It was once believed that marijuana was a gateway to idiocy. Some people were of the opinion that no matter how much potential a person had when he or she landed on this planet, smoking pot was the one sure-fire way to drag them down the burned-out rabbit hole where they would be doomed to spend the rest of their days acting like Beavis and/or Butthead.
But science has since proven that marijuana does not make people stupid. It actually does the complete opposite. Although it might be a bit controversial to say that marijuana makes people smarter, it does appear to increase awareness and open the doors of perception.
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Cannabis users are typically more health conscious than non-users. Many of them have used pot to lose weight, fight eating disorders and even unleash themselves from the grips of alcohol and drug addiction. But it goes deeper.
Some studies have shown that people living in legal states are now using pot as an alternative to prescription drugs. There is even evidence that the federal legalization of marijuana could help dig the United States out of the pits of opioid addiction – a scourge that is killing tens of thousands of people every year.
It stands to reason that if cannabis users are making better choices with respect to their overall health that they are first getting educated about the science of the plant. Although there is a limited amount of research out there proving that marijuana is a definitive treatment for all of the ailments that people purport it to be, there are a number of respected studies showing that cannabis has several therapeutic benefits.
One study published last year the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found evidence that cannabis could help with chronic pain and other conditions. Of course, it was soon after this research was published that data began to surface showing that prescription painkillers sales were down in states with medical marijuana laws on the books.
Even U.S Attorney General Jeff Sessions admits that marijuana may have some medicinal value. “There are credible scientific studies that show where medical marijuana is legal, opioid overdose deaths have gone down,” Sessions said earlier last week.
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People interested in how cannabis might be able to improve their overall health and well being will also start looking in to why this plant is still mostly illegal in the United States. This means getting in touch with the history of marijuana prohibition. It is at this point that they will learn how it is one of the biggest scams in of the 20th Century – one that is racial charged and still contributing to hundreds of thousands of arrests every year. They’ll also see that very little is being done in Congress to change the situation.
Marijuana may not make people smarter, but it has never contributed to the dumbing down of society either. If this were the case, the herb would not have made the progress it has over the past few decades.
