For the past few years I was under the impression that marijuana was a fairly harmless substance that owed its bad reputation largely to the negative propoganda directed at it by government agents that were in the pockets of the tobacco and alochol industry. With that idea firmly in mind, I used marijuana for the first time during the previous year. On both the occassions that I used it, it produced a feeling best described as euphoria within me. I also observed that while I needed only two joints to attain that state during the first time that I smoked it, with regard to the second occassion that I smoked marijuana, I required twice that number of joints. Well, ever since this brief experience with the drug, I've been researching the long term medical effects of marijuana use and have disocvered that, much to my horror, the drug is far from harmless and has actually been linked with lung cancer and massive brain damage. Now, as someone who used to be a binge drinker, I've developed this terrible paranoia that I might have the potential to become an addict. I'm about to begin univarsity early this year, and as a fairly bright student, I'd hate to see my academic potential wasted due to a bad judgement call that I made when I was rather drunk. Do I have good reason to be worried? And if so, what are the steps that I can take to prevent that outcome? Thanks for taking the time to read this.