The use of marijuana cannot be compared to the use of cigarettes or alcohol in small quantities. Cigarettes are never healthy but do not have the psychotropic effect of marijuana, and it is precisely in this aspect where the difference lies. A person who uses marijuana aims to achieve a state different from the normal one, while a person who smokes cigarettes seeks status or pleasure.
The goal of reaching a different state of perception, feeling as if in a dream, or relaxing indicates a psychological deficiency. Either external problems are too intense, requiring a form of compensation for this tension, or the individual smoking marijuana is weak enough not to face their natural problems. Using marijuana for either situation is misguided and will lead to greater problems. In this case, the problem is not with marijuana but with the escapist behavior. Adolescence is preparation for adult life, which is naturally more difficult due to the maturity that will be achieved with time and patience. When an adolescent escapes their problems, they are planting the habit of escape for adult life. Perhaps, through marijuana itself when they are an adult. Marijuana is rarely used with the same intensity as cigarettes. It is common to find a person who smokes twenty or thirty cigarettes a day, but even the heaviest marijuana user would hardly reach that. As the harmful effects of cigarettes are directly proportional to the intensity of use, it is unlikely that a marijuana user will have the same problems as a cigarette user, such as cancer or emphysema. However, the harmful effects of marijuana are different, certainly affecting the behavior and personality of users, in addition to the amotivational syndrome attributed to heavy and prolonged marijuana use. Marijuana may not shorten a person's life as cigarettes do, but it certainly compromises the quality of the years lived.
