Basic Marijuana Education and Its Effects

Definition of Marijuana?

Ma-RI-Juan-a noun.

Definition: cannabis, especially smoked in a cigarette or rolled form.

Other given names: Cannabis, Hashish, Hemp, Sinsemilla. There are hundreds of cannabis slang names, and the list is growing all the time.

Synonyms: Reefer, Dope, Grass, Spliff, Doob, Locoweed, Bhang, Kef, Mary Jane, Weed, Pot, Ganja, Spliff, Roach, Toke.

Basic Marijuana Education 101

Sativa, Indica, and ruderalis are the three flowering plant species comprising the genus Cannabis (naturally lower in THC).

The female cannabis plant known as marijuana has flowers that contain a percentage of cannabinoids and have both therapeutic and psychoactive effects.

At least 66 of the 488 chemical entities are cannabinoid compounds. Cannabis contains a variety of medicinally useful substances in addition to THC and CBD.

What is Marijuana?

Marijuana is a mind-altering drug that is considered the most popular illegal drug consumed in the United States. It is quickly grown and consumed outdoors or indoors in the privacy of your own home or property. The main active ingredient is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, more widely known as THC.

Marijuana, commonly known as cannabis or weed, is the dried leaves and flowers (buds) of the cannabis plant. Many hemp types contain psychoactive (mind-altering) chemicals such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The chemical is found in resin produced by the leaves and buds, primarily of the female cannabis plant.

Specific nerve ends in the human body contain protein receptors that bind THC, which starts a series of cellular reactions that lead to the “high” feeling users experience when consuming marijuana.

Marijuana also contains more than 500 other chemicals, including over 100 compounds related to THC. These cannabinoids (CBDs) do not alter the mind, and many believe they have healthy, powerful healing properties.

The Three Species of Cannabis

• Indica — Indica plants are shorter, bushier, and produce physical sedative effects. They relieve pain, anxiety, insomnia, and muscle spasms.
• Sativa – Sativa plants are lighter in color and grow taller. The plant requires more time to flower and yields more cerebral effects. The largest of the three families is this plant: depression, ADD, fatigue, and mood disorders symptom relief.
• Ruderalis – A cannabis species with a low THC content is Cannabis Ruderalis. It is a fast-growing and tiny plant.

What Does Marijuana Look Like?

Marijuana is a greenish-gray (ranging from brown to green) mixture of dried-up, shredded leaves and flowers from a hemp plant, Cannabis Sativa.

It can also come in the form of wax and oil extracts. It is found in many foods, primarily baked desserts and sticky and candy-type foods.

How Popular is Marijuana?

It is the most common illegal drug used in the United States.

Studies have shown that at least one-third of all Americans have consumed marijuana at least once in their lifetime.

Is Cannabis Legal in the United States?

There are currently only a handful of states where recreational marijuana is legal, and about half the conditions allow you to buy and consume medical marijuana with a license from a dispensary. It is essential to know the laws in your state before.

How is Marijuana Consumed?

There are four main ways marijuana is consumed: topical, sublingual, oral, and the most common way, inhalation.

Each method has unique characteristics that make it more or less attractive to some consumers.

We’ve written a more in-depth article on how to consume marijuana if you want more information about the subject.

The most common way to consume marijuana is to smoke it. But cannabis comes in many different forms today.

The consumer will roll it in a cigarette paper, known as a “joint,” or empty a cigar casing and fill it with marijuana, called a “blunt.”

Many users refrain from using additional papers and ingest them through a pipe or water pipe, a “bong.”

Although smoking marijuana is the most common way to ingest it, more people are beginning to use vapes and even baking marijuana into foods, candies, and teas. This intake is somewhat “healthier” in the marijuana consumer’s mind, cutting out many other chemicals when ingesting the plant by smoking it.

How Does Marijuana Affect Your Mind and Body

People consume marijuana for many different reasons, medical and recreational.

The most common of the two is recreational because ingesting marijuana relieves them and elevates their mood.

Depending on the THC level within the cannabis, users may experience euphoria, paranoia, and sometimes even hallucinations.

Possible Hazards of Marijuana Consumption

Some common side effects of the consumption of marijuana include increased appetite, dry mouth, accelerated heart rate, loss of coordination, swollen eyelids, and bloodshot eyes.

Other short-term marijuana use hazards may include:

• Lack of focus and attention
• Poor driving skills
• Impaired memory
• Difficulty thinking and problem-solving
• Paranoia and anxiety
• Learning difficulties

Long-term marijuana use hazards may include:

• Respiratory problems or disease
• Lack of motivation
• Increased risk of head, neck, and lung cancers
• Decreased sperm count in men
• Irregular menstruation in women
• Poor short-term memory recall
• Inability to understand complex problems or information
• Inability to usually shift attention
• Heightened risk of infections, especially lung-related

Habitual marijuana consumers who prefer to ingest cannabis by smoking may inherit many of the same respiratory problems that traditional tobacco smokers have. They may have daily phlegm, a hard cough, more frequent chest colds, or symptoms of chronic bronchitis.

Continuing to smoke marijuana can lead to abnormal functioning lungs due to permanently damaged or destroyed lung tissue by the chemicals in marijuana smoke.

Is Marijuana Addictive?

This is a controversial question. Long-term marijuana consumption can lead to dependency and addiction for some people.

Withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings can make it hard for chronic marijuana users to stop abusing cannabis.

Some signs of people trying to quit experience anxiety, sleeplessness, and irritability. They also report and display an increase in aggression.

A drug can be addicting. It causes an uncontrollable craving, often compulsive, seeking, use, even in the face of adverse social or health consequences.

So, is smoking weed addictive? Even though marijuana meets this criterion, many people can walk away from the drug as quickly as they have picked it up.

Treating Marijuana Addiction

Unlike many other addictive drugs, marijuana has no medication to treat addiction. Most abusers seeking professional treatment are directed towards behavioral therapies such as individual or group sessions.

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