10 Things More Worrisome than Marijuana (#8 Will Surprise You)

They'll say things like marijuana is the "devil's lettuce," a "gateway drug," or "makes you stupid." They couldn't be further from the truth, and the reality is no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose.

Rather than worsen dependence on street drugs, communities with access to medical cannabis have reduced reliance on opiates and other prescription pills. With each day, more studies show marijuana relieves chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and gives life to new brain cells in your hippocampus (linked to learning and memory) by activating your endocannabinoid system.

Can we get an amen for new brain cells?!

Part of our mission at GLAUX CHEM® is to advocate for the normalization and legalization of cannabis by educating the masses about the benefits of using hemp or marijuana and shedding light on the stigma that plagues cannabis.

In this blog, we explore ten non-cannabis things that actually harm your body.

Negative Thoughts

Having negative thoughts and surrounding yourself with Debbie Downers affects your hormonal health, and not in a productive way. When you think negative thoughts, your body automatically responds by making hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

While this response is a natural reaction by your body, the excess amount of these stress hormones may cause you to become irritable, disrupt your sleep cycle, and even increase your heart rate. When your body can no longer handle the added stress, you may develop severe medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart, and brain problems.

Why subject your body to unnecessary damage? You can choose how you think and who to include in your social circle. Changing your mental state from negative to positive thinking causes your body to make and release happy hormones like dopamine and is a boon for your health.

Thinking positive and hanging around other plus signs has a rewarding effect and enhances your creativity and problem-solving skills. You also become more compassionate and empathetic.

The power of positive thinking is not a new concept and exists for a reason.

If you think happy thoughts, you'll feel better.

Sleep Deprivation

Do you ever get a bad night of sleep and wake up in the morning feeling drained and unmotivated? Your day drags by, you have trouble focusing, and all you can think about is going home to sleep.

Sluggishness is your brain's way of communicating to your body that you need rest. When you sleep at night, your body uses that time to repair and recover from the day, so getting the proper amount of sleep is vital for your health.

Studies show not getting enough sleep causes a delay in reaction times by slowing down how fast your neurons communicate with one another. Your brain then goes into protective mode and begins to release cortisol as a response to keep you alive and functioning.

A 2019 study published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs found that 74% of medical marijuana patients use cannabis to help them relax and reduced their dependence on prescription pills. If you are one of the millions of Americans that have trouble sleeping, we suggest trying cannabis as an aid to help you sleep better and stop using sleeping pills.

The best about using cannabis for sleep is you won't feel groggy or tired the next morning.

Alcohol

Each year more than 88,000 Americans die from booze-related incidents alone, which comes out to around 240 deaths per day. That number is staggering, yet drinking is still one of the most widely socially acceptable things bringing people together, despite the preventable deaths and crippling addiction that tears families apart.

Not only is alcohol addictive, but regular and excessive consumption leads to irreversible liver, kidney, and brain damage, disrupts your sleep cycle and slows down your immune system. Alcohol harms every single one of your organs, but the liver is the hardest since it breaks down ethanol—the compound that gets you drunk.

Unlike alcohol, the compounds in marijuana like THC and CBD are good for your brain and heart and aid your immunity by activating your endocannabinoid system.

While hundreds of people perish each day from alcohol, not a single person will die from smoking too much marijuana.

Prescription Pills

Let's get real for a minute. The only thing pain pills kill for good are people, not pain.

The opiate crisis is an ongoing problem here in the US. In 2018 alone, there were more than 67,000 deaths, or 183 per day, from an overdose on legally prescribed painkillers like morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl.

Painkillers work in your body the same way heroin does and trigger the release of the pleasure or reward hormone dopamine. This excess amount of "feel good" in your brain is what makes these drugs so addictive.

On the other hand, marijuana produces pain-relieving effects by stimulating dopamine release and serves as a natural and safe alternative to painkillers. More than 60% of registered medical marijuana patients use the plant for pain relief and chronic pain. In states that have some type of legal marijuana, death from opiate overdoses dropped by more than 30% on average.

Congress still classifies cannabis as a schedule 1 drug (the same class as heroin), but the truth lies in the quantifiable statistics and data. Nobody has ever died from a marijuana overdose, but prescription pills kill over 30 people a day.

Red Meat

No one has ever died from a cannabis overdose, but colon and prostate cancer kill over 80,000 people a year in the US alone. Red meat is not the sole cause of these types of cancer, but data shows people who eat red meat regularly increase their risk of developing these cancers by at least 30%.

Not only does red meat increase your risk of developing cancer, but chowing down on a steak or burger on the regular is terrible for your heart. Why? Red meat is loaded with saturated or BAD fats that lead to heart diseases like high blood pressure and the build-up of plaque that clogs arteries. If left untreated, you may wind up with a stroke or heart attack.

Unlike red meat, cannabis is heart-healthy, and consuming hemp or marijuana benefits your heart and body by activating your endocannabinoid system. Hemp foods are packed with GOOD unsaturated or omega fats, along with cannabinoids like CBD.

Marijuana is loaded with cannabinoids like CBD and THC that activate your endocannabinoid system, which improves digestion and circulation, lowers high blood pressure, and counters the effects of BAD fats.

If you want to reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease, it's high time you stop eating red meat and enjoy some hemp seeds and marijuana flowers.

Not Exercising

If you want to be healthier, have more energy, and less stress, then you should get regular cardio exercise for twenty to thirty minutes a day, three times a week.

Your body is exposed to all kinds of physical and mental stress daily and responds by releasing fight and flight hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, epinephrine. The long-term activation of the stress-response system and the overexposure to hormones that follow may disrupt your body's ebb and flow, increasing your risk of developing anxiety, depression, heart disease, and insomnia.

Studies show that cardio workouts help mitigate unhealthy levels of stress hormones by preventing the build-up of these hormones and stimulating the production of endocannabinoids. Your endocannabinoid system is a potent regulator of inflammation in your body and uses compounds called endocannabinoids to do its job.

Regular exercise is a powerhouse that feeds your body and brain. If you want to keep your mind sharp and body healthy, you need to adopt a daily workout routine, with cardio included. Slacking on your exercise is way more harmful than marijuana.

Not exercising is the second cause of preventable death in the US.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High fructose corn syrup is by far one of the WORST ingredients you can consume, making matters worse; it is in almost everything you buy. Soda, ketchup, pickles, juice, and canned drinks contain the top foods that contain this fake sugar.

What makes this imposter sugar terrible? The answer is how it breaks down in your body during glycolysis—the pathway your body uses to metabolize sugars like glucose and fructose. Although fructose and glucose are both sugars, your body handles fructose much differently than glucose.

Glucose is processed into energy (ATP) or stored as glycogen in your muscles when your body does not need energy. When you hear an athlete say they are "carb-loading" for an event, they are eating lots of carbohydrates to build up their energy stores.

Your body does not convert fructose to ATP and instead turns this sugar into fats called triglycerides. These blubbery culprits are all kinds of wrong for your heart and circulation and cause the build of plaque and hardening of your arteries, upping your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Yes, smoking marijuana is safer than drinking Coca-Cola.

Not Flossing

How many times has your dentist told you to floss more?

The reason is that not flossing leads to a gum disease called gingivitis. Studies show people with gum disease are two to three times more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or other serious heart problems.

Your body responds to gum disease by increasing inflammation. Without the proper treatment and as time progresses, you develop chronic inflammation, which is your body's worst nightmare. Chronic inflammation harms you by causing free-radical damage to your brain, heart, kidney, liver, and other vital organs.

One thing for sure is that marijuana does not cause gum disease or gingivitis. Next time you visit your dentist, ask them which is worse for your teeth, smoking marijuana or not flossing.

And if they say smoking marijuana, then you should find a new dentist, STAT!

UV Rays

Of course, you cannot live without the sun, but getting too much sun and not wearing sunscreen is one of the most harmful things you can do to your body.

Each year over 6,000 people in the US alone die from melanoma, and UV rays are the leading creators of free radicals, or unpaired electrons, that cause the skin cancer melanoma, and other conditions like extremely dry skin, thin skin, wrinkles, and sunspots.

The other thing about free radicals is the damage is not skin deep. When your body's antioxidant defenses are too low, free radicals can also damage your DNA, proteins that build muscle, and natural fats that keep your cells healthy.

If you want to reduce damage from UV rays, wear sunblock, eat a diet rich in omega-3 fats, and dab on products that contain colored plant oils rich in antioxidant and sun disruptive ingredients like hemp, pumpkin, and pomegranate seed oils are useful.

Marijuana is free of UV rays and cannot cause melanoma.

Fast Food

Hello, acne, heart disease, diabetes, stomach problems, and depression.

If you didn't already know, but hopefully you do, fast food is tainted with saturated fats and sugars that anger your immune system by triggering inflammation. This downward spiral leads to an overproduction of cortisol and can cause chronic stress. People who suffer from chronic stress tend to be depressed, overweight, and have trouble sleeping.

Upping the number of omega fats (GOOD fats) makes your heart AND skin happy. Hemp and flax seeds, avocados, and chia seeds are all rich in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats and should be a part of your everyday diet.

There is an added benefit to consuming hemp foods over the others, which comes from the anti-inflammatory cannabinoids like CBD and CBG, naturally found in hemp seeds and hemp oil. Studies show eating hemp foods reduces triglyceride levels and quells your immune system.

In the US, 60,000+ people die from heart attacks each year, but nobody has ever died from a marijuana heart attack.

The Take-Home Message

We've said it thousands of times and will say it ten thousand more—nobody has ever died from a marijuana overdose.

Zilch. Zero. Zip.

Shout it from the rooftops and share this blog on social media to help spread the good word and end the stigma against cannabis.