Fact Sheet on Effects of Marijuana on the Body

remembrance/PERCEPTION/BEHAVIOR 1. Attention, memory and learnedness argon afflicted among heavy marihuana utilizers, even after uptakers discontinued its use for at least 24 hours. voiceless ganja use is associated with residual neuropsychological payoffs even after a day of supervised abstinence from the drug. punishing users displayed signifi shtuptly greater impairment than ethereal users on attention/executive functions, as evidenced particularly by greater preservations on card sorting and bring down learning of word lists.These differences remained after irresponsible for potential confounding variables, such as estimated levels of premorbid cognitive functioning, and for use of alcohol and former(a) substances in the two groups. However, the question mud open as to whether this impairment is referable to a residue of drug in the brain, a withdrawal effect from the drug, or a frank neurotoxic effect of the drug. (The Residual Cognitive Effects of arduous marihu ana Use in College Students, Pope, HG Jr. , Yurgelun-Todd, D. , Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, JAMA February 21, 1996. 2. impair memory for recent events, difficulty concentrating, phantasmagoric states, stricken motor coordination, afflicted crusade and other psychomotor skills, slowed reaction time, impaired goal-directed mental activity, and departed encircling(prenominal) vision are common associated personal make. (Adams and Martin 1996 Fehr and Kalant 1983 Hollister 1988a build of Medicine 1982 Tart 1971) 3. A roadside survey of reckless drivers who were not impaired by alcohol, showed that 45% of these drivers tested confirming for cannabis. Dr. Dan Brookoff, published in the new-made England daybook of Medicine) 4. cannabis smoking affects the brain and leads to impaired short-term memory, perception, judgment and motor skills. ( ganja Facts Parents contain to Know, field of study shew on drug Abuse ) 5. In a scan of 150 hemp victimisation students, 59% surveyed report they sometimes forget what a conversation is about before it has ended. 41% report if they read while hopped-up they remembered less of what they had read hours later. (Dr.Richard Schwartz, Vienna pediatric Associates in Psychiatric Annals as reported in NIDA Capsules) NEUROBIOLOGICAL personal effects 6. cannabis activates the same pleasure centers in the brain that are targeted by heroin, cocain and alcohol. (Dr. Gaetano Di Chiara, University of Caligari, Italy) CARDIOVASCULAR confound 7. Physiological effects of hemp include an alteration of sum rate. Use of marijuana may aftermath in intense anxiety, panic attacks or paranoia. (National Institute of medicate Abuse) CHRONIC EFFECTS RESPIRATORY governing body EFFECTS . The cursory use of 1 to 3 marijuana joints appears to produce approximately the same lung deterioration and potential crab louse risk as smoking 5 times as umteen cigarettes. (UCLA) The study dissolven ts suggest that the way of life great dealrs inhale marijuana, in addition to its chemical composition, increases the unbecoming physical effects. The same lung cancer risks associated with tobacco ingraft correct plant in any case apply to marijuana users, even though they smoke further around less. (reported in NIDA Capsules) 9. Benzopyrene is the chemical in tobacco that causes lung cancer.An average marijuana cigarette contains virtually 50% more(prenominal) benzopyrene than a tobacco cigarette. An average marijuana cigarette contains 30 nanograms of this carcinogen compared to 21 nanograms in an average tobacco cigarette (Marijuana and Health, National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine Report, 1982) Benzopyrene suppresses a gene that controls step-up of cells. When this gene is damaged the body becomes more susceptible to cancer. This gene is related to half(prenominal) of all kind cancers and as many as 70% of lung cancers. 10.Marijuana users may invi te many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers confine, such as continuing bronchitis and reddened sinuses. (Marijuana Facts Parents requirement to Know, National Institute on Drug Abuse ) 11. Marijuana smokers, when compared to non marijuana smokers, have more respiratory illness. (Polen et al. 1993). 12. Marijuana smoke produces airway injury, acute and chronic bronchitis, lung inflammation, and decreased pulmonary defenses against infection. Smoking 1 marijuana cigarette leads to air attestation of four times as a trustworthy deal cancer-causing tar as does tobacco smoke (Dr.D. Tashkin, Western Journal of Medicine) ENDOCRINE SYSTEM EFFECTS 13. Heavy marijuana use can affect hormones in both(prenominal) priapics and females. Heavy dosages of the drugs may delay the attack of puberty in young men. Marijuana also can have indecent effects on sperm production. Among women, lawful marijuana use can break off the normal monthly menstrual wheel and inhibit the discharge of eggs from the ovaries. (Marijuana Facts Parents Need to know, National Institute on Drug Abuse) ADVERSE MENTAL EFFECTS 14. An amotivational syndrome can develop in heavy, chronic marijuana users.It is characterized by decreased drive and ambition, cut back attention span, poor judgment, high distractibility, impaired communication skills, and diminished effectiveness in interpersonal situations. (National Institute of Drug Abuse) 15. Adults who ingest marijuana daily believed it helped them function better, meliorate self-awareness and improved relationships with others. However, enquiryers found that users were more uncoerced to tolerate problems, suggesting that the drug served as a buffer for those who would rather avoid confronting problems than make changes that might increase their satisfaction with life.The study indicated that these subjects used marijuana to avoid relations with their difficulties and the avoidance inevitably made their problems worse. Although users believed the drug enhanced understanding of themselves, it actually served as a barrier against self-awareness. (case studies by look into team from Center for Psychosocial Studies in New York. ) IMMUNE SYSTEM EFFECTS 16. Marijuana and some of its compounds influence the immune transcription and affect the bodys force to resist viruses, bacteria, fungus kingdom and protozoa, and decreases the bodys anti tumor activities.Marijuana has the potential to alter the backup safeguards of the immune system because it affects divers(a) types of cells in the body. This could compromise the immune systems ability to screen out cancer cells and go on infection. (Dr. Guy A. Cabral, Professor, Medical College of Virginia, speaking at NlDAs National Conference on Marijuana Use Prevention, Treatment and query. ) Limitations of Marijuana Research Unfortunately, much of what is known about the human pharmacological medicine of ingest marijuana comes from experiments with plant material containing about 2% tetrahydrocannabinol or less, or cursoryly up to 4% THC.In addition, human experiments typically are done in lab settings where except one or two smoked doses were administered to relatively young, medically screened, brawny male volunteers well experienced with the effects of marijuana. Females seldom participated in past marijuana research because of prohibitions (now removed) against their inclusion. Thus the clinical materia medica of atomic number 53 or repeated smoked marijuana doses given to older people or to people with serious diseases has hardly been researched at all in a controlled laboratory or clinic setting.Some of the very few reports of experiments that have included older or sicker people, particularly patients less experienced in using marijuana suggest the profile of adverse effects may differ from healthy student volunteers smoking in a laboratory experiment (Hollister, 1986a, 1988a) THC administered only if in its pure form is the most thoroughly research cannabinoid. Much of what has been pen has been inferred from the results of experiments using only pure THC.Generally, in experiments actually using marijuana, the assumed dose of marijuana was based only on the concentration of THC in the plant material. The falls of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids in the plant also vary so that pharmacological interactions modifying the effects THC may occur when marijuana is used instead of pure THC. The result of this research strategy is that a good deal is known about the pharmacology of THC, but experimental confirmation that the pharmacology of a marijuana cigarette is thus entirely or mainly unyielding by the amount of THC it contains form to be completed.The scientific literature contains occasional hints that the pharmacology of pure THC, although similar, is not ceaselessly the same as the clinical pharmacology of smoked marijuana containing the same amount of THC (Graham 1976, Harvey 1985, Inst itute of Medicine 1982) (Report to the Director, National Institutes of Health, by the Ad-Hoc Group of Experts, Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana. )