The Facts
Despite being one of the most widely used substances in the world, many people are unaware of a lot of the facts about marijuana. In short, marijuana is a plant that grows naturally in many different regions of the planet that produces a euphoric high when smoked. There are many different strains of the plant which are either sought after or looked over by more experienced smokers. Despite many common misconceptions, marijuana is generally much less harmful to one’s body than other substances like alcohol or harder drugs. No matter what it is that you choose to smoke, it is going to have adverse effects on your respiratory system. But the good news about weed is that it is not attributed to death or overdose which are two of the biggest problems with other drugs.Overall, marijuana is a recreational drug that gets a lot of bad publicity that it really doesn’t deserve.
The short term effects of marijuana are why the plant is so highly prized by users. A euphoric feeling overcomes the user upon smoking which many refer to as the high or the buzz. Like with many drugs, THC, the chemical in weed that gets one high, causes the brain to release dopamine which is what creates the good feeling. Marijuana also has more negative side effects like loss of coordination and short term memory. However, these drawbacks are often blown out of proportion in popular media. Though there are things about weed that are less than desirable, it is by far the safest form of recreational intoxication that individuals can take part in today. Even though alcohol is a legal intoxicant for those over twenty one, most will agree that it is much more harmful to the body as it can cause many health problems like liver failure. Whatever the substance, the key is using it in moderation.
Negative Side Effects
In the brain, there are several key areas that are affected more severely than others by the chemical THC. These areas of the brain include, the hippocampus, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia, and the cerebral cortex. Not surprisingly, this leads to marijuana having a negative effect on one’s memory. Though the long term memory is not as effected as much, all parts of one’s memory can be severely damaged by the drug. First and foremost, marijuana impairs one’s short term memory by affecting these four areas of the brain most severely. If you do not want to cause harm to your body, then it is best to stay away from all forms of intoxication completely. But most people feel that a buzz at the end of the day is worth the risk to their long term health, however silly that may sound.
Apart from the loss of memory, there are other proven side effects to smoking marijuana. First, one’s ability to drive can be seriously hurt when high on marijuana. During the high, the body’s reactions are often slow and every second is important when performing the important task of driving. A recent study shows that four to fourteen percent of drivers sustaining injury or death in car accidents tested positive for THC. Another drawback when using marijuana is increased heart rate. It has been proven that marijuana can cause heart palpitations and other negative side effects. This substance also causes paranoia in some users which can be a particularly deadly combination with the previously mentioned side effect of increased heart rate.
Why People Use It
With all of these negative side effects out of the way, not all is bad for users of marijuana. Unlike alcohol, marijuana causes users to relax rather than inspiring violence or rage. This is why it is considered by many to be a rather harmless substance when used in recreation. Most importantly of all, this plant which grows in the ground is not attributed to any deaths like most other drugs are. In fact, about 500 people each year die from the over the counter pain killer Aspirin. This is a true testament to the relative harmlessness of marijuana when compared to other substances. This is due mainly to the fact that one can not overdose on marijuana no matter how hard they may try. One would simply pass out before they smoked nearly enough weed to give a lethal dosage.
Marijuana is simply a plant from the ground which is very different from lots of other harder drugs. These harder drugs are often made in the lab by man rather than occurring naturally on the planet. This is one of the main points that marijuana enthusiasts argue, and a very good point it is. If we just put anything in our bodies that comes along, there are bound to be negative side effects. Now, this is not to say that marijuana is the answer to everything and that it is a wonder drug. Plenty of negative side effects have been attributed to it as well as other substances. The difference is that weed occurs naturally and the side effects pale in comparison to the harm that other harder drugs can cause. In short, if one is looking for a quick fix at the end of the day, then marijuana is a great drug for that. Like all other substances, it must be used in moderation. But this goes without saying for most intelligent people.
Different Kinds of Marijuana
When speaking about the plant, users often refer to it by either sativa or indica. These are two different kinds of marijuana that cause slightly different reactions within the body. Sativas are described by giving a head high and a more energetic high in general. When one talks about dank weed, they are usually strains of this kind. However this is not always true as there is another kind of marijuana called indica. Indicas give more of a body buzz and are generally less preferred among users. But users like different things so some may prefer this sort of the plant. The couch locked effect is one attributed with indicas as users of these strains often find themselves so high that they no longer wish to get up and move. These days, there are all kinds of special growing systems and techniques out there that hybrids of sativa and indica have begun to grow in popularity among the stoner community. These strains will give effects of both sides of the marijuana spectrum and are often more potent than other strains.
Use of Marijuana on the Rise
Not surprisingly, marijuana is the most commonly used drug for recreational use in the United States of America. In fact, 6,000 Americans try weed for the first time on a daily basis! If this is not a testament to the relative harmlessness of marijuana compared to other drugs, then I don’t know what is! It is estimated that about 22.5 million adults use the drug daily which is much more than the popular media would have you believe. Without considering alcohol, weed is actually the most widely used recreational drug on the planet. It would appear that the negative image being portrayed in the news today is not as widely accepted as reporters would like to believe it is. One report states that it would take about eight hundred joints to kill a man and the cause of death would be poisoning from carbon monoxide. It is no wonder that so many people choose marijuana over lots of other harder drugs every day.
Those who use marijuana have about two hundred different slang names for the plant! Some of the most popular of these names include hash, ganja, weed, pot, and grass. THC, or its more scientific name delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main chemical in the plant that causes the euphoric high and other side effects. Cannabis is a very sturdy and durable plant which can grow in many different environments and can reach a height of eighteen feet in ideal conditions! In early China, people in fact used Cannabis seeds as a source of food. This occurred as early as 6000 B.C.E. according to scholars.Interestingly, marijuana was encourages as a substitute to alcohol in the 1890′s, but much of that changed with Harry J. Anslinger’s anti-pot campaign which is widely attributed to the decline in marijuana usage in the previous century. Now considered silly in the eyes of many, this campaign occurred in the 1930′s and continues to have a negative impact on the public view of marijuana today.
A Less Harmful Substance for Everyone
When one gets down to the facts, marijuana is a substance that is much less harmful than some of the other more accepted ones in today’s culture like alcohol. Even though alcohol is used more frequently, studies show that marijuana is indeed better for one’s body than alcohol is. Perhaps the world’s ideas about marijuana need a modern update, in fact many are giving in to the rising popularity of the drug. With medical marijuana programs popping up all over the country, usage of weed has increased steadily ever since 2006. It is hard to say what usage of marijuana might be like in the future, but we can only hope that it is treated much like alcohol is today. As long as we stick to the facts, it is easy to see why marijuana is one of today’s most widely used recreational drugs and will probably continue to be so for a long time.
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