What harm has17years of weed smoking done to my friend?

Question

He smokes around 5/6 spliffs every day. Previous to that he was known to dabble in many other areas but nothing long term. He grew up with it is his answer, and it was cheaper than drinking without the headache! But he's not getting any younger and I just want to present decent facts from people that know not the supposed medical jargon that says he will suffer paranoia cos he dont. Thanks folks

Answer 1

The largest study of the health effects to date was done by Kaiser Permanente. They surveyed 65,000 patients over a number of years. They found no significant differences in the health records of pot smokers versus non-pot-smokers.

Research on cognitive decline shows that there is no cognitive decline associated with the use of marijuana, even when the use is at levels many times those typically found in the US.

Dr. Tom O'Connell has done quite a bit of research on long-term marijuana smokers. Among other things, he found that they had various common factors in their lives, including a far higher incidence of "dabbling" in other drugs in their lives. His basic conclusion is that many daily pot smokers use it to relieve psychological symptoms. That is, they are using it basically the same as people might use Valium that they get from a doctor. It helps to relieve anxiety and stress. That stress may be associated with earlier life events -- such as Dr. O'Connell's observation that they have a high incidence of having absent or authoritarian fathers during childhood.

His observation generally applies to all regular drug use -- including alcohol and tobacco.

In short, there is no particular worry that he will damage himself from marijuana. According to Dr. O'Connell, if one is going to self-medicate their stress, marijuana is certainly a better choice than alcohol.

You can find Dr. O'Connell's blog and a ton of other information on marijuana at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer

Answer 2

First of all, weed really isn't that big of a deal. Your friend is not going to get arrested or become an addict just for smoking weed, as long as he's not stupid. But you should definitely ask him about it if it bothers you that much. Like just ask him if he's tried it, and see if he's honest with you. Try not to judge him. Trying weed at least once is totally normal. It's pretty much guaranteed the 2 friends you're talking about here wont be your only friends to try it. It's understandable if YOU don't want to try it right now, but if your best friend does/did keep in mind that it doesn't make him any less of a friend to you. He is still the exact same person. Yeah, it sucks that he broke your guys' promise. However, if you make a big deal out of it, or tell his parents so he gets in trouble with them, it WILL push him away and could make him want to smoke even more. BASICALLY if your best friend starts smoking weed, you should try to accept it. Just don't be around him when he's doing it if you don't want to get involved. If you can't accept it, then you guys probably wont be friends after awhile. Sometimes people just grow apart and develop different interests. But I get the feeling you're pretty young and your opinions about weed will change as you get older and know more about it. You'll probably want to try it someday, too. But who knows, maybe he didn't even like it and never wants to smoke it again.

Answer 3

Your friend clearly enjoys his joints... and with all the adverts and advise around at the moment highlighting the supposed risks surrounding cannabis, unless he's got his eyes closed or is locked in a room shut away from society, I don't think any facts you present to him now he wont have already heard! And he's been doing it for so long, are your suggestions really going to make as much impact as to quit his habit of 17 years?

There are no decent facts you could tell him - You colud sit him down and watch the adverts as someone has already mentioned, or you could say its a risk to his mental health... its pretty clear cut that the government wants to send out the message 'drugs are bad' but I dont think he'l want to listen to the goverment, or you telling him what the government are saying when he's most probably heard it all before.

I think what you need to do now is resign yourself to the fact that if you do type in 'risks of cannabis' into a search engine, and present your friend those risks, i think you'l find he'd think that he knows better... he's got 17 years of experiance, and you say he's fine and hasn't got the paranoia, so i doubt he'll stop unless he's been meaning to for a while.

Don't work yourself up on the bad things the government say hun, I honestly truly believe weed is fine, and if you agree with me, and your friend doesnt stop, you'll feel more and more concerned for him, and you shouldnt worry like that, so tell him the facts, but don't expect him to quite based on some facts because he already has his own mind, and the government havent even got much conclusive evidence that they're even right anyway! xx

Answer 4

It is not good to smoke draw all the time. Tell him to have a couple of days free from spliff each week, it will clear his head.

Answer 5

Hmm... well, from what you say it seems okay, but I have mates who smoke weed and are actually schizoid as well... must be a coincidence... or maybe it's one of those genetic things... sort of, 'can cause psychoses if you don't have the right chromosomal mix'... or 'can cause psychoses if you were heading that way anyway'... go figure, it seems like you've already decided for yourself.

Answer 6

hmm seriously? i dont think many people know what long term use will or might do to you, we can all have different reactions to all sorts of stuff, i myself was a long term user... a few yrs more than your boyfriend, but i gave up in mid 05....as for what sumone else said? it dont give you cancer or lead on to harder stuff.... well i think that it could of course lead to cancer... as most people do use it with tobacco... and your inhalin it into your lungs... so yeah lung cancer or any other cancer is possible. who knows really, i dont think it's been really studied long enough to get facts on what it can or cant do to you..... but i sort of agree from my own personal experiences ... that it dosent lead to harder drugs... i think you have to be that way inclined to want to....if you wanna do cocaine or heroin you will do it....smokin weed will not push you that way... i think maybe if your really worried .. see if u can get him to cut down a little or summit.... see how he goes...

Answer 7

Not one tiny little bit. Weed smoking is perfectly harmless and benign. It is n-o-t a gateway drug, it does not cause cancer, it does not do anything but make him feel good and warp his perception of the world for a little while (feels good). So - as long as he can elude the law - let your friend have his fun.

Answer 8

Long term memory is sometimes affected, plus your body dosent know what's going on sometimes so it will react in different way to work out what's going on.

Answer 9

probably shrunk his brain! There is an advert on uk tv at the minute where a young lad goes around the lab looking at brains which have experienced drugs, if that doesnt bring it home to him nothing will!

Answer 10

insomnia, it effects there speech,they suffer with memory loss, he will suffer with paranoia as he gets older, there mood changes,he is probably very addicted to it now so he will find it hard to give up tell him to try and stop i bet he will find it difficult to give up just like any other drug, but if he does go cold turkey he will feel much better