If you are someone who feels they have benefited medically or recreationally from marijuana, then this article may not be for you. If you are someone who is not going to, or has definitely quit for good, then this article may not be for you. This is for someone on the fence, thinking about trying it or going back to it after the years due to the fact that its seems legally more available than ever before.
In the book Healing Immune disorders by Andrew Gaeddert, paraphrasing on the use of Marijuana, he points out that Marijuana has been used since biblical times. Quoting a doctor in California he says, 'Working with AIDS and cancer patients, I repeatedly saw how marijuana could ameliorate a patient's debilitating fatigue, restore appetite, diminish pain, remedy nausea, cure vomiting and curtail down to the bone weight loss.'
While it may have some potential for people with AIDS, cancer and chronic pain, it does not mean it is a cure all or that it can be safely used by many people. Like the smoking of tobacco, smoking marijuana is associated with chronic bronchitis, cough, phlegm production, shortness of breath, and wheezing according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine which based its results on 6,728 questionnaires completed by adults twenty to fifty-nine years of age. Marijuana smokers predispose themselves to lung cancer, sinus problems, coughing and sore throats. In addition it may cause symptoms of anxiety including overreaction, apprehension, sweating, tremors and shakes. It can increase the heart rate and disturb heart rhythms.In teenagers it can lead to coping problems and blunted emotional development. Other side effects include impaired coordination, judgment, and short-term memory, mood swings and irritability due to low blood sugar reaction.
Interestingly enough, marijuana seeds are used in Oriental medicine - Huo Ma Ren. It is used as an emollient for constipation caused by dry intestines. The seeds contain barely a trace amount of the intoxicating principle (cannabinol) of the leaf and stem. To prevent the seed from germinating, they are processed by roasting.
Some practitioners consider the seed medicinal and the leaf toxic. The leaf when smoked is thought to negatively affect and deplete the kidney yang energy, which has to do with will power.
If a person considers pot smoking as beneficial, then this message has no bearing for them. But if one is not sure about their indulgence or wants to quit -In order to break any habit that one considers undesirable, it is important to look at the reasons you use it. Is it used for relaxation, to enhance sensory perception, pain relief or a change in state of mind or energy? We at acu-polarity have always, in the 30 years of business, advocated a tee totaling vegetarian life style, if possible. This opinion is not from a self-righteous point of view as the author feels vulnerable to all negative habits. It is perceived as the best way to be in harmony with nature by tuning in, not needing something supplied from without. This is why the consumption of medicinal tonic herbs, yoga postures, tai chi and meditation seem to us as the natural way to over come pain, misery and dull, negative states of mind. To put it simply, in the present moment, the coming future and in death we need all our wits about us.