Hey friends,
When I sit down to have a meal I often jump on youtube and have a wander around. Today I was looking up marijuana. I found that more than half the clips were screaming for the legalization of weed, suggesting that all the reasons for it to be illegal are all a load of bull and that it can not harm you. They were suggesting that the government will spout lies about the dangers of pot to protect revenues from alcohol sales. These are some of the things I heard today:
- Pot is not dangerous to the body or mind. LIE!
o The truth: smoking 5 joints is equal to smoking a pack of cigarettes. It is more cancerous that smoking tobacco.
o When you get a high off of anything it is because you are reworking the chemical wiring in your brain. Every time you alter your brain chemicals with one drug you need a stronger dosage the next time to recreate the high. You body can only produce so much of any of the chemicals that help you feel happy or content at a time. If you deplete too much at once your body can actually lose the ability to feel happy on its own and drugs will become a necessity.
o Marijuana will stay in your system for days, which means that you are stupider for a week after you smoke it!
o Trying to get off of any drug (yes, even tobacco) your body will go through withdrawal. Imagine feeling like complete hell for a month. Flu-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blurred vision, headaches, sinus problems, headaches, achiness, chills, sleep issues, tremors… the list goes on.
o Possible long term effects: Lung damage (chronic coughing and lung infections), cancer (lung, neck and head), decreased blood flow in the brain effecting memory, learning, understanding of language and temper control, extreme mood shifts and feelings of being out of control, unmotivated, physically unbalanced and confused, problems with concentration and abstract thinking, feelings of anxiety, depression, irritability and suicide
- Weed is not dangerous. LIE!
o Even it it’s most pure forms, this plant has been tampered with so much that the part of the plant that gives you the high is way stronger than it was 25 years ago, it is more addictive and more likely to get you out of control.
o Unless you are growing your own marijuana the weed you will get from friends or on the street is most likely laced with some sort of hard drugs. Once you even start using hard drugs (whether on purpose or by accident) the more damage is done to your system and the greater the chance of becoming a junkie and throwing your life away.
o When people are high that make choices that they wouldn’t when they are high. Babies have been conceived, diseases have been spread, friendships have been broken while people where stones, drunk or high.
o Weed is primary addiction of sixty percent of the young people in detoxification
- Weed does not pose a threat to the public. LIE!
o When you are not thinking straight (ie. You are drunk or high) you think you are capable of things that you are not. People driving while under the influence of any drug are putting the lives of everyone around them in danger. People have actually murdered other people while high and made decisions that put the lives of both friends and strangers in danger.
o Think of the influence you can have on others. There are people who look up to you. If you are using drugs you are telling them it is okay. Think of siblings, family members, campers, your closest friends and the rest of the CLTDs.
o When you are doing drugs, you are condoning drugs. You are saying it is okay. I am not okay with that. How dare you be an advertisement to others that drugs are okay!! Jesus said, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6 NLT)
o Think of how broken your parents would be knowing you are putting yourself in life threatening situations (which is what you are doing every time you use drugs). Think of how much it kills all the people who care about you – your friends, your teachers, your CLTD leaders. I guarantee that you are breaking my heart and causing me to lose sleep knowing that there are kids I love using drugs!!
I promise you, I will not lie to you. I would do anything to keep you safe and will give you the straight answers. I would fight for you and the life you deserve. PLEASE do not buy into the lies that you can find out there. Yes, marijuana is a plant – so is bushman’s poison, wintersweet, angel’s trumpet, water hemlock, castor bean, rosary pea, monkshood and english yew. All of these plants will kill you if you consume them. Just because something is natural does not mean it isn’t deadly!!
The majority of videos on youtube tell you that weed is cool and there is nothing wrong with it. You get to choose who you are going to believe: me or them. Who do you think is going to really give it to you straight? I have no reason to lie to you and the best reason in the world to beg you to stay clean: I love you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UZwB-DWseM&feature=related
