Marijuana or Marihuana, also known as Cannabis, is a drug that produces psychoactive effects when an individual consumes it. The drug is made up of dried leaves, stems, and flowers of the female plants. They can be rolled over and then used for smoking through pipes, bongs, paper wrapped joints, and tobacco leaf wrapped blunts. This illicit substance is used extensively all over the world. The use of cannabis has been traced down to the third millennium B.C. In recent times, the drug has been used for spiritual, religious, recreational, and medicinal purposes. The primary active ingredient in marijuana is THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol).
This psychoactive drug is also known as pot and ganja in the Asian countries. The effect of smoking marijuana is almost immediate. The inhaler experiences a distorted perception of time and space, alterations in his moods, and hallucinations. The drug is also known to increase the heart rate, lower the blood pressure, and impair memory and concentration. The smoker gets into a state of euphoria along with mental relaxation. Anxiety and insomnia are commonly observed in such people.
Drugs are classified into stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens. Cannabis mainly falls under the category of hallucinogens but also produces some effects from the remaining two categories. This drug is used to make tablets, tinctures, medicines, and extracts, but these are strictly formulated and manufactured under the guidelines of various medical and pharmaceutical regulatory bodies and associations. When this drug is abused, it has a negative impact on the abuser’s life, personal as well as professional.
The tolerance for marijuana increases as a person continues to abuse the drug over a period of time, thereby causing him to keep increasing the doses in order to derive the same amount of pleasure. His craving for the drug becomes irresistible and can lead him into criminal activities. Studies have shown that drug abusers are mostly those people that have faced some kind of traumatic situation in their life such as sexual abuse or terminal illness, but what they fail to realize is that staying high is not a solution to life’s problems.