79-03-A7
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Pot[edit]
Transcript[edit]If this were a true-false test and I should ask, "Smoking pot (marijuana) is no more harmful than smoking regular cigarettes or, drinking alcohol--true or false?" .. and you answered "true", I'd be sure of one thing--you didn't see NBC's special on marijuana several weeks ago called "Reading, Writing and Reefers". I'd also have to give you a failing grade on that test. Edwin Newman hosted the TV special which featured medical experts, among them Dr. Robert Dupont, former director of the National Institute for Drug Abuse. He was one of those who formerly believed marijuana was no more harmful than tobacco or alcohol. On the program he stated that he now knows he was wrong. He said, "We know a lot more about the health hazards of marijuana now and how dangerous it really is." He went on to say that the earlier comparison to tobacco and alcohol was a disaster and that he felt badly about having contributed to that. Dr. Carlton Turner, who works for the government analyzing the chemical content of "pot", told of finding more cancer-causing agents in a marijuana cigarette than in tobacco. Dr. Sidney Cohen, director of marijuana studies at UCLA's School of Medicine, told the NBC audience, "It is entirely possible that youngsters who smoke lots of good pot over long periods of time sustain some mental impairment which is not completely reversible." He said that some "may be so impaired that they will never function at their best level of effectiveness." He cited a UCLA study which proved that smoking just five marijuana joints had the same effect as smoking 112 tobacco cigarettes. NORML--the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws-- has campaigned for easing (if not actually eliminating) restrictions on sale and use of pot. But now, Keith Stroup, director of NORML, expresses worry that young people underestimate the danger in psychoactive drugs and he cautioned against making marijuana a habit. I've talked to many young people who defended "pot" and were able to quote all the statements ever made about the harmlessness of the weed. Somehow they seem never to have heard the other side. Never heard, for example, that marijuana contains 300 or more chemicals and 60 of those are found in no other plant. The most potent is THC. Unlike alcohol, it accumulates in the body and remains there for a long time mainly in the brain and reproductive system. The more pot smoked, the greater the accumulation. Chronic users have to smoke more and more to get the high feeling they are after. They don't realize they are already partly intoxicated. NBC did a real service. Youngsters have been propagandized by celebrities who admit publicly to marijuana use but who, of course, have no real knowledge of its long-range effect. The medical authorities we saw on TV have no axe to grind for or against the weed. They simply state the facts they have learned through research. If you would like transcripts of the show, write to: NBC, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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