Epidemic of Designer Drugs

In the video “Reefer Madness”, which was made in the 1930s, the drug marijuana, which was spelled marihuana back then, made people hallucinate, laugh hysterically, lose focus, act violent, and sexually aroused. They also danced a lot while smoking the marijuana. For example, in the video a high school student was under the influence of marijuana and was framed for murdering his sister. While under the influence, he hallucinated his sister making out with a man, but in reality she was being attacked by that man. The man who was attacking her was also under the influence. The boy charged over to the man and proceeded to attack the man causing harm to his sister. Then another man, also in the house at the time of the fight, comes in and hits

The opioid crisis is not just now becoming an issue, but recent numbers of overdoses are raising even more concern and attention. The issue is with how citizens deal with the crisis because opioids are finding their way into the wrong hands. The crisis is so severe that “everyday more than 90 people die overdosing on opioids” (“Opioids”). That number will only grow if nothing is done to stop people from overdosing. The entire opioid crisis started from patients misusing opioid medicines. In the year 2015 alone “33,000 Americans died from opioid overdose” (“Opioid”). So many Americans fall victim to opioids and they can become extremely addicting. Once a patient's body is exposed to opium, the body will then adjust to needin opium by the larger quantity and patients will soon take more and more causing an overdose. Unfortunately, synthetic drugs are on the rise (Katz). Fentanyl is a prime example of a synthetic drug that is taking over America by storm. It can be mass produced in a

Because the body is not used to having these chemicals it makes the body over heat, dehydrate, and the user becomes extremely agitated. With long term use the kidney’s will begin to go into failure and blood circulation issues could arise (). My bother began his experimenting with synthetic marijuana in high school with his friends. He started out just trying it out of curiosity when the drug was just starting to come out without understanding the effects. Because he wasn’t informed about on the drug he just assumed that the symptoms of aggression were coming from puberty.

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.

Some environmental factors of schizophrenia can be the over use of marijuana during the teenage years. As you can see in figure two a person who has developed schizophrenia has lost grey matter in their brain which can be see through a brain scan. After long use of marijuana, it causes similar outcomes to the brain and the loss of grey matter.

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.

Last summer two men in Hunt county Texas were arrested for selling synthetic drugs reported by the Herald Banner. The lab reports returned “the substance was not illegal at the time of the offense”. This is not an isolated case but a continuing dilemma for law makers, enforcers and prosecutors against the makers and distributors of designer drugs. (1) Creating a ‘War on Drugs’ is not a solution. Due to the simplicity of manipulating a product on the banned substance list, chemical change formulations outpace efforts to impose control. (Stock, S. Web)

However, there is accumulating evidence of the psychological consequences of using marijuana. Many chronic marijuana smokers have a psychosis that is now medically deemed as, “A-motivational Syndrome” (Chopra 38). A psychosis is a condition where a person experiences some loss of contact with reality. A person with a psychosis can experience any or more of the following symptoms: auditory hallucinations (hearing voices that aren't really there), visual hallucinations (seeing things which aren't there), delusions (believing things that aren't true), jumbled thoughts and strange behavior. Patients with A-motivational Syndrome are left with the well-recognized and permanent symptoms of memory loss, apathy and loss of motivation (Chopra 38). After marijuana started to be widely used approximately 20 years ago, for permanent damage to occur it was felt by some that marijuana had to be heavily used over at least three years. However, there is accumulating evidence that smaller amounts will do damage. It is logical that to get the permanent “ A-motivational Syndrome”, small amounts of damage have to accumulate incrementally (Chopra 40). Although many marijuana connoisseurs of today may totally deny that that the use of this drug has lasting effects on the brain, research findings clearly indicate that long-term use of marijuana produces changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term use of other major drugs of abuse (Erickson 89).

Inflated accounts of the effects of marijuana included violent crimes, users going crazy, and death from marijuana usage.

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

One common myth associated with smoking marijuana is smoking marijuana can cause permanent mental illness. There is no convincing scientific evidence proving that smoking marijuana can cause psychological damage and mental illness in teenagers and young adults. Marijuana does not cause profound changes in people’s behaviors.

Despite the current marijuana laws, medical research has shown a variety of therapeutic benefits that arise from the use of cannabis. (Gowling et al. 1998, p. 446)) Revealed that ‘Over the years, cannabis has been claimed to increase appetite, relax the muscle, improve mood, relieve anxiety and combat pain and nausea’. As a result of these advantages, medical marijuana advocates support and has pushed for the legalisation of cannabis. However, it is argued that harmful effects can arise, demonstrating an association between cannabis with psychosis. Psychosis is a condition of the mind, involving a “loss of contact with reality”. Hall (1998) stipulated that ‘A high doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the

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.

Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America following alcohol and tobacco. It is most commonly smoked out of a pipe, or rolled like a cigarette. The active ingredient in marijuana that causes the “high” followed by smoking it is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC for short. This is the most common perception of individuals who encounter the drug but what is failed to be considered

The available data suggested, this is not so, Marijuana occasionally produces acute panic reactions or even transient psychoses. Furthermore, a person driving under the influence of marijuana is a danger to themselves and others. If smoked heavily and a great deal of consistency, its use has been clearly associated with mental breakdown. In many persons who smoke chronically, the drug reinforces passivity and reduces goal-directed, constructive activity. The chronic use of pure resin (hashish) has been associated both with mental deterioration and criminality. One of the major complications of marijuana use is the tendency on the part of some users to progress to more dangerous drugs. Users in economically deprived areas usually go on to heroin, whereas more affluent individuals tend to move from marijuana to more potent hallucinogens such as LSD. There is no established medical use for marijuana or any other cannabis preparation.