Marijuana Facts and Myths: Health Officials Explain Risks of Pot

There is a plethora of marijuana facts and myths being discussed all over the world by both opponents and proponents of the drug. On the one side of the debate are adversaries of marijuana legalization, who try to get their point across by explaining the health risks of the drug.

In the past, they have cited the negative effects that marijuana has on the brain and lungs. Nowadays, however, they’re also citing facts about marijuana usage and how it causes problems below the belt.

The following are some marijuana facts that health officials have been promoting:

Impact on Sex Drive
There are references among the ancient Romans that marijuana use could hinder the sex drive, and that, during the Middle Ages, Muslim doctors used the plant to blunt sex drive.

Rany Shamloul, a postgraduate fellow at Queen’s College in 2011, conducted a study in which he found the use of marijuana could negatively impact a man’s sexual function. Shamloul told the Queen’s Journal that, “A key message that needs to be passed to the younger generation is this: Think twice before you smoke marijuana, because cannabis you use today may adversely affect your sexual performance in years to come.”

From Britain: Effects on the Brain and Lung
Health officials across the world believe there are other issues. In England, a 2007 study authorized by the government came to the conclusion that marijuana could lead to mental illness and that it perhaps played a role in one in seven mental illness cases.

That study prompted a lot of hand wringing by British leaders and physicians, including a quote from Robin Murray, a professor at London’s Institute of Psychiatry. She told the Independent that, “The number of people taking cannabis may not be rising, but what people are taking is much more powerful, so there is a question of whether a few years on we may see more people getting ill as a consequence of that.”

It’s not just the brain. The British Lung Foundation, in a 2002 report, stated that three to four marijuana joints a day could lead to the same type of bronchitis caused by the daily use of 20 regular cigarettes.

Problems for the Future
And, if it’s not happening to you, health officials stress it could happen to the next generation. Andrea Barthwell, the former deputy director of the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy, said that the rough edge was taken away from marijuana with some legalization. She also said that, “Children entering drug-abuse treatment routinely report they heard that pot is medicine and, therefore, believed it to be good for them.”