Well, I never thought I’d see the day when weed would be legalized. Did you?
Apparently, the Yellowknife liquor store ran out of products by 5:30 pm on the first day and the Fort Smith Liquor Store sold $5,000 worth in the first 2 hours. Eschia!
So, I guess the Trudeau government made a popular decision. And why not? As I heard a guy say on the radio the other day, “Now, we know what we’re getting when we buy weed.”
What he means is that you no longer have to wonder if it’s laced with fentanyl or some other crap to give it a kick. Whoa. And how many people stoned on weed have you seen in fights? Not too many aye? Unless they’re drunk too I guess.
In fact, somebody told me they should give inmates at the Correctional Center a joint a day to keep them mellow. Lol. I told him I didn’t think the idea would get too far, but that shows how relaxed most people get on weed.
Meanwhile, you see drunk people fighting all the time. And, the fights are often between really good friends and relatives; not only between strangers. Not cool man.
So, why should someone get a criminal record for having a few joints, but not for having a bottle of whiskey? They shouldn’t. But, like everything else, it should be done in moderation.
Say what! “You mean we shouldn’t smoke weed everyday, even if it’s legal?” No, you shouldn’t.
Dangers of cannabis
For one thing, toking up affects your ability to drive as badly as drinking does, so smoking marijuana then driving is not cool.
Don’t forget, authorities are developing easy ways to check for cannabis in your system, like the breathalyzer for drinking.
I know a guy who tokes up regularly, for medicinal purposes ... wink, wink. He’s worried about more check stops to catch stoned drivers. He thinks a machine will show he’s stoned even if he’s not, because he has so much THC in his body from years of sparking up.
The big thing is a driver under the influence of cannabis is a danger to everybody on the road including himself. Think about it. If you’re driving 100 km/h on the highway and a car swerves into your lane, while you’re all mellowed out listening to tunes, do you think you’ll react as quickly as a straight person? Nope!
And your memory can be affected. How? Cannabis briefly stops the brain from developing new memories and learning new things. Smoking weed all the time continually stops your brain from doing its work, which causes memory problems. Scary stuff.
For instance, if you smoke marijuana regularly in your teenage years, you’re more likely to have memory problems as an adult. Sound familiar?
And, one study found that teenagers who smoked pot every day for three years “performed around 18 percent worse in long-term memory tests,” compared to people who had never smoked marijuana.
Research also suggests that people who smoke marijuana daily for several years have a hard time with mental tasks and remember less words from a list of words than those who smoke less or for shorter periods of time.
Never mind forgetting stuff, people who smoke a lot of weed can also develop false memories, even if they don’t smoke pot for over a month. Jeez Louise, as Jean would say.
And that’s not all! Marijuana smoke contains toxic chemicals like ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. This means you can damage your lungs and the passages to them by smoking dope regularly. Not cool.
In fact, regular pot smokers are more likely to have persistent coughs, have some trouble breathing, and produce extra mucus in their mouth and throat.
“What about if I have a bad ticker,” you say? Could be risky, man. The American College of Cardiology says marijuana causes irregular heart rates and increases the risk of suddenly interrupting blood flow to the heart.
They warn that marijuana use “may be associated with increased mortality in patients with a history of” heart attacks. Holy moly, doesn’t that mean you could die?
Finally, smoking dope is a no-no while you’re pregnant or breastfeeding. Health Canada says that smoking pot while pregnant can affect your baby’s memory and that cannabis toxins can be passed to your baby during breastfeeding.
So, there you have it. Legal weed has its benefits, but smoking too much can be harmful to you. Sparking up? Don’t do it too often.