In the dictionary under benign it reads, 'Of a kind and gentle disposition.' Now, when I think of pot or marijuana I can't think anything bad.. except jail time. Jail in any form will have some kind of health hazard, and I don't want to even think of prison. Yes, smoking pot does have some side effects, but so does drinking a pot of coffee. Driving in the other lane of traffic is a serious health hazard, so is eating shards of glass and throwing yourself into a wall.. but you could hardly compare any of these to smoking pot.
In most cases, the marijuana is smoked in a pipe or rolled. Smokers like myself like a good joint to relax instead of drinking a beer, which by the way is physically addictive and the number one killer along with tobacco, but mostly we smoke out of a pipe. When you smoke out of a pipe you cut out the chemicals burned in smoking a joint. As the paper burns, it's almost like smoking a cigarette, except in this you're actually getting something out of it. Some friends of mine use a vaporizer in that you don't even use a flame. In comparison to other THC delivery methods such as ingestion, vaporization offers the advantages of rapid onset, direct delivery into the bloodstream through the lungs, and the possibility of gradually increasing delivery until the desired level is reached, enabling more effective self-dosage.
There are a lot of people out there that want you to believe that smoking pot is the most horrible thing you could do.. and I've heard it all. It'll take away your drive. It'll make you lazy. It's addictive. It'll ruin your life, but let me ask you this. Under who's perspective do all of these things happen? Pot for me has been a life saver and without it I'd probably be some zombie taking pills for my Bi Polar disorder instead of smoking pot and helping my self more natural. I don't know what the hell the put in Zyprexa, Depakote, or any one of the myriad of pills I took until they found that Lithium is what I needed, and a few bowls for the rough times.
Marijuana has been at the forefront of a Drug War that is only getting worse. While people get hooked on crack or cocaine or even pills marijuana is consistantly brought up as the "Gateway" drug. To me, knowledge of drugs is the gateway. If you think about it, what made you want to smoke pot or try a line of coke? You found out that there was something out there you could injest, snort, or breathe and it would alter your world view. Some enjoyed their time and came back with positivity in understanding. Some stayed on the boat a lot longer than they should have. In the end, though, it's all about truth.
