A Brief Side Effect Of Marijuana Essay

THC disrupts the nerve cells in the part of the brain where memories are formed. This makes it hard for the user to recall recent events (such as what happened a few minutes ago), and so it is hard to learn while high. A working short-term memory is required for learning and performing tasks that call for more than one or two steps. Some studies show that when people have smoked large amounts of marijuana for many years, the drug takes its toll on mental functions. Among a group of long-time heavy marijuana users in Costa Rica, researchers found that the people had great trouble when asked to recall a short list of words (a standard test of memory). People in that study group also found it very hard to focus their attention on the tests

Millions are abusing marijuana every day. In fact, 1 out of 7 high school students smoke marijuana more than once a day. Marijuana is taken very lightly and is the most highly used illegal drug. For this reason, society should know its short and long term effects on the brain. Marijuana can effect these two areas emotionally or physically. Also in some cases physical damages causes the emotional response. Although most public information on drugs are funded by anti-drug organizations, hopefully we will still learn these true facts of marijuana in spite of that.

People might think smoking marijuana is cool. They might try it without knowing what it is or what affects is has on you. Once someone smokes it for the first time, they might keep doing it again and again and they could get hooked on it for life. People who use marijuana usually never use any other type of illegal drugs, but more than seven thousand five hundred people get arrested for using marijuana every year. There is a wide variety of marijuana, but they are all based off of two marijuana plants, Indica and Sativa. Marijuana is very popular in America, and all over the world. Marijuana affects the body, it can be used as medicine, and marijuana can be addictive.

Illnesses can also be treated by cannabis. Illness is something that someone gets over time but it eventually goes away. (The Union, Brett Harvey) Cannabis is an excellent and healthy way to relieve pain from migraine headaches. (The Union, Brett Harvey) Migraines are often caused by nausea, flashes of light, and photosensitivity. (How Weed won the west, Kevin Booth) When cannabis is taken in to a person’s body it impacts the Autonomic Nervous system which causes that person to breathe easier and relax. (The Union, Brett Harvey)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are funding many researcher to further the research and benefits of cannabinoids, THC and CBD in medical marijuana. It is believed that THC and CBD can help with killing cancer cell with radiation.

Found in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol other known as THC, is widely used in the medical world. THC is said to help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. It was found that the active chemical in marijuana, THC, slows the formation of amyloid plaques. Blocking

Several promising studies indicate that CBD may have a positive effect on breast cancer cells. A 2011 study showed that CBD kills breast cancer cells by inducing ER stress, inhibiting mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)- the protein that regulates cell growth. Source http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/10/7/1161.full that CBD A 2007 animal study involving a mouse revealed that CBD may reduce the growth of aggressive human breast cancer cells, may be an effective inhibitor of breast cancer cell invasiveness, and could regulate the expression of key genes that control breast cancer cell proliferation. Source http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/6/11/2921 In 2006, a team of Italian researchers made the case for CBD cancer therapy on the basis that CBD is a potent inhibitor of cancer cell growth. Source

"That THC could be a potential therapeutic treatment option for Alzheimer's through multiple functions and pathways" (Cao, et al, 2014).

Marijuana is a drug that divides people. Some people claim it as the wonder drug of the '90s, capable of relieving the symptoms of many serious illnesses. Others curse the day the cannabis plant was ever discovered. From pain relief to stimulating the appetites of patients on chemotherapy, marijuana seems to have plenty going for it as a medicine. The legalization of marijuana is a large controversy in many parts of the world today, but the obvious negative effects that the drug induces has kept it from being legalized. Many researchers have a strong positive attitude towards marijuana. It has been said that the drug is “worth investigating and even providing as a medicine for pain relief, severe

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes pressure in the eyeball leading to the optic nerve becoming damages and causing vision loss. Marijuana helps the chance of by decreasing the eye pressure and slow the progression of the disease lessening the chance of blindness. Another serious issue that cannabis is showing great help with is presently seizures caused by epilepsy or Dravet’s Syndrome. The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) controls the brain cells that are responsible for relaxation and excitability helping to rest the body from future epileptic seizures.

There have been 0 recorded deaths caused by smoking marijuana. Even though smoking marijuana cannot kill a person, a common argument is that smoking cannabis can cause cancer. But in a study done by Donald Tashkin at the UCLA School of Medicine, he showed that people who smoke marijuana are at less risk of developing lung cancer than tobacco smokers. In fact, he concluded that people who smoke marijuana are just as likely to get lung head or neck cancer as those who do not smoke anything at all. In a study done by the Wisconsin University of Medicine and Public Health in 2008, investigators found that cannabinoids (chemical compounds found in marijuana) stopped the spread of brain cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lymphoma. A method to eliminate the harm caused to a person’s lungs from smoking marijuana is by cooking food containing oil with marijuana. It is possible to transfer THC (the chemical compound in marijuana that gives a person the sensation of “getting high”) and other cannabinoids from the plant into food, still giving a person the desired feeling without any of the lung damage. When a person drinks alcohol, they usually have a hangover the day after, which is a period of time in which the person’s body is recovering from the binge drinking the night before. It is almost as if that person is sick for most of the day, they cannot function at their full potential. After someone smokes

The disease multiplies and multiplies until it essentially shuts down or blocks many vital parts of the body that are needed to survive. Recently however, scientists have been able to use marijuana to fight many aggressive cancers that show up in humans. In september of 2012, scientists released an article detailing how marijuana can actually stop metastasis in aggressive cancers and actually retune the cells back to their original states. Scientists have found that CBD, a non-toxic and non-psychoactive chemical compound found in marijuana, could actually turn off the ID-1 gene,gene that promotes cancer growth, prevalent in many aggressive cancers. Such it is a non-psychoactive component the patient does not experience the feelings associated with being high. The fact that his property ot the plants is just being discovered means that there is high hopes that marijuana actually posses many medical properties that have yet to be discovered. If marijuana were legalized for medical use it would allow scientists to more easily acquire samples to run tests on in order to find more inherit medical properties. This study shows evidence to support the

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.

THC slows the formation of amyloid plaques by blocking the enzyme in the brain that creates them. These plaques kill the brain cells that potentially lead to Alzheimer’s disease. The breaking down of these cells prevent Alzheimer’s to never grow in the brain and stop it all together. (Janda,2006)

Additionally, medical marijuana could also cure cancer, a vigorous disease that kills many people daily. Research shows that THC is the main cannabinoid associated with marijuana and has been recognized to contain a strong anti-cancer effect. Wai Liu, a researcher discovered that there are numerous less known cannabinoids that may decrease the growth of cancer cells in Leukemia. Liu also found out that because the cannabinoids are not psychoactive, a patient could have the anti-cancer benefits without having the high feeling associated with THC (Bekiempis 1). Thus, marijuana does not target all rapidly dividing cells like the way chemotherapy or radiation does – which leads to weight and hair loss. Rather, the marijuana attacks the cancer (Bekiempis 1). Additionally, medical marijuana has many therapeutic uses. For example, research proves that