Legalize: Is Marijuana NOT a drug?

In today’s society, the legalization of Marijuana is all the rage. Millions upon millions of dollars have already been made for both private and government parties involved. There is lots more of this to come of course as it becomes more and more accepted over time.

Marijuana aka “Cannabis” comes from the Hemp plant and has been used for thousands of years by many cultures, including our own, for hundreds of reasons from oils to fibers to an extremely nutritious food source provided by the seeds. You can read about the history of marijuana here.

Since its prohibition, there is a lot more information that proves the Cannabis plant or “Hemp” to be greatly useful to our society in many positive ways. In 1996, California was the first state to legalize Marijuana for medicinal purposes. Here is an informative page on both the pros and cons of the Medical Use of Marijuana.

Now, I’m not here to sway anyone either way around this subject. This is a topic that can be discussed to no end. The users will argue its benefits and the government will cash in on it along with their new legal “distributors”. With all of the documented “benefits” of its use, the people pushing it don’t tell you about Marijuana’s darker, harmful side. Here are FACTS pages citing the harmful effects of using Marijuana from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and DrugFreeWorld.org.

I work in New England, in which Medical Marijuana is legal in all of its states. I have worked with people who use Medical Marijuana to help them with their extreme anxiety, HIV, Neuropathy and their Hepatitis. In all cases, they report taking a drag or two from a pipe when their symptoms arise. These individuals chose Medical Marijuana as a last resort after trying a multitude of other treatments. These are all cases with chronic issues that they have been living with for years now.

On the other side, are the individuals who seek out the euphoric “high” that Marijuana provides. These individuals are, of course, happy that Medical Marijuana is now legal and can easily obtain a “Marijuana Card” with minimal effort and a fee to their local Marijuana prescriber. There are qualifications that need to be met, but doctors can easily find ways around this in order to prescribe it. Of course, as any other prescribed “medication”, it is and will continue to be abused and often makes its way into the hands of others for whom it is not prescribed, including minors.

If you have a chronic illness that can be treated with Marijuana, by all means, research it and make an educated decision on what is best for you. If that’s not the case, then be honest with yourself. Whatever the reason is that you use Marijuana, it is very likely that there is an easier, less harmful way to cope with whatever may be going on in your life.

It’s not uncommon for people to use it in order to self medicate using marijuana, not knowing that they may have a mental health condition. In these cases, marijuana might seem to help the individual on the surface, but is likely causing more harm. Here is a related article “The Double-Edged Sword of Marijuana Self-Medication” that depicts this well.

The bottom line is that once you inhale or ingest marijuana, you will be impaired both mentally as well as physically. It might not seem so, but you will not be at 100% capacity.

Here is another worthy article for your research from NAADAC coming from a scientific perspective.

Myths like, “It’s not a drug, it’s a plant”, “It’s natural”, “It’s not as bad as Alcohol”, “ I can drive better”, “I’m just chill”, and so on and so forth are just keeping you in the woods. I was in those woods for over 20 years. Don’t sell yourself short. The sooner you decide to get out of the woods, the happier you can be.

If you feel this article has helped you or can help someone you love, share it and leave us a comment below. Love Life Today. THiS ReCoVeRY LiFE.