird, huh? But is it going to kill my brain??!!
I went searching more.
http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/2009/MarijuanaBrain.htm
Ah, finally an education website! Except this seems to be a paper written by somebody who (to me) seems to be pretty pro-marijuana, so this paper is probably going to be in favor of marijuana and downplay any negatives. However, there are citations. There's a big section about how marijuana affects the brain in terms of damaging brain cells! And it says that marijuana does damage brain cells! In doses up to 200x the psychoactive dose in humans. Huh. So, essentially, somebody would have to smoke dope until they were high, and then smoke 200 times more than that to damage their brain cells. This paper also states that MRI of the brain can't detect a difference between those who smoke marijuana and those who do. MRI has shown alcohol shrinks the brain (http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa63/aa63.htm), but MRI can't see a difference between a brain that has smoked marijuana and a brain that hasn't.
I went searching more.
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/marijuana-facts-teens/want-to-know-more-some-faqs-about-marijuana
Back to the government websites, as well as the original question of how long marijuana stays in your system. It says that standard urine tests can detect traces of THC several days after use, and if you're a heavy user (it doesn't define "heavy user"-- one joint a day, or one joint every 15 minutes?) a urine test can detect THC in your system for weeks after you stop using.
So there's no clear answer, really.
Except that there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet. You gotta be careful where you look and who you listen to (didn't use "whom" and ended with a preposition-- I'm on a roll!!).
But going back to Anonymous, this cat really bites my grapes. Telling me that he ruined his life by smoking a couple of joints when he was a kid. Fuck you, Anonymous. I'm sorry that you smoked a few joints and jumped right in to dealing meth outta your bunghole, but that's atypical, and just as I would caution anyone from planning on becoming an NBA professional by going to University of North Carolina and majoring in cultural geography because it's atypical, I would caution anyone from being fearful of becoming addicted to every drug on the planet simply because you did. Your experience is atypical, and it's a form of fear mongering to go around telling people to stop smoking weed (when they may not have even started) because it's going to do things that it doesn't do and have affects that it doesn't have and lead to things that it doesn't lead to. There is no direct cause-and-effect between smoking joints and doing any other drug. George W. Bush said that his response to the attacks of 9-11 were successful because there hadn't been any more terrorist attacks since starting the war in Iraq. While this statement is true, it's also true that there have been no terrorist attacks since I masturbated this morning. There is no cause-and-effect behind my statement, behind Bush's statement, or behind your statement, Anonymous.
**Time out-- I never used to have any difficulties with "affect" and "effect" until my wife went on a huge rant about how it's one of her pet peeves when people use these two words incorrectly, and now I have no idea which word I should use, because either word could end my marriage. Time in.**
What was I saying? Oh yeah. Personally, I think everybody should use drugs if they need to, and they shouldn't use drugs if they don't need to. Also, if you think drugs might be fun, maybe you should try them in a safe way, unless you think you'll get addicted or hurt somehow, and then it's probably not worth the risk. But you should really know yourself better than me or anybody else, for that matter, and you are going to make the best decisions for yourself. And if you don't, hopefully you'll learn from those mistakes and make better decisions for yourself in the future. I'm also a big fan of sushi. It's delicious.
No comments:
Post a Comment