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Thesis:  The weight of evidence shows that marijuana smoking
         is dangerous to a person's health, and to our
         society.



I.    Introduction.
      A. Studies conducted on marijuana.
         1. 7000 scientific and medical studies.
         2. Where the studies were conducted.

II.   History of marijuana.
      A. Marijuana in China.
         1. First writings about the use of marijuana.
         2. Medical uses of marijuana.
      B. Chemicals in marijuana.
         1. 421 known chemical compounds.
         2. Delta-9 Tetrahydroconnabinol creates the euphoric
            effect.
         3. Some of the other chemicals are ammonia, benzene,
            acetone, and toluene.
      C. THC levels increased over the years.
         1. In the early 1960's.
         2. In the early 1970's.
         3. In 1975.
         4  In the 1980's.
         5. In 1990.

III.  What does the body do with marijuana?
      A. The body uses and stores marijuana.
         1. THC stays in the body for a long time.
         2. Some of the chemicals in marijuana get broken
            down by the body.
         3. Some of the THC is broken down in the body.
         4. Most of the THC is stored in the fat cells of the
            body.

IV.   What does marijuana do to the body?
      A. The lungs.
         1. Constricts the breathing passages.
         2. Contains over 150 cancer causing chemicals.
      B. Marijuana can become contaminated.
         1. Aspergillus.
         2. Salmonella.
         3. Paraquat.
      C. The brain.
         1. Shrinking brain theory.
         2. THC settle into the synapses of the brain.
         3. Long term users can develop "marijuana
            syndrome."
         4. Combining marijuana and other drugs.
      D. The heart.
         1. THC causes tachycardia.
         2. Hastens angina pectoris attacks.

V.    Marijuana and driving.
      A. Studies have shown that people on marijuana.
         1. Have poor concentration abilities.
         2. Their reflexes are slowed.
         3. They have a distorted sense of time.
      B. Studies that show how dangerous it is.
         1. Massachusetts in the 1970's.
         2. California in the 1970's.

VI.   Marijuana and reproduction.
      A. Testosterone in men.
         1. lowered sperm production.
         2. lowers libido.
      B. Women and marijuana.
         1. Government would not allow testing on young
            women.
         2. Interferes with the hormones that regulate the
            menstrual cycle.
      C. Marijuana and pregnancy.
         1. The placenta acts as a filter.
         2. THC can damage DNA.

VII.  Marijuana and immunity.
      A. Marijuana hinders the immune system.
         1. The cell-mediated system.
         2. The macrophages.

VIII. Can a person become addicted to marijuana?
      A. The three phases of addiction.
         1. Tolerance.
         2. Drug-seeking behavior.
         3. Withdrawal symptoms.

IX.   Marijuana as a medicine.
      A. The diseases that marijuana is used to treat.
         1. The treatment of cancer.
         2. Epilepsy.
         3. Glaucoma.
         4. Asthma.


               THE DANGERS OF MARIJUANA

    In the past thirty years, there has been over 7000
published scientific and medical studies that document the
damage that marijuana can do to the body, and not one of
them has given marijuana a clean bill of health. Some of
these were conducted at universities.  Others were conducted
in research laboratories around the world.  Some of the
research was the result of experiments with humans, and some
with laboratory animals.  This research was conducted in
order to find out if marijuana was as harmless as most
people thought.  Most of the people who said that marijuana
was harmless were people who were using or had used
marijuana.  The weight of evidence show that marijuana
smoking is dangerous to a person's health, and to our
society.

     Marijuana has been used by man for many years.  The
earliest writings about the plant date back to 2700 BC
in China, where it was used as a medicine for "female
weakness, gout, rheumatism, malaria, beriberi, constipation,
and absent-mindedness" (Dolan 71).  Marijuana was legal in
this country until 1937 when the "Marijuana Tax Act" was
enacted (Zeller 23).  Marijuana is a complex substance
composed of 421 known chemical compounds.  Sixty of these
are found only in marijuana.  The most well known of these
is THC, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which is mainly
responsible for the euphoric effect achieved when marijuana
is used.  Marijuana also contains the chemicals ammonia,
acetaldehyde, benzene, acetone, toluene, vinyl chloride,
carbon monoxide, and benzopyrene to name just a few of the
chemicals found in this so-called harmless drug (Jones &
Lovinger 467).  During the 1960's, the average marijuana in
the U.S. had less than one percent of THC in it.  In the
early 1970's, the THC level increased to over one and a half
percent until around 1975 when it started to increase more
rapidly.  In 1980, the typical marijuana had a level of four
to five percent THC in it.  Today, the THC level is on an
average of seven percent with the THC level exceeding twelve
percent in some cases (Janeczek 14).  There are other
chemicals in marijuana that are even stronger than THC.
Marijuana even "tells" a person's body to make new chemicals
that are not normally found in the human body (Janeczek 20).

     Unlike Alcohol, which can be eliminated from your body
within a relatively short period of time, marijuana stays in
your body for a long time (DuPont 68).  The half-life of THC
is seven days.  One week after a person smokes marijuana,
half of the THC is still in his or her body.  Even though
the euphoric effect disappears after a few hours, the
chemicals in marijuana are still in the body (Zeller 36).
When a person smokes a "joint", the lungs and the liver
change some of marijuana's chemicals that are in that
person's blood stream.  Some of the main chemical, THC, is
broken down into other chemicals that don't give a high.
The rest is stored in the fat cells of the body (Janeczek
31).

     Marijuana smoke causes the breathing passages to
constrict making it difficult to breath (Martenez).
Marijuana smoke can also do damage to a person's lungs, and
with prolonged use, this damage can become permanent.
Marijuana smoke can cause cancer (Stwertka 37).  Marijuana
smoke contains over 150 different chemicals capable of
causing cancer.  One of these are hydrocarbons.  There is
clinical proof that hydrocarbons can cause cancer, and
marijuana smoke contains more hydrocarbons than tobacco
smoke (Janeczek 27).  One study showed that after three
months of smoking hashish, which is a form of marihuana,
precancerous lesions formed in the lungs of the subjects.
This is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for
20 to 30 years (Martenez).  No one smokes a "pack" or more
of "joints" a day, but people who smoke marijuana draw the
smoke deeper into the lungs and hold the smoke in the lungs
longer than tobacco smoke.  People use more paper to roll
"joints" than what is used in cigarettes which irritates the
lungs even more, and the chemicals in marijuana ends up in
the lungs more than anywhere else in the body.

     There are a number of things that marijuana can become
contaminated with that a person who buys marijuana doesn't
bargain for when he or she buys it.  One of them is
aspergillus (Martinez).  This is a fungus which can be
potentially fatal in people with weakened resistance in
their defense system or if they have allergic reaction to
it.  Another is salmonella (Martinez).  Marijuana can become
contaminated with this bacteria from the fertilizer used to
grow the marijuana plants.  Salmonella poisoning causes
diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pains, and in severe cases,
it can lead to death.  Paraquat (Martinez) is a herbicide
that the U.S. and Mexican governments have been using to try
to destroy marijuana crops.  When marijuana that has been
treated with paraquat is smoked, very serious lung damage
can occur.

     In the 1960's, when there was a lot of research being
done on marijuana, some scientists thought that the brains
of long term users were shrinking, but, with the use of CAT
scans in resent years, this theory has been disproved
(Janeczek 31).  THC can settle into the synapse and slow
down the transfer of neurotransmitters in the brain which
creates a form of retardation or premature senility
(Marteniz).  THC is attracted to the fat cells in the body,
and the brain contains more fat cells than any other organ
in the body, so the THC in marijuana smoke moves into the
brain and stays for extended periods of time.  Long term
users can develop a disorder called  "amotivational
syndrome" or "marijuana syndrome." (Grinspoon 288).
The symptoms of this disorder include the inability to
remember details, loss of willpower and motivation,
difficulty in concentrating and paranoia.  Marijuana can
impair cognitive abilities such as speaking, problem
solving, and concept formation.  The speech of a person
under the influence of marijuana is fragmented, suggestive
of disjointed thought patterns, and the person often forgets
what he or she has recently said.  "State dependency
retrieval" of information is common.  When combining
marijuana with other drugs such as alcohol, a synergistic
condition occurs where the combined drugs are equal to a

     THC can cause tachycardia, an abnormally rapid heart
action (Smith 21).  When a person smokes marijuana, that
person's blood pressure decreases dramatically.  Using
marijuana has hastened angina pectoris attacks in cardiac
patients.  Marijuana can inhibit the bloods ability to
collect oxygen, and thus prevent the heart muscle from
receiving a proper amount of oxygen, leading to heart
attacks in people who are susceptible.  With prolonged use,
marijuana can lead to very serious cardiovascular problems.
THC is a sticky substance that can adhere to the veins and
arteries of the circulatory system.  This adhesion can cause
blockage of the veins and arteries which can lead to damage
to the organs of the body which depend on a constant blood
supply.

     In 1976, the Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare told Congress that marijuana definitely impairs
driving ability.  In the studies that it conducted, it was
proven that people who drive under the influence of
marijuana react slower and make more accident causing
mistakes than people who do not drive in a drug induced
state.  While driving under the influence of marijuana is
less detrimental to driving abilities than alcohol, it is a
potential cause of accidents.  In Massachusetts, a study
showed that one in six drivers responsible for fatal
accidents was high on marijuana when the accident took
place (Witters, Venturelli 135).  A California study showed
that one in seven traffic deaths was caused by people under
the influence of marijuana Janeczek 41).  There is a six
hour time period between the time a person smokes marijuana
and the time that that person can safely operate a motor
vehicle.  Some of the effects of marijuana that impair
driving ability are, poor concentration, slowed reflexes and
a distorted sense of time (DuPont 79).  The reaction time of
a driver is reduced by 42% after smoking one "joint", and by
63% after smoking two "joints".  Tracking abilities are
impaired for four to eight hours after smoking marijuana.
Also, judgement impairment is common among users of
marijuana (Janeczek 41).

     Marijuana can reduce hormone levels in the body.
Within three hours after a man smokes a "joint," his body
level of testosterone falls between 25% and 35% (Janeczek
44).  Smoking more "joints" will not lower the testosterone
even more, but the Testosterone level will remain low for a
longer period of time.  Lowered testosterone levels can
cause sexual impotence.  Marijuana has been shown to cause
the number of sperm to decrease in men.  In one study, on
the average, the number of sperm of five men who
participated in the study, was less than half of what it was
at the start of the experiment.  The U.S. government has
forbidden the long-term testing of marijuana effects on
women of the child-bearing years because these tests could
injure the woman's child producing egg cells (Jones,
Lovinger 47).  But, women do not get off scott-free from the
effects of smoking marijuana.  The testing that has been
done on females has been on the most part done on animals.
These tests indicate that the production of estrogen and
progesterone are slowed or stopped.  There are many hormones
that are important in regulating a woman's menstrual cycle.
THC interferes with certain parts of the menstrual cycle.
A blockage of the ovum-releasing mechanisms frequently
occurs as a result of marijuana's chemicals.  Irregular
menstrual cycles have been reported among women who use
marijuana (Jones, Lovinger 71).

     THC goes straight from the mother to the unborn baby
through the placenta in women who smoke marijuana during
pregnancy.  The placenta filters out over half of the THC
before it reaches the baby's blood, but at this stage of
life, a little is too much (Janeczek 47).  THC interferes
with normal cell building activities in the cells.  Less
protein is formed, as well as DNA and RNA (Nahas 131).
These are all important for growing new cells.  When a baby
is in the womb, within its fastest cell producing time of
its life, anything that can damage the DNA can possibly
cause birth defects, still births, and/or make the baby more
susceptible to different types of cancers (Nahas 252).
Mothers of newborns who breastfeed their babies can transfer
THC to their children through their milk.  In a series of
tests on this subject, it was shown that a mother's milk
contained eight times more THC than her blood plasma
(Martenez).

     Marijuana probably weakens the body's ability to fight
off disease.  It hinders the growth of cells that fight
germs.  The defense system that it burdens the most is the
cell-mediated system.  This system guards against colds and
flu viruses, protects against Cancer and funguses, and is
involved in certain skin reactions.  There are special white
blood cells in the lungs that remove debris, and if they
are damaged, they cannot fight off a disease as a person
breathes it in.  These cells are called macrophages, and
they are the body's first line of defense (Martenez).
Marijuana does not leave the body defenseless, but it does
slow down the body's disease  fighting capabilities.

     Can a person become addicted to marijuana?  To answer
this question we have to look at the four basic phases of
addiction: Tolerance, Drug-seeking behavior, and withdrawal
symptoms.  Tolerance is when your body needs increasing
amounts of a drug to achieve the desired euphoric effect.
The body can build up a tolerance to marijuana with
prolonged use (McKim 225).  This means that your body learns
to burn up the THC in marijuana at a faster rate, and that
it takes more to get the desired effect.  Reverse tolerance
occurs in some people with prolonged use (Martenez).  Drug-
seeking behavior shows a person's dependance upon a drug.
Drug-seeking behavior is when a person who uses marijuana
will start to look for more before the last of the supply is
gone.  Such people get more and more anxious about finding
and getting more as they get closer to running out and go
into a state of panic when they do run out.  Withdrawal
symptoms occur when a person gets physically sick when the
drug is stopped being used.  The withdrawal symptoms for a
person who has used marijuana for an extended period of time
can include excessive sweating, hot flashes, irritability,
insomnia, hiccups, restlessness, increased weight loss,
abdominal distress, nausea, tremors, diarrhea, and brain
wave changes (McKim 225).  These symptoms usually show up
two days after the user stops using, and they can last for
up to two weeks.  The withdrawal symptoms of a marijuana
addict are not as severe as those of a heroin addict or an
alcoholic, but they are still a serious problem.  This is
because the body stores up THC, and releases it a little
at a time.  So, there is THC in the system of a marijuana
addict in ever-decreasing amounts after that person has
stopped using the drug.  Addiction is when it is very hard
to stop using a drug.  My favorite definition of an
addiction is "When you are doing something that you know is
bad for you, and you have sworn not to do it, but, you keep
doing it."  This is the case of many people who have been
"hooked" on marijuana.  Marijuana is very hard to quit using
once a person has used it for an extended period of time.
But, a person can stop.  There are thousands of people who
were hooked on marijuana who have quit and not started
again.  But, they could not do it alone.  They needed the
help of the fellowships of N.A., Potsmokers Anonymous, and
other support groups (Janeczek .

     There are several personality characteristics of a
person who chronically uses marijuana.  They include: the
people tend to have trouble adjusting to society, they
exhibit a lot of serious family disturbances, they have a
low education attainment, they tend to be less faithful to
their spouse, they have a tendency to become violent, they
resent regulation of their lives (Martenez).  These
characteristics do not necessarily mean that a person who
has them will chronically use marijuana or any other drug.
If a person has these characteristics, then that person has
a better chance of abusing drugs if the start using them.
Once a person starts using a drug such as marijuana, it
seems that they are self medicating themselves to try to
eliminate the symptoms.  Only through therapy and or self
help groups will a person be able to overcome these
characteristics.

     There has been some use of marijuana for medical
purposes.  Marijuana has helped people who are taking
chemotherapy to combat cancer.  People who have epileptic
seizures have less severe seizures if the use marijuana as a
medication.  People who suffer from glaucoma and suffer from
hypertension can get relief from the pressure in their eyes
if they use marijuana.  It is used to stimulate the appetite
in patients who are extremely underweight. Taken orally, it
can help asthma patients by opening up the breathing
passages. Marijuana helps patients with multiple sclerosis
as a muscle relaxing agent.  In South Africa, marijuana is
used by some women to ease the pain of childbirth. These are
just some of the things that marijuana is being used for as
a medication, but, there are other medications that can do
just as well, with less health hazards (Marteniz).

     In conclusion, marijuana is a dangerous substance that
is misunderstood by the general public.  Even though
marijuana has been used and abused for over four thousand
years, there has been controversy over its safety for just
as many years.  Of the 421 chemicals that are within
marijuana, there are sixty that are found only in marijuana,
and most of these chemicals can damage one or more organs of
the body with prolonged use.  The chemicals in marijuana can
effect every organ of the body.  When a person smokes
marijuana, the chemicals in marijuana stay in the body for
a long time.  Studies show that marijuana can damage the
lungs, the circulatory system and the brain.  When a person
tries to drive an automobile while under the influence of
marijuana, that person is taking the chance of injuring or
killing themself or others.  In some medical studies, tests
show that THC can damage DNA and possibly cause birth
defects.  With prolonged use, marijuana can slow down the
immune system to the point that a person who smokes
marijuana for a long time can get ill more often than other
people who do not smoke it.  Marijuana is a drug that people
can become addicted to if they use it for extended periods
of time.  Even though marijuana has been used as a medicine
for over four thousand years for a lot of different
ailments, there are many safer drugs that can be used to
combat illness without the other undesirable side effect
that marijuana can cause.  Marijuana is a dangerous drug
that is illegal for the general public to use, and the legal
status of marijuana needs to remain as it is so that more
people in the United States and other countries do not get
hurt by this drug.

                         WORKS CITED

Dolan, Edward F., {International Drug Traffic}.  New York:
     Watts, 1985.

DuPont, Robert L. Jr., M.D., {Getting Tough on Gateway
     Drugs: A Guide for the Family}.  Washington D.C.:
     American Psychiatric Press, 1984.

Grinspoon, Lester, M.D., {Marihuana Reconsidered}.
     Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1971.

Janeczek, Curtis L., {Marijuana, Time for a Closer Look}.
     Columbus, Ohio: Healthstar, 1980.

Jones, Helen C. and Lovinger, Paul W., {The Marijuana
     Question, and Science's Search for an Answer}.
     New York:  Dodd, Mead and Company, 1985.

Martenez, Terry.  {Notes of a Study in Psychodynamic
     Substances.}  Lecture at St. Louis Community College
     at Meremac, Nov. 1990.

McKim, William A., {Drugs and Behavior.}  Englewood Cliffs,
     N.J.: Printice-Hall, 1986.

Nahas, Gabriel G., {Keep Off The Grass}.  Middlebury, Vt.:
     Paul S. Eriksson, Publisher, 1985.

Smith, Sandra Lee, {Marijuana}.  New York:  The Rosen
     Publishing Group, 1991.

Stwertka, Eve and Albert, {Marijuana}.  New York:  Watts,
     1986.

Witters, Weldon, and Venturelli, Peter, {Drugs and Society}.
     Boston: Jones and Bartlett, 1988.

Zeller, Paula Klevan, {Focus on Marijuana}.  Frederick, MD.:
     Twenty-First Century Books, 1990.





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