Marijuana 2 Essay, Research Paper

MarijuanaMarijuana is the name given to any drug made from the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa. Different forms of this drug are known by different names all around the world. Some of these names are kif in Morocco, dagga in South Africa, and ganja in India. In the last decade marijuana has gotten many street names like grass, pot, tea, reefer, weed, and Mary Jane. Marijuana has been smoked, eaten in cakes, and drunk in beverages. Most often marijuana is made as a tobacco like mixture that is smoked in a pipe or rolled into a cigarette.Marijuana puts major physiological effects on the cardiovascular and central nervous systems. Most of the effects make the person feel calm and also make the person hallucinate. However the effects of the marijuana depend on the strength of it, the amount used, and the experience of the user Small amounts cause the person to sense relaxation and sleepiness. Bigger doses cause general sensory distortions, changed time sense, loss of short-term memory, loss of balance, and difficulty in completing the thought processes. Very high doses make the person have loss of memory, serious uneasiness and panic, hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. The heart rate also increases and blood vessels in the eye expand which makes the eyes very red. A tight feeling in the chest and a loss of muscular coordination may also happen. The drug can also have long term effects such as sperm production and fertility. Marijuana smoke also has long- term deadly effects on the lungs.

As far back as 3000 B.C., marijuana was used in China and Central Asia of a folk medicine. The use of marijuana as an stimulant in the United States became a problem in the 1930+s. Laws were passed in 1937, and criminal penalties were put in effect for carrying and selling of the drug. In 1968 the carrying and sale of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical used to make marijuana, was made illegal to use in research. A survey in the 1970+s showed that at least forty-three million Americans had tried the drug. However in the 1980+s surveys of high school and college students showed that marijuana use was going down.The growing of marijuana in the United States is increasing, and by 1990 made up twenty-five percent of our country+s market. Even new growing techniques have made the amount of THC in the marijuana larger.In the medicine field, marijuana and THC are sometimes used to treat certain disorders like Glaucoma because they help to reduce pressure within the eye. In 1985 the Food and Drug Administration also approved the use of manmade THC for treating the nausea and vomiting from cancer chemotherapy. Marijuana is a very deadly drug and should never be used unless the person has been granted federal permission . The effects of marijuana on the body when taken in may feel good at the time; however, the consequences will be nothing but harmful.