FREE ESSAY ON MARIJUANA EFFECTS

MARIJUANA EFFECTS

Filip Kucera 5/7/01 
Marijuana
Smoking a joint, Lighting a bowl, cuttin a blunt. These are all terms that are reffered
to when someone is smoking Marijuana. Marijuana is becoming more mainstream every year.
There are even some attempts to legalize it. But there still remains the fact that it has
effects on different parts of the body when it is being smoked. There are three most
known effects one is the effect of THC, the mental effects as well as the tar that it
releases into your lungs.
The chemical THC is a stimulant so it what it basiclly does it is it relaxs.Usually the
mental and behavioral effects of marijuana consist of a sense of well-being (often termed
euphoria or a high), feelings of relaxation, altered perception of time and distance,
intensified sensory experiences, laughter, talkativeness, and increased sociability when
taken in a social setting. Impaired memory for recent events, difficulty concentrating,
dreamlike states, impaired motor coordination, impaired driving and other psychomotor
skills, slowed reaction time, impaired goal-directed mental activity, and altered
peripheral vision are common associated effects With repeated exposure, varying degrees
of tolerance rapidly develops to many subjective and physiologic effects. Thus, intensity
of acute effects is determined not only by THC dose but also by past experience, setting,
expectations, and poorly understood individual differences in sensitivity
Mental effects are a very large part of why marijuana is banned today. Large smoked or
oral marijuana doses or even ordinary doses taken by a sensitive, inexperienced, or
predisposed person can produce transient anxiety, panic, feelings of depression and other
dysphoric mood changes, depersonalization, bizarre behaviors, delusions, illusions, or
hallucinations Depending on the mix of symptoms and behaviors, the state has been termed
an acute panic reaction, toxic delirium, acute paranoid state, or acute mania. The
unpleasant effects are usually of sudden onset, during or shortly after smoking, or
appear more gradually an hour or two after an oral dose, usually last a few hours, less
often a few days, and completely clear without any specific treatment other than
reassurance and a supportive environment. A subsequent marijuana dose, particularly a
lower one, may be well tolerated. In a large survey of regular marijuana users, 17
percent of young adult respondents reported experiencing at least one of the preceding
symptoms during at least one occasion of marijuana use, usually early in their use.