How Can Marijuana Cause Individual Differences?

Research has found that teenagers who used cigarettes were twelve times more likely to graduate to marijuana use. A similar study conducted by Denise Kandel (1992) revealed that use of marijuana affects dopamine levels in the brain in a similar way to nicotine. Cigarette smoking facilitates consumption of other substances. Smoking cigarettes initiate juveniles into the sensation of drug inhalation, which desensitizes them from the feeling of smoke clouding their lungs. This paper finds that marijuana pervades the life of a juvenile tobacco smoker. Teenagers who smoke cigarettes

people who smoke marijuana 27 out of 30 days, critical skills related to attention, memory, and

Marijuana has its strongest long-term impact on young users whose brains are developing and maturing. Researchers see a decline in verbal ability as well as general knowledge in children between ages 9-12. (National Institute on Drug Abuse August

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).

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

The effects of marijuana have been examined in several studies that focused on long-term structural differences, cognitive impairments, prenatal risks and neural functioning deficits. Long-term structural abnormalities include reductions in the volume of the hippocampus, amygdala and nucleus accumbens, where these structures also exhibited changes in density and shape. Participants in several studies showed impairment in memory, learning, concentration, coordination, as well as decreased motivation. Marijuana has addictive properties and has dramatically increased in potency over the last decade, which has led to an increase in marijuana-related fatal car accidents and to an increase in emergency room visits. On the contrary, the non-psychoactive

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.

A person’s daily life is a stake when marijuana is in their lives. Marijuana has the potential to pose difficulties in daily life or cause someone’s existing problems to become worse ("Health Effects of Marijuana Use."). Consumers have reported lower life satisfaction, worse mental and physical health, problems within relationships, and less success in their schooling and careers as opposed to their non-smoking peers ("Health Effects of Marijuana Use."). Studies have shown that marijuana usage is linked to accidents, increased absences, workman’s compensation claims, and job turnover ("Health Effects of Marijuana Use."). Studies have shown that marijuana usage is linked to accidents, increased absences, workman’s compensation claims, and job turnover ("Health Effects of Marijuana

The Office of National Drug Control Policy says marijuana plays a bigger role in a serious U.S. drug problem than most people realize. Consider: Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States. About 75 percent -- or 14.6 million of the nearly 20 million illicit drug users -- are using marijuana. Of the 7.1 million Americans dealing with illegal drug dependence or abuse, 60 percent are hooked on marijuana or abuse it. More young people are being treated for marijuana dependency than for booze or for all other illegal drugs combined, the office says marijuana's daily use among eighth, 10th and 12th grade students has increased over the last year, according to recent survey results released by the office. Youths who use marijuana -- particularly those in their later teen years -- are more likely to do poorly in school, stand a better chance of getting into trouble and tend to have more sexual partners. And, while there's no shortage of backers for legalizing marijuana, it has proven to be a psychologically addictive drug with plenty of downside to society, the Office of National Drug Control Policy says

Marijuana over stimulates the parts of the brain that contain the highest number of receptors and can also affect the way the brain develops. When people use marijuana they can potentially impair their thinking, memory, and learning functions that can in turn affect how their brain

Marijuana is a contrast to tobacco and alcohol when addiction characteristics do not show with the use of marijuana while addiction shows with legal tobacco and alcohol. It shows that less than one in ten marijuana smokers convert to consistent consumers of the drug, and most intentionally terminate their use after age 34, by comparison, 15 percent of alcohol users and 32 percent of tobacco smokers display indicators of drug dependency. Cannabis withdrawal indicators are uncommon and do not need replacement medication to stop the habit. When smoking marijuana comes to an end of an intake, the vast majority of smokers do not feel subjected to uncomfortable withdrawal indicators commanding restarting the use of marijuana.

In this essay, Medical marijuana laws in 50 states: Investigating the relationship between state legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use, abuse and dependence, the authors took a survey taken by individuals who lived in states where marijuana was legal and residents of states where marijuana was illegal. Cerda  (2011)” We combined abuse and dependence into one outcome, since empirical findings indicate that it better captures the underlying prevalence of cannabis use disorders than dependence or abuse alone. While substance use disorders were originally conceived as a bi-axial syndrome with dependence capturing more physiologic dimensions of addiction and abuse capturing more behavioral consequences, there is now substantial evidence to indicate that abuse and dependence criteria, including cannabis use disorder criteria, represent a uni-dimensional construct” (para. 10). In this argumentative essay the writer takes the results of the survey and concludes that there is a strong relationship between use, abuse and dependence in states that have made marijuana legal. This argument shows that by keeping it illegal there are less people who use, abuse and become dependent on it. The author used a survey in which took results of states where marijuana was legal and where marijuana was illegal to support his argument.

Working memory, the ability to hold and manipulate information and remember it after a short delay, is a cognitive domain consistently shown to be impaired by acute cannabis intoxication (e.g. Hart et al., 2001, 2010). In contrast, the majority of studies in humans that have assessed the effects of acute abstinence on working memory report equivocal findings. For example, some studies show working memory impairments in young adults during acute abstinence from heavy cannabis use on immediate recall (Fried et al., 2005), verbal reasoning (Wadsworth et al., 2006), and verbal n-back tasks (Herzig et al., 2014). In contrast, Pope et al. (1996) found no differences in working memory abilities between recently abstinent (19 hours) heavy and light

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 &

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine whether the cognitive functions of the brain impaired by marijuana affects overall educational achievement at university.