POT SMOKING PROLONGS LIFE BUT AT WHAT COST?

The following article is a reprint . Read my reply posting after you have read the article:

From Jack Herer's website: http://www.jackherer.com/

HOW DANGEROUS IS MARIJUANA COMPARED WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES?
Number of American deaths per year that result directly or primarily from the following selected causes nationwide, according to World Almanacs, Life Insurance Actuarial (death) Rates, and the last 20 years of U.S. Surgeon Generals' reports.
TOBACCO
340,000 to 450,000
ALCOHOL (Not including 50% of all highway deaths and 65% of all murders)
150,000+
ASPIRIN (Including deliberate overdose)
180 to 1,000+
CAFFEINE (From stress, ulcers, and triggering irregular heartbeats, etc.)
1,000 to 10,000
"LEGAL" DRUG OVERDOSE (Deliberate or accidental) from legal, prescribed or patent medicines and/or mixing with alcohol - e.g. Valium/alcohol
14,000 to 27,000
ILLICIT DRUG OVERDOSE (Deliberate or accidental) from all illegal drugs.
3,800 to 5,200
MARIJUANA
0
(Marijuana users also have the same or lower incidence of murders and highway deaths and accidents than the general non-marijuana using population as a whole. Crancer Study, UCLA; U.S. Funded ($6 million), First & Second Jamaican Studies, 1968 to 1974; Costa Rican Studies, 1980 to 1982; et al. LOWEST TOXICITY 100% of the studies done at dozens of American universities and research facilities show pot toxicity does not exist. Medical history does not record anyone dying from an overdose of marijuana (UCLA, Harvard, Temple, etc.). Why You Should Smoke More Pot
The average lifespan in the United States is 76 for a man and 78 for a woman. But if you smoke pot morning, noon and night, you will live an average of two years longer than if you dont. People who smoke pot but dont smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol will live approximately 8 to 24 years longer than those who do smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. This was proven in studies done by Dr. Vera Ruben on Rastafarians in Jamaica from 1968 to 1974. The Rastafarians lived up in the hills and were the poorest people in Jamaica. Everyone expected them to have the shortest lives but instead they had the longest lives. They smoked pot morning, noon and night. This study cost $6,000,000.00 and was an extremely comprehensive study. If the same study was done today it would cost approximately $125,000,000.00.
In 1979 and 1980, the National Institute of Science did studies on Rastafarians in Costa Rica that proved the same results. There were only 100 copies of this study released to researchers who were working for the government. The only reason we have the results of this study is because someone managed to leak a copy to NORML in 1981.
Between 1968 and 1975, there were about 10,000 marijuana studies done all over the world, but mostly in American universities and colleges. Approximately 4,000 of the studies were universal health studies. Almost all of them proved marijuana to be beneficial in every way. The few that were unfavorable were never proven by a second study.
In 1974 and 1975, Dr. Donald Tashkin did research to prove marijuana was harmful to the lungs. He was the head of pulmonary research on marijuana at UCLA Hospital. He predicted that more people would develop lung cancer from smoking marijuana than from smoking tobacco. Dr. Tashkin was 100 percent positive that all of the studies about marijuana would come out negative in his lung research. He had the only study in the whole country from 1975 to 1999. After 1975 there was no more funding for positive marijuana studies of any type by the U.S. Government for any reason whatsoever. Only a negative study could get funding from the U.S. Government and Dr. Tashkin had almost all of it. I came out against Dr. Tashkin in 1979.
In 1981, I was approached by Dr. Tashkin to take part in his study. I was protesting the marijuana laws on the front lawn of the Federal Building, 500 yards away from the UCLA Hospital and University on Wilshire Boulevard. I signed up (along with about 50 other pot protesters) for Dr. Tashkins study because all of the UCLA students refused to participate in his study after Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981. Dr. Tashkin saw us pot protesters every day at the Federal Building for 102 days. We werent college students and we smoked pot morning, noon and night.
Once or twice a year I would have interviews with Dr. Tashkin. I told him about the positive effects of marijuana. We disagreed 100 percent and he was sure I was wrong. This was a long term study. I was paid $80.00 to $90.00 for each test from 1981 to the mid 1990s. Once or twice a year I would go smoke marijuana to get the pulmonary lung studies done and I would interview Dr. Tashkin as part of my research for my book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes". I told Dr. Tashkin from 1981 to 1997 that no one gets lung cancer or any other type of cancer from marijuana because Dr. Vera Ruben and Dr. Todd Mikuriya had already each separately proven it. I had been doing research for my book since the early 1970s.
Now Dr. Tashkin has come out and is saying the same things I said to him 25 years ago. There is no link between marijuana and lung cancer or any other type of cancer. In fact, Dr. Tashkin has found that marijuana, by killing off old cells that could become cancerous, can actually prevent cancer.
If you want to live longer, smoke more pot.
Jack HererJuly 4, 2006

Earth Mover Reply:
While I may agree with many of the points within this study article, I would have to pose the question. " If you smoke more pot, you may live longer..but how will you live?" In other words, what quality of life will you have? What the study does not talk about are the psycholgical effects of smoking pot on a regular or daily basis. There have been recent studies that have linked pot smoking with premature alzheimers disease onset. I dont know how valid these studies are, any more than the ones done by the researchers in this article.What I do know , as a child of Wood Stock who has had much experience on the subject , I know there are detremental side effects. Example 1 : In my younger years I used to think I could write better, play music better, do almost anything better ..if I was stoned on pot. I know now that my mind is much sharper, I have written far superior songs, poetry, short stories and even a novel WITHOUT the influence of marijuana. I have acheived much more in my life, I am driven to succeed , and am more ambitious (working well over 100 hrs /week) than I ever did when I was smoking pot daily or on a regular basis, a few times per week. I am surprising myself in my abilities in the use of self taught high tech / computer graphics design , web mastering, and other advanced computer creative manipulation...even after only using a computer for 3 yrs with no training. If I was stoned on pot I am 100% certain I would not have acheived these things. EXAMPLE 2: The fiends I know who do smoke pot on a daily or even regular basis, are totally stuck in the past, could not keep up with me or my mental capabilities. I have seen them age not so gracefully, with little ambition, and with slow thought processes, as tho they are alreday feeling the effects of early alzheimers. I ahve also seen them do literally really dumb things, damaging items, being clumsy and befuddled. A few of my friends have worked for me in various aspecst of my business. Most of the time they don't show up, if they do they cant get to work until 10AM or even noon. Half the time they dont call. And when they do work, they are slow, need to be reminded to work instead of talking constantly, and need direction, supervison and orders or they become 'dumbfounded'. It is sad to see what pot has done to my generation. Its also scary. I used to advocate pot. I still advocate the legalization of it, as it is still a better alternative to many other legal drugs (ie liquor, prescription etc) . However I can no longer in good faith encourage anyone to smoke pot just because it is the lesser of evils. Ive seen its long term effects on a personal level, and the worst part is, pot smokers are always in denial about these ill effects. They think they're performing well but they arent. They are dillusional, just as I was when I partook on a regular basis.

The proof is in foreign cultures like the Rastafarians, Mexicans, Columbians, India Indians, Chinese, MidEasterns ..whose peoples have been known to make smoking herbs such as pot, hashish, opium etc a daily habit for centuries or more. These cultures have been and still are centuries behind technologically and in other ways of 'civilized ' life. Imagine, for instance, if the Native American Indian, who smoked jimson weed, an herb similar to pot, were left to their own evoltionary progression with no interference from the white man. They might still today be in the same state of advancement as the Aborigines..nearly neanderthal like. Whether thats a good thing or bad is in itself a subject for a whole different discussion.

There have been many great minds in history that brought us incredible developements and advancements in medicine technology, transportation, art and all avenues of life. Some of them were known to use drugs even as strong as LSD and Cocaine. Some how I think guys like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison , Salk, Sabin, Einstein, Marie Curie were probably straight shooters. Somehow I cant imagine most of the major accomplishements of the world were done by pot smokers. I also have realized that it was our parents and grandaparents that designed and built this countries rail roads, interstate highways, dams, bridges, skyscapers and memorial buildings. Somehow I cant imagine the Empire State building and the Golden Gate Bridge being erected at record speeds and ahead of schedule had they been built by pot smokers. Consider the Baby Boomer generation, who was weened on pot and other drugs. What great accomplishments have we offered the world? Rock & Roll? What have we built? Hell we cant even rebuild the World Trade Center!

The pc tecno generation's offerings pale in comparison to that which was accomplished during the second half of the 1800s and first half of the 1900's ..probably because most folks back then knew what hard work was, had moral values, couldn't afford to waste money on drugs. Not to say that generation didnt have any vices, but they werent near as wide spead as today. Remember the days of prohibition? Imagine the governmnet trying to enforce that today? Society would revolt and terrorize each other! No the world would be better off if we could all realize you can go thru life and enjoy all aspects of life experiences STRAIGHT without the use of any drugs to influence those experiences. When you realize this...you are in control, not the drug...and life is better...even if possibly "shorter".
Signed,
Earth Mover