Pubdate: Sun, 22 May 2011 Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR) Copyright: 2011 Larry Crompton Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/HPOp5PfB Website: http://www.democratherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/7 Author: Larry Crompton POT SMOKERS ENDANGER YOU "Medical marijuana grower gears up" (May 15, 2011) makes me wonder how long you need to be in an oxygen deprived bubble why are our filled with pot smoke before you are completely insane. A pot-smoking loser with marijuana arrests in his past is now allowed to grow pot for over 70 pot-smoking, card-carrying individuals with everything from chapped lips to bald heads. It is time for sane people to wake up and fight this "undercover" attempt to legalize this dangerous drug. The strength of today's pot is 10 to 30 times stronger than that smoked by "pot heads" back in the early 1970s. Immediate physical effects include faster heartbeat and pulse rate by 20 to 100 percent and a 4.8-fold increase in the rate of heart attack. M.J. smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke. Studies on mental effects show an impairment in short-term memory, altered sense of time, and reduced ability to do things which require concentration and coordination such as driving a car. These skills are impaired for at least 4-6 hours after smoking one joint. M.J. is especially harmful to the lungs because users inhale deeper and hold it longer, causing much more damage than cigarette smoke, which causes emphysema and cancer. Got a hangnail? Get a medical marijuana card. Still have a hang nail but no longer care because now you have the munchies, can chew the hangnail and come down with cancer. When marijuana is smoked, THC, its active ingredient, is absorbed by most tissues in the body. The body chemically transforms the THC into metabolites that can last for up to a week after smoking one joint. Most of you, especially those smoking pot, will not remember that the reason for the "so called need" for smoking dope originally was to give those on cancer treatment an appetite, not to cure or stop pain. Anyone with a medical marijuana card should have their driving privileges revoked immediately, and doctors handing out these cards should be barred. Prescription drugs are available and more effective and less dangerous, to us and to the users. Larry Crompton, Scio (May 15) - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom