{"id":933483,"date":"2021-10-28T16:29:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T20:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=933483"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:29:24","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T20:29:24","slug":"going-green-the-physical-mental-and-emotional-problems-associated-with-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/going-green-the-physical-mental-and-emotional-problems-associated-with-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Green: The Physical, Mental, And Emotional Problems Associated With Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgoing-green-the-physical-mental-and-emotional-problems-associated-with-marijuana%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=933483&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In an era when the Left obsessively fights against \u201cmisinformation,\u201d at least one subject has evaded their concern: Although scientific studies indicate that marijuana is associated with profound mental illnesses, emotional problems, and physical diseases, a shocking number of Americans believe that weed is harmless or helpful \u2014 possibly even a natural cure for cancer.<\/p>\n<p>The media frequently parrot the talking points of billionaires George Soros, Peter Lewis, and John Sperling, who spent an estimated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestranger.com\/green-guide-spring-2019\/2019\/04\/15\/39894305\/the-untold-story-of-marijuana-legalization\">$71.3 million<\/a> between 1996 and 2016 to promote drug legalization, in the process creating the image of marijuana as a benign natural remedy. Websites like Vox.com promote that narrative, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/8\/20\/17938380\/marijuana-legalization-health-safety-risks-addiction\">telling<\/a> readers, \u201cOverall, marijuana is a relatively safe drug. \u2026 marijuana\u2019s harms appear to be relatively small.\u201d Media malpractice has led to a new pandemic of Americans ingesting increasingly high-potency marijuana, unaware of the consequences.<\/p>\n<p>After a precipitous fall during the \u201cJust Say No\u201d era of the 1980s, marijuana use has been rising, especially among America\u2019s young people. In 1992, the number of children between the ages of 12 to 17 who had used marijuana in the last month stood at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-1995-09-13-mn-45343-story.html\">4%<\/a>. In 2019, that rate more than doubled, to 9%, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.samhsa.gov\/data\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/rpt35320\/NSDUHDetailedTabs2020\/NSDUHDetailedTabs2020\/NSDUHDetTabsSect1pe2020.htm\">according<\/a> to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a large part of that has been the push for drug legalization\/decriminalization begun that year by George Soros. After Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, the number of total users increased by <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.17269\/s41997-018-00173-1\">nearly two-thirds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana\u2019s positive PR has proven particularly successful among the most desperate and vulnerable Americans. Almost one in four breast cancer victims smokes marijuana, and \u201c49% of cannabis users believed that medical cannabis could be used to treat cancer itself,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1002\/cncr.33906\">new study<\/a> published by the American Cancer Society. A separate study found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6426557\/\">80%<\/a> of \u201chigh-impact articles\u201d on social media \u201cwere false news that proposed cannabis as cancer cure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That should be concerning for a panoply of reasons, since numerous studies show that marijuana use can harm people in (at least) the following ways:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Psychosis and schizophrenia:&nbsp;<\/strong>Several studies have found that smoking marijuana may trigger mental illnesses, including psychoses like schizophrenia, especially in people already predisposed to develop them. \u201c[C]annibis use, primarily THC in cannabis, in genetically predisposed or at-risk populations, leads to earlier diagnosis of psychosis\/schizophrenia,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7442038\/\">found<\/a> a systematic review of existing research conducted by Shweta Patel and colleagues, and published at the peer-reviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cureus.com\/\">Cureus Journal of Medical Science<\/a>. \u201cTHC in cannabis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an era when the Left obsessively fights against \u201cmisinformation,\u201d at least one subject has evaded their concern: Although scientific studies indicate that marijuana is associated with profound mental illnesses, emotional problems, and physical diseases, a shocking number of Americans believe that weed is harmless or helpful \u2014 possibly even a natural cure for cancer.The media frequently parrot the talking points of billionaires George Soros, Peter Lewis, and John Sperling, who spent an estimated $71.3 million between 1996 and 2016 to promote drug legalization, in the process creating the image of marijuana as a benign natural remedy. Websites like Vox.com promote that narrative, telling readers, \u201cOverall, marijuana is a relatively safe drug. \u2026 marijuana\u2019s harms appear to be relatively small.\u201d Media malpractice has led to a new pandemic of Americans ingesting increasingly high-potency marijuana, unaware of the consequences.After a precipitous fall during the \u201cJust Say No\u201d era of the 1980s, marijuana use has been rising, especially among America\u2019s young people. In 1992, the number of children between the ages of 12 to 17 who had used marijuana in the last month stood at 4%. In 2019, that rate more than doubled, to 9%, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a large part of that has been the push for drug legalization\/decriminalization begun that year by George Soros. After Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, the number of total users increased by nearly two-thirds.Marijuana\u2019s positive PR has proven particularly successful among the most desperate and vulnerable Americans. Almost one in four breast cancer victims smokes marijuana, and \u201c49% of cannabis users believed that medical cannabis could be used to treat cancer itself,\u201d according to a new study published by the American Cancer Society. A separate study found that 80% of \u201chigh-impact articles\u201d on social media \u201cwere false news that proposed cannabis as cancer cure.\u201dThat should be concerning for a panoply of reasons, since numerous studies show that marijuana use can harm people in (at least) the following ways:Psychosis and schizophrenia:\u00a0Several studies have found that smoking marijuana may trigger mental illnesses, including psychoses like schizophrenia, especially in people already predisposed to develop them. \u201c[C]annibis use, primarily THC in cannabis, in genetically predisposed or at-risk populations, leads to earlier diagnosis of psychosis\/schizophrenia,\u201d found a systematic review of existing research conducted by Shweta Patel and colleagues, and published at the peer-reviewed Cureus Journal of Medical Science. \u201cTHC in cannabis also makes schizophrenia and psychosis symptoms worse and causes more relapses and hospitalizations.\u201dTheirs was one of numerous studies linking mental illness to marijuana consumption. \u201cTen studies [have] found a significant risk of young cannabis users developing psychosis,\u201d reported the\u00a0Scientific American\u00a0in 2017. \u201cCannabis use during puberty is a major risk factor for schizophrenia,\u201d\u00a0said Hannelore Ehrenreich of the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine at the 2017 World Psychiatric Association\u2019s World Congress. Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at King\u2019s College in London, found that nearly one out of every four cases of schizophrenia he researched involved the use of high-potency marijuana. There is a \u201cstrong association of cannabis use with the onset of psychiatric disorders,\u201d the American Psychiatric Association summarized in 2019.Anxiety and other psychological issues: Ironically, although many people use marijuana to reduce anxiety, it may make the problem worse.\u00a0A 2017 study found, in the words of Psychology Today, that smoking marijuana \u201cincreased feelings of paranoia, anxiety, visual illusions, strangeness, inattention and slowed time, as well as poor performance on tasks related to memory and response inhibition.\u201d The culprit is THC, which \u201cappears to decrease anxiety at lower doses and increase anxiety at higher doses,\u201d according to the University of Washington\u2019s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute. The potential for harm has increased, as the mean THC concentration of marijuana nearly doubled between 2008 and 2017.Shorter life expectancy: Men who used marijuana heavily in their teen years are 40% more likely to die by the time they reach the age of 60, according to a massive study published in the\u00a0American Journal of Psychiatry. \u201cSwedish researchers analyzed the records of more than 45,000 men beginning in 1969 and 1970,\u201d reported CBS News. \u201cThe scientists from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm reported that 4,000 died during the 42-year follow-up period, and men who\u2019d used marijuana heavily at ages 18 and 19 were 40 percent more likely to die by age 60 compared to guys who hadn\u2019t used the drug.\u201d Their findings upended previous studies that found no such linkage.Becoming poorer, with more relationship problems: Regular marijuana users end up in \u201ca lower social class than their parents, with lower-paying, less skilled, and less prestigious jobs. They also experience more financial problems, more problems at work, and more relationship difficulties,\u201d according to a study that followed 1,000 regular marijuana users from age 18 to 38. Individuals who reported \u201cregular cannabis use and persistent dependence experienced downward socioeconomic mobility, more financial difficulties, workplace problems, and relationship conflict in early midlife,\u201d according to Magdalena Cerd\u00e1 of the University of California-Davis, Health System, and Avshalom Caspi and Terrie Moffitt at Duke University, whose study appeared in Clinical Psychological Science, the peer-reviewed journal of the Association for Psychological Science.Memory problems, and brain aging: Regular marijuana users had a harder time remembering new information, according to a team of researchers who studied nearly 3,400 American marijuana users over a 25-year period. Marijuana usage can reduce decision-making ability, memory, and psychical control in the short term, and some negative effects may persist for life. Harvard Medical School explained that \u201cthere\u2019s no question that marijuana \u2026 can produce short-term problems with thinking, working memory, executive function, and psychomotor function (physical actions that require conscious thought, such as driving a car or playing a musical instrument). This is because marijuana\u2019s main psychoactive chemical, THC, causes its effect by attaching to receptors in brain regions that are vital for memory formation, including the hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebral cortex.\u201d While the full effect of long-term use is unknown, a 2016 UC-San Francisco study found that even past use of marijuana made people less likely to remember words in adulthood.After examining\u00a062,454 brain scans, researchers found that cannabis abuse accelerated brain aging by 2.8 years, a contributing factor to developing Alzheimer\u2019s Disease, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease. \u201cPrior papers have suggested that marijuana can damage the brain. What surprised [us] was how low blood flow was in the brains of our cohort \u2013 virtually every brain area had reduced blood flow on perfusion imaging in relation to marijuana use,\u201d\u00a0said Dr. Cyrus Raji, who co-authored the study.Lung diseases like asthma and bronchitis: \u201cMarijuana smoking is associated with large airway inflammation, increased airway resistance,\u201d according to a synthesis of scholarly research produced by the U.S. government\u2019s National Institute on Drug Abuse, \u201cand those who smoke marijuana regularly report more symptoms of chronic bronchitis than those who do not smoke.\u201d NIDA also cited studies showing that marijuana may suppress the body\u2019s immune system, increasing the chances of developing pneumonia and chronic bronchitis.Testicular cancer: Several studies have found a positive correlation between marijuana use and the development of testicular cancer, especially among \u201cheavy\u201d users who had smoked pot at least 50 times in their lives. One review of scholarly literature cautions the existing evidence is \u201clow-strength,\u201d because so many marijuana users also smoke cigarettes \u2014 but they still find weed inhalation increases the likelihood of developing testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT).Possibly lowers intelligence: Some evidence indicates that marijuana use decreases the intelligence of people who take it. The most consequential study comes from New Zealand (the Dunedin study), where researchers followed marijuana users from age 18 to 38 and found that people who began using marijuana in adolescence lost between six and eight points from their IQ \u2013 and quitting does not reverse the intelligence lost. Future studies disputed this somewhat, as researchers discovered cannabis users \u201calready had significantly lower IQ scores. Put another way, cannabis did not drag down their IQ; it was already low.\u201d To put that colloquially, researchers are now pursuing the chicken-and-egg question of whether adolescent marijuana use makes people stupid or if stupid people choose to use marijuana.Inability to feel joy: Researchers warn about higher THC levels causing cannabis-induced \u201canhedonia\u201d \u2014 a medical term which means the \u201cinability to feel pleasure\u201d in Greek. \u201cOver years, the regular use of cannabis has substantially increased among young adults, as indicated by the rise in cannabis use disorder (CUD), with an estimated prevalence of 8.3% in the United States,\u201d said a March 2021 study in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology. \u201cResearch shows that exposure to cannabis is associated with hypodopaminergic anhedonia (depression), cognitive decline, poor memory, inattention, impaired learning performance, reduced dopamine brain response-associated emotionality, and increased addiction severity in young adults.\u201dOn the other hand, researchers in Canada found a marked increase in \u201cemergency department consultations for cannabis-related mood disorders, as well as suicide and intentional self-harm\u201d after the nation legalized recreational marijuana in October 2018. This may stem from marijuana\u2019s addictive components altering the person\u2019s approach to the brain\u2019s reward circuitry after a flood of dopamine.Creating false memories: Any media interested in combating misinformation would condemn the rising rate of marijuana use, since \u201c[c]annabis seems to increase false-memory proneness,\u201d according to a March 2020 study from The Netherlands.Innocent bystanders: Although drug use is often presented as a personal decision, the harm caused by marijuana extends beyond the user alone. Aside from the toll of innocent victims when marijuana users drive under the influence, the American Lung Association warns, \u201cSecondhand marijuana smoke contains many of the same toxins and carcinogens found in directly-inhaled marijuana smoke, in similar amounts if not more.\u201d Their biggest concern is about \u201cvulnerable children in the home.\u201dContrary to MSNBC and CNN hand-wringers, the real disinformation comes from paid propagandists, scientists on the take, and billionaires who (for whatever reason) are promoting a drug that appears to inhibit Americans from exercising the cognitive functions necessary to be independent citizens. The effort to whitewash drug abuse is typical in a world that demands pleasure with no consequence. But that world doesn\u2019t exist \u2014 a fact too many people find out too late.The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-933483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}