The federal agency NIDA says that autopsies show 75 people per year are high on marijuana when they die, but this does not mean marijuana is a factor in any of their deaths. No, just the opposite. The only crime most marijuana users commit is using marijuana. The U. S. Shafer Commission report was the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the subject. The simple fact is that marijuana does not change your basic personality.
All smoke is unhealthy, but marijuana is safer than tobacco, and people tend to smoke less of it.
That risk can be eliminated by eating the plant instead of smoking it, or it can be reduced by using water pipes to smoke smaller amounts of more potent marijuana. Moreover, cannabis is a proven medicinal herb with hundreds of modern therapeutic uses in treating ailments from stress to arthritis to glaucoma to asthma to cancer therapy, to AIDS, and more. Others rely on a handful of inconclusive or flawed reports. American and Canadian taxpayers have funded many studies on this very point, and every independent government panel on marijuana has opposed the jailing of marijuana smokers. The Canadian Police Chiefs Association are even fighting for Decriminalization.