Educate Yourself on the Risks of Marijuana and post responsibly about it on Steemit

in #blog8 years ago (edited)

Over the past few day I've been noticing more and more posts about drugs on Steemit. In particular marijuana posts seem to be cropping up again and again.

I fully believe in people rights to express themselves and partake in any legal activity that they see fit. However, I do have a problem when it influences others and when a balanced portrayal of marijuana use it not given.

Earlier today when i was Steemit.chat I mentioned my concern with not only the quantity of marijuana themed posts but also the popularity of them. Instantly some members of the chat group defended the marijuana posts and stated that it was because people were not educated about marijuana that they feared it and assumed it was dangerous.

I would therefore like to take the opportunity to inform you all to think twice before using Marijuana!


Love to all,


Rosalina x


EDIT: After reading the many feedback comments I have decided to remove from this post what I cannot absolutely 100% prove as being factual. I have instead left this post regardless to express my opinion that we shouldn't glamorize marijuana on Steemit and people should make an informed choice!

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I won't downflag you but I'm thinking you haven't gotten much exposure to this plant/medicine..Cannabis helps me get through my day to day without agonising pain.

If you aren't into pot, That's cool. But don't go all Nixon on us pot smokers that use it for more than just to get trippy, It does have some very valid and beneficial medical uses.

Yeah im with @klye on this one, you said you "have decided to remove from this post what I cannot absolutely 100% prove as being factual." So what's left? What are the dangers of marijuana?
As I see it finding this post late, you've made a post saying it's bad, with NO evidence to support that claim. You say make an informed decision, yet don't inform us (think that was the plan with the post)
Express and believe whatever you think but if you're making claims, make sure to back them up.

(not down-voting you, instead leaving this comment.)

Eh, I kind of have to wonder about the addiction blog info. Read up on the endocannabinoid system. Your body is practically hard wired for cannabis.

Regarding health, all things should be taken in moderation. You can develop a number of issues from eating too many carrots...

Also consider the negative impact of the War on Drugs. Prohibition simply does not work. From it's inception it gave us the mafia and violent crime. Ending prohibition immediately dropped the violence.

Modern day prohibition has enabled drug cartels in the same way as the mafia. That's just they way black markets work. If you make something illegal, then it will be marketed by criminals who, because of police forces, will not hesitate to use violence to protect their market. Look at the violence in Mexico. Ending prohibition for MJ will have the same affect as ending alcohol prohibition.

Consider also the wasted prison space for potheads. Not worth it. Also, being a felony, a largely benign plant traps people into poverty as being a felon is all but a career ender.

Consider the problem in Dublin :(

I don't know how we can legalise a drug like heroin, but it's a huge issue in my city and destroys lives. And gun violence is escalating along with the market!

I believe that Portugal has shown us how to handle the problem. Decriminalization paves the way for actually treating the problem as a health issue rather than a legal one. The result has been a decrease in new and repeat use.

Marijuana affects everyone differently. As someone who's been smoking Marijuana since a very young age, I call bullshit on most of the "factual risks" you've suggested.

  1. Marijuana smoke contains less carcinogens than Tobacco smoke.
  2. Inhaling carbon from any source creates abnormalities on the brain.
  3. Smoking of any kind causes rapid destruction of lung fibers, not just Marijuana smoke.
  4. Marijuana smoke creates an increased sense of self and creativity resulting in a decrease of logical reasoning.
  5. I have fucked on Marijuana for over 8 hours straight.
  6. Marijuana is completely healthy when not being smoked.
  7. The Oxygen produced by a Marijuana plant is equivalent to the quality of your average forest pine.
  8. I think you hate Marijuana.

I think you love marijuana

Keep poppin' those prescription pills ... those aren't drugs... and the doctor prescribed them so they won't hurt you and have no side effects sarcasm .. just listen to any commercial about a pill...

Out of all of the things that are dangerous and can hurt you... you post about this? People like you need to go away and let people do what they want when they aren't hurting anyone.

Drinking is legal and people get killed 24/7/365 by drunks. Maybe if you're going to focus on drugs, focus on the ones most damaging to society (alcohol).

Mic drop

Kicked a hornets nest with this one :).

Everyone has the right to express their opinion and share it on steemit, pleas don't down-vote all my posts thats just childish. if you don't agree with this post and want to down-vote it then please do so!

I couldn't agree more with the right to express your opinion. More than disagreeing with you, I think you're doing exactly what you talking trash about, just like others who are glamorizing. Lets not spread propaganda. Lets share about what we actually know!

OK, I down voted this article solely because I disagree.

I don't think the flagging is there to use cause you disagree with someone, its more there for abuse and spam. But sure if you wanna waste your voting power on that instead...

She just told me to flag if I disagree with the post dude.

That's why I thought the flag option was there, else it would have been called unvote or negative vote or downvote. In my personal use I use it to flag stuff that I feel doesn't belong here, like plagiarism, spam, identity theft, etc. While others may want to use it to disagree on stuff, they are free to do so. I just think its enough not to upvote something I don't agree with or am uninterested in, then go and give my votes to the ones I feel deserve it more.

Don't worry about the "noob" that decided it was a good idea to downvote all your posts cause he didn't agree with this one. I checked steemd.com and it was apparently someone with very low SP so you shouldn't worry about it too much.

But everyone has a right to express its opinions, if they are wrong and facts arise that prove differently, then the one with the opinions might change them in regards to it. But flagging someone just cause you don't share the same opinion is frowned upon, and shouldn't be used that way at all.

As somebody with a relative with severe mental issues due to abuse of drugs such as marijuana, I feel you. I don't know what was edited from your post but I have to agree that people should be informed from both sides of the argument because like alcohol there is no point is pretending it is a completely harmless drug.

If you abuse the drug it will abuse you

Abuse I always thought was a funny word to use here because I have no idea how each individual will interpret it and decide what can be deemed as abuse. I know lots of people who have developed anxiety from becoming dependent on marijuana and I guess that's how it should be interpreted even though it's difficult to determine to yourself that you are abusing a drug by taking it when you feel you need to. It's a very difficult line to see and the limit is different for each individual.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be legal

If you read my post about my trip to Amsterdam you'll see that I've come to see alcohol as a much uglier drug than marijuana. But alcohol too, has been glamorised to the extend that especially young people abuse it to the limit! So I have to agree with @sisterholics that writers contributing to the benefits of marijuana should be a little careful about how they present their knowledge. I understand that since all other media platforms tend to sensor this type of content, steemit is becoming a great place for educating people on the benefits of marijuana among other sensored content. I know that for many people it may well be harmless and can be very beneficial for treatment but not everybody is affected the same. I'll be honest, I haven't read many of the posts on marijuana so I can't make any claims about anything being too biased, but I'm going to speculate that there haven't been many posts about the potential dangers or side effects of using marijuana. If there have, then please, link them here in the comments.

This post is the perfect example of ignorant prohibitionist thinking. No valid information was given. Just OP's arrogant judgment of others for enjoying and celebrating a relatively benign plant.

Since you like #food and #cooking, here's a chef that has gourmet restaurant.

hahha, thanks! ;)

The biggest risk is having to deal with an authority, who has deemed a medicinal plant illegal! Absurd!!! Personally, I think the war on drugs has caused more young people to be interested in marijuana, because they learn that the propaganda is false and many people use marijuana without severe effects. So, the child realizes he's been lied to and fed propaganda, probably by people who had it fed to them

If you want to know the facts about the plant "Cannabis" then you should get educated on it. Referring to it as "Marijuana" highlights your ignorance of the facts.

I like being informed. Thats not what you've done here. It seems that you have an opinion, you tried to present as facts. I respect that you have your own opinion, but you are not properly informed.

I'm going to need you to cite some sources. While it is true that inhaling ANY burning substance is usually more toxic than vaporizing it, I dont for a second believe that there's MORE cancer-causing chemicals than in a cig, not for a moment. I'd like to read the published journal article where that's cited to see how they came to that conclusion.

Either way, don't smoke it, vaporize it, and you're fine.

Also, there is no proof that it's chemically addictive (again please cite your source). It's no more addictive than any other dopamine-response activity, so no worse than reading, playing video games, dancing, running, etc.

I think the best way to make this argument is with testimony. There are too many posts about how great weed is? Seed your article with links to posts where individuals are telling their marijuana addiction stories. The reality is that some people have had marijuana be destructive force in their lives and there's nothing wrong with this information being shared. Others are finding it improves their quality of life; they aren't going to be an audience for this message. I think that talking about responsible posting in the title, you inadvertently called those currently posting on the topic "irresponsible." But if someone is providing a service of product reviews, like I'm hoping @richardcrill will continue to do, they are adding to the original content on Steemit and shouldn't be discouraged from doing so. My hope in writing this comment is to encourage you to continue to voice disagreements, just with more thought to who you're calling out and why. That's why I recommend testimonials. Call out to the people who agree with you by boosting their posts and your argument will be stronger, too.

I'll being doing another soon! Thanks for the vote of confidence!

The reason people are downvoting is bc the post is bullshit. I was Put on amphetamines for most of my life for ADD....I have always been a nervouse figgity mess bc of it. Started self medicating in college and haven't even touched add meds since......and pots cheaper......and I focus better...and im not a nervous wreck. If People dont agree......expect to be down voted..that is the point of steamit

Some people misuse drugs and some people don't. Some people have a spiritual illness and they use marijuana to numb the psychic pain of that illness. Others use other things. It is not for us to decide. I will say, as a person living in Colorado, that the marijuana lobby did more than they planned on when they got M legalized - and now everybody appears to be too stoned to give a shit about Colorado freedoms.

I think weed should be legal but I'm disgusted by the people pushing it's ability to cure cancer. Those people are as bad as anti-vaxxers and are hurting people.

Where's your proof it doesn't kill cancer cells?

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/patient/cannabis-pdq#link/_13

Yea, cancer.gov must be wrong lmao

So, you've researched it, and it has no effects on cancer??? I havent researched it in depth. Ive seen some info, but havent decided to get to the heart of the matter myself. Why are you disgusted? Im not an antivaxxer either, but I guess i just don't appreciate your undeserved self assuredness. I don't think you know what you're talking about

Nobody said it has no effect on cancer. But it's a very different and dangerous thing to say it cures cancer.

true, I just don't see how it's disgusting to push the plant's ability to do so, especially if it is true. I am not saying that it is true, but if he is so sure that it is not, I would like to see something with a little bit of credibility is all.

Medicinal efficiency has been scientifically proven in several big countries in the world in their universities.

 8 years ago  Reveal Comment

Normally i don't do this sort of post, but i think we have a responsibility towards young people that currently use or that will join Steemit to give a balanced view. Some of the posts on Steemit educate on marijuana use and some are glamorizing it.

And then watch a hundred more similar ones and maybe look at some data

I'm not saying Marijuana is all bad and that it should be banned, nor am i casting judgement on the people that use it. All I am aiming to do is give a more balanced view on it by stating that there is more than one side to this story. i'm aware that many people have benefitted from marijuana use, but there risks remain.

But it's not balanced, to put those bold claims that will strike with chords many, but are not verified by your experience or in-depth research. There would be many studies to contradict the claims you made

ok, i agree, i have removed what i cannot prove 100%. but my message is still that we should not glamorize marijuana on steemit, there are almost 400 posts on steemit about marijuana

Why wouldn't anyone glamorize something that has been proven to be life saver for hundreds of people from 1 years old to 80 years old.

Only parties that want to keep it banned and illegal are:

  • pharmaceutical industry
  • paper, steel, plastic manufacturing industries
  • oil industry
  • alcohol industry
  • tobacco industry
  • private prison industry
  • drug cartels

Wow! Respect for being willing to hear an opposing point of view. Thinking twice is definitely good advice

The risks of abusing this drug is very likely, especially for teenagers.

 8 years ago  Reveal Comment

Or post some counter arguments to the points you think are government lies. Discussion > Suppression.

Don't flag stuff you disagree with. That's not what it's for.