[alltherage]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

I was a chronic for 9 years (4-5 joints a day) until a month ago when I stopped altogether, so do you mind explaining why I couldn't eat or sleep and had random cold-sweats for a week and a half on top of the feeling of being on the edge of a psychosis?

No negative health implications is hyperbole.

Although I do agree with you that legalizing it and making money is better than spending money on cops chasing it.

Sorry, I'm seriously not picking on you, its just I made it to this thread late and your posts are the ones standing out.

There very much is a dependency problem. The thing is that the real withdraw doesn't start until after a few days of going without (for chronics) so the concentration in the blood stream dips to the lowest point its been, well, ever since taking up the habit. THEN...

EDIT: Holy crap, atr. I read the whole thread and I could have quoted you a few more times at least! So I was just wondering...how much weed do you smoke and do you smoke everyday? You sound how I've been until very recently. I had no idea how insidious the stuff was until I stopped...or maybe I did and didn't want to admit it to myself.

Sorry I should have jumped in here earlier to address this- I missed it. For the record, I smoke approximately 3 joints a week probably.

Most of what I was trying to say was in regards to when marijuana is ingested through non-smoking methods. That's where I was getting the "zero health implications" jazz.

I should have been more careful in my wording. What I was trying to say was that using a vaporizer has zero of the health implications that come from smoking tobacco.

Originally Posted by www.canorml.org/healthfacts/vaporizers.html

Like tobacco, marijuana smoke contains toxins that are known to be hazardous to the respiratory system. Among them are the highly carcinogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, a prime suspect in cigarette-related cancers. These toxins are essentially a byproduct of combustion, separate from the pharmaceutically active components of marijuana, known as cannabinoids, which include THC. Although there is no proof that marijuana smoking causes cancer, chronic pot smokers have been shown to suffer an elevated risk of bronchitis and respiratory infections. Respiratory disease due to smoking may therefore rightly be regarded as the primary physiological hazard of marijuana.

Cannabis vaporizers are designed to let users inhale active cannabinoids while avoiding harmful smoke toxins. They do so by heating cannabis to a temperature of 180 - 200° C (356° - 392° F), just below the point of combustion where smoke is produced. At this point, THC and other medically active cannabinoids are emitted with little or none of the carcinogenic tars and noxious gases found in smoke

As far as depedency issues :

Originally Posted by WikiAnswers

The active ingredient in Cannibis sativa is THC (delta 1 tetrahydrocannibinol). THC is active in very low dosages. Therapeutic THC is typically delivered 5mg tid (three times a day). As addiction in the sense I mean it is a gross process, tiny dosages typically don't generate the large-scale physiological changes a true addiction needs to get revved up (neurological yes; physio no). So most people, scientists and street-users, think of marijuana as non-addictive. A recent study at Columbia University offers potentially contradictory evidence, but it's still only one study and not accepted as universal fact at this time. As such, if you say THC is not clinically addictive, most of the world will agree with you.
Can marijuana be habituating? Absolutely -- but not universally. Just as some people definately use Marijuana in a manner that can only be described as a habit, some have used marijuana for years but not in a habitual pattern. While the same can be said for alcohol, it seems that alcoholics really do set up a regular pattern of extensive use that I personally don't see nearly as frequently in marijuana users.

While you are correct that Marijuana can be addictive, it is in the same realm of Alcohol, not tobacco. Perhaps you are in the 10% that has the addictive response?

Originally Posted by www.addictionsandrecovery.org/marijuana.htm

Marijuana is as addictive as alcohol. Approximately 10% of people who smoke marijuana will get addicted to it. That means 90% of people can use it recreationally. But for the other 10%, marijuana is not a harmless herb.

So I actually have to agree with much of what you said, but I also beleive that most of what I've said is correct too, i probably failed to continue to reference my earlier established contexts though.