there is far to high an incidence of serious problems arising from its abuse and it seems that there are very few who are able to simply use this drug.
While I don't doubt for a minute that some cases of psychosis are associated with marijuana use, I'm not so sure it can be generalised that the
root cause of such conditions is solely attributable to the drug. I've known many pot users over the years, with several of my class mates being daily users of strong pot for over 30 years. No one from this group has suffered such conditions and all lead very regular lives.
I see it as a bit of a chicken and egg case. What we have to ask ourselves is whether or not a pre-existing psychological condition may make one more susceptible to self medicating with a drug like marijuana and whether in some of these cases, the drug has a more negative affect.
While smoking obviously carries associated risks of emphysema etc, I believe prolonged MDMA use carries a higher risk of depression and other medical conditions. I could argue this all day, but I also appreciate that everyone has a different story - a real life account that affects their view.
However, I dispute somewhat the argument concerning stronger forms of pot. The first pot we smoked in NZ was mainly Thai Buddha sticks which were around for years. This shit was easily as strong if not stronger than the better hydro varieties of today and we were pigs
However, one notable exception to the users of today was that we never smoked at work. We'd smoke most every night and at the weekends, but Monday - Friday between 8-5 we didn't. Of course residual effects meant we were effectively stoned all the time. But we prided ourselves at not being deadbeat stoners, and got shit done. Getting stoned was never an excuse for being slack. Whether this attitude made any difference or not is impossible to say.
In regards to acute problems suffered by users; from working at the coalface of harm reduction I can say that we have far less marijuana related interventions compared to MDMA related ones. Marijuana related problems are usually confined to first time use, whereas MDMA related interventions are seen in experienced as well as inexperienced users.
For the predisposed, risk of developing acute problems leading to life threatening conditions is definitely higher with MDMA than for marijuana, although due to increased pulse and BP, marijuana is not completely safe in this regard.
An interesting point regarding route of administration and dose response; while dose response for MDMA is much less sharp than for drugs such as GHB, heroin etc, MDMA can be consumed in high enough quantities to increase risk substantially. The same can't really be said for smoking dope. The amount of bioactive THC which reaches the brain from smoking is markedly reduced over time. It helps to explain why a single toke can produce much the same affect as smoking several joints.
