is pot bad for u?

Answer 1

It depends who you ask...so many people...especially those who indulge, think it is harmless. Judge for yourself.

The short term effects are:
difficulty speaking
can't listen effectively
problems with memory and learning
distorted perception
impaired judgment
paranoia
hallucinations
trouble with thinking and problemsolving
loss of motor coordination
increased heart rate
Impairments in learning

And, the users always think it has no effects.

Answer 2

"bad" is relative, any smoke you ingest is bad for you but many of the effects of weed tend to be greatly exaggerated.
there is little, if any evidence that pot causes cancer, learning and memory (long term) problems, death of brain cells (completely false), and infertility...

One reason marijuana smoke is a suspected carcinogen is that marijuana smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are known carcinogens. A marijuana cigarette typically delivers nanogram quantities of PAHs and microgram quantities of cannabinoids, a unique class of cyclic hydrocarbons. Marijuana smoke is presumed carcinogenic not only because it contains PAHs, but also because cannabinoids, in their own right, modulate cytochrome (CYP1) enzymes required for PAH activation and detoxification.

Until quite recently, PAH-related carcinogenicity was attributed to CYP1 involvement with PAH-related DNA damage in vitro, whereas in vivo experiments now suggest a crucial role for CYP1 enzymes in the detoxification rather than metabolic activation of PAHs (Nebert et al. 2004). As competitive substrates for CYP1 enzymes, concomitantly administered hydrocarbons have been shown to prevent the development of tumors that otherwise results from the administration of a single hydrocarbon (Conney 2003). In the same respect, cannabinoids may competitively inhibit the activation of otherwise carcinogenic hydrocarbons (i.e., PAHs). Cannabinoids may also exert anti-carcinogenic effects unrelated to their hydrocarbon structure. Like anti-carcinogenic polyphenols (Ciolino et al. 1998), cannabinoids have been shown to increase levels of CYP1A1 messenger RNA while reducing CYP1A1 enzyme activity through aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligation. Spiking tobacco tar with THC, the primary cannabinoid in marijuana smoke, was shown to markedly reduce CYP1A1 activity (Roth et al. 2001).

in summary, the activator genes of the carcinogens in weed seem to be modulated (deactivated) by the cannabinoids ingested while smoking. this provides evuidence that weed does not cause cancer and in fact, it may contain potential cancer prevention attributes

i am not saying that this drug is harmless, but i am saying it is less harmfull than many legal drugs such as caffine (heavy use), ciggarettes, and alchohol (heavy use)