Misconceptions often mislead people towards unhealthy practices. They tend to become accustomed to ways that are not based on science but only through words of unreliable references. Unfortunately, one of the health topics in which numerous false beliefs blooms is medical marijuana. To spare you from the hundreds of confused individuals, here are the known marijuana myths and the reason why you shouldn’t believe them:
1. All Strains Are Just The Same
Like human fingerprints, no two cannabis strains are the same. Though common marijuana users and medical experts are already aware, this myth is yet to be busted among the general population. Each strain has its own CBD and THC levels that exclusively target specific signs and symptoms. As you know that CBD is an element found in Marijuana, it is not the component that gives you the feeling of euphoria. It binds at different receptors of the brain which, in contrary, keeps you from the feeling of being high. On the other hand, THC causes the mind-altering effects.
2. It’s Better to Eat or Inhale Raw
You would never hear this advice from a health expert. To activate the THC ingredient that provides the psychoactive effects, you should heat marijuana first. You could either cook weeds with a fatty substance like butter if you prefer to ingest it. That’s why cannabis butter is an important ingredient in some ‘Edible’ recipes. If you want to smoke or vape, you just simply need to light it up. Both methods will just anyways end up with the same prescribed dosage.
3. Medical Marijuana Is An Excuse to Get High
An unexplainable feeling of being high does not manage the pain. Patients use marijuana not because they want to have an easy access to weeds amongst anyone else, but they have been experiencing signs and symptoms that they believe Marijuana could ease. It is not about getting high; it’s about pain relief and management of symptoms that are often too complex to handle by some interventions.
3. It’s Better to Smoke Tobacco Instead
Some people believe that marijuana can damage the lungs more compared to smoking. Though weeds could affect the lungs to a certain extent, the effects of chronic tobacco smoking are a hundred times more detrimental than smoking weeds. CBD has an anti-inflammatory trait that can relieve pain and swelling, whereas, tobacco contains carcinogenic substances that could lead to chronic respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, COPD, and emphysema.
4. Smoking or Eating Weeds—Their Effects Are The Same
Different methods of intake have different effects. Each has different onset times and duration of effects. Smoking has a quick onset time but has a shorter duration, whereas, ingestion takes time to feel the effects but lasts relatively longer in your body.
5. It’s a Gateway Drug
People say when you tried marijuana and experience its effects, there’s no turning back. You would always crave for such feeling and eventually try other drugs or vices such as tobacco or alcohol. In contrast, researchers claim that it’s the other way around. People tend to start on smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol until they get to consume excessively to what they tolerate, and ultimately proceed to marijuana. Perhaps, marijuana is the end drug.
Educate yourself. Don’t let these misconceptions get over you and make a negative impact on your health habits. Marijuana is here to help you have a quality of life. Why be fooled by the myths?