The Straight Dope 04/14/2006

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

You are subscribed as: [[email protected]]

To unsubscribe CLICK on the URL below this line:
mailto:[email protected]
If you can't "click" above, then send a blank email to:
[email protected]
____________________________________________
THE STRAIGHT DOPE 04/14/2006

Dear Cecil:

Though far from being an all-out pothead, I occasionally smoke a little
smoke and, to the best of my knowledge, have never experienced any ill
effects (aside from that way natty brownie I ate on my 18th birthday). I
have however heard a ton of nonsense on the subject concerning brain
cancer, sterility, mental disorders, and, thanks to one fanatically
religious friend, death and damnation. Being a reasonably
health-conscious guy, I was wondering, what serious physical or mental
effects could smoking marijuana have on me? --Brian, Long Beach,
California

~~~~~~
Looking for the perfect gift for that wedding, birthday, or
bar mitzvah? Straight Dope books are the very thing! 
See http://www.straightdope.com/store.html
~~~~~~

Cecil replies:

I first wrote about the health implications of pot use in 1985. See (The
Straight Dope: What are the long term health effects of marijuana? )
Short version: Won't kill you, but ain't mother's milk either.) Since
then a staggering amount of research has been done--a search on
marijuana in PubMed, the federally funded online medical-journal
database, turns up close to 4,000 articles in the last ten years alone.
Start reading up on the subject, though, and you quickly realize that
however fine the wheels of science may grind, they sure grind exceeding
slow. Believe it or not, some of these guys are still arguing over
whether weed causes reefer madness. The latest:

Does marijuana cause "cannabis psychosis"? The classic horror story from
the early days of the antimarijuana campaign was that smoke would turn
you into a frothing maniac. In college we all thought this was pretty
comical. Fact is, however, that smoking large amounts of potent
marijuana makes some people go nuts. One study (Chopra and Smith, 1974)
told of 200 Calcutta psychiatric patients hospitalized in the 60s for
psychotic symptoms after major herb intake, including hallucinations,
amnesia, paranoia, etc. The question remains, however, whether dope (a)
merely triggers or exacerbates psychosis in people having some genetic
or other predisposition thereto, or (b) causes otherwise perfectly
healthy folks to flip out. In a 2004 review Australian psychologist
Wayne Hall and associates argue that "evidence for there being a
distinct 'cannabis psychosis' is weak." (One argument against: the
absence of a schizophrenia epidemic despite increased marijuana use.)
Other researchers still hotly insist that dope is, or anyway might be, a
mental-health menace. I'm not claiming things have gotten to the level
of Shiites vs. Sunnis yet, but professional opinion is definitely
splitting into two camps. This brings us to a related subject:

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060414.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I've got little trails of ants wandering through my house as is usual in
rainy weather. I don't pay much attention to them. In fact I kind of
like them. Most of the time I keep food well contained, but the other
day I noticed ants had gotten into a box of cookies. I was in a cookie
mood so I brushed the ants off and ate one of the cookies. When I told
one of my friends I had done this she freaked. She is constantly
battling ants and says they are filthy and carry appalling diseases.
I'll avoid eating food that ants have touched if a noted authority says
I should. I appreciate any insight you can provide. --Donya Wicken

SDSTAFF Doug replies:

I have the same ants in my house (Argentine ants). Let's put it this
way: the types and numbers of bacteria on an ant aren't significantly
different from those in the air in your home--the same air that's in
contact with your cookies all day long. In fact, if there's any
difference, the ants will be cleaner, as any tendency they may have to
accumulate contaminants on their feet while walking is countered by
three important factors, which you can point out to your friend: 

Ants groom themselves more than almost any other type of animal
known. In this respect their  feet are second in importance only to
their antennae, which are immaculate. 

The  physical structure of ants' feet, and the nature of the lipid
layer covering their exoskeleton,  makes them a poor site for
bacterial retention even if they didn't groom themselves so well. 

The chemical secretions in ants' saliva and external glands are loaded
with some remarkable antimicrobial agents--ants, after all, are
assaulted by infectious agents in the  environment just as we are
(possibly more so when they live underground). They've had  millions
more years than primates to develop the body chemistry to make their
bodies and nests as close to sterile as can be conceived--imagine
if human sweat were composed of  Lysol and penicillin. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mantsdisease.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 09/14/1990

Dear Cecil: 

Consider, if you will, that classic breakfast cereal, Raisin Bran. A
Raisin Bran raisin is heavier than a Raisin Bran flake. Logic dictates
that heavy things ought to fall to the bottom of the box. However, when
we examine a box of Raisin Bran, we find to our surprise (and delight,
of course, because we love raisins) that the raisins are evenly
distributed throughout! How so? Are the raisins cunningly charged with
mutually repellent magnetic forces so they space themselves uniformly?
Or does Kellogg's just put the raisins in last, counting on the
hamhandedness of the shipping clerks to jostle them evenly through the
cereal by the time it gets to your breakfast table? --Ed, Los Angeles 

Cecil replies:  

An idle mind, Edward, is the devil's workshop. There's no great mystery. 
Bran flakes are fairly dense and they pack themselves
close together in the package, preventing the raisins from moving.
Kellogg's simply mixes the flakes and raisins together when filling each
box and they stay that way during shipping without much internal
migration.  A more interesting question along these lines, if you don't
mind my saying so, is this: how come, if you've got half a jar of
shelled peanuts that's been knocking around the kitchen for a while, the
big pieces wind up on top and the little chunks and crumbs wind up on
the bottom, contrary to expectation? Aristotle, I think, used to wonder
about this. Actually there are two reasons. First, while a crumb weighs
less than a big piece, the crumbs and chunks in aggregate weigh more per
unit of volume. That's because the big pieces have lots of space between
them and the crumbs don't.  

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_090.html

____________________________________________
Here's how you can get your OWN FREE Subscription:
Send a blank mailto:[email protected]
____________________________________________
Copyright 1995 - 2006 Chicago Reader, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
You may forward this document by email ONLY if you
include the entire document INCLUDING the information
at the bottom of this publication
____________________________________________
Visit our good friends at Joke A Day http://www.jokeaday.com
They're kind enough to mail THE STRAIGHT DOPE for us.
Join the World's Largest Daily Humor List and receive daily
laughs in your email by sending mailto:[email protected]