Is Marijuana Harmless?

There is much debate over whether marijuana is harmless or not. Some believe that it is harmless and some believe that it is harmful. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We all perceive things differently. For every expert that says one thing there is always an expert that says the opposite. So, you have all these experts that cannot agree with each other. Which expert do you believe? Believe the one that you think is right.

I am no expert on the subject of marijuana. I do have an opinion on this matter though. I personally believe that marijuana is very harmful to a person, especially if someone has a mental illness. There have been documented cases where people who use marijuana heavily can develop psychotic symptoms. Using marijuana can cause psychotic episodes. In fact the medical profession has a hard time discerning whether the person is truly suffering from psychosis caused by mental illness or whether the person is suffering from psychosis caused by using marijuana. The symptoms for both are exactly the same.

Based on my own personal experiences marijuana does cause much harm to a persons mental, psychological, and physical health. I have experienced more hallucinations just by smoking marijuana than people using chemicals such as LSD and other mind altering substances. I remember one time after I had smoked approximately a half an ounce of marijuana I experienced what I believe was a psychotic episode. I was listening to music and I was facing my window. The stereo was right in front of me below the window. I could see Jesus hanging on a cross on the pole of the record player. The stereo was moving side to side and moving towards me and away from me all at the same time to the beat of the music. The curtain was open and I could see spirits dancing around up in the sky. There was blood pouring out of the curtains on each side of the window. To me this is definitely a psychotic episode. The weirdest thing about the whole thing was that I thought that this experience was totally normal. I didn't think that there was nothing wrong with my mind and that experience. To me it was an everyday experience.

There were also many psychotic experiences that I have had as a direct result of my schizophrenia without smoking any marijuana. I was always psychotic either from using marijuana or from the symptoms of my mental illness. I definitely have a co-concurrent disorder. I suffer from the disease of schizophrenia and the disease of addiction. As far as I am concerned marijuana is not harmless. It can cause much damage to a persons mental life and it can also cause medical problems. One joint contains the same amount of tar as seven cigarettes. Heavy smokers are putting a lot of tar into their lungs. It has been documented that heavy marijuana users suffer from various types of lung diseases. Marijuana is harmful both mentally and physically. A person could give me all the so called rational and logical reasons why marijuana is harmless and cannot harm you mentally or physically until they were blue in the face and it would not have any effect upon my mind. My mind is firmly fixed on the fact that marijuana is harmful both mentally and physically. It is not a safe drug to use despite the fact that is known as a soft drug. As far as I am concerned you cannot divide drugs into soft or hard drugs. A drug is a drug regardless of what kind it is. All drugs change a persons perception of things. Whether so called soft or so called hard drug. All drugs are harmful to a person.

If you suffer from any form of mental illness I strongly suggest that you try to avoid using drugs whether it is marijuana or any other type of drug. It will increase your auditory and visual hallucinations. They will be more severe while using drugs than they would be without having drugs in your system. Not only that when a person is using drugs their anti-psychotic medication does not work very effectively. The medication simply does not work. If you suffer from a co-concurrent disorder I would strongly suggest that you seek treatment for both your mental illness and your addiction. There is hope. You can recover. I have been recovering from both my schizophrenia and addiction since February 2000. I got clean and sober in December 1999 and I have been recovering from my schizophrenia since February 2000. I am enjoying recovery from both my mental illness and addiction. My life is wonderful. I love life. I love being alive. I have been living life to the fullest and having a ball along the way. I now live in reality and no longer suffer from any form of psychosis. All because of the right medication, psycho-social treatments, and because I am not using drugs at the present moment. If I were to start using drugs again I would develop psychosis again very quickly. I would be living in the hell of psychosis for the rest of my life. I love living in reality and having clear, rational, and logical thought processes. My mind is just as clear as someone without a mental illness. If I never told anyone I had a mental illness they would never know that I was ill. To the rest of humanity I appear as a person no different than anyone else. Why? Because I have been taking my medication and avoiding the use of any drugs, including alcohol. Alcohol is a drug too. We should also avoid the use of alcohol as well. In fact alcohol can interact with your medication and cause severe medical problems. I believe that the only way to recover is by complete abstinence from all drugs including alcohol.

That is my opinion.