What are the benefits and liabilities of cannabis use?

There are traditions of using this as a sacred substance for religious ritual and it does have a place within such cultures. It does have some medicinal value and, in particular, the properties that are not psychoactive but nonetheless useful can be readily separated through chemical manipulation among the active constituents, and this bypasses entirely the addiction potential and so forth. The psychoactive molecule reproduces the effects of the natural forms and the natural cannabinoids made within the body for which there are receptors in the brain. This is why cannabis from plant origin has such profound effects on feelings and neural function and other physiologic effects as well because the body has natural receptors that recognize the active ingredients. Unfortunately, there are many downsides to ingesting cannabis through whatever route of administration. The oral is much safer than inhalation because almost always the inhalation involves many contaminating chemicals that are destructive to tissue or carcinogenic. In addition, the effects on the body are problematic in a number of respects because of the change in mood and the soothing effect—it causes people to drop their guard much in the way as overindulgence in alcohol blurs the senses, so getting high with cannabis lowers the barrier to penetration of the body energy field known as the aura. Malevolent spirits can gain entry quite readily, as happens with someone who is drunk from alcohol, so cannabis, like alcohol, is a gateway for spirit possession. Once such beings have entered a person’s energy, they begin to siphon it away for themselves and to cause many, many other problems, as you know. This can have very dire consequences even as severe as mental illness, criminal conduct, destruction of relationships, and the wrecking of careers. Changes in motivation are particularly insidious and this undermines human productivity significantly. People become less and less interested in the outside world when enjoying the sensations of getting high become the major focus of one’s day. This, coupled with the alteration of perception, changes judgment significantly and lowers standards, so people often become fascinated with the mundane and believe they are geniuses and may have created something profound, but once the drug wears off, see that it was a wild exaggeration. The many hours consumed by such false perceptions are essentially wasted and this can undermine people severely when their lives become more and more dedicated to what is, in effect, an empty recreation, a diversion, and a time-waster. There can be other adverse consequences as well, particularly on brain function, with chronic exposure leading to degradation of memory and other changes in neural physiology.