[JeremyBanks]

Is Marijuana risky for your health?

There don't seem to be any long-term health risks. None have been demonstrated, a some you might expect (such as lung cancer) seem to have been disproven. Smoking can irritate your lungs in the shorter term, but fortunately there's no need to smoke.

Have you personally been affected?

If you use it frequently it makes it easier to fall into unproductive habits. For people who have a hard time staying committed or focused it would probably be a bad idea to become a regular user.

Edit: Oh, I read that as "has your personality been affected". Responding to the actual question: If I've smoked a lot recently I begin to develop a cough, but these days that doesn't happen as I use a vaporizer almost exclusively.

[grav1tas]

Can you link us on some studies disproving a link between Marijuana and some long-term health risk? I find it hard to believe that smoking something ISN'T bad for you, though am aware that there are other uses of it, as well..but a lot of people (if not most) tend to smoke it. What about the long-term cognitive impacts of using Marijuana as a mind-altering substance? Alcohol, caffeine and other drugs have long term effects, so what are the ones from Marijuana?

[JeremyBanks]

Can you link us on some studies disproving a link between Marijuana and some long-term health risk? I find it hard to believe that smoking something ISN'T bad for you, though am aware that there are other uses of it, as well..but a lot of people (if not most) tend to smoke it.

I don't understand why this is the case, it does sound rather implausible, but this study seem pretty good.[1][2]

What about the long-term cognitive impacts of using Marijuana as a mind-altering substance? Alcohol, caffeine and other drugs have long term effects, so what are the ones from Marijuana?

If you are at risk of some mental illnesses it can trigger the onset of symptoms.[3] I don't think that there has been any studies showing other risks, but there's probably a lack of research in this area.

  [1] Paper: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/cmaj;180/8/814
  [2] Article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=large-study-finds-no-link
  [3] Article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201011/can-marijuana-induce-psychosis

[quizbiz]

http://pastebin.com/0VGDYvnE

[Locke1689]

That actually directly contradicts the OP's statement.

There is evidence that cannabis smoking is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer. (See "Cigarette smoking and other risk factors for lung cancer", section on 'Marijuana'.)

[YuriNiyazov]

What are the long-term effects of caffeine?

[thomasz]

> There don't seem to be any long-term health risks.

As long as you don't count psychosis as health risk...

[treo]

Recent studies[1][2] have shown that psychosis only may be a risk if you already are prone to it.

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=S... [2] http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/ebm/record/16936704/a...