Question about marijuana...

Some say it hinders spiritual growth...

Some say it benefits....

I have been a smoker for the last 5 years, and am now just starting to wonder if it's hindering my spiritual growth...

I am on day 9 of not using, and I'm doing just fine...Haven't noticed any significant changes other than I can remember dreams more often...

I'm curious to others opinion about this that may have come to a higher innerstanding about this...

Greatly appreciative :)

-Sean

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Permalink Reply by Sevan Bomar on February 24, 2013 at 9:37am

Here is the rest of a compilation of the most comprehensive articles pulled, special thanks to Resistance member Luis. We all should keep in mind that everyone is different and what may benefit one may hinder another depending upon their ability to properly balance self.

1. In 1978, Dr. Marietta Issidorides of Athens, Greece, one of Europe's most respected biologists, conducted electron-microscope studies on the white blood cells of 40 long-term hashish smokers. We learnt,' she reported, that long-term use of cannabis (the plant from which marijuana and hashish come) deformed a significantly high proportion of the cells. Impaired white blood cells are unable to function properly and protect the individual from infections.'
2. In 1976, Dr. Akira Morishima of New York looked at the white blood cells of 25 apparenly healthy young males who had smoked marijuana at least twice a week for four years. He found at one-third of their cells contained only 5 to 30 of the normal human complement of 46 chromosomes. These are the particles in every cell's nucleus that pass on genetic instructions to the next generation. In my twenty years of research on human cells,' said Morishima, I have never found any other drug that came close to the chromosome damage done by marijuana.'
3. A survey completed earlier this year showed a relationship between marijuana use and cancer. Dr. Josel Szepsenwol of the department of biological sciences at Florida International University injected 216 mice with very small amounts of THC or cannabinol (2 of the 61 cannabinoids, chemicals found only in the cannibis plant) dissolved in sesame-seed oil, once a week. Over 50 per cent developed cancer. Only 4 per cent of the control mice (injected with oil only) developed cancer, a normal percentage for this strain of mice.
4. These research findings are just a few examples of marijuana damage to basic life processes. Since 1975, some 300 studies of cannabis's harmful effects on animal and human cells have appeared in scientific journals. These effects include: faulty division, slowed growth and abnormal-size nucliei in cells, disturbed production of protein, and also damage to sperm cells and ova, nerve and connective-tissue cells.
5. Pioneer marijuana researcher Dr. Gabriel Nahas sums up the central role of marijuana's effects on human cells: The many findings of cell damage caused by cannabis explain all the other damaging effects of the drug - on the lungs, sex organs, brain, immune system. I call the cell damage done by regular pot smoking over the years a slow erosion of life.'
6. In Australia, the 1980 Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drugs found that marijuana use is widespread and increasing. Most Australian users are in the 18-24 age group, and come from all walks of life.
7. Psychological signs of pot impairment are often not slow to appear and, generally, the younger the user the more rapid the onset of damage.
8. Psychiatrist Dr. Harold Voth has studied the psychopathology of marijuana in depth for the past eight years. He defines the pot personality: the most obvious impairments caused by chronic marijuana use are the area of Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS). These include impaired short-term memory, emotional flatness, and the amotivational - or dropout - syndrome. This can progress from dropping out of sports, to dropping out of school, to dropping out of the family.'
Denial. Voth lists other symptoms of pot induced OBS diminished willpower, concentration, attention span, ability to deal with abstract or complex problems, and tolerance for frustration; increased confusion in thinking, impaired judgement, hostility towards authority.'
Another pernicious symptom,' says Voth, is the element of denial - refusal to believe the hard medical evidence that marijuana is physically and psychologically harmful.' He also points out that it takes years of heavy drinking to reach the same point of psychological weakening that marijuana can induce in a matter of months, particular in the case of the very young user.
Unlike the heavy drinker who generally becomes himself again' when sober, the underlying personality structure of the chronic pot smoker seems to change. If someone smokes twice a week or more, sobering up - in any total sense - never occurs,' says psychiatrist John Meeks. Even when not high' he or she remains in a state of subacute intoxication - in most cases, without even recognising this holdover' effect.
9. While alcohol is water soluble and washes out of the body in a matter of hours, cannabinoids are fat soluble and accumulate in fatty sections of the cells and in fatty organs (the brain is one-third fat). Only very slowly do the cannabinoids seep back into the bloodstream so they can be metabolised and eliminated. Thus they act like time-release capsules, constantly emitting subtle intoxication.
10. Studies on Rhesus monkeys carried out by psychiatrist neurologist Robert Heath give further insights into cellular causes of psychological symptoms. The monkeys were exposed to the smoke of two to three monkey-size' marijuana cigarettes (one-quarter the size of a human joint') five days a week, for six months. In each monkey, several thousand brain cells from 42 different area of the brain were examined under the electron microscope. Though there were structural cell changes in all the brain sites, striking impairment was found in the sites specifically related to the typical pot symptoms of apathy and flatness. Dramatic cell impairment was found in the sites specifically related to the typical pot symptoms of apathy and flatness. Dramatic cell impairment was also found in sites correlated with irritability and fear - prominent symptoms of pot-induced paranoia.
I don't know of any other drug, including alcohol,' says Heath, that causes such a wide spectrum of brain changes as we saw in those cells. And today, tens of thousands of teenagers are inhaling proportionately far more pot smoke every day than we gave those monkeys.'
11. People who use cannabis also tend to be tobacco smokers. The tar content of cannabis smoke is at least as much as, and commonly more than, that of tobacco. Regular cannabis users, therefore, run the risk of lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.
12. Adverse reactions to marijuana usage during pregnancy include preterm labour, growth retardation, nervous system abnormalities, embryotoxicity and fetal damage. Studies illustrating the damaging effects of cannabis in the growing human fetus were confirmed later by three independent groups of investigators: in 1986 by Elizabeth Hatch, from Yale University; in 1987 by Melanie Dreher, from the University of Miami; and in 1989 by Barry Zuckerman, from Boston University. In 1989, Zuckerman and colleagues published the definitive paper on the subject in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. It is strongly recommeded to avoid it completely during pregnancy.
13. Marijuana decreases sperm number and movement, contributing to male infertility.
14. Marijuana acutely impairs the ability of the brain to interpret the outside world as it is, the ability of memory storage, and the ability to concentrate.
15. Marijuana distorts the perception of time and space and should not be used while driving or performing dangerous activities requiring fine motor skills.
(The quoted points 16-18 are extracted from The World & I, published by the Washington Times Corporation, 1990.)
16. In 1975 J. Griffith-Edwards, from Maudley Hospital in London, asked, Will cannabis, which can produce acute disabling mental disturbance, have any likelihood to produce long-term mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, especially if taken regularly in large amounts?
This question was positively answered in 1981 by professor of pediatrics Doris Milman, from Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, and Jose Carranza, from the University of Texas, who reported observing that marijuana had precipitated acute psychotic states in some of their patients and prolonged psychotic states in others. However, the possibility still remained that the use of marijuana had merely triggered an underlying psychosis in predisposed patients. In 1989 Ulf Ryderg from Karolinska University in Stockholm reported the results of a 15-year follow-up study on Swedish conscripts. The relative risk for developing shizophrenia among high consumers of cannabis (use on more than 50 occasions) was six times greater than in nonusers...
Evidence supporting the view that cannabis can induce long-lasting mental disturbances has now accumulated to the point where it must be seriously considered.
17. ...marijuana products impaired the function of T cells sampled from street marijuana users, decreasing the cells' ability to divide when stimulated by substances foreign to the body...Other investigators reported that the ability of the B-lymphocytes to produce antibodies was impaired by marijuana, and so was the property of the macrophages to migrate to the site of an infection...
Guy Cabral of the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond reported that THC impairs the competence of macrophage cells to destroy virus-infected cells and tumor cells. These observations suggested that in patients with an immune system compromised by prolonged marijuana use, the macrophages, rather than destorying the virus as they usually do, may instead incorporate the virus and then carry it throughout the body.
18. A preliminary finding of a high correlation of childhood leukemia with marijuana use by the mother just before or during pregnancy was reported in a 1989 study published in Cancer, by Dr. Leslie Robison from the University of Minnesota Medical School and colleagues... intended to look at the possible effect of pesticides on fetal development leading to conditions for the onset of childhood leukemia, uncovered the correlation with marijuana unexpectedly. Robinson emphasizes that the study is preliminary and needs to be reproduced in other populations.
(The quoted points 19-23 and 25-29 are extracted from The Dope on Pot by Xandria K. Williams, from Australian Wellbeing, No.15, 1986.)
19. Delta-9-THC and the other compounds derived from cannabis ... build up in the fatty adipose tissue, the brain, liver, lungs and reproductive tissue ... This means that if marijuana is taken even as little as once every one or two weeks there is always some present in the body.
20. ...the body levels (of marijuana) tend to increase with each amount that is smoked or consumed. In other words its effect is cumulative and, in this, it is unlike any of the other recreational drugs. This tendency to accumulate in the brain is almost certainly one of the reasons it has such disastrous and long-term consequences on the brain and the psyche.
21. Experiments done on animals (monkeys) have shown that as little as 20 joints over a period of three months can produce changes in brain function that are serious and may be permanent (Heath, Testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security. May. ref. 30. pp. 50-70, 1974)...
Using an electron microscope, Heath was able to show the following visible changes in the brain: (resulting from marijuana)
1. Increased width of the synaptic gap (the space between adjacent nerve cells). 2. Abnormal deposits of dense material in and near the synaptic gap. 3. Early signs of nerve cell degeneration (clumping of the synaptic vessels) 4. Disruption of the internal organelles within the nerve cells. 5. the formation of many inclusion bodies within the nuclei of many of the brain cells.
22. Work done on animals has shown that the use of marijuana results in smaller brains, smaller hearts and smaller overall body weight, compared to those of animals not given marijuana. Not only is the absolute size of the brain smaller, but it is also smaller in relation to the individual's total body weight (Fried, Short- and long-term effects of pre-natal cannabis inhalation upon rat offspring. Psychopharmacologia. 40(3): 285-291, 1976).
One of the causes of this is the fact that delta-9-THC inhibits the synthesis of protein and RNA in the brain, especially in the young and in suckling animals (McGeer and Jacubovic, Ultrastructural and biochemical changes in CNS induced by marijuna. ref. 99. pp. 519-530, 1979).
23. At the cellular level the damage done (to the lungs from smoking marijuana) is known as squamous cell metaplasia, a condition which is recognised as being likely to lead on to cancer of the lungs (Tennant et al., Medical manifestations associated with hashish. J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 216, 1965-69, 1971)... Many oter reserachers have found similar results including the breakdown of the air sacs in the lungs, inflammation of the lung tissue, altered cellular appearance and replication, altered DNA (which carries the genetic messages) and precancerous changes.
24. Marijuana increases the pulse and the blood pressure thus increasing the load on the heart (similar to the stress response). So it can be dangerous if used by anyone with high blood pressure, atherosclerosis or cerebral vascular disease (could lead to strokes), or a genetic predisposition to these problems.
25. The use of marijuana can lead to altered hormonal balance, specifically to a loss of up to 45 per cent of testosterone, the male hormone, delayed pubety, and the possibility of faults in the mechanism of normal sexual differentiation.
26. In work done on monkeys... marijuana... is associated with abnormal changes in several... hormones associated with the female reproductive system (Smith et al., Effect of delta-9-THC on female reproductive function, ref. 99. pp. 449-467, 1979)... The use of marijuana by women, at any stage of life leads to a wide variety of hormonal changes and a very real risk of infertility.
27. Studies on monkeys, over several generations have shown that marijuana usage, at a level equivalent to one or two cigarettes a day in humans, led to forty-four per cent spontaneous abortion, foetal death, stillbirth or early infant death, compared to an eight percent death rate in the controls, due largely to pulmonary problems (Chapman et al., Social Behaviour of rhesus monkeys chronically exposed to moderate amounts o delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, ref. 99. pp.693-712, 1979).
This means that the use of marijuana is likely to have serious consequences for future generations, even if the offspring themselves never smoke the stuff.
28. Lymphocytes, the white blood cells that are able to divide and multiply rapidly whenever there is an infection to be fought, do so at only 60 per cent of their normal efficiency in people who have smoked marijuana 4 times a week for one year (Nahas et al., Inhibition of cell-mediated immunity in marijuana smokers. Science 183, 419-420, 1974). This is similar to the effect produced by the immunosuppressive drugs used after organ transplants, or to that seen in patients with cancer.
Other researchers have shown that marijuana seriously alters the activity of the genetic materials, DNA and RNA, and that this in turn adversely affects the ability of the cells to reproduce and to do so correctly...
29. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the state (of NSW). Of secondary school children, 12 per cent of those in Year 10 use it at least once a week (Homel et al., Survey of drug use by school students in New South Wales. N.S.W. Drug and Alcohol Authority Report A84/5. Sydney, 1984).
30. In my opinion, the best way to resolve the issue of whether legalising marijuana use will lead to an increased incidence and amount of use in the general population in question and what effect this would have, is to observe the historical incidents of the same, or similar events. Without any exception that I have been able to find, the consequences have been a high incidence of individual and social damage. For extensive information on these carefully documented historical incidents please refer to The Decline of Drugged Nations by Gabriel G. Nahas (Canberra Times, 13/10/1988).  Active community participation is a social responsibility which derives from loving all the beings around you. As physical age increases gradiently, the realisation of one's social responsibility of mature guardianship to the next generation does also. To withhold this is to withhold one type of love.
The past lack of this mature guardianship for the current mature generation has unfortunately failed to teach it that role by example. Thus it must be consciously valued, sought out, and created, if the younger generations are to receive this benefit.
One way to repay the precious debt to parents for having received this physical body is to maintain, and teach others to maintain an optimal genetic inheritance for the next generation. MARIJUANA CAUSES GENETIC DAMAGE, AND CONTRIBUTES DRAMATICALLY TO THE DEGENERATION OF THE HUMAN RACE. To allow this degeneration to continue without active participation to oppose it, constitutes a sin of omission of activity.
Unfortunately, the psychological fragmentation, regressive immaturity, apathy, lack of motivation, self-absorption, and compulsive desire for instant gratification which marijuana has been shown to produce in the people who use it, make it more unlikely that they will ever take responsibility for robbing future generations of their birthright - a healthy, and as-near-to-perfect-as-possible set of genes.
If the current trends do not change, then one aspect of the future vision I see is a brain-dead, psychologically fragmented, doped out generation of school leavers emerging with damaged reproductive potential (genetic damage), and poor memories. These people would not be able to reproduce healthy offspring for the next generation of humanity, and would be psychologically ill-equipped for any role of responsible guardianship. The increase in overall human suffering that would result is overwhelming.
I beg you, fellow Australians, World Sovereign Citizens, members of the human race, future parents, to do all in your power to change this future vision, and the trends that would otherwise create it. See instead an emerging generation of dynamic altruistic human beings, capable of mature guardianship, genetic improvement, responsibility to and empathy for the future generations, and responsible custodianship of our precious planetary ecology. See a generation which truly puts love into action, and raises children with a healthy, and as-near-to-perfect-as-possible genetic inheritance.

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Permalink Reply by blackcats21 on February 24, 2013 at 2:00pm

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Permalink Reply by james on February 25, 2013 at 5:09am

Personally I think overuse or abuse leads to a slowdown of spiritual growth, getting into other states without smoking itself. We need to respect the plants and their teaching. a much better way is to diet the plant...taking it into your body without smoking. This is how the indigenous people have done it for thousands of years. When I was in the Amazon I asked the shaman, is it a bad plant? He said "No. No plants are bad, it depends how it is used." I asked him how to take it and he said..to put it in water for a day or so and then drink it.

Still need to test this and think it will "work" - dieting plants have incredible results. I was fortunate to diet a few plants including Coca leaf..it's a very powerful plant, it heals the body and strengthens the immune system and etheric body.

This is a good TED video where Graham Hancock shares his views about smoking Mary Jane for 24 years..and his views of DMT and universal message of Ayahuasca alerting our consciousness! - The War on Consciousness -

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Permalink Reply by An-eL on February 25, 2013 at 9:26am

Graham is awesome! I had came across information awhile back that was talking about the medicinal curing aspect of "Trees". Stating that once you heat up the Mj it activates it's harmful psycho-active state which gets you the high. If you ingest it without the heating process which will not get you high, it has "miraculous healing potential".

Graham Hancock has correlated information i received during a recent Dmt experience. After watching this and reading Sevan's reply. I think i will stop smoking Trees all together. However I am going to try the healing method of ingestion.

XX----An-eL----XX

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Permalink Reply by Sucram on February 25, 2013 at 3:58pm

Its really hard for me not to comment this one, so here i am :)

Pedro was a good companion and i respect the experience and the time we have spent together. He was a friendly guide to me while waiting "inbetween" for the right moment and the apropriate action. As it was already said, he should be asked for permission to be used. He may break those who abuse him without permission, but he can also be a guide to those who are lost "inbetween" on the edge of THE decision to really turning inwards. He showed me around and i learned to "see" me, my ego, others, intentions and ideas, where they came from and why they were around me or others.
I have seen indeed some people that abuse him and it did not went well for them - those were persons that actually did not want to look inwards but still used him. This is a very dangourous move that can easily lead to psycotic status. I have also made my own experiences that were bad and also very positive. He was bad when i abused him beeing much younger, going out for parties and all that... He was good when i used him as a tool similar as other people would meditate.
It is certainly true that the substance and intake process is all toxic. It is also true that abuse is limiting yourself from significant progress and will lead to degneration in the lomg term. I dont want to advocate the use of it per se, but he may be an important guide for certain people in certain times of life.

Especially in recent times i met more users then abusers and these users where professionals of all kinds, all very much grounded. And more importantly i met MANY users. Many are "inbetween", sometimes trying to turn inwards, yet mostly attracted by material stuff, influenced by thoughts and ideas that should have been firewalled at their personal gate.

We need to build good bridges for those who are "inbetween". They are almost there (here)...

Wholeness

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Channel on February 27, 2013 at 4:32am

Thanks for shining a light on the bridge :)

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Permalink Reply by Gina on February 26, 2013 at 4:13am

Ive struggled with the use and abuse of marijuana for 4-5 years.
When ever I would try to stop smoking, I would start back using due to a triggers of stress, depression, etc.
But then I would continue to do it even when I was just chilling. And all the smokers know that you build a tolerance to the THC, so I would go in like three times a day. Its been tough but I know I have to quit because things are clearer to me when I stop, my face looks different, and I have the most negative thoughts when I do smoke. Im not sure why marijuana is a problem for me, especially when you have friends that function on it quite nicely. I was thinking of what Sevan said about our ancestors and having some of their cyclic problems, so addiction might be one of mine. I have to take control.

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Permalink Reply by iamnot on February 26, 2013 at 5:00am

To some people ( been there done that) smoking different pipes or Marywarner or dope or whatever you call it...drug taking more so the weed generally over a long period of time flat lines the emotional aspect of the user and can become a crutch or let's put it another way. We have 3 brains Reptilian brain, Mammalian brain and Human being brain like a three in one aspect when fully formed once we mature. Which one of those brains do we wish to enlighten?. The Reptilian brain is the one that does the REPS which is partly why people are stuck in endless loop circles. I plumb for the Human Being brain myself.

Luckily some of us do not have not an addictive personality. but those who do can work at controlling their addictions.

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Permalink Reply by Marie Adams on February 26, 2013 at 1:42pm

After reading all these discussion threads I am thinking "what if"...what if MJ's just another thing here on Earth us humans use to help us feel better (like comfort food, cocktails before & after dinner, casual sex) the fringes of life that have you tricked in to thinking it's really not important but in reality its really about not standing fully in your Spirit self. What if the entire world said Hey lets toke up...would it be a better world? Does it add or detract from wholeness & balance? If your truly balanced then why do you need it? And what if it's a trick luring us into that state of mind where our guard is down. And if it's truly ok to use, then why the struggle within ourselves. The attachment to anything is what creates the struggle...regardless if the struggle is MJ, or a relationship or anti-depressants or sugar. Perhaps it's just another product in the vast supply of confusion for the masses to help make the sheepal more controllable, easier to herd...deadening the senses but calling it casual & then eventually make it legal so they can go through the whole process of acquiring, the thrill of possessing, cyling through the addiction process & then fighting to remain clean. Seems like a massive trick & waste of humanity's precious time & energy.This has been a very thought provoking thread...thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Sucram on February 26, 2013 at 4:41pm

Pedro (MJ) can not cause any addiction. He supports movements of the point or frequency where conciousness is put together and anticipated as individual reality. The position of this point or frequency is causing individual realities. If you speak about addiction in relation to Pedro, it is not the addiction to the substance but the addiction to the frequency one is tuned into. Now, here we need to be precise as there are 2 kind of frequency shifts. Those that are done conscious by purpose and focused energy and those that are done unconsciousness . If an individual is pretty much unconciouss on his normal daily life frequency, a frequency shift introduced by Pedro will only cause an addiction to this 'new' frequency, when this individual does not feel comfortable or even is of fear of his normal daily life frequency and anticpation of reality. Under these circumstances, this frequency introduced by Pedro may become the shelter zone which is driving the "attraction" to this shift of frequency. A high street banker focused on material wealth who has all he is focused on, money, big car, etc may smoke Pedro, but it is unlikely that he will be attracted to any shift of frequency whether its introduced by Pedro OR meditation.
Those who are however addicted or attracted to a frequency which seems to be only reachable by the help of Pedro, should actually not start fearing both: their normal frequency and the bespoken "addiction" to this frequency! This would lead to a desaster as it is an attraction, no addiction. Those who are attracted should first accept it. With acceptance comes awareness for the attraction and around that, conciousness can be built and directed inwards. Obviously, Changing from 'normal' frequency to another frequency is not a bad thing: if your normal frequency makes you anticpate reality ie in fear of something, the ability to change the frequency and how you anticipate it is a gift and the worst thing to do is to fear this shift as it was your own inner child that choose the new frequency as a shelter zone for growth - given that this movement is treated with full respect to its intended purpose so that it can lead one inwards, raise consciousness and becomes a feritle enviorment to connect and grow the inner child as the new normal frequency.

A consciouss frequency shift does not need any substance and it can be done by the use of focused energy only, however, Pedro may be the vehicle as well. The so called addiction is an attraction, a reflex of the unconsciousness inner child to an individual situation. The one thing to avoid is to fear attraction for something and all will be good.