What is Marijuana?
The most commonly abuse illegal drug in the United States, marijuana described by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) as “a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa.” The substance has been used by humans for recreational, medical, and religious/spiritual purposes for thousands of years, but has been declared illegal in most parts of the world since the early 1900s.
In the United States, marijuana is classified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as a Schedule I substance, meaning that the drug has been determined to have as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug.
Basic Facts
Marijuana’s psychoactive effects are the result of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the substance’s primary active chemical.
When THC binds with proteins that are contained in select nerve cells, users experience a “high” that can include distorted perception, impaired coordination, increased heart rate, and cognitive diminishment. Users are also apt to experience dry mouth, hunger, thirst, depression, panic attacks, and anxiety
As is the case with most abused drugs, using marijuana triggers the release of the dopamine, the brain chemical that is associated with pleasure.
Marijuana is most commonly ingested by smoking it, either in a cigarette (or “joint”), a pipe, or a bong (which uses water to cool the smoke before it enters the user’s lungs. Smoking is the means by which the user is exposed to the highest amounts of THC. The effects of the drug can begin to manifest themselves immediately, and depending factors such as the potency of the drug and whether the user has recently eaten, these effects usually last for one to four hours.
Common slang terms for marijuana include “dope,” “weed,” “Mary Jane,” “chronic,” “blunt,” and “herb.”
Health Consequences
According to the DEA website, marijuana is “an addictive drug with significant health consequences to its users and others.” The following are among the effects and consequences of marijuana use that have been enumerated by the DEA:
- Short-term effects include loss, distorted perception, trouble with thinking and problem solving, loss of motor skills, decrease in muscle strength, increased heart rate, and the development of depression, panic, and anxiety.
- Studies performed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have documented that smoking five marijuana joints per week can expose an individual to an amount of cancer-causing chemicals that is equivalent to what is ingested by a person who has a pack-a-day tobacco cigarette habit.
- Marijuana smokers usually inhale deeper (and hold the smoke in their lungs for longer periods of time) than do tobacco smokers, and may experience coughs, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds even if they smoke far fewer cigarettes than a tobacco smoker does.
- Long-term marijuana use has also been associated with lasting damage to short-term memory – an impairment that appears to be the result of THC-related disruptions to ability of the hippocampus (the area of the brain that is responsible for the formation of memories) to process information.
- Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, and smoking one marijuana cigarette can deposit about four times more tar into the lungs than a filtered tobacco cigarette.
- According to researchers with Harvard University, the risk of a heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after smoking marijuana.
- Smoking marijuana can also weaken the immune system and increase the risk of developing infections in the lungs. A study that was conducted at Columbia University study found that individuals who smoked a single marijuana cigarette every other day for a year had a white-blood-cell count that was 39 percent lower than normal, thus damaging their immune systems and making the regular marijuana smokers far more susceptible to infection and sickness.
- More teens are in treatment for marijuana use than for any other drug, including alcohol.
Mental/Emotional Impairments
In addition to direct physical damage, regular marijuana use has also been associated with disruptions to individuals’ learning capacity and social behavior.
NIDA has reported that several studies have linked heavy marijuana use with “increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and schizophrenia … [though] at this time, it is not clear whether marijuana use causes mental problems, exacerbates them, or is used in attempt to self-medicate symptoms already in existence.”
According to a study that was reported on the website of the Duke University Department of Psychiatry, college students who were heavy marijuana smokers demonstrated an impaired ability to pay attention, remember, and learn, even after they had abstained from the drug for at least 24 hours:
Researchers compared 65 "heavy users," who had smoked marijuana a median of 29 of the past 30 days, and 64 "light users," who had smoked a median of 1 of the past 30 days. After a closely monitored 19- to 24-hour period of abstinence from marijuana and other illicit drugs and alcohol, the undergraduates were given several standard tests measuring aspects of attention, memory, and learning.
Compared to the light users, heavy marijuana users made more errors and had more difficulty sustaining attention, shifting attention to meet the demands of changes in the environment, and in registering, processing, and using information. These findings suggest that the greater impairment among heavy users is likely due to an alteration of brain activity produced by marijuana.
The Duke-reported study also indicated that higher levels of both anger and “regressive behaviors” (for example, throwing temper tantrums or sucking one’s thumb) were observed in young children whose parents used marijuana.
Potential for Addiction
The majority of marijuana users do not develop addiction as this term is generally defined. In other words, they do not experience a loss of control over their use. However, the drug can lead to tolerance, addiction, and dependence – facts that are reflected in the tens of thousands of individuals who enter treatment programs to help wean themselves from their reliance upon marijuana.
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