Essay on Effects of Marijuana

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The Effects of Marijuana
Marijuana is a mood-altering psychoactive drug that is also referred to as pot, weed, ganja, cannabis, herb and many more. It is an ancient drug that has been used in many cultures for meditation, religious worship and intoxication. Marijuana comes from an Indian hemp plant and is the third most widely used drug in the United States. According to multiple surveys taken, Marijuana is so popular that an estimated one out of every three people in the US have tried it and around 44% of US high school students have smoked it. Marijuana is very widespread and although there has never been a documented fatality from overdosing on cannabis, it still is an illegal drug that can harm almost every part of your body.
Smoking marijuana has negative effects both mentally and physically. On the body, the results from smoking vary. The amount of TCH, which is marijuana’s main chemical and short for Tetrahydrocannabinol, changes the effect of a smokers “high”. When a person gets high, your attention and memory become impaired. You will find yourself having a difficult time concentrating and may feel as if you’re in a dream-like state. Normal sights, sounds, tastes, or events can seem very funny or interesting. It can also damage the lungs and the heart, worsen the symptoms of bronchitis and cause coughing and wheezing. It reduces the body’s ability to fight lung infections and illness. It has even be heard of that men who smoke marijuana frequently have significantly less seminal fluid, which can and may lead to infertility. And in females, there is evidence that marijuana use may disrupt the menstrual cycle. After inhaling the smoke, you start to experience an alteration of heart rate and typically a dry mouth. During the time when a user is high they will have an increased heart rate up to 50% above normal and it weakens heart muscle contractions. Smoking marijuana may also result into developing the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers deal with every day. Time seems to pass a lot slower to people that smoke, minutes seem like hours, hours seem like days. You also have increased hunger and thirst; this is an effect that most people would commonly call “the munchies”. When using, the blood vessels in a person’s eye tend to enlarge causing them to look bloodshot, these effects go on for about 2-3 hours then slowly die down and the person will feel sleepy.
Mentally, smoking has also resulted to having cases of intense anxiety, panic attacks and paranoia. Sometimes, marijuana produces a feeling of panic or dread. Highly potent marijuana can lead to "intense emotional reactions, substantial distortions in perception, a panic that one has lost control of oneself and vivid hallucinations" (Sullivan 343).
Marijuana has affected my life on countless occasions. Being raised by a father that frequently drank and used drugs caused a huge impact on my life. It was clear to others that my siblings and I were living in very unsafe conditions. My father’s problems caused my life to change drastically. My siblings and I had to pack up and leave our life to live with a new guardian who had better intentions. Since then my life has smoothly gone by. When I was in 7th grade I started to observe my oldest brother Michael experiment with marijuana. Weed was something my brother enjoyed doing for a good or fun time. He thought of it as purely harmless. Soon enough, his harmless partake in drugs resulted in him being kicked out of his house & school. Going from seeing my brother on a daily basis to only visiting him on the weekends majorly affected me. My guardian didn’t seem to care because of the anger she held on him from his juvenile acts. Now I am a junior in high school attending Emerald Ridge. Over this last summer, I decided to smoke weed for the first time with friends for fun. A few months ago in August, my friends and I got into an encounter with the police. We were pulled over for having a headlight
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