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Show 2 It "pothead" who can sustain more frequent psychological is the He is using this chemical escape from life stress, It is in learning his personality maturation. impairing thereby from the encounter with life's problems that the individual grows The "head" deprives himself of the opportunity up emotionally. to learn how to endure; rather he withdraws from the engagement retardation. with existence. daily strong marihuana While in countries where use is traditional there suffer from prolonged generally meet the have been reports that chronic users may psychotic reactions, these observations do not Because required for scientifically valid conclusions. marihuana studies of need controlled for there scientifically use in countries where its use has been widespread over long periods, Amer we are currently negotiating to perform such studies abroad. ican experience has been too brief and involved too few long-term habitual users to answer these questions of chronic effects here in standards is a the United States. One of our NIMH grantees in Athens, loss of motivation and group of Greece mentions mental ultimately mental deterioration in apathy, a small chronic hashish users which he has observed for over 20 We believe that it is most important to confirm or deny years. this observation. If, for example, these qualities were due to hashish, the use of this erroneous informa good in our efforts to control the misuse of marihuana. It is, incidentally, interesting to note that hashish, the ore potent resinous preparation from the marihuana plant, is now available on the black market. Capsules purported to be THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the very powerful ingredient in marihuana, This increasing potency are also to be procured in some cities. of marihuana products is a further unfavorable development. Although he may become psychotic a person may tolerate a marihuana cigarette, under the influence of a highly potent agent like THC. rather than poor nutrition tion could do The The more harm than physical complications of marihuana usage When analogy with tobacco is a good one. into the culture it was considered harmless. are not now evident. tobacco was Now, accepted three hundred years later, we have information which would not have permitted its social acceptance. The mere fact that infrequent marihuana ingestion The same statement appears to be harmless does not mean that it is. made for cocaine, opium, chloroform and many other substances was introduced mind Nor does the altering chemicals. products for millenia Precisely the same statement can be made when they fact that the Asian Indians have used marihUana mean that were they are for the American safe. Indians' as use of tobacco. |
