Personally, I don't care whether people want to smoke marijuana or not. I don't smoke it, and I wouldn't date someone who does, but I don't care what the masses do, frankly. What bothers me is all the unfounded and unresearched "facts" that the potheads spread around to justify their drug abuse. This type of persuasion, providing unfounded statistics, is the same practice that PETA (the animal activists, not this new PETA) use to try and manipulate people's opinions. On so many occassions, from all-night final exam study groups, to parties, to late-night internet conversations, the following bullshit remarks have been thrown my way to justify marijuana use:

• "No one has ever died of using marijuana, but alcohol and cigarettes kill millions every year."
  • Hmmm, let's see. Correct, on a death certificate the cause of death has never been filled in as "marijuana," but it has never been filled out as "Cause of Death: Cigarettes" or "Cause of Death: Alcohol." The reason we know that these people have probably died because of these legal paraphernalia is because we know all the long term and short term effects of these drugs. We know that alcohol can cause cirrhosis of the liver, alcohol poisoning, wreckless driving, etc. We know that cigarettes can cause lung cancer, emphysema, and other lung ailments. However, we do not know what many long term effects that the 2,000+ chemicals in marijuana have on the body. This is because our conservative government refuses to allow research on marijuana. We have some knowledge of the long-term effects of THC, including: decreasing sperm count and testosterone in men, lowering fertility rate in women, harming short term memory, and also harming lungs (source).

    When people end up in the morgue with drugs in their bodies, normally, it is a cocktail of drugs, not just marijuana. Because of this smorgasbord of drugs in the person's system, no one can ever tell what chemical actually caused the death. Add to that, we can form a correlation between lethal disorders and legal paraphernalia such as alcohol and cigarettes because family members will often confess that the deceased had used cigarettes or alcohol, but will not admit, or even know, that the deceased used marijuana. Therefore, we do not know how many millions, trillions, or bagillions marijuana has killed, if any at all.

• "Man made beer. God made pot. Who do you trust?"
  • UGH!! This one makes me really mad; probably because I'm one of those "in church every Sunday" kind of girls. I hate when the weed-nazis try to justify marijuana use by saying that it is okay with God. News Flash: Not everything on this planet was made for our consumption! And it's a pretty damn concieted notion to think that it is! Remember in Genesis, with the forbidden fruit: It's the same damn thing! Furthermore, if this comment were to be taken as, "Oh, well weed is more natural than alcohol." WRONG! Alcohol is natural, because it was discovered because of fruit fermenting; however, weed today, tends to be diluted with all kinds of shit that drug dealers run into, including oregano and embalming fluid.

• "Marijuana's damage to the lungs only lasts a month, where as cigarette smoke ruins your lungs forever."
  • Two words: bull shit. Don't you remember your health class days buddy? By my freshman year of high school, the statistics stated that one joint was equivalent to five cigarettes. Now, due to higher drug concentration on the streets, studies show that five joints do the same amount of damanage to a person's lungs as seven packs of cigarettes (source). Idiot.

i*need*more*sarcasm