Cannabis Informative Speech

The legalization of cannabis has been a topic up for mass discussion for decades. If I were to ask anyone what their thoughts about weed were, the general response I would get would be something along the kinds of “it’s a drug”, “its bad for you”, or “its something that gets you high”. Many of us tend to have a negative view of cannabis because of its association with drugs is general. Honestly, not many of us really know what it is. I’m here to tell you why your perception on weed should be changed. We will discuss the benefits marijuana brings and the common misconceptions of marijuana.

Marijuana or Cannabis is a hallucinogenic drug that contains a very high amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It can be used for both medical and recreational reasons, but it is currently illegal in most states in this country. This drug has been illegal for the majority of this country's history, and just recently several states like Washington, California, and New York have passed laws so that people with medical issues are able to consume this drug for their own medical needs

It is described as “a greenish-gray mixture of the dried flowers of Cannabis sativa” as described on The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) website in their article titled “Marijuana” (2017).

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.

THC, the active ingredient in pot works on specific parts of the brains hardware, called cannabinoid receptors. Turning on a cannabinoid receptor with THC creates a bunch of cellular reactions that at last create to the "high" that you feel when you smoke weed. Cannabinoid receptors exist throughout the brain. They are most common in parts The areas of the brain that influence pleasure, time, memory, and concentration have the highest concentration of these receptors. Smoking weed frequently can overpower

32 states have legalized the use of Medical Marijuana to treat medical problems (Halper). Medical Marijuana is one of the biggest controversies we have in our nation. Many people are for or against this plant being used to relieve pain. I will be persuading you today, that medical marijuana should be used to treat ailments. Things that can be found with just one look on the internet is that Medicinal Marijuana is a lot safer and less addicting than hardcore pain killers, which is good. First, I will describe to you the conflict people have with marijuana, then describe how we can change this, lastly, I?ll go into depth of what will result if we make changes.

Humans have been using medicine to salve our wounds, physical and mental, since near the beginning of our species. It is something we used throughout the ages though we haven’t always used the same means achieve it. We’ve used “magic” elixirs, prayer, mercury, lobotomies, and other things that just weren’t effective methods of healing anyone. Today, we have vaccines, pills, antibiotics, and other medicine that has kept us going thus far in life. The medicine I want to inform you about today is Marijuana. Marijuana holds many medical uses.

Marijuana has a variety of effects that can damage a person. There are short and long term effects. Long term effects usually occur if a person uses marijuana from their teenage years. “The short-term effects of marijuana occur because THC rapidly moves from the lungs into the blood. This chemical acts on cannabinoid receptors, leading to a "high" for users. These receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence concentration, thinking, sensory and time perception, pleasure, memory and coordination.” (Patterson 1). Short term effects of marijuana can include

(CBD), as well as at least 84 other cannabinoids. The most prevalent chemical component in marijuana is THC which is attributed to the high you acquire when you intake marijuana. THC and other cannabinoids are presumed to have positive effects on the treatment of some diseases. To understand how cannabinoids affect the brain you need to understand how the parts of the Brain that are affected by cannabinoids work. The brain has neurons which process information with the help of naturally occurring chemicals in the body which are called neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters are essentially the connections between neurons and allow various

Cannabis sales in the state of Colorado have also resulted in $10.8 million worth of tax money. Looking at the incredible numbers resulting in one small area project an even better outcome for an entire nation. [21]

"The science of marijuana: how THC affects the brain." That explains scientists identified the sites in the brain and body where marijuana acts and called them cannabinoid (CB) receptors. Scientists then discovered the body's own natural chemicals--anandamide and 2-AG (2-arachidonoyl glycerol)--which also act on CB receptors. These chemicals (called cannabinoids), along with their receptors, make up the endocannabinoid (EC) system. The EC system is found in many areas of the brain, which explains why it affects so many different body functions. Cannabinoids exert their influence by regulating how cells communicate--how they send, receive, or process messages” (New York Times).

Over the last century, Marijuana has been legalized and decriminalized for numerous different purposes. Marijuana’s popularity had been increasing and shows no signs of slowing or stopping. People still continue to use marijuana no matter what obstacles comes in the way, whether it be the threat of being caught, imprisoned or other more serious federal consequences for simply trying to get high. And since there whether it be illegal or legal there is no stopping the use of Marijuana medically or recreationally. Many states have seen this issue as a business opportunity to tax the sale of marijuana to bring more money and funds into the state power. And In the past decade 8 states have legalized marijuana for recreational use, sale and for medical

Marijuana affects the Central Nervous System (CNS). THC resembles a natural transmitter in our brain called Anandamide. Cannabinoids are specialised neurotransmitters released by neurons. The neurons become temporarily unresponsive after firing to prevent them from overreacting of being too dominant. This allows the brain to function in a calm and controlled manner, however cannabinoids interrupt this approach in some parts of the brain instead, they remove the refractory period of neurons that are already active, which causes the person’s thoughts, imagination and perception to magnify itself. Therefore, their thoughts become profound and tend not to recall anything since they’re caught in the momentum of a particular idea and their neurons

Although used for medical purposes that helped people there has been concern over the abuse of the drug marijuana as studies have shown that there could be significant impairments of memory and cognition specifically the difference between new and heavy users. “Investigators could not explain the effects of marijuana on the brain until 1988, when researchers finally found the brains cannabinoid receptors (Devane, Dysarz, Johnson, Melvin, & Howlett, 1988).” The process of communication between neurons is affected by the main ingredient in marijuana which is the THC which affects the neurotransmitters by changing the strength of the signals that the neurotransmitter have. Specifically THC interacts with the cannabinoids receptors that are high in content in the brain.

I have personally experience in using marijuana before. I was absolutely freaked out the first time I tried but some of my friends were just acting normal.