AtlasS..

[Mystical]

You know, if I wanted to I could buy a pack of cigarettes, smoke the whole packet, and not become addicted, plus have absolutely zero effect on my long-term health. I choose not to.

Argument is non sequitur. Cigarette addiction is normally acquired over time through habitual use. If you go outside on your lunch break every time you have a cigarette, then when you run out of cigarettes the next time you have a lunch break just try not to want one. Not because you were chemically dependent by one pack, but because the habit creates the want for use. In my opinion, the addiction is attained from habitual use leading to drug resistance, which requires you to go from a light pack to a regular pack to a heavy pack. After an indefinite amount of use you become chemically dependent on tobacco from prolonged use.

Cocaine on the other hand can be a chemical dependence from the first time you use it.

Cocaine is one of the most addictive drugs out there. It therefore has correspondingly intense effects on the body - and on the mind. One of reasons that cocaine is so dangerous and addictive is because it actually changes the way the brain functions.

Deep in the brain, there are centers that provide feelings of euphoria and pleasure. These are known as reward centers. An event that is "rewarding" is accompanied by the release of a chemical known as dopamine. Dopamine allows feelings of pleasure and euphoria. Normally, the dopamine is released into small gaps between neurons in the brain. It binds with proteins in the gaps and sends the appropriate signals to the brain. The dopamine eventually leaves the gap.
With cocaine substance abuse, this process is disrupted. Cocaine actually blocks the dopamine from leaving the gaps between the brain's neurons, and this leads to a buildup of dopamine; the brain then remains stimulated.
However, this alteration of how the brain works comes with a price. The body develops a tolerance - becoming used to - the level of pleasure felt with the initial use of cocaine. More and more cocaine is required to get the same effect. Additionally, the brain retains a memory of the euphoria, and can trigger intense cravings that can lead to relapse.

Cocaine has been found to have irreversible and fatal consequences on the heart. According to a study in the 2009 issue of the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs, cocaine is the main cause of drug deaths in the U.S., and most of these deaths are related to cardiac symptoms the drug produces. This study shows that the actions cocaine has on the heart include speeding the progression of heart disease, causing arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats, and heart failure or sudden death. Cocaine affects heart disease by causing constriction of the arteries. It causes irregular heartbeats by blocking the channels that allow potassium--a necessary mineral for heart rhythm--to cross cell membranes, and it can cause sudden death by raising the risk of developing blood clots that cause a heart attack or stroke.
Repeated cocaine use through the sinus leads to loss of blood supply to the septum (the thin bony dividing wall between the nostrils) which becomes damaged, leaving a hole between the two nose passages. The bridge of the nose may even collapse.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/19300-...fect-body/

Nonsense. I hate drugs, but I don't spurt bullshit to make my point, nor do I like to listen to bullshit.

The fact that you don't think you're spurting bullshit does not change the fact that you are.

I don't know that it's 'harmless', for instance: smoking it will still cause smoke damage to your lungs... and an absence of sobriety has significant potential for harm if used irresponsibly (especially with more inherently dangerous tasks, such as driving heavy equipment).

Quite right, forgive my laziness. And Aratacus, also forgive me I was not saying marijuana use has no effects whatsoever, I was mainly referring to the deadliness/seriousness of the chemical's effects on the body and lack thereof. One can have a seizure if you stop drinking alcohol and people have died as a result of stopping alcohol. One does not die from marijuana cessation however.
I figured these tidbits would be assumed. Just like any drug, one should not operate heavy equipment I am not advocating unsafe practices while using it, something I also assumed would be understood. Forgive me for not specifying.

When pot is smoked, the body absorbs between 10-25 percent of the THC that it contains. The amount required to experience a high is relatively small, at only 10 mg. THC doesn't leave the body immediately after the joint is smoked. A certain amount (approximately 30-40 percent) of the THC is stored in the individual's body fat. It takes between four and six weeks for the THC to be undetectable in the marijuana user's bloodstream.
Marijuana has over 400 different chemicals. Cannabis has two powerful active ingredients - THC and CBD (cannabidiol). Both substances are classed as cannabinoids - they produce psychoactive effects by binding with special receptors which are extraordinarily abundant all over the brain and body. Your brain makes its own cannabinoid - anandamide - which is thought to be involved in pain sensations, memory regulation and the immune system.
The ratio of these two substances determines the character and strength of the effect.

There have been some long term studies on the subject. Here's an 8yr study:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.11...x/abstract

Conclusions: Cessation of cannabis use appears to be associated with an improvement in capacity for recall of information that has just been learned. No other measures of cognitive performance were related to cannabis after controlling for confounds.

Being that it's late I'm going to halt my online whatnot for now.

As for drug use and depression: People often use drugs to treat their depression and/or reasons for the depression. Since the depression doesn't get cured with the symptom mask, of course they're going to get more depressed over time without remedial treatment.
Re Pot: Some pot smokers report that their mood before lighting up a joint affects their mood while they are high. A person who is feeling happy may find that using marijuana intensifies those good feelings. Conversely, someone who is not in a good frame of mind who smokes weed may find that it acts more like a depressant.

In conclusion: Cannabis aint gonna kill you. It might make you slower thinking while it's in your system. But unlike alcohol or other drugs, it isn't going to kill you in a physical sense. Altered mental states are always assumed as being possibly dangerous however, so I'm not going to go look up all the pot heads who died because they were high and fell out of a tree or something. My point is that your body isn't going to have a heart attack, or lose liver function from use. Nor are the psychological effects permanent.