Common Questions About Marijuana (answered by the Institute of Medicine)
Common Questions About
MARIJUANA
|
ANSWERED BY THE INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE*
|
|
Read what the nation's top scientists have concluded about:
- addiction
- progression to harder drugs
- cancer
- mortality
- brain damage
- amotivational syndrome
- "medical" marijuana
|
*Copyright 1999 by the National
Academy of Sciences (ISBN 0-309-07155-0)
The Institute of Medicine was chartered in
1970 by the National Academy of Sciences and acts under the Academy's 1863
congressional charter responsibility to be an advisor to the federal government.
The full report by the National Academy of Sciences can
be viewed online at http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/marimed/
|
Q:
|
Is marijuana addictive?
|
| A: |
"Compared to most other drugs ... dependence among marijuana
users is relatively rare." [p. 94]
[p. 95]
| Drug Category |
Proportion Of Users That Ever Became Dependent (%) |
| Tobacco |
32 |
| Alcohol |
15 |
| Marijuana (including hashish) |
9 |
| Cocaine |
17 |
| Heroin |
23 |
"In summary, although few marijuana users develop dependence, some
do. But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs
(including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be
less severe than dependence on other drugs." [p. 98]
|
|
Q:
|
Does marijuana lead to harder drugs?
|
| A: |
"It does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is
the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug
abuse; that is, care must be taken not to attribute cause to association."
[p. 101]
"There is no evidence that marijuana serves as a stepping stone
on the basis of its particular physiological effect." [p. 99]
|
|
Q:
|
Is marijuana more dangerous than tobacco?
|
| A: |
"Given a cigarette of comparable weight, as much as four times the
amount of tar can be deposited in the lungs of marijuana smokers as in the
lungs of tobacco smokers. ... However, a marijuana cigarette smoked
recreationally typically is not packed as tightly as a tobacco cigarette,
and the smokable substance is about half that in a tobacco cigarette. In
addition, tobacco smokers generally smoke considerably more cigarettes per
day than do marijuana smokers." [Pp. 111, 112] |
|
Q:
|
Does marijuana cause cancer?
|
| A: |
"There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans,
including cancers usually related to tobacco use." [p. 119] |
|
Q:
|
Does marijuana cause other life-threatening health problems?
|
| A: |
"Epidemiological data indicate that in the general population marijuana
use is not associated with increased mortality." [p. 109] |
|
Q:
|
Is marijuana useless or unnecessary for medical purposes?
|
| A: |
"Nausea, appetite loss, pain, and anxiety ... all can be mitigated
by marijuana. Although some medications are more effective than marijuana
for these problems, they are not equally effective in all patients."
[p. 159] |
|
Q:
|
Does marijuana cause brain damage?
|
| A: |
"Earlier studies purporting to show structural changes in the brains
of heavy marijuana users have not been replicated with more sophisticated
techniques." [p. 106] |
|
Q:
|
Does marijuana cause laziness (a.k.a. "amotivational
syndrome")?
|
| A: |
"When heavy marijuana use accompanies these symptoms, the drug is often
cited as the cause, but no convincing data demonstrate a causal relationship
between marijuana smoking and these behavioral characteristics." [Pp. 107,
108] |
|
Q:
|
Do criminal penalties deter marijuana use?
|
| A: |
"There is little evidence that decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily
leads to a substantial increase in marijuana use." [p. 104] |
