| What is
Marijuana?
Marijuana is the most commonly used and controversial
illicit (illegal) drug in America today. The term marijuana, as commonly
used, refers to the leaves and flowering tops of the cannabis plant.
A tobacco-like substance produced by drying the
leaves and flowering tops of the cannabis plant. Marijuana varies
significantly in its potency, depending on the source and selection of
plant materials used. The
form of marijuana known as sinsimella (Spanish, sin semilla: without
seed), derived from the unpollinated female cannabis plant, is preferred
for it high THC content.
Cannabis sativa L., the hemp plant, or marijuana,
grows wild throughout most of the tropic and temperate regions of the
world, including here in Tennessee. Prior
to the advent of synthetic fibers, the cannabis plant was cultivated for
the tough fiber of its stem. In
the United States, cannabis is legitimately grown only for scientific
research. Cannabis contains chemicals called cannabinoids that are
unique to the cannabis plant.
One of these, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is
believed to be responsible for most of the characteristic psychoactive
ingredient. Marijuana contains more than 400 compounds, more than 60
cannabinoids, and many other ingredients.
Its potency is due to the concentration of THC, which varies among
different batches or samples and different forms of marijuana.
How Is Marijuana Used?
Marijuana is usually smoked in the form of loosely
rolled cigarettes called joints or blunts.
Blunts are marijuana cigarettes rolled from cigar paper. (The
tobacco is removed first.) Joints
and blunts may be laced with a number of adulterants including PCP,
cocaine, substantially altering the effects and toxicity of these
products.
Marijuana is sometimes cooked in foods such as
brownies, but in such cases the drug’s effects are felt less rapidly,
and are less under the control of the experienced user, than when it is
smoked.
What Are Marijuana’s Effects?
Marijuana intoxication may include an altered state
of consciousness, mild euphoria, relaxation, time distortion, perceptual
alterations, intensification of ordinary sensory experiences, and/or
increased sociality. Unpleasant
psychological reactions can be anxiety, depression, panic, delusions,
and/or hallucinations. Cognitive
functions such as impaired short-term memory, disruption of mental
activity, and motor functions like altered reaction time and disruption of
coordination can result from marijuana intoxication.
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Recent
research indicates that marijuana may play an important role in
respiratory tract cancer. The
tar phase of marijuana smoke contains 50 percent more of some carcinogenic
agents that tobacco smoke.
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One
marijuana cigarette deposits four times as much tar in the lungs as one
tobacco cigarette, which amplifies the exposure of the lungs to
carcinogens.
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Long
after the “high” has gone, the drug remains in the brain and affects memory
and learning. You will be
less able to speak, read, compute, or reason. It
also slows down your reaction time, making it dangerous to perform complex
tasks such as driving a car.
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Marijuana
causes hormonal changes that could alter normal patterns of growth and
sexual development. When
marijuana is used by women during pregnancy, babies may be born
prematurely, with low birth weights, or with other abnormalities.
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If
you have high blood pressure or heart problems, smoking marijuana is risky
because it increases your heart rate by as much as 50 percent.
Your heart has to work harder and your blood pressure goes up.
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For
people with a history of emotional problems or mental illness, regular
marijuana use can bring on their symptoms or make them worse.
Can You Become Dependent on
Marijuana?
With regular use, people can become psychologically
dependent on marijuana. They crave the “high” and become edgy and
anxious if they cannot get the drug. People who use large doses on a daily
basis can become physically dependent and suffer withdrawal symptoms when
they stop using the drugs. For
a week or so they may have trouble sleeping, feel anxious and irritable,
and lose their appetite.
What is “Hash”?
Hashish,
known as “hash”, is the
dried caked resin from the flowers and leaves of the female plant.
It usually contains a higher THC concentration than marijuana, and
is therefore more potent. It
is sold in either soft or hard chunks and ranges in color from light or
medium brown to nearly black. Hash is usually mixed with tobacco and smoked in pipes or joints.
The most potent preparation other than pure THC is hash
oil, a reddish-brown or green oily extract of cannabis, also called weed
oil or honey oil on the street. Hash
oil is usually dropped onto the end of a regular cigarette, or wiped onto
the paper before it is rolled into a marijuana joint.
Pure THC, which can be
produced synthetically in laboratories, is not available to street drug
users, because it is too difficult and expensive to make.
For more information or referral on Marijuana
or Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse contact the TADA Statewide Clearinghouse (TSC)
at 1-800-889-9789, 1800 Church Street Suite 100, Nashville, TN
37203. Visit
them on the web at www.taadas.org
or email mail@taadas.org.
The TSC is funded by the TN Department of Health.
Source
U.S.DHHS, ARF
Revised 10/00
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