marijuana | Teen Ink

marijuana

April 8, 2014
By alex brown BRONZE, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
alex brown BRONZE, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

What is marijuana?
Marijuana is a word used to describe the dried flower seeds of the Indian hemp plant. On the street, it has many other names, such as: astro turf, bhang, dagga, dope, ganja, grass, hemp, homegrown, J, Mary Jane, pot, reefer, roach, Texas tea and weed etc. Marijuana has a form of chemical in it called tetrahydrocannabinol commonly known as THC, marijuana also include 400 other chemicals in it. Marijuana is the most popular and easily accessible illegal drug in the United States today. Approximately 750,000 people were arrested for marijuana law violations in 2012 according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Annual Uniform Crime Report. Marijuana is used for personal use as well as for medical purposes, there are both long and short term health effects on the human body.
Marijuana can cause plenty damage to the user without them knowing what happened. In actual driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairments – consistently less than produced by moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. In comparison to alcohol, which tends to increase risky driving practices, marijuana tends to make subjects more cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is detected in the blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. For some individuals, marijuana may play a role in bad driving, yet the overall rate of highway accidents appears to not be significantly affected by marijuana's widespread use in society. Frequent marijuana consumers; appear to develop a tolerance to marijuana’s impairing effects.
Even though marijuana has many negative health effects it also has many positive health effects to the body. For many seriously ill people medical marijuana is the only medicine that relieves their pain and suffering, or treats symptoms of their medical condition without debilitating side effects. Marijuana has been shown to relieve symptoms of wide range of debilitating medical conditions including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Epilepsy, Crohn’s Disease, and Glaucoma, and is often an effective alternative to narcotic painkillers. Marijuana has been shown to be effective in reducing the nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma. There is also appreciable evidence that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity in patients with neurological disorders. Marijuana has also been shown to help with mental health conditions, particularly PTSD. Although an overwhelming majority of Americans support medical marijuana, the federal government continues to impede state medical marijuana laws. Marijuana prohibition has also started research within the United States to uncover the best and most effective uses for marijuana as a medicine, making efforts to reform medical marijuana laws particularly difficult.
In conclusion many people are on the fence about use of medical marijuana. Many people start to use marijuana at a young age which can cause them to get addicted to drugs. The use of marijuana can severely damage your lungs and their brain. Marijuana has negative effects if used incorrectly but if used right there could positive effects from it. Medical marijuana can help a person by relieving their pain and other help problems.



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