Alternative Drugs: Marijuana Essay

Marijuana can have very damaging affects on a person?s brain. It can impair a person?s short-term memory, decision-making and signal detection (Cannabinoids). ?In one study conducted in Memphis, TN, researchers found that, of 150 reckless drivers who were tested for drugs at the arrest scene, 33 percent tested positive for marijuana? (Marijuana). After having used marijuana a

Marijuana creates many short-term and long-term effects on the body and brain. Some short-term effects include: impaired memory, altered senses, changes in mood, and difficulty with problem solving. Some long-term effects include: breathing problems, reduce memory, and decrease IQ. A study from New Zealand conducted in part by researchers at Duke University showed that people who started smoking marijuana heavily in their teens and had an ongoing marijuana use disorder lost an average of 8 IQ points between ages 13 and 38. The lost mental abilities didn't fully return in those who quit marijuana as adults (National). This study can be seen as reliable evidence because it was conducted by researched from Duke University, which is a private research

In addition, anecdotal evidence exists that marijuana is effective in the treatment of arthritis, migraine headaches, pruritis, menstrual cramps, alcohol and opiate addiction, and depression and other mood disorders. Marijuana could benefit as many as five million patients in the United States. However, except for the eight individuals given special permission by the federal government, marijuana remains illegal-even as medicine! Individuals currently suffering from any of the aforementioned ailments, for whom the standard legal medical alternatives have not been safe or effective, are left with two choices: Continue to suffer from the effects of the disease; or Obtain marijuana illegally and risk the potential consequences, which may include: an insufficient supply because of the prohibition-inflated price or unavailability; impure, contaminated, or chemically adulterated marijuana; arrests, fines, court costs, property forfeiture, incarceration, probation, and criminal records.

Studies have proven that marijuana is no more harmful to a person’s health than alcohol or tobacco. Every year, tobacco kills roughly 390,000 people, alcohol contributes to 80,000 deaths in America and marijuana contributed to 0; no deaths from marijuana have ever been recorded in US history (Abovetheinfluence.org). When smoking tobacco, the user inhales tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and 200 other known poisons into the lungs (Abovetheinfluence.org). All forms of tobacco, including cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, and chewing tobacco, contain the addictive drug nicotine, and can also cause cancer. Alcohol alters a person's perceptions, emotions, movement, vision, and hearing. Alcohol plays a role in at least 50 percent of traffic deaths, about half of murders, and about 25 percent of suicides (Abovetheinfluence.org). Marijuana side effects include delusions, impaired memory, hallucinations and disorientation, which are no different from the side effects of alcohol alone.

Joycelyn Elders, former Surgeon General, once spoke about the legalization of marijuana for medical use in a press conference. "It's criminal to keep this medicine from patients," she said (Silverman, 1995, pg. 2). She received criticism not only from many citizens of the United States, but also strong criticism from the President who appointed her. The legalization of marijuana for medical use has always been a sharply debated subject, and many of the debaters are uneducated about the effects of using this illegal drug for therapeutic use. Many studies have been done and the results are clear. As a medical drug, marijuana should be available to patients who do not adequately respond to currently available

Marijuana does have side effects. Your body and mind be relaxed to the point that you can be in your own world. It can cause a person to be paranoid and temporary loss of memory. Marijuana can also have hyperphagia, which is excessive hunger. Medical marijuana can make a person lazy. Medical marijuana can help people with insomnia because it can help a person sleep. Marijuana can make a person be alert and in some people, marijuana can help a person function and think things clearer like dealing with psychological problems depending on the person.

Marijuana is a mixture of the dried parts of the cannabis sativa hemp plant. Excessive marijuana use can lead to an addiction. The main chemical in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which moves quickly through the bloodstream and to the brain, causing mild hallucinogenic effects. THC binds with cannabdnob receptors and activates neurons, which causes adverse effects on the mind and body. THC can mimic or block actions of neurotransmitters and interfere with normal functions. Marijuana use can lead to disturbed thoughts and can worsen psychotic symptoms. The short-term effects of marijuana include impaired coordination; skewed sensory and time perception; difficulty with thinking; shortened attention span and distractibility; impaired learning and memory. Long term users of marijuana often experience lowered motivation and some can experience anxiety, panic attacks, respiratory illness, and increased heart rate and risk of heart attack.

Although marijuana is a hallucinogen it does not have a highly addictive characteristic like other hallucinogens. In 2004 the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that its short term effects include, but are not limited to: blood shot eyes, dry mouth and increased heart rate. Its long term effects include, but are not limited to: lower testosterone levels in men, and higher testosterone levels in women. When you compare this to other drug’s side affects you see that they are not so bad.

The main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, which is also the most responsible for its intoxicating effects, is known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. THC is one of the cannabinoids found in marijuana, and there are over sixty of them. It is the cannabinoid that produces the high, and although there are other cannabinoids present, the effect is different with the absence of THC. They interact with THC to affect its impact in a variety of ways: enhancing or attenuating it, speeding up or slowing down its onset, and influencing how long the effect lasts (Caulkin 7).

     Researchers believe that marijuana blocks the messages going to your brain and alters your perceptions and emotions, vision, hearing, and coordination. A recent study of 1,023 trauma patients admitted to a shock trauma unit found that one-third had marij

Cannabis has copious amounts of effects on your body and brain. The effects range from bad all the way to good. Negative effects of cannabis may include anxiety, paranoia, and lowered reaction time, increased heart rate, distorted sense of time, and in some cases, psychosis. Cannabis does have positive effects for people with illnesses including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and many more. For teens, however, there is an increase of cannabis’ negative effects on the brain. This may include decreased brain activity, decreased neurons, trouble thinking and focusing, and a higher rate of dropping out of high school. Chronic users of cannabis may become dependent on it. It can also increase your rate of respiratory problems,

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

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

Scientist found that human brain has endocannabinoid cell just like endorphin, which is a hormone acts as body’s natural painkiller. This endocannabinoid system controls the regulation of movement, pain, appetite, memory, immunity, blood pressure, bone density, reproduction, inflammation etc. Birgit Kraft department of special anesthesia and pain therapy medical university of Vienna, Austria (2012) stated that the analgesic effect of cannabinoid depends on the rout of administration such as oral, intravenous, inhalation or implanted pump. Its medicinal effect also dose specific. Clinical trial showed, a pain-relieving effect was only seen after the medium-dose cannabis, whereas the lowest dose showed no pain-relieving effect at all and the

Marijuana is illegal in fifty states because of its classification as an illicit drug, but controversial issues have been established that this “illicit drug” has improved the course of treatment for suffering patients. Marijuana has beneficial effects when used in medicinal scenarios for the treatment of pain; thus it should be an administered drug for patients who can benefit from the use of this drug. Marijuana has undergone analysis for its use as a medicine and the results have shown improvements in the patients who were treated with this drug. Doctors have expressed opposite opinions, making this issue very controversial.