John Ferreira
Regarding Case Number: 2015009001
The Effects of Marijuana on the Body
Marijuana is considered in popular culture to be a widely accepted mainstream recreational illegal drug used in the United States; its use comes with severe adverse side effects that are often overlooked. Long-Term use of marijuana 'sis shown to have negative effects on physical, mental, and environmental health. Studies have shown that in the United States, up to 20% of daily marijuana users become dependent (Marijuana and Lung Health) showing a physical or emotional need for the drug. Marijuana use has the potential to affect every aspect of a person 's physical and mental wellbeing negatively. Its use also comes with potentially life-altering risks to one 's future including an individual’s likelihood of obtaining a degree, impacting their future earning potential and decreasing their overall reported life satisfaction. Once dependent on marijuana, people stop caring about their schooling. Long-term use of smoking marijuana can result in the inability to learn, retain information and think critically.
Starting with the physical effects of marijuana abuse, the first and arguably most serious effect of the drug is the damage it causes to the cardiovascular system. After inhaling marijuana, the user is five times more likely to suffer a heart attack. Almost immediately after ingestion, cannabis causes a severe spike in blood pressure and pulse. This change directly increases the
Marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs in the Nation and the world. In an article by Gray (2007) he states that “42% of high school seniors have tried marijuana, 18% have used it in the past 30 days, and 5% use it daily. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 3.6% met criteria for cannabis use disorder (abuse or dependence) and 2% met criteria for cannabis dependence”. Gray (2007) also explains how easily adolescents say it is to obtain marijuana these days. The article also states that there is evidence to prove that marijuana use may lead to “hard” drug use, academic failure, and more. With those who use marijuana chronically it may lead to impairing of the immune
In contrast, there are common believes that marijuana is not addictive such as alcohol and heroin, but research and experiences show that the user will slowly develop addiction on it even after withdrawal. The symptoms of marijuana smoker seem as in a cocaine addict. The drug is the most commonly found in the system of drivers who are fatally injured. Dependency on the drug may lead to use more dangerous drugs in future. It has a high impact on brain especially parts connected to memory and learning. One study, declare that the person who is highly addicted to marijuana in teen years his IQ points will decrease by 8 between the age of 13 and 38. Finally, the legalization of marijuana will lead to highly smoking problems and increase serious health problems, whether it has a medical condition relief property.
Marijuana can harm a person’s heart as well. Using marijuana can cause an alteration of heart rate, cause intense anxiety, panic attacks or paranoia (Fact Sheet). This could worsen pre-existing heart conditions that people may or may not know about.
Armand, Wynne. "Marijuana: Health effects of recreational and medical use". Ed. Armand,Wynne.Research.2016.Armand provides research information that recreational marijuana can cause health issues in one's life in the forms of long-term and short-term use ranging from battling one's memorization skills, cognitive skills, to how damage to the lungs like bronchitis and asthma. Armand expresses that recreational marijuana is a common use among teenagers to young adults. That how among that age bracket, marijuana consumption is the highest in the nation. That among this bracket when marijuana is consumed in the body, it creates short term effects that can damage these developing brains, which could lead them from growing at the regular pace for
Have you ever smoked a joint? If so you're not alone, because 1 out of 3 people in America have tried marijuana at one point in their lives. Occasional use isn't that much harmful, because anytime marijuana gets into your system it's going to have an affect on your mind and body. In this paper i'm going to share what marijuana is and different ways it may be consumed that leads to different health effects in the human body.
1. Attention, memory and learning are impaired among heavy marijuana users, even after users discontinued its use for at least 24 hours. Heavy marijuana use is associated with residual neuropsychological effects even after a day of supervised abstinence from the drug. Heavy users displayed significantly greater impairment than light users on attention/executive functions, as evidenced particularly by greater preservations on card sorting and reduced learning of word lists. These differences remained after controlling for potential confounding variables, such as estimated levels of premorbid cognitive functioning, and for use of alcohol and other substances in the two groups. However, the question remains open
Smoking marijuana is best described as a one-way ticket to negative side-affects. Based on Lifetime Health by Friedman, D. P., Stine, C. C., and Whaten S. “smoked marijuana are felt within minutes and may last for 2 or 3 hours”(2009). Short term effects consist of slowed thinking ability, difficulty paying attention, distorted sense of time, and many more. (Friedman, D. P., Stine, C. C., and Whaten S. (2009). Long term effects include frequent respiratory infection, impaired learning and memory, and even panic attacks (Friedman, D. P., Stine, C. C., and Whaten S. (2009). Thus, the ingestion in smoking marijuana can cause harmful outcomes, which are
According to “ Marijuana: A Continuing Concern for Pediatricians” from the journal Pediatrics, marijuana has major effects on the human body and one’s personal life. The author feels that people need to be aware of these effects. Therefore, marijuana should not be legalized in the United States. In this article the author wants to advise people of all the effects that can take place after smoking marijuana. One of the author’s largest ideas, is that marijuana is known as a gateway drug. Therefore, the drug itself can cause addiction, and if you smoke marijuana you can likely become addicted to another type of drug. Once someone uses the drug, issues regarding school, grades, money, and a job come into play as well (Marijuana: A Continuing Concern).
It seems every decade marijuana studies show that it has no side effects on users, in turn it become more available like when some states in America had legalized it. Dr Kevin M. Gray believes that the only side effect of smoking weed is the physical addictions it causes, he believes that over 51% of all teens have used weed at least once and the biggest problem we are facing with this rapidly growing drug use is only addiction. Dr Marshall M. Gay believes that the health effects of weed isn’t that much as smoking cigarettes and doesn’t see it a threat to people’s health. “More than half (51%) of adolescents reported that marijuana is fairly or very easy to obtain.2 this ease of availability may have contributed to a recently reported "reverse gateway" from cigarettes use to marijuana”. The more ignored belief is that marijuana can lead to a variety of developmental, mental and physical side effects. The effects of smoking weed can extend to those of smoking cigarettes “studies show regular marijuana use can lead to many of the same
No matter if you have been drinking or using any kind of drugs, your perception is still being distorted and you don’t have a clear understanding of what is going on in your surroundings. The anonymous bloggers of this blog mention the health factors that go with the intake of marijuana. It can be damaging to the brain, you can develop corrupt lung health, and there is a high risk of heart disease and even poor mental health (“19 Primary Pros and Cons of Legalizing Weed”). Along with the negative effects marijuana has on the body, there are also unexpected side effects it can have on the environment.
It's destructive to the learning performance, memory, and attention span. It has insidious side effects including lung damage and cancer risks. It also impairs ability to work, drive, and make clear decisions, not to mention, the lack of motivation, depression, and paranoia. In addition, "daily marijuana use has been associated with a doubling of the risk for psychosis. The most common type was a brief acute organic reaction characterized by mental dulling, distortion of time, dreamlike euphoria progressing to fragmenting thoughts, and hallucinations. More potent marijuana can cause even more severe reactions" (Baum 16). This means marijuana has tremendous costs on those who use it as well as society. The effects of marijuana abuse on an individual can be substantial, but the costs to society are innumerable. The effects can be felt in the rising of health care to increased insurance premiums. As the number of marijuana users increase, the number seeking medical attention also increases. In addition, being treated for various illnesses caused by marijuana abuse, results in missed days at work. Productivity levels fall not only because of absenteeism, but also as a result of impaired abilities. Workers under the influence of marijuana suffer from cognitive disorders that hampers their productivity. Further, as a social problem, marijuana costs society billions of tax dollars every year in an effort to obliterate drugs.
Marijuana is considered in popular culture to be a widely accepted mainstream recreational illegal drug used in the United States; its use comes with severe adverse side effects that are often overlooked. Long-Term use of marijuana is shown to have negative effects on physical, mental, and environmental health. Studies conducted within the United States have shown that up to 20% of daily marijuana users become dependent (Marijuana and Lung Health) showing a physical or emotional need for the drug. Marijuana use has the potential to affect every aspect of a person's physical and mental wellbeing negatively. Its use also comes with potentially life-altering risks to one's future including an individual’s likelihood of obtaining a degree, impacting
For many years scientists have conducted studies about marijuana and the different effects that it has on the mind and body. Marijuana smoke can cause many of the same respiratory problems experienced by tobacco smokers, such as increased daily cough and chest illnesses such as bronchitis, and a greater instance of lung infections, according to NIDA. Whenever a person smokes marijuana, THC quickly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a crystalline compound that is the main active ingredient of cannabis (Oxford, 1960). The blood carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body. The body absorbs THC more slowly when the person eats or drinks it. THC acts on specific brain cell receptors
Marijuana is a green or brown mix of preserved, crushed leaves from the marijuana plant. A psychoactive drug, marijuana contains fifty-percent more tar than tobacco. Smoking the harmful plant can damage the brain, lungs, and the male reproductive system and may escalate the effects of epilepsy and psychosis (Kahler, 1988). Within campus colleges and universities, there are a lot of students who are using marijuana recreationally. Long-term marijuana use can induce negative effects on short-term memory, concentration, attention span, motivation, and problem solving, which clearly interfere with learning. Tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, can reinforce dependence on the drug and on other addictive drugs (Joffe &
People usually do not think this will ever happen to them, because it is very rare that you hear of this occurring. What people do not realize though is that this is usually not ever found, they just suffer from the effects. Another bad side effect marijuana has is that it increases heart rates, causes anxiety and panic attacks (65). These effects can lead to serious trauma that could cause death. This is so serious because people do not think they ever have to go to the hospital, so it is never detected in their brains. Due to smoking marijuana, one’s brain and body are at an extremely high risk of these bad side effects.