Magnesium?

Narconon, part of the Scientologist empire, is one of the more bizarre and unprincipled outfits profiting from the marijuana treatment scam.

Their latest effort has me mostly scratching my head in puzzlement.

In this press release by the organization I love the way they try to look like they’re the balanced source of factual information

There is so much controversy over the long term and short term effects of weed that it can be hard to get at the truth. Well-financed figures on both sides display their opposing views about the drug’s harm or safety. If a person, young or old, wanted the facts on weed, where would they turn?

Now Bobby Wiggins, a spokesperson and drug educator for Narconon International, explains one of the key problems related to the effects of weed consumption in a clear, three-minute YouTube video. Mr. Wiggins has educated hundreds of thousands of children on the dangers of drug use and recorded the video about the long-term effects of weed to continue the education about the effects of weed use on a broader scale.

In the video, Mr. Wiggins claims that marijuana depletes your magnesium levels, putting you on downward-tracking cycle of highs and lows.

My first thought was that, if this is true, there’s an obvious and easy solution — eat vegetables, beans and nuts that contain magnesium to restore magnesium levels (or use supplements). But is it true?

I haven’t found any reliable information on cannabis and magnesium levels, other than magnesium deficiency in plants, which can cause a yellowing in the older leaves.

I’m assuming this is just more Narconon quackery that they’ve pulled out of their ass. Perhaps we’ve done such a good job of debunking all the normal marijuana scares that they felt the need to make up a new one. Does anybody know anything else on this?

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21 Responses to Magnesium?

  1. Ron Combs says:

    After 35 yrs. of toking the only long term affect i’ve noticed is an enlarged minds eye. And an acute awarness of the Akashic.

  2. DdC says:

    When I ran a Co-generation unit for a corporation. In the early years we would soften the boiler water with sodium zeolite in tanks and an ION exchange using rock salt brine to remove Calcium and Magnesium. The two minerals responsible for “hard water”, to prevent build up and hot spots. I’ve never heard of magnesium deficiency since it seems to be as stated. In many foods. Calcium deficiency may be a problem with osteoporosis. Some suspect it is caused by Fluoridation. But I suspect it is the typical drug worrier reading the books upside down drawing more conclusions to promote their rehabilitatators. Oh wait… Seems magnesium deficiency may be a problem afterall… For your plants. Thanks for the growing tip drug mugger.

    Cannabis Nutrient Disorders
    Cannabis nutrient disorders are caused by too much or too little of one or several nutrients being available. These nutrients are made available between a pH range of 5 and 7 and a total dissolved solids (TDS) range of 800 to 3000 PPM. Maintaining these conditions is the key to proper nutrient uptake.

    Nutrients: Over twenty elements are needed for a plant to grow.

    Magnesium deficiency????????
    I have been looking in the faq section and the best I can figure out is I have a Magnesium deficiency. However I dont want to treat it if thats not the problem so can anybody please give me a second opinion??? I am 5 weeks into flowering, My soil ph is sitting at 6.8… continued

    Magnesium deficiency while flowering marijuana

  3. claygooding says:

    First i have heard of it but will search my forums for any info.

  4. DdC says:

    Scientologists giving grow tips and better highs tips. I thought they were a straight laced cult. Thanks Bobby Wiggin. Supplimenting mag gets more bang for the buck… okfine!

    How Magnesium levels in your body affect the quality of your Cannabis high.

    I have been doing some research lately, and have come to the opinion that magnesium levels in the body can have a profound impact on the quality of the high from Cannabis. If you are a healthy person with good levels of magnesium in your body, your high is optimised due to the fine tuning Magnesium gives to your nerves and cannabinoid receptors. A lot of cannabis users may not have good magnesium levels, due to poor diet or ill health, and they will often find the zing has gone out of their high. I have added a rewiew on Magnesium in the human body for you to read. continued…

  5. Bruce says:

    Huh? Dumb video. Zero credibility right from the git-go. Looks like brain damage from holding it in too long there, Dude. Why am I reminded of the hand scrawled maps and Kindergarten class hypnosis used as justification to murder Saddaam and loot and pillage Iraqi’s and their antiquities?
    The idiot infested west gets more bizarre by the day.

  6. BruceM says:

    As long as you preface your bullshit by saying it’s the truth, you can make up whatever you want.

  7. malcolm kyle says:

    Narconon invariably makes claims of very high success rates – anything up to 85%, a remarkable figure when one considers that conventional drug rehabilitation programmes achieve only a rate of around 20-30%. It is, however, extraordinarily difficult to obtain the source data for such figures. They appear never to have been published.

    http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/studies.htm

    * 77% of those who enrolled on the course quit before completing it.
    * 50% of those who did complete it went back onto drugs afterwards (and another 14% somewhat mysteriously didn’t know if they had or not).
    * 54% of those interviewed afterwards who did not complete it went back onto drugs.
    * 34% of enrollees said they had completed the programme and relapsed but claimed to be drug free at the moment.
    * 6.6% of enrollees said they had stayed totally drug free for one year afterwards.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      I’m late to this discussion, but many, many 12 steppers claim that the Various Anonymous have a 100% success rate. All you have to do is follow the rules, and “work” the program. Anyone that end up going back out was a white knuckle drunk and wasn’t really in the program you know. I’ve got more than enough bullshit in my life. Since I didn’t need anymore I left that nonsense behind.

  8. Maria says:

    My policy is to roll my eyes at anything and everything even remotely connected with Scientology. It has served me well so far.

    I’m familiar that excessive alcohol consumption (and in fact excessive urination itself) can lead to magnesium deficiency. Certain treatments for cancer can also cause sever magnesium deficiency due to the combination of treatment plus the simple fact that patients don’t eat enough.

    I’m on Magnesium supplements myself. Most people in North America do not consume an adequate amount of magnesium and so in general we are all quite deficient, stoner or not. Not sure where these guys pulled this out from (other then their rectal units.)

  9. Sick........! says:

    Never heard of such crap. And the guy in the vid looks like hes deficient in something other than magnesium. Its called reality.

  10. darkcycle says:

    http://www.springerlink.com/content/l48x3422737h84r8/
    Okay, we’re in my ballpark now. This guy is full of it.
    Magnesium’s role in the nervous system is fairly limited. It does influence the latency of neurotransmission at the axon/dendrite interface. There, he’s a little off, but essentially correct. It delays the re absorption of neurotransmitter from the inter-neuronal gap, thereby increasing the amount of time required for the nerve cell to be ready to fire again. Deficiencies are usually diet related, and easily corrected. It doesn’t deplete through this activity, as the magnesium is not “used up” by this activity and remains available for subsequent firings (or depolarizations). Long term or substantial magnesium deficits are more usually associated with muscle cramping and digestive problems.
    I simply cannot see what effect THC would have on this, though I’m a psychologist, not a neurologist. But THC would remain attached to it’s receptors longer in a person with normal magnesium levels than someone where the levels have been depleted.
    In short: I’m not taking this guy seriously at all. I believe this an attempt to do pseudo-science; eg, he’s taken a phenomenon and removed it from it’s context in order to give a distorted picture that suits his agenda.
    As an aside, my doctor told me I was magnesium deficient when I was having back spasms, I took the supplement, and nothing happened. My spasms went away after a visit to the chiropractor.
    Anyway, these are the guys who think E-Meters are “science” and that we are living on a penal-planet courtesy of the evil universal emperor Xemu. There is a small credibility gap these folks have to overcome before I’ll take them seriously. About anything.

  11. darkcycle says:

    As an aside, for reference, in the article linked above, the animals were severely deprived of magnesium, having been denied any appreciable dietary sources. In a human, this level of deprivation would cause severe illness. These animals were deprived to the point of tremors and seizure. You’ll never see that level of deficiency in humans without other serious symptoms of malnutrition, and as humans, we can address that. So just so no one thinks a simple dietary shortfall is going to have these severe effects. I don’t want to misinform or lead you to conclusions that aren’t warranted. *and he uses an uncharacteristic “winky-face” emoticon to soften the hard information* 😉

    • Duncan20903 says:

      We’ve come to accept that scientific researchers have no patience. They can’t deal with waiting for the results from testing whole plant cannabis, so they invent HU210 at up to 800x the potency to speed things up. Can’t wait to find out if pot smoke causes brain damage? Hook them monkeys up to a gas mask and pump it into them.

      You know one of the most amazing events in my life is to meet a psychologist that actually makes sense. Then again you people are the spawn of Sigmund Freud, so why is anyone surprised that the whole profession is whacko? Here’s one of Freud’s most memorable quote’s. IMO of course.

      On April 24, 1884, Sigmund Freud ordered his first gram of cocaine from the local apothecary.

      It was not to be his last. He’d read about coke, it was supposed to be great for fatigue. So great, the German army used it to stave off exhaustion[1], and he thought it might help out a few of his patients suffering nervous disorders. Like most people who purchase their first gram of coke, he was rather shocked – it cost him a small fortune. One tenth of his monthly salary to be precise. And again, like new kids in the cocaine game, the first thing he did was take a dose himself.

      Then another. And another.

      He sent some to his friends; he sent some to his fiancee, Martha Bernays, who lived some miles away, saying:

      I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you are forward you shall see who is the stronger, a little girl who doesn’t eat enough or a big strong man with cocaine in his body. In my last serious depression I took cocaine again and a small dose lifted me to the heights in a wonderful fashion. I am just now collecting the literature for a song of praise to this magical substance.

      There you have it gentlemen, what more evidence do we need?

      http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/cocaine/

  12. vicky vampire says:

    Magnesium is necessary for calcium and vitamin C metabolism,and it helps nerve and muscle functioning and converting blood sugar into energy.It fights stress and depression,promotes heart health,keeps teeth whither and prevents calcium deposits among a few other things, but the main reason I have been using it in varied doses at bedtime it works like a sleeping pill not always perfectly, half the time it helps me get some rest on higher doses.
    But anyway these stories will pop up to scare gullible folks.
    Cannabis or not depleting Magnesium, lots of folks are talking a wide variety of supplements anyway these for a huge variety of reasons.
    Yeah sometimes Cannabis does not make me drowsy enough Magnesium helps with sleep and sometimes even Camille Tea won’t do the trick.
    Insomnia is a bitch.and some pain keep me awake at night.

  13. Balloon Maker says:

    Does anyone get muscle cramps or tension headaches from smoking pot? If so, take a magnesium supplement and see if they go away. Problem solved.

  14. Dante says:

    Off topic, but I cannot seriously consider the claims of Mr. Wiggins without simultaneously imagining the hilarious antics of the Carol Burnett character “Mrs. Wiggins”, who was an incompetent secretary of the highest order. Tim Conway (I think) was her exasperated boss with an odd accent. So funny.

    Man, I’m old.

    • Pete says:

      Not that old. I intentionally used the “Mr. Wiggins” designation (as opposed to the full name) because I thought it sounded funny. And it may have subconsciously been for that same reference, for now that you mention it, I do remember that character.

      … although I’m sure I must have just seen it in reruns. 😉

  15. thelbert says:

    vicky, melatonin is possibly what you need. costco has it, swanson vitamins also.

  16. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    Well it’s a darn good thing that I take those magnesium supplements every day. Calcium too. Someday I really think I’m a pot plant, the girls have to have they’re cal-mag or they just aren’t right. I wonder if molybdenum would help too? I mean me, I know the girls love that too.

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