Marijuana Vs Tobacco Research Paper

1308 Words6 Pages
Marijuana vs.tobacco Marion y. brown Soc 120 Denies An toon 10-27-2012 Today I had an interesting conversation with a long-term user of marijuana. She said she had spent the past 20 years trying to decide if she was addicted to marijuana or to tobacco; at the moment, she is leaning more on being addiction to tobacco. She stated to me the she only started smoking tobacco when she started smoking marijuana. So what is the truth about marijuana addiction and does it even exist? As always in the world of drugs –be it tobacco, Alcohol, heroin or marijuana– the answer is complicated. The truth is that, physiologically at least, marijuana is only addictive when its used frequently and heavily over a long period of time. And even then any…show more content…
That might not be a physical addiction but the social and financial outcomes can be just as bad. in terms of time lost to the ‘medication’ of choice. The US war on drugs places great emphasis on arresting people for smoking marijuana. Since 1990, nearly 5.9 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, a greater number than the entire populations of Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming combined. In 2000, state and local law enforcement arrested 734,498 people for marijuana violations. This is an increase of 800 percent since 1980, and is the highest ever recorded by the…show more content…
Twenty-first century tobacco use: it is not just a risk factor anymore. Respir Med. 2003;97:295–301. doi: 10.1053/rmed.2002.1443. [PubMed] [Cross Ref] Thun MJ, Henley SJ, Calle EE. Tobacco use and cancer: an epidemiologic perspective for geneticists. Oncogene. 2002;21:7307–7325. doi: 10.1038/sj.onc.1205807. [PubMed] [Cross Ref] Alavanja MC. Biologic damage resulting from exposure to tobacco smoke and from radon: implication for preventive interventions. Oncogene. 2002;21:7365–7375. doi: 10.1038/sj.onc.1205798. [PubMed] [Cross Ref] Novotny M, Merli F, Weisler D, Fencl M, Saeed T. Fractionation and capillary gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric characterization of the neutral components in marijuana and tobacco smoke condensates. J Chromatogr. 1982;238:141–150. doi: 10.1016/S0021-9673(00)82720-X. [Cross Ref] Tashkin DR, Baldwin GC, Sarafian T, Dubinett S, Roth MD. Respiratory and immunologic consequences of marijuana smoking. J Clin Pharmacol. 2002;42:71S–81S. [PubMed] Sidney S, Beck JE, Tekawa IS, Quesenberry CP, Friedman GD. Marijuana use and mortality. Am J Public Health. 1997;87:585–590. [PMC free article]

More about Marijuana Vs Tobacco Research Paper

Open Document