Marijuana

With everything that has been going on with my family member I have decided to do another blog on drugs. This time it is marijuana. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. It is derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. Abusers shred up the green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves and smoke it as a cigarette, also known as a joint, or smoke it in a pipe. It can also be smoked in blunts, which is cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with the marijuana. The blunt retains the tobacco leaf used to wrap the cigar which combines marijuana’s active ingredient THC with nicotine and other harmful chemicals. Marijuana can also be mixed with food and brewed as a tea.

When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which then carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body. THC acts on specific sites in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors. This kicks off a series of cellular reactions that leads to the “high” that users experience after smoking marijuana. Some brain areas have more cannabinoid receptors than other areas. The highest amount of receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory and time perception, as well as coordinated movement. The receptors being affected can cause distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory. These affects can last for days or even weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off. For someone who smokes marijuana every day may function at a lower intellectual level at all times.

Long term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction; that is, compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite knowing the harmful effects. Long term abusers, that try to quit, report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving. These withdraws symptoms begin within about 1 day following abstinence, peak 2-3 days, and subside within 1 or 2 weeks following drug cessation.

Marijuana abusers are at a higher risk for anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and schizophrenia. Marijuana also increases heart rate by 20-100 percent after smoking, which can last up to 3 hours after. There is a small chance of having a heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug. This chance is higher in the aging populations and those with cardiac vulnerabilities. Marijuana also has effects on your lungs. Marijuana smoke contains 50-70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke. However, there are no positive associations between marijuana use and lung upper respiratory or upper digestive tract cancers.

Behavioral interventions, including cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational incentives; such as providing vouchers for goods or services to patients who remain abstinent, have shown to be effective in treating marijuana dependence. There are studies in process to try to provide a medication that would help with the dependence by easing withdrawal, blocking the intoxicating effect of marijuana, and preventing relapse.