Scientifically Established Facts About Dangers of Pot Use

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FIVE COMMON MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT MARIJUANA

01. MYTH: Marijuana is harmless.
01. FACT: Can lead to a host of significant health, social, learning, and behavioral problems at a crucial time in a young person's development. Getting high also impairs judgment, which can lead to risky decision making on issues like sex, criminal activity, or riding with someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, teen users are 5 times more likely to have sex than teens who do not.

02. MYTH: You can't get addicted to marijuana.
02. FACT: Research shows that marijuana use can lead to psychological addiction. Each year, more kids enter treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than for all other illicit drugs combined.

03. MYTH: There are no long-term consequences to marijuana use.
03. FACT: Research shows that kids who smoke marijuana engage in risky behavior that can jeopardize their futures, like having sex, getting in trouble with the law, or losing scholarship money. Marijuana can also hurt academic achievement and puts kids at risk for depression and anxiety.

04. MYTH: Marijuana isn't as popular as other drugs like ecstasy among teens today.
04. FACT: Kids use marijuana far more than any other illicit drug. Among kids who use drugs, 60 percent use only marijuana.

05. MYTH: Young kids won't be exposed to marijuana.
05. FACT: Between 1991 and 2001, the number of 8th graders who used marijuana doubled from one in 10 to one in five.

HEALTH HAZARDS OF MARIJUANA USE The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Short-term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem-solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks.

Effects of Marijuana on the Brain. TLC changes the way sensory information gets into and is acted on by the hippo campus, a component of the brain that is crucial for learning, memory, and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations. Researchers have discovered that learned behaviors, which depend on the hippo campus, also deteriorate.

Effects on the Lungs. Regular use may lead to respiratory problems that tobacco smokers have. These individuals may have daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds. Regardless of the THC content, the amount of tar inhaled by marijuana smokers and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers. This may be due to marijuana users inhaling more deeply and holding the smoke in the lungs.

Effects of Heavy Heavy Use on LearLearning Social Behavior. A study of college students has shown that critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning are impaired among people who use marijuana heavily, even after discontinuing its use for at least 24 hours. Researchers compared 65 "heavy users," who had smoked marijuana a median of 29 of the past 30 days, and 64 "light users," who had smoked a median of 1 of the past 30 days. Marijuana users made more errors and had more difficulty sustaining attention, shifting attention to meet the demands of changes in the environment, and in registering, processing, and using information.

Longitudinal research on marijuana use among young people below college age indicates those who used have lower achievement than the non-users, more acceptance of deviant behavior, more delinquent behavior and aggression, greater rebelliousness, poorer relationships with parents, and more associations with delinquent and drug-using friends.

Sources: Journal of the American Medical Association, Prevalence of Marijuana Use Disorders in the United States. May 5, 2004. Wilson M. Compton, MD, MPE, James D. Colliver, PhD and Meyer D. Glantz, PhD (National Institute on Drug Abuse* NIDA); and Bridget F. Grant, PhD and Frederick S. Stinson, PhD (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism - NIAAA). Additional source: National Institutes on Health (NIH) research data archives.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com

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Do some reading: http://www.psychiatry.wustl.edu/Reso...May/Kelley.PDF

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What if you knew that some research indicates that marijuana is not physically addictive?

According to the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM), when examining drug addiction, tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal are the characteristics most often assessed to determine whether or not an addiction is indicated. Although some users of marijuana may experience slight tolerance, dependence, or withdrawal associated with use, the IOM argues that this is not evidence that marijuana is addictive. The organization asserts that tolerance and dependence are normal physiological adaptations to repeated use of any substance, including prescription drugs. Safe, appropriate use of many prescribed medications -- for pain, anxiety, hypertension, etc. -- routinely produces some level of tolerance and a slight physiological dependence that is addressed through dosage and may lead to withdrawal symptoms if stopped abruptly, rather than gradually.

The IOM also reported that observable symptoms attributed to marijuana withdrawal are rare and were only identifiable in "unique patient settings... limited to adolescents in treatment facilities for substance abuse problems, and in a research setting where subjects were given marijuana or THC daily." Compared to the withdrawal associated with alcohol or heroin, the marijuana-related symptoms of restlessness, irritability, and sleep disruption are minor. According to reports, the symptoms are not "severe enough to re-initiate use of cannabis." The criteria of tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal, therefore, do not indicate marijuana addiction, assert proponents of marijuana legalization.

Statistics show that fewer than one in 10 marijuana smokers becomes a regular user of the drug and most stop using marijuana after the age of 34. By comparison, reported the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), 15 percent of alcohol consumers and 32 percent of tobacco smokers exhibit symptoms of drug dependence.

Other opponents of marijuana legalization point to the potential relationship between dopamine production in the human brain and marijuana. Dopamine is a neurochemical produced in the central cortex of the brain and is thought to be central to the body's "reward system" which may be the biochemical cause of addiction. The more dopamine produced, the greater the "reward" the body feels. Some marijuana opponents assert that marijuana increases the production of dopamine, but some research has shown that marijuana does not radically affect dopamine production. Researchers also noted that increased dopamine production has been detected in the brains of video game players who were rewarded with cash every time they reached a new level of the game. As Cynthia Cotts wrote in her article "Reefer Madness" in Salon. "Dopamine is released in response to pleasurable activities, which include hitting a home run, listening to Mozart and french-kissing, as well as drinking vodka and snorting cocaine." Therefore, argue marijuana proponents, should marijuana increase dopamine levels, that alone cannot be considered conclusive evidence that marijuana is addictive.

Most experts agree that when the risk of addiction to tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana are compared, there is "strong evidence that marijuana has the least addictive power," wrote Eric Schlosser in The Atlantic Monthly article "Reefer Madness." In fact, argue proponents, during the Nixon administration the federal government, after reviewing existing marijuana studies, concluded that marijuana did not cause physical addiction.

When Dr. Jack Henningfield of the Addiction Research Center and Dr. Neal Benowitz of the University of California ranked heroin, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and marijuana in terms of their power to induce psychological dependence, nicotine placed first and marijuana ranked last. According to Schlosser, marijuana also came in at last place in terms of inducing a physical tolerance and was deemed least likely to produce signs of withdrawal upon quitting.