From: Robert G Halvorson <norml@henson.cc.wwu.edu>
Subject: MARIJUANA MYTHS - Pt.1
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:34:06 GMT

 Via NY Transfer News Service 718-448-2358, 718-448-2683

                        MARIJUANA MYTHS - Pt.1
                         by Paul Hager
          Hoosier Cannabis Relegalization Coalition


  1. Marijuana causes brain damage

   The most celebrated study that claims to show brain damage is the rhesus
monkey study of Dr. Robert Heath, done in the late 1970s. This study was
reviewed by a distinguished panel of scientists sponsored by the Institute of
Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Their results were published
under the title, Marijuana and Health in 1982. Heath's work was sharply
criticized for its insufficient sample size (only four monkeys), its failure
to control experimental bias, and the misidentification of normal monkey
brain structure as "damaged". Actual studies of human populations of
marijuana users have shown no evidence of brain damage. For example, two
studies from 1977, published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) showed no evidence of brain damage in heavy users of
marijuana. That same year, the American Medical Association (AMA) officially
came out in favor of decriminalizing marijuana. That's not the sort of thing
you'd expect if the AMA thought marijuana damaged the brain.

  2. Marijuana damages the reproductive system

   This claim is based chiefly on the work of Dr. Gabriel Nahas, who
experimented with tissue (cells) isolated in petri dishes, and with
researchers who dosed animals with near-lethal amounts of cannabinoids (i.e.,
the intoxicating part of marijuana). Nahas' generalizations from his petri
dishes to human beings have been rejected by the scientific community as
being invalid. In the case of the animal experiments, the animals that
survived their ordeal returned to normal within 30 days of the end of the
experiment. Studies of actual human populations have failed to demonstrate
that marijuana adversely affects the reproductive system.

  3. Marijuana is a "gateway" drug -- it leads to hard drugs

   This is one of the more persistent myths. A real world example of what
happens when marijuana is readily available can be found in Holland. The
Dutch functionally decriminalized marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard
drug use -- heroin and cocaine -- have DECLINED substantially. Even use of
marijuana has declined. If marijuana really were a gateway drug, one would
have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up. Actual studies of hard drug
"addicts" reveal that they start with alcohol or tobacco more frequently than
marijuana.

  4. Marijuana suppresses the immune system

   Like the studies claiming to show damage to the reproductive system, this
myth is based on studies where animals were givenextremely high dos es of
cannabinoids. These results have never been duplicated in human beings.
Interestingly, two studies done in 1978 and one done in 1988 showed that
hashish and marijuana may have actually stimulated the immune system in the
people studied.

  5. Marijuana is much more dangerous than tobacco

   Smoked marijuana contains more carcinogens than does an equivalent amount
of tobacco (1.5 to 3 times). Marijuana, however, unlike tobacco, actually
dilates (enlarges) the air passages in the lungs which promotes
self-cleaning. This is one reason why cannabis has been found useful in the
past in treating asthmatics. It should be remembered that a heavy tobacco
smoker consumes much more tobacco than a heavy marijuana smoker consumes
marijuana. Two other factors are important. The first is that paraphernalia
laws directed against marijuana users make it difficult to smoke safely.
These laws make water pipes and bongs, which filter some of the carcinogens
out of the smoke, illegal and, hence, unavailable. The second is that, if
marijuana were legal, it would be more economical to have cannabis drinks
like bhang (a traditional drink in the Middle East) or tea which are totally
non-carcinogenic. This is in stark contrast with "smokeless" tobacco products
like snuff which can cause cancer of the mouth and throat. Nicotine itself is
very toxic in even small quantities. In contrast, the cannabinoids are
relatively non-toxic. When all of these facts are taken together, it can be
clearly seen that the reverse is true: marijuana is much SAFER than tobacco.

  6. Legal marijuana would cause carnage on the highways

   Although marijuana, when used to intoxication, does impair performance in
a manner similar to alcohol, actual studies of the effect of marijuana on the
automobile accident rate suggest that it poses LESS of a hazard than alcohol.
When a random sample of fatal accident victims was studied, it was initially
found that marijuana was associated with RELATIVELY as many accidents as
alcohol. In other words, the number of accident victims intoxicated on
marijuana relative to the number of marijuana users in society gave a ratio
similar to that for accident victims intoxicated on alcohol relative to the
total number of alcohol users. However, a closer examination of the victims
revealed that around 85% of the people intoxicated on marijuana WERE ALSO
INTOXICATED ON ALCOHOL. For people only intoxicated on marijuana, the rate
was much lower than for alcohol alone. This would suggest that legal
marijuana would not pose as serious a hazard as legal alcohol.

   NOTE: We of the HCRC believe that DUI laws pertaining to driving under the
influence of alcohol should apply to driving under the influence of
marijuana. We believe in the RESPONSIBLE USE of marijuana, NOT IRRESPONSIBLE
ABUSE.

  7. Marijuana "flattens" human brainwaves

   This is an out-and-out lie perpetrated by the Partnership for a Drug-Free
America. A few years ago, they ran a TV ad that purported to show, first, a
normal human brainwave, and second, a flat brainwave from a 14-year-old "on
marijuana". When researchers called up the TV networks to complain about this
commercial, the Partnership had to pull it from the air. It seems that the
Partnership faked the flat "marijuana brainwave". In reality, marijuana has
the effect of slightly INCREASING alpha wave activity. Alpha waves are
associated with meditative and relaxed states which are, in turn, often
associated with human creativity.

 continued...



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