Why Does Marijuana Make Me Feel Good
Well, first off, there are many active ingredients in Marijuana, which is to say it is not a single drug molecule, such as alcohol or cocaine, rather a combination of more than 400 diverse chemical components. In fact, they're so different that 60 of them (called cannabinoids) are exclusive to cannabis.
While we're discussing numbers, let’s point out that the primary mind-altering cannabinoid is a little item by the name of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or “THC”, for short. It's this chemical that triggers marijuana's main drug reactions and in turn effects the body and the brain.
THC is a mind altering compound that breaks up into at least 80 different byproducts (or metabolites) prior to being eliminated from the body… Which can take a while.
The mood altering process starts as soon as the medical marijuana's THC enters the bloodstream, and begins zeroing in on Cannabinoid receptors (anandamides) in the brain and the central nervous system.
Marijuana is the name for the drug that comes from the leaves and flowers of the Indian hemp plant, Cannabis sativa. (Elizabeth Schleichert, 1996) The plant originated in central Asia and spread to several corners of the globe. All over the world, people have used the plant as a source of fiber, cloth, paper, edible seeds, oil, and medicine. It has also been used in many cultures as an intoxicant.
The intoxicating part of the plant lies mostly in its strong-smelling, sticky, resin. This is given off by the hemp flowers, especially the flowers on the female plant. The most powerful psychoactive compounds found in the flower is called delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly known as delta-9 THC or just THC. THC is the chemical in the flower of the plant that is the key chemical to produce a “high.”
Marijuana affects different people in different ways. It usually causes the heart rate to accelerate. This can cause panic in first-time users. (Jack Mendelson, M.D., and Nancy Mello, Ph.D. 1985) The first-time user may think that they are having a heart attack. Because of the effect of accelerated heart rate, marijuana can be very dangerous if the user has a preexisting heart problem or high blood pressure. Marijuana dries the mouth. It also dries and reddens the whites of the eyes. The eyes become red because the marijuana causes the blood vessels of the eyes to dilate or widen. This causes more blood to flow through the vessels. As other blood vessels expand, the body's blood pressure drops. This low blood pressure can cause some people to experience dizziness.
From the time it was commonly used earlier in the 19th century, marijuana was viewed as a dangerous drug. It was viewed to be much worse than alcohol and tobacco and very likely to lead to hard drug addiction. A lot of information about the harmfulness of marijuana has been written to prove or disprove this viewpoint. Marijuana is considered to be a gateway drug by serious researchers. Yet, while many researchers argue on the exact nature of the damage that smoking marijuana causes to the body, they all seem to agree on one thing. Use of marijuana is unsafe, especially to the lungs and short-term memory. There is still a lot that remains to be learned about marijuana, but studies do show a link between marijuana use and experimentation with harder drugs.
Experts have pointed out another negative aspect of marijuana: THC accumulates in the body and stays there for long periods of time. Unlike water-soluble drugs that are eliminated quickly from the body, THC accumulates in the body fat . People who smoke marijuana on a regular basis may never rid of it entirely.
Studies have shown that heavy use of marijuana can damage the reproductive and endocrine systems. These are the systems responsible for distribution of hormones in the body. THC decreases the number and quality of men's sperm and damages their ability to move around. Marijuana can also disrupt women's menstrual cycles. Failure to ovulate normally, resulting in unpredictable periods of infertility, has also been linked to marijuana use.
Because marijuana crosses the placenta, it can harm the fetus in a pregnant woman who uses the drug. Children of marijuana users may be born with abnormal nervous systems. They also have lower birth weight and are generally smaller at birth. Animal studies have suggested that marijuana may also cause an increase in fetal and early infant deaths. Marijuana is secreted a woman's breast milk and may be toxic when passed to the nursing infant. Some studies have also shown that the children of marijuana using mothers may demonstrate symptoms of depressant withdrawal and suffer from convulsions. Heavy marijuana use may cause increased breakage of and damage to the chromosomes. The birth defects that result might be seen in the offspring of the marijuana user, or they may skip a generation and affect grandchildren. Obviously, the use of marijuana during pregnancy represents a significant risk to the unborn child.
Research has shown a link between smoking marijuana and lung damage. Marijuana smoke contains over 150 cancer causing substances. Scientists have found that the lung damage caused by smoking a single marijuana cigarette is equivalent to the damage caused by smoking five tobacco cigarettes. So, smoking three to four marijuana cigarettes a day causes the kind of lung-cell damage that twenty cigarettes does. It has also been discovered that smoking marijuana will deposit three times more tar into the lungs and also releases five times more poisonous carbon monoxide into the bloodstream than cigarettes do.
Marijuana smokers suffer from more infections from bronchitis, and long-term incurable conditions such as emphysema. It is also common for marijuana smokers to have constant sore throats and coughing. Various kinds of cancer have been diagnosed in young marijuana smokers from age twenty-six to thirty. These included cancers of the lung, sinus, larynx, tongue, and tonsils. It has also been shown that marijuana smokers appear to be getting lung cancer at a much younger age, at forty-five, than other people, at sixty-five.
Another reason that marijuana smokers suffer from more infections than non-users is because marijuana effects the immune system. The immune system is an important part of the body that helps to fight off infection. The most important parts of the immune system are the white blood cells. When an infection enters the body, the white blood cells divide and grow at a fast rate to fight the infection. But, when blood samples were taken from marijuana smokers, they had a significantly lower immunity level than that of nonsmokers. Further studies showed that THC causes certain types of the white blood cells to stop growing during mid-cycle. This obviously impairs the immune systems ability to properly fight off infections.
Most drugs cause withdrawal symptoms when the user stops using them. Marijuana is no exception. When a heavy marijuana smoker decides to quit, they may suffer from one or more of the following symptoms: insomnia, loss of appetite, weakness, irritability, sweating, depression, anxiety, restlessness, abdominal cramps, nausea, an increased pulse rate, low blood pressure, aching muscles, and slight tremors. These symptoms last for up to one week after the person stops smoking, and continue in a milder form for up to a month.
Many marijuana smokers believe that smoking marijuana heightens their senses. The truth is, the brain is dulled. It is more difficult for a person to learn material under the influence of marijuana. The information may never be put into their long-term memory. This means that they will not be able to recall the information later.
Richard H. Schwartz, M.D., of Georgetown University School of Medicine In Washington, D.C., studied teenagers who were using marijuana. He discovered that they did much worse on short-term memory tests than another group who had not used drugs. After six weeks of abstaining from marijuana, the teenagers showed some memory improvement, but they still did worse than the other group of non-using teens.
Many factors, both genetic and environmental, can encourage marijuana use. Studies have shown that children with a drug-addicted parent or children of alcoholics are more likely to become abusers themselves.
Feelings of inadequacy are often a factor to drug abuse. A former marijuana abuser said that her self-esteem was, “non-existent.” Another marijuana and drug abuser said, ” When I was in the ninth grade, I started getting high every day. I was feeling really lonely, and I thought that nobody could understand my pain…I finally realized that I did drugs to hide from myself. I was really insecure and had a very low self-esteem.”
A lot of young people feel distant from their families. Intense confusion is usually experienced as young people enter adolescence. If a certain crowd that appeals to them is willing to allow them be a part of their group, it is very tempting for them to join. Even if that means the price of admission to the desired group is drug use. Once a part of the group, it is hard to stop using out of fear that they will no longer be accepted.
Although marijuana is illegal, there has been much debate on legalizing it for medical benefits. Many believe that marijuana has been shown to be effective in decreasing the nausea caused by chemotherapy. Others feel it alleviates some of the symptoms associated with AIDS, such as severe leg cramps, nausea, headaches, and loss of appetite. Another alleged medical advantage of marijuana is that it lowers the pressure that builds up in the eyes of glaucoma patients which in turn helps prevents them from going blind. It is also said to relieve tremors and loss of muscle coordination caused by multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Yet, it is illegal for physicians who believe in the medical benefits of marijuana to prescribe it. So, the question of whether it should be made legal for medical purposes has become a hot political issue.
Marijuana is classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule I drug. The drugs that are in this category are said to have a high potential for abuse. These drugs also produce dangerous side effects and have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
Advocates have wanted marijuana to be moved to a Schedule II drug for a long time. Schedule II drugs also have a high potential for abuse and bad side effects, but are considered medically useful and can be legally prescribed by physicians. Interestingly, cocaine and morphine, which can be highly addictive, are Schedule II drugs.
As for the future of marijuana, research is being done and data is being collected to help obtain a better understanding of the effects of marijuana on our health, as well as the motivation behind its abuse. Researchers hope that with new insight, the public and government will be better equipped to establish consistent policies to regulate, control, or put a stop to the complicated reality of marijuana use in the United States.
Really… Marijuana addictive?
Marijuana is not physically addictive, regardless of what many anti-marijuana people want us to accept as true. Cannabis consumers can use marijuana frequently, even numerous times daily, without any problem giving it up, when necessary.
Cannabis has the lowest risk of dependence and withdrawal potential if you compare it to other substances, such as alcohol, opiates (like Vicodin), caffeine, and other psychoactive drugs. Many of the anti-depressants (currently being prescribed abundantly) have very severe physical withdrawal symptoms which most patients are not warned about.
Medical marijuana is something I have personally seen, and seen succeed. I know a man who used to be in the timber industry. At one point, a tree collapsed as he was cutting it down and landed on him, causing massive injuries including a broken back. He barely survived, and barely escaped paralysis, but suffers from intense pain from the lingering damage to his ribs and the section of crushed vertebrae in his back.
Now, he could be reliant on strong pain medications, narcotics like hydrocodone (commonly known as Vicodin) or oxycontin. His doctors are very willing to prescribe these for him. But these drugs can cause a lot of problems, especially when they are used for every-day pain management. They can cause digestive problems, such as nausea, vomiting, and constipation. They are addictive, and an overdose can be fatal. They can also heighten anxiety.
Instead, he has a medical marijuana permit for the state of Washington. I've spent a good deal of time looking for studies that show the benefits of marijuana. Instead I mostly encountered media reporting that such studies are generally blocked by the FDA and Federal drug law enforcement, such as in the New York Times. However, according to Wikipedia there are a good number of well-known and respected organizations that support medical marijuana use, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the British Medical Association, Health Canada, and many more.
Instead of the side effects of pain pills, I see this man get significant pain relief. He tells me the marijuana eases the inflammation and the pain with far better results than narcotic pain killers. It allows him to function at a level he otherwise couldn't. Personally, I would much rather see someone using a substance like marijuana than taking narcotic pain killers on a daily basis. It's my experience that narcotics are far more addictive (if marijuana is even addictive at all, I don't believe it's addictive, just potentially habit forming like anything else people might really enjoy), and far more harsh on the body. When this man has no access to marijuana, he has no problem waiting until he does, except for the pain. He'll simply spend a lot more time sitting still and schedule additional acupuncture appointments.
To me, it seems sad that the American government is not more tolerant of using marijuana medicinally. Cancer, AIDS, painful permanent injuries, these are all very real things that thousands of people suffer from every day. Why not use every tool available? It is my feeling, that the Federal issue with medical marijuana has more to do with the fact that people can grow it themselves. The government can't tax it, the big drug companies can't patent it, and it can more easily get into the hands of recreational users. However, recreational users already have no problems accessing marijuana. Worse, the marijuana they are buying now is often from Mexico, where drug cartels are causing chaos and carnage to get it to them. Wouldn't home grown relief for cancer patients, chronic pain suffers, and others, be better?
As someone who has trained for various sports and with a personal trainer certification, I still prefer marijuana over narcotics. I can easily imagine people using it medicinally as much better able to digest and ingest a proper diet, without such interruptions as nausea and vomiting. I can also easily imagine them still being able to be active to the extent that their illness or injury will let them. Whereas, as someone very familiar with the effects of narcotic pain killers from previous surgeries and injuries, narcotics really throw you for such a loop, between messing with your stomach (after a few days of use, in my experience) and making your mind truly cloudy and drowsy, not much activity is accomplished.
Overall, I think it is far and away an excellent alternative to harsh narcotics. I look forward to a day when society and the federal government realize they have much more to worry about than the stigma, the difficulty of regulation, and the possibility for abuse, such as the health and well-being of it's citizens.
Sources:
Researches Find Study of Medical Marijuana Discourages - NYTimes.com, Gardiner Harris
Medical cannabis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia
