Cannabis Column – #46

Jon Gettman is a long time contributor to HIGH TIMES. A former National Director of NORML, Jon has a Ph.D. in public policy and regional economic development and consults with attorneys, advocates, and non-profits on cannabis related research and public policy issues. On October 8, 2002, along with a coalition of organizations, he filed a new petition to have cannabis rescheduled under federal law. This column will track that petition's progress.

Ten Reasons People Use Marijuana

Why do people use marijuana?

According to the federal government’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) “marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug.” ONDCP further explains that the “short-term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, loss of coordination, increased heart rate, and anxiety.”

Anyone unfamiliar with marijuana or marijuana users would find these remarks interesting. Why, given this description of its effects, is marijuana use so common, so popular? One might get the impression that marijuana users are a bunch of idiots to use such a drug, and that is, indeed, the impression that ONDCP intends to communicate. The premise of this description is that since marijuana causes undesired effects, the reasons people use it are that a) they are idiot thrill seekers and b) the drug must be addictive. After all, if it wasn’t addictive why would people take such a drug if it caused them to be so impaired?

One of the greatest misunderstandings about marijuana is confusing its acute short-term effects for its chronic long-term effect. That’s clinical terminology. It means that some of the reactions people get when they first experience marijuana create false impressions. Many of the initial reactions people have to marijuana change once they become more familiar with its effects. Many scientists have documented how marijuana’s effects on individuals changes with familiarity, and how many of the short term effects described by ONDCP no longer occur during subsequent usage.

The reason people use marijuana, though, is not because of the short-term effects described by ONDCP. People use marijuana because they find its effects likable, useful, and safe.

1) People use marijuana for relaxation. They find it a pleasant alternative to alcohol that enhances their ability to relax at the end of the day, or at other times. It has a calming effect, and marijuana often provides mental stimulation that distracts people from the vexing problems they’ve wrestled with at work, school, or even in their personal relationships.

2) People use marijuana because it enhances their appetite for food. Marijuana makes eating more enjoyable. It stimulates hunger, and it stimulates taste and digestion.

3) People use marijuana because it enhances their enjoyment of music and art. Marijuana doesn’t distort perception so much as it alters it, changes it, by focusing attention on the multi-layered characteristics of art and its overlapping meaning. Marijuana causes the mind to be more open to the creative stimulus of art and music.

4) People use marijuana because it enhances their powers of concentration. This may seem counter-intuitive, as marijuana is well known for helping the mind wander. But this is actually an important aspect of problem-solving, an ability to look at an issue, subject, or even a problem from different points of view. Marijuana doesn’t create difficulties in learning, thinking, and problem solving but instead it stimulates new perspectives that, if harnessed correctly, enhance concentration and understanding.

5) People use marijuana because it stimulates new and creative thoughts, sometimes with humorous consequences, and at other times producing insight or inspiration. Many people use marijuana because it contributes to an enjoyment of thought and deliberation. Marijuana users often appreciate nuances of wisdom and consciousness, and use their experiences with the drug as a source for spiritual insight.

6) And yes, people use marijuana because they like to party. Marijuana is also well known to contribute to social interaction. Marijuana use among groups of people stimulates conversation, sometimes interesting and yes, sometimes silly and mundane. This characteristic of marijuana use is one of the most frequently portrayed effects of marijuana in popular culture. Nonetheless, the ability of marijuana to stimulate and contribute to socializing is an important aspect of its popularity.

7) People also use marijuana as an aphrodisiac that, in various ways, enhances sexual pleasure. Almost all of the uses of marijuana described above can contribute as well to sexual enjoyment, including relaxation, stimulation of the senses, appreciation of music, and enhanced social interaction. As with alcohol the right amount of marijuana can contribute to sexual enjoyment while too much marijuana can make sexual relations utterly impossible by causing an individual to pass out.

8) This brings up an important reason people use marijuana, to help them sleep.  Marijuana is a biphasic drug; it produces stimulation followed by a period of sedation. The attributes that enable marijuana to help people relax also help them get to sleep, particularly if they’ve had a stressful day. Aside from its effects on thought and perception, marijuana has analgesic properties that relax physical tension. Furthermore many individuals report that marijuana eliminates nightmares produced by post-traumatic stress, an attractive feature for war veterans of many generations.

9) Many individuals use marijuana as a source of relief from pain, both from the minor aches and pains of everyday life and chronic pain from serious injury and chronic disease. Scientists have documented marijuana’s activation of pain-reducing networks in the brain. Medical researchers and patients are especially excited about the ability of marijuana’s cannabinoid drugs to reduce pain without depressing heart and lung activity in the way of opiate drugs. For this reason many patients with chronic pain favor marijuana as an alternative to reliance on opiates. Not only do many find marijuana an effective pain reduction agent but they also find many of the effects described above to be preferable to the side effects of opiate drugs.

10) People use marijuana because of several other medical properties. For many individuals marijuana helps control the spasticity related to multiple sclerosis and movement disorders. Marijuana helps counter reduction of intra-ocular pressure caused by Glaucoma. The drug’s appetite stimulation properties are beneficial to patients whose medical conditions cause a loss of appetite, and marijuana is an effective anti-emetic, a drug that relieves nausea, particularly helpful for patients suffering from the nauseous side effects of chemotherapy. The beneficial medical properties of marijuana, or cannabis, as it is referred to in a medical context, have been recognized and accepted by several state governments. Regardless of the social and political controversy surrounding individual use of marijuana, the therapeutic effects of the chemical compounds found in cannabis are recognized by the scientific community throughout the world.

Marijuana use has risks and side effects, like any drug, and while many adults use it responsibly there are others who abuse it. Marijuana, like alcohol, requires many of the skills and the maturity of adulthood to use responsibly. Teenagers should not use marijuana, alcohol, or tobacco, nor should they use prescription drugs for recreational purposes. No one, adult or teenager, should go to jail for marijuana use. Even ONDCP has begun to recognize that many marijuana users, even teenagers, use marijuana as a form of self-medication to respond to various medical or mental health conditions. With teens especially, these conditions ought to be treated by medical and/or mental health professionals, and it may well be that in many cases marijuana use is not the best treatment. Nonetheless, the use of marijuana - for the reasons above or for any other reason - is not a crime.

Why do people use marijuana? Ten reasons they do are described above.  Why do you think people use marijuana? Please use the comment section below to let us know.