Reason 4 - Blog Post 4

What Other's Might be Thinking.

One might not be getting the whole story when it comes to marijuana, since people in the average community are not well educated about it. Not many have gotten a chance to do their research on the true effects of cannabis. According to Narconon, “Memory, Learning, Perception & Problem Solving: Use of marijuana results in problems with memory a learning, distorted perception difficulty with problem-solving and impaired driving.” Others might argue as well that a person that consumes cannabis in any way shape or form becomes increasingly lazy and unproductive. Madlen Davies states in, “Cannabis DOES make you lazy”, “smokers are 'less willing to perform hard tasks after using the drug.” They did a study using rats and described how giving them certain amount of THC would affect their completion of a task they were trained to do. When doing the testing the scientists state, “'Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found that when we gave THC to these rats, they basically became cognitively lazy’, said Mason Silveira, the study's lead author and a PhD candidate in UBC's department of psychology.” Given this information many perceive to believe that marijuana has many bad effects that people don't really pay attention to, for the sake of just having it legalized.

However this argument can be easily manipulated into something it is not. Shown in the same article by Madlen Davies, they say although the rats had become more ‘lazy’ they could still complete the task they were trained to do, they just didn't want to. The average “stoner” stereotype is a lazy teen, smoking a joint, doing nothing but sitting on a couch. This stereotype once again needs to be rethought completely. Many people who live active lifestyles and have active careers smoke cannabis for whatever reason that might be. An article by Amer Lee entitled “Bleacher Buzz, 25 Elite Athletes Who Also Smoke Pot” talks about many athletes use marijuana commonly. It says, “ESPN spoke with 19 former and current players during their investigation, and it was the general consensus that as many as 40-60 percent of the team used marijuana at some point during their college careers.” Although Marijuana has some bad effects it does not come close in comparison to the side effects of other, stronger and legal pharmaceutical drugs(opioids).

Negative information on the internet, leads people to continue to believe that marijuana is not only a gateway drug to other substances, but it is a main source of addiction. This thought process is unconventional and is the reason why marijuana is still considered to be a drug and not a medicine. In the article “America’s Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse”, it states “The abuse of and addiction to opioids such as heroin, morphine, and prescription pain relievers is a serious global problem that affects the health, social, and economic welfare of all societies.” Facing the fact that the medicine leading pharmacies push are statistically more addictive and harmful at the end of the day compared to Marijuana. It is hard for people to understand why doctors use the more harmful and costly remedy.

Shown in this photo above, people who are prescribed opioids for pain after a medical issue, are not easily lead off of them. Many normal people who live normal lives use or have used marijuana in the past. Recreational users who use it, mainly use it either for stress or anxiety. An article called “Marijuana 'can reduce chronic stress and depression'” by Hannah Osborne, it states “In a study looking at endocannabinoids – chemicals in the brain similar to substances found in cannabis – scientists found chronic stress it's reduced the production, which led to depression-like behaviour in animals studied.” This natural plant remedy can be very beneficial to people who suffer from common everyday stress and anxiety.           

This shows that the stereotype of a pot smoker is outdated and needs to be rethought for the future generations to come. Changing the way society perceives smokers to be in movies and television shows. Would educate children and others to understand that, just because one smokes doesn't make them a bad person that has no goals in life. A person can be an active smoker and live a healthy, happy, active life style.

Word Count: 718

Work Cited:

"America's Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse." National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). N.p., 14 May 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

By Amber Lee , Sports Lists Lead Writer Apr 19, 2012. "25 Elite Athletes Who Also Smoke Pot." Bleacher Report. N.p., 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

"How Marijuana Helps Relieve Stress and Anxiety." Leaf Science. N.p., 18 Mar. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

Http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/reporters/hannah-osborne. "Marijuana 'can Reduce Chronic Stress and Depression'" International Business Times RSS. N.p., 05 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

"Is Marijuana Bad for You?" RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

MailOnline, Madlen Davies for. "Cannabis DOES Make You Lazy: Smokers Are 'less Willing to Perform Hard Tasks' after Using the Drug." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 24 Aug. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.