Question: how is cannabis bad for you, when it makes you happy???

Jim Caryl answered on 22 Jun 2011:

There are plenty of things that can make you happy, indeed many chemicals that can make you happy, all be it artificially by manipulating cells in the brain to release hormones that make you feel happy.

However, relying on external stimulants effects your ability to generate natural feel-good responses, and makes you dependent on those chemicals. Rather than enjoying the steady supply of your own natural, healthy happiness, the chemical approach is sought more and more, and the problem with such drugs is that they rarely have just one effect on the body; the nature of these other effects may be known in some cases, like increasing psychosis or other mental-health disorders in those with a pre-disposition towards it; ironically, it can also make you depressed.

You can read some more about effects here: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfo/problems/alcoholanddrugs/cannabis.aspx

Cannabis still poses similar risks to smoking, and irrespective of the arguments made with regards how dangerous cannabis chemicals are, there is an ethical concern. Whilst cannabis is categorised as an illegal drug, its manufacture is illegal, this means there are networks of criminals involved with, and benefiting from, the trade of it. In an age where we seem very concerned about the provenance (origin) or many of our foodstuffs, clothes and services, where we don’t want people (or the environment) to have suffered to produce them, I would be concerned that there could be a trail of environmental and human damage involved in the production and selling of illegal material.

For an ethical consideration alone, I don’t believe people should be using cannabis.