Legal Marijuana is a topic being discussed throughout the world and will actually be voted on by the UN in 2009. The rationalization is that regulation will allow control of the strength of the THC and the decimalization will have a positive social impact. Ten out of fifty states in the US have passed Medical Marijuana Laws and more states will be voting on similar laws in the coming months. These laws are only symbolic at this point because the federal government still has laws forbidding the use, possession and cultivation of Marijuana in the US. If the federal law changes these states are ready, at lest as far as the law is concerned to start distributing marijuana.
Legal Marijuana will impact Addiction Treatment in a number of ways. There will be experts that will insist that people cannot become addicted to Marijuana and that Drug Abuse will be a more appropriate label. Physical addiction to Marijuana will be denied and therefore third party payment for detox will be out of the question. Legalized Marijuana will increase the depth of denial in an addict with the argument that if it is legal it must not be a problem. The use of Marijuana impairs attention and judgment and will make the casual user more willing to try other drugs or partake in questionable behavior.
Marijuana use increases the risk of cancers in repertory system, is linked to leukemia in offspring and is the cause in a decline of cognitive skills especially with adolescents. Social impact and the rise in health costs associated with legalizing Marijuana seems to have been left out of the equation when deciding the benefits of a change in the legal status of this particular plant.
Over the past few years a number of US states have voted to legalize medical marijuana. While most politicians still remain on the fence about this issue, supporters of medical marijuana have convinced many of benefits of marijuana use. Studies have shown that smoking cannabis can help relieve pain and increase the appetites of people who are suffering from life threatening-illnesses like cancer and AIDS. Marijuana can also help people with glaucoma, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
But the overwhelming majority of the people who use pot do not suffer from any life-threatening or even life-altering diseases or illnesses. They are healthy people who choose to smoke pot because it brings them pleasure. While cannabis use is still illegal in America for people who do not need it for medical reasons, pot users frequently claim that the drug is harmless and should be legalize. On the other side, opponents of legalizing cannabis claim that it is a gateway drug and that it may encourage young people to experiment with other more powerful and dangerous drugs. So, who’s right? Is pot dangerous or is it a harmless drug that has gotten a bad rap?
The answer, as we might expect, is somewhere in the middle. But, before we go on, we must unequivocally state that marijuana is most assuredly a drug. It affects your senses, slows your reaction time and impairs your judgment. Though there is a suspicious dearth of information on the subject, chronic marijuana use has been shown to affect the ability of people to drive a car, much like alcohol. It can also have other unexpected side effects.
One of the most common complaints of people who experiment with marijuana is that it causes paranoia and even panic attacks. In fact, many young people who have experienced this side effect vow to never smoke pot again for this very reason.
Why do some people who use pot experience anxiety or have panic attack?
Because pot is an illegal drug, it is completely unregulated, which means that pot varies in potency. A person who does not have much experience with marijuana use may be completely unaware that they are smoking a type of marijuana that is ten or twenty times stronger than an ordinary joint. It is also not uncommon that certain chemicals, like embalming fluid, may be used to increase the potency of regular weed. When they chemicals are added they can transform a norm joint into an extremely powerful drug that may cause not only anxiety, but also hallucinations. In fact, the effect of smoking a marijuana cigarette dipped in embalming fluid is similar to snorting PCP or Angel Dust.
While marijuana make not be an addictive drug or even a gateway drug, it is still far from safe. The truth is that pot affects your brain the same way that drugs like alcohol or cocaine do; it changes the way you see the world and sometimes it results in increased levels of anxiety and paranoia. But don’t worry. These symptoms are not permanent and they will slowly dissipate as the drug wears off. However, if you experience these symptoms once, you are far more likely to experience them again. The best thing to do in that case is to simply stop smoking pot.
At least one dozen states have laws legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. In 1996, the people of California voted to pass Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. The act was codified as California Health and Safety Code 11362.5 which states that people have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician.
In California, the Medical Marijuana Program is operated at the county level, not the state level. In order to obtain a license, you must first find out if your county has any regulations that you must follow in order to obtain it. Typically, one will have to fill out a form and obtain a written recommendation from a physician. It is evident by doing a simple search in google that a medical marijuana license may be easier to obtain than expected. There are doctors that will provide a recommendation for a license for a mere $99.00.
Since the act was enacted, California has has a significant surge in medical marijuana dispensaries. So much so that just like some coffee shops have baristas, medical marijuana dispensaries have “cannabaristas.” At these dispensaries, a person with a medical marijuana license may purchase anything from multiple grades of herb to marijuana-infused candy bars
and baked goods.
It is important to know that although the law in California allows the use of medical marijuana, federal law still lists marijuana as an illegal narcotic. Many dispensaries have faced federal criminal charges as a result of federal law. However, with the election of President Obama, dispensary raids that were common during the Bush Administration, have ceased.
If you are ready to stop smoking marijuana there are many paths you can take to get that help. Overcoming addiction to any drug though is not something that is advisable to do on your own. You need some sort of support system in place in order to successfully stop smoking marijuana and move on to more productive pursuits in your life.
Quitters Really Do Sometimes Win
One of the first things you need to do when you are ready to stop smoking marijuana is overcome the negative connotations associated with quitting. Once you’ve stopped smoking pot you will find that there are many experiences that your addiction to weed robbed you of. It’s actually liberating in this instance to quit and overcome the bonds of addiction.
Eliminate Denial in Order to Stop Smoking Marijuana
One of the most difficult things to do is to realize the toll that smoking pot is taking on your life. There are many excuses you will come up with along the way to try and convince yourself that you do not need to stop smoking marijuana. The truth is that none of these are valid when compared to the many benefits that go along with stopping today.
Smoking weed may not make you a raging maniac, this drug works in other ways. It literally steals away your motivation. Can you imagine the improvement of your status in life if you simply stop smoking marijuana for good? If you are ready to take that important step and regain control of your life there are some tools that can help you overcome your addiction.
NLP and Marijuana Addictions
Hypnotherapy and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) work to change the way your body reacts to addiction. This helps you stop smoking marijuana because you learn to overcome the things that trigger your need to smoke pot as well as the temptation that smoking pot presents.
NLP works within your mind to overcome these things instead of putting you at war with your mind. When you become aware of the things that trigger your need for weed, you can move past them and take the first real steps necessary to stop smoking marijuana once and for all.
It is never easy to overcome addictions-even with help. NLP and hypnotherapy, when used to assist you though, can be extremely important tools for making your efforts to stop smoking marijuana much less difficult by restoring your control over your mind and making the pains of withdrawal much more manageable.
If you are struggling with drug addictions, help is close at hand. You do not need to struggle with your addictions alone. Even better though, through NLP you can get the help you need to stop smoking marijuana without burdening friends and family with your addiction. However, the support of friends and family can make the NLP treatment process even more effective when it comes to helping you stop smoking marijuana for good.
It is against the law to drive while under the influence of marijuana. It has always been assumed that cannabis, like alcohol, impairs the perception, coordination, reflexes and judgment necessary for the safe operation of a motor vehicle. And, of course, there have been governmental studies addressing the question: Does marijuana impair driving?
Interestingly, however, the findings do not necessarily support popular opinion….
On the one hand, the California Department of Justice has found that marijuana undoubtedly impairs psychomotor abilities that are functionally related to driving and that driving skills may be impaired, particularly at high-dose levels or among inexperienced users. “Marijuana and Alcohol: A Driver Performance Study”, California Office of Traffic Safety Project No. 087902 (Sept. 1986).
Contradicting these conclusions, however, are two federal studies. The U.S. Department of Transportation conducted research with a fully interactive simulator on the effects of alcohol and marijuana, alone and in combination, on driver-controlled behavior and performance. Although alcohol was found consistently and significantly to cause impairment, marijuana had only an occasional effect. Also, there was little evidence of interaction between alcohol and marijuana. Accidents and speeding tickets reliably increased with alcohol, but no marijuana or combined alcohol-marijuana influence was noted. “The Effects of Alcohol on Driver-Controlled Behavior in a Driving Simulator, Phase I”, DOT-HS-806-414.
A more recent report entitled “Marijuana and Actual Performance”, DOT-HS-808-078, noted that “THC is not a profoundly impairing drug….It apparently affects controlled information processing in a variety of laboratory tests, but not to the extent which is beyond the individual’s ability to control when he is motivated and permitted to do so in driving”.
The study concluded that: “…An important practical objective of this study was to determine whether degrees of driving impairment can be actually predicted from either measured concentration of THC in plasma or performance measured in potential roadside “sobriety” tests of tracking ability or hand and posture stability. The results, like many reported before, indicated that none of these measures accurately predicts changes in actual performance under the influence of THC…”.
The researchers found that it “appears not possible to conclude anything about a driver’s impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample”. Note: “THC” stands for Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana. THC is fairly quickly converted by the body into inert metabolites, which can stay in the body for hours or even days. It is these metabolites that police blood tests in DUI arrests detect and measure.
