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Is Cannabis Harmful?

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There are more harmful things than cannabis in life that are legal!

In life, there are three sides to every story, your side, their side and the truth! Like any controversial subject there is always going to be for or against.

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and alcohol is sold legally to millions of people all over the world and does more harm than cannabis will ever do. It goes without saying that the consequences of drinking alcohol are ill health such as liver damage, addiction and alcoholism and more, not to mention crime and thousands of people ‘casually’ ending up in hospital AE every night due to rows.

Alcohol is far more ‘physically’ dangerous than cannabis! Isnt it?

It could even be argued that tobacco and the chemicals within cigarettes are more harmful than cannabis providing the cannabis is not smoked but ingested in other ways such as eaten or drunk.

Let’s now look at the good and the bad sides of cannabis use.

The Good Effects of Cannabis Use!

The good side to cannabis use is it will help you to relax more, calm you down and give you a good night’s sleep and it can even make you happy and think in strange and wonderful ways and help you engage is some increased social activity.

Cannabis can also be used as a medicine or a treatment for physical health problems and there are many people suffering from lifelong physical disorders who have found cannabis to be a wonder drug.

It is also a pain relief or an anaesthetic for those who live with constant aches and pains. There are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who use cannabis for the sole purpose of its medicinal effects. There is no question about this benefit.

There are those people who are emotionally and psychologically troubled or in other words they have issues with their emotions and feelings and that includes difficulty with social interaction and related. For this group of people cannabis will change the way they are feeling and consequently thinking. For some, cannabis will deaden or numb feelings that they are feeling for whatever reason.

Cannabis is a ‘feeling’ changer!

If it didn’t change ‘feelings’ it would not be used!

Cannabis has its place in the world for a small proportion of people and their needs, both as a recreational and a medicinal aid.

People want it and need it and they will continue to want and need it no matter what and there will always be a demand for it even it is sent underground altogether.

The Bad Effects of Cannabis Use!

The bad side to cannabis use especially if it is smoked can lead to respiratory problems the same as cigarette smoking or pipe smoking.

The one side-effect that most people who smoke cannabis will experience is paranoia or paranoid thinking which is an over the top excessive and/or unjustified suspicion which can be mild to severe depending on the psychological make-up of the sufferer.

There are many views on the bad effects of cannabis in the user but from an active therapist’s point of view there is absolutely no doubt and uncertainty in the fact that cannabis use will cause mental harm, mental damage to themselves whether they realise it or not.

You see, from the therapists point of view dealing with people every day, cannabis and anything that alters conscious awareness and or moves conscious awareness into other states or realms of the mind will open doors to other deeper suppressed or repressed material and to some extent will release it into conscious awareness.

To put this into layman’s terms, cannabis can evoke unconscious latent material, material which is meant to remain unconscious, simply by the fact that it was created in the first place and suppressed. The cannabis use can release it and there are various explanations for this release.

Cannabis use and alcohol use can do similar things and release unconscious material into conscious awareness or in other words create or contribute to symptoms such as anxiety, anxiousness and paranoia, fears and phobias, social problems, depression, anger, jealousy, distrust, hatred, fear, isolation and loneliness and this list is endless BUT only if these things are there in the first place or if there is a need for them things to surface and or develop. That is the difference.

Now, as a therapist things are viewed the other way around in most cases. Many users of cannabis have these issues already and are drawn to the use of cannabis because it alters and changes the way they are feeling and thinking at the time of its use and although these symptoms and disorders are not full-blown, they are in their infancy and the use of cannabis can alter the mind both consciously and unconsciously and set forth the development of these symptoms and this is an absolute fact.

Cannabis Will Release Unconscious Material!

After 20 years of studying the mind and working with people, one comes to know what is and is not real irrespective of what researchers and academic experts say.

It absolutely all does boil down to the psychological and emotional make-up of each individual user of cannabis. One user can develop all sorts of problems whilst another user will never develop any problems. Simply because the seeds or NEEDS were already there in some!

It would be fair to say that most regular long term cannabis users will have some sort of issue and in all fairness, NON cannabis users also have all sorts of issues in everyday life but the cannabis will exasperate latent or sleeping issues once the cannabis and its effects or benefits for using it have left the system. The issues then surface and or grow and the NEED for more cannabis returns!

If you don’t believe this, spend a few days in the company of a heavy cannabis user when they haven’t got the cannabis anymore or run out and you will see a high level of paranoia and anger and irritation, hyper vigilance, hypersensitivity, irrational thinking, irrational behaviour which will lead to other indulgences such as alcohol or over eating junk food and so on.

Is Cannabis Safe?

The answer will always be yes and no at the same time. For some it isn’t and for some it is. For some they will never be affected by cannabis and for others they will be.

To explore this further, there are many cannabis users who already have problems and were drawn to cannabis use to escape and they will never be satisfied with it for long and will need to increase their dosage but the more you increase anything the less the effect will be or benefit and more is then required to hit the spot that previous lesser amounts used to satisfy.

This group of people will go on to heavier and harder drugs such as crack, cocaine and heroin not because of the cannabis as such but because the cannabis is no longer doing it’s numbing or satisfying job. More sedation, distraction, escapism or enjoyment is needed!

Likewise, there are heroin addicts who never drank alcohol and who never smoked cannabis, for whatever reason though; they went into the deep end started taking heroin straight in, no messing about with progression.

And again there are those who started off with cannabis use and then slowly and surely progressed onto heroin and so on their life fell apart.

Should Cannabis Be Banned?

For those people who want to ban it, they will already be heavily in favour of all the reasons why it should be banned and those who want to make it legal will also be heavily in favour of the reasons of why it should be freely available and then there are those who want some other related legislation in place and again they will be in favour of the reasons for that outcome.

Naturally, each person’s reason or justification is minus the appreciation, understanding of the other side’s reasons in opposition, which is human behaviour.

This is just a brief overview of why there is no right and wrong or a TRUE fixed for ALL. There is only a mixture of differing views which make it right and wrong at the same time and these will always be clashing until the powers that be, such as governments decide which path must be taken.

To Sum Up!

Is cannabis harmful?

And the answer is, for some it is for some it’s not!

Does cannabis lead to harder drugs?

And the answer is, for some it doesn’t and for some it does!

Does cannabis cause health problems?

Over a long period of time it will cause physical health problems such as respiratory disorders or bodily problems but that is for another debate.

Does cannabis lead to mental health problems?

The answer has to be absolutely YES it does in most people who smoke cannabis regularly, but not all. You also have to take into account their previous mental and psychological states before they became a user. Ask any long term therapist for their view on this!

Those mental health problems are of an anxiety-based nature, depression and paranoia are the most common. These are RIFE!

Most things are okay or ok-ish in moderation and that includes salt, fat and sugar, caffeine, chocolate, cigarettes and alcohol; however moderation for some usually fails and then leads to a need to increases and then overindulgence follows, simply because you were ingesting things which gave you a lift and that lift fades so more is needed.

For all those who want to ban cannabis or make it legal, both sides have to pay MORE attention to the mixture of different experiences and different views because if you don’t your argument would be trashed by the opposition and lost.

Cannabis has its good and bad sides both mild to severe from harmful to sinister and evil.

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