Get the facts on Marijuana

Millions of people use marijuana habitually and many are quite addicted to the drug. Addiction is a disease and like any disease, tears away at the mind and body of the sufferer. Many pot smokers did not fully understand marijuana dangers as they began to smoke the drug early in life. Some pot smokers find themselves using the drug more than they would like and find it interfering with school, work and relationships with family and friends. This cycle can feed off of itself in a negative way causing more use of the drug and further consequences. Many studies of marijuana dangers associate repeated use of the drug with lower test scores and academic abilities. On the job, workers who smoke pot often miss more work, have more accidents and are more likely to lose their job. Studies also show that over time, individuals who become physically and/or emotionally dependent on marijuana can find that they are falling behind on basic fundamental life skills that are being acquired by peers in the same age range. This can lead to self-esteem problems as self-reinforcement abilities deteriorate and confidence diminishes. So why doesn't the pot smoker stop smoking pot?

What is marijuana?

Marijuana is the most common illegal drug around and you may have already seen it, smelled it, or you may have even tried it yourself. It comes from a plant called "cannabis" which grows all over the world and some people call it pot, weed, grass, hash, smoke or ganja - just to name a few. Although hash and hash oil also come from cannabis, they tend to be much more potent than their leafy counterpart. Marijuana is green or brownish and comes from the flowers on the cannabis plant.

What can marijuana do to my health?

• Just like cigarettes, marijuana smoke is full of tar and more than 400 kinds of chemicals and there's no question that this can't be good for our lungs, throat and esophagus. One particular cancer-causing agent called "Benzo (alpha) Pyrene" can be even more concentrated in marijuana smoke than it is in tobacco smoke.

• Regular and long-term use of marijuana interferes with your ability to concentrate, and it makes it harder to learn new things and remember what you already know - and the likely consequence would be poor performance at school and work.

• Marijuana use can trigger psychotic episodes in people that have a high risk for schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder where a person has trouble determining reality, and experiences illogical thinking patterns, delusions and hallucinations.

• It can make you feel paranoid or anxious, some people even "freak out", or start acting totally crazy, but this usually happens when they mix marijuana with alcohol or other drugs.

• Many people notice that their heart races and their thinking gets distorted.

• Most people on marijuana see, smell and hear things differently than they normally do - and this is the main reason why some activities may be dangerous when you're high, like playing sports, riding your bike or worse, driving a car.

• Most get bloodshot eyes.

• Some go into a sort of trance and can't seem to do anything but wait it out.

• Most get extremely tired once they "come down" (when the high wears off)..

This topic can be a bit complicated, with lots of detail about how the active ingredients of marijuana affect the inner-workings of the brain. For those of you interested in the hard-core scientific talk, you can read up on it here: McGill U. brain content. For everyone else, let's just say that cannabis has what are called psychoactive chemicals, the main one being "tetrahydrocannabinol" or THC for short. When you smoke a joint, the THC goes into your lungs, then into your heart which pumps it into your bloodstream which then takes it directly to your brain. When you smoke marijuana, it only takes a few minutes for the THC to get to your brain, whereas if you eat it, it would take a little longer because it has to pass through your digestive system first. Once it's in your brain, the THC activates what are called "receptors", and gives you the feeling of being high. In short, marijuana changes the physical and chemical balance in your brain and this is what people refer to as a "high".

There are risks to marijuana use, both over the long and short term. In the short term, the effects that marijuana will have on any one person may be different each time they try it, depending on the amount they take, the potency of the drug, the person's mood at the time and the place in which it is used. The truth is that you can never be 100 percent sure of the effects, or how long they will last.Sometimes people become withdrawn, fearful, anxious or depressed and this tends to happen if the person takes more than they usually do, if the strength of the marijuana is more than what they are used to, or if they are an inexperienced user. And look out if you're using marijuana with other substances.If eaten, the "psychoactive" effects of marijuana become much more difficult to control. Because the effects of marijuana take longer to sink in when eaten, people often become impatient and think that nothing is happening - so they eat more - but a couple of hours later, when it finally hits them, they could be in trouble.The use of marijuana with alcohol is far more dangerous than the two used separately.

The intoxicating effects of both drugs used at the same time increase impairment. In this case 1 + 1 does not equal 2, but more like 3 or 4.On the other hand, you should consider the long term effects. Smoking marijuana, whether in a joint or in a bong, releases tar into the lungs in the same way that smoking tobacco does. There are more than 400 chemicals in marijuana smoke, some of which can affect the lungs, throat and esophagus. Daily or regular use of marijuana may cause respiratory problems such as chronic cough, and chronic or recurring bronchitis. Marijuana can lower inhibitions and impair judgment. Lowered inhibitions have been known to result in unprotected sex, increased possibilities of sexually transmitted diseases, and potential unwanted pregnancies. Marijuana may interfere with human reproduction. Some research shows a decline in sex hormones in young boys and possible disturbances of the menstrual cycle in girls. In the critical early stages of pregnancy, smoking may be harmful to the baby.

Sources: Marijuana Addiction: http://www.marijuana-addiction.net/marijuana-dangers.htm
Health Canada - www.hc-sc.gc.ca
Canadian Public Health Agency - www.cpha.org