The dangers of marijuana
(419 total words in this text)(1594 Reads)
The drug marijuana is the dried flower clusters, stems and leaves of the Indian hemp plant (cannabis sativa). It is otherwise known as "weed", "Maryjane", "ganja", "pot", "tea" as well as a number of other slang names.
Marijuana is a widely used drug by both adults and more regularly young people.
One of the many reasons for the use of the drug is its ability to put the mind in a state of relaxation; otherwise known as "being high".
It is the norm for marijuana users to become addicted to the drug, simply because they are still not aware, or not paying attention to the negative effects of the drug.
Visible symptoms of the use of the drug are reddened eyes, dilated pupils and lack of physical coordination. The reaction from the use of marijuana differs with each user, as some may become secluded, happy, silly, sad or talkative.
Marijuana does relax the body and mind, however it slows the user's reaction time, which is why people under the influence of the drug take a huge risk at driving. Marijuana lowers sex hormone and fertility levels in both male and female, and also increases the heart rate by as much as 50%. Another effect of the drug is that colours seem brighter than usual and music becomes more intense.
Users of the drug tend to experience mood swings quite frequently, panic, periods of depression, hallucination and fear of death (especially if used with other drugs such as cocaine).
Marijuana does not increase one's intellectual functioning or creative capacity, though it may give that impression during use. However, what marijuana really does is to damage the brain by interfering with the ability to think, make judgements, and solve problems or even concentrate.
In the long run, marijuana users become psychologically dependent on the drug as it represents a way to avoid facing the problems and stresses of life. It also damages the brain, reproductive system, heart and lungs.
The smoke from the drug irritates the lung tissue much more than the smoke of well-filtered cigarettes. It is able to do this much damage to the lungs as it contains more tar and benzopyrene (a cancer-causing agent), than tobacco cigarettes.
Though most of the immediate and long-term effects of marijuana have been stated, scientists are still doing studies on the drug in order to detect any other harmful effects that it might possibly contain. Though marijuana is an extremely addictive narcotic, there are many victims who have recovered from the addictive use of the drug and have since remained abstinent.
