Is marijuana a dangerous drug?

In other societies such as India and Jamaica smoking marijuana is considered to be a part of culture and this type of smoking is often referred as a “herbal medicine”. But due to the growing level of addiction to marijuana worldwide and especially in western countries, there were taken legal actions in order to ban it and classify as an illegal drug. The disputes about its effects on human health continue to occur in different countries as its considered to be of the most widely spread illegal drug. Marijuana influences nervous system, brain functionality and adequate perception of reality, as a person after smoking marijuana is in the state of narcotic euphoria. But in comparison to other drugs such as cocaine, opium the effects of marijuana on health are not so considerable and in many respects can be compared to the effects of smoking tobacco, or drinking alcohol. On the hand with effects on breathing, heart and depressive changes of mood, marijuana influences on motivation turning the person into one who suffers poor performance at work and in social life. In general it makes person alienated from others and makes him a potential user of heavier drugs. Marijuana is a drug that is dry buds or leaves of the Cannabis sativa. Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, which effect human organism and biological processes. 60 of these 400 chemicals belong to the group of cannabinoids. The most psychoactive chemical; from this group of cannabioids is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Other psychoactive chemicals include choline, eugenol, guaicacol and piperidine.Already one milligram of THC can cause serious psychic changes affecting psychological and mental condition. The termination half-life of THC varies from 20 hours to 10 days or even longer. After THC is absorbed by alveoli of lungs it reaches brain in the matter of seconds in dissolved matter in blood. Cannabinoid receptors of hippocampus, cerebellum and basal ganglia affect neural activity of brain causing problems with short-term memory coordination and motivation. The main effects of smoking marijuana are personality changes, which are often observed with people who smoke it regular basis. It mainly affects their social and professional participation especially at jobs where mental activity is required; professional jobs, studying, etc. Smoking marijuana also affects relations with surrounding as such people are often uncontrolled and their weird behavior often has no motivation. Different researches show that there is a direct relation with smoking marijuana and decrease of motivation. Study conducted in the state of Maryland among hundreds of marijuana addicts including high school students, university students, prisoners and those who participated in drug programs witnessed that in majority all of these people suffered lack of motivation, which is often called a cannabis syndrome. Besides, most of them reported they didn’t notice these changes in their regular life, but after they’ve got rid of marijuana smoking habit most of them reported that the sense of motivation grew. Custom essay Scientists had observed the following changes which occur in organism due to the smoking of marijuana which explain the major particularities of behavior abnormalities and narcotic euphoria: • Marijuana changes the processes of biochemical reactions in brains, as it affects neurotransmitter, which is responsible for the reactions of nervous system; • Marijuana affects mood, as it makes the concentration more difficult, affecting attention and detailed memory. Short memory of people who smoke marijuana is very poor if compared to those who don’t • Besides, it affects work of heart and blood pleasure, which is common for people who are always experiencing stress • The concentration of carcinogens in marijuana I much higher than in tobacco. It may lead to different oncological diseases such as cancer of lungs, neck or skin cancer. Besides these carcinogens destroy immune system. • Unlike alcohol which stays in blood only for 24-48 hours, marijuana may remain in one’s organism up to 30 days contributing to the risk of vehicle accidents and accidents at workplace, if the work requires high concentration and attention. Combined all these factors contribute to the decrease of motivation, as the nervous system is highly oppressed by the effects of marijuana smoking. Cannabis syndrome or amotivational syndrome is described by apathy, decrease of motivation, and simple alienation from surrounding. In literature amotivation syndrome is described as follows according to the World Health Organization: “The evidence for an “amotivational syndrome” among adults consists largely of case histories and observational reports (e.g. Kolansky and Moore, 1971; Millman and Sbriglio, 1986). The small number of controlled field and laboratory studies have not found compelling evidence for such a syndrome (Dornbush, 1974; Negrete, 1983; Hollister, 1986)… It is doubtful that cannabis use produces a well defined amotivational syndrome. It may be more parsimonious to regard the symptoms of impaired motivation as symptoms of chronic cannabis intoxication rather than inventing a new psychiatric syndrome”(from wikipedia) buy essay At the same time different researches conducted all over the world have a divergence in data, as for example researches made by US scientists provide opposite data: Experiments in the United States show no effects of fairly heavy marihuana use on learning, perception, or motivation over periods as long as a year” (Williams, I. Proven: Cannabis Is Safe Medicine). Other researches also witness that smoking marijuana has no relationship to the decrease of motivation: “In three major studies conducted in Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Greece, researchers have compared heavy long-term cannabis users with nonusers and found no evidence of intellectual or neurological damage, no changes in personality, and no loss of the will to work or participate in society” (Williams, I. Proven: Cannabis Is Safe Medicine) term papers But nevertheless many scientists argue that such effects are common only for those whose work is connected with intensive mental activity, otherwise it is quite difficult to discover the changes. Mainly it’s the main point why smoking marijuana by slaves was encouraged by plantation owners as they were able to work more and required less time for recovering and rest. (this oppressive effect is similar to the effects of smoking tobacco and effects of caffeine). Besides its use in narcotic purposes, marijuana has been widely used for medical purposes as well. Its use in medicine go all the way back to Ancient times. Today some physicians suggest to legalize marijuana in order to suppress nausea, relieve high eye pressure, decrease spasms and eliminate different kinds of pain. Marijuana has been successfully used as an alternative to main medicaments in treatment of cancer and aids (pain relief and stimulation of appetite), sclerosis (decrease of spasms), glaucoma and epilepsy. Even though that some researches insist that there is marijuana doesn’t effect motivation, physicians in their majority are more than sure about negative effects of marijuana on health as well as they are sure that caffeine, tobacco and alcohol also have negative effects. Such narcotics have aggressive influence on brain functioning, oppressing normal functionality of nervous system, making additional load on heart functioning. Such influence will of course be reflected on the mental activity of the person and due to the prolonged narcotic effect (as marijuana remains in the organism up to 30 days). So only one conclusion can be drawn: person who uses marijuana needs medical help and legalization of marijuana will only have negative effects on the society which is very vulnerable to permanent stresses.