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Paranoid
Mrs. Pricilla Casas, BA
Prevention Specialist
Behavior Health Solutions of South Texas
Describe the long term effects of Marijuana use on your brain and body by discussing Marijuana use facts and conducting a whole class activity.
What is Marijuana?
Marijuana is the dried leaves and flowers of the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plant.
Of the more than 500 chemicals in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, is responsible for many of the drug’s psychotropic (mind-altering) effects. It’s this chemical that distorts how the mind perceives the world.
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Some people smoke marijuana in hand-rolled cigarettes called joints. Many use glass pipes, water pipes called bongs, or marijuana cigars called blunts (often made by slicing open cigars and replacing some or all of the tobacco with marijuana). To avoid inhaling smoke, some people are using vaporizers. These devices pull the active ingredients (including THC) from the marijuana into the vapor. A person then inhales the vapor, not the smoke. Some vaporizers use a marijuana liquid extract. Marijuana can also be brewed as tea or cooked into food, sometimes called edibles—such as brownies, cookies, or candy.
These concentrated extracts made from the marijuana plant should not be confused with “synthetic marijuana,” sometimes called “K2,” “Spice,” or “herbal incense.” These synthetic drugs are man-made chemicals similar to THC but often much stronger and very dangerous. (Unlike marijuana, their use sometimes directly results in overdose deaths. Learn more about "synthetic marijuana”.
Most of the cannabinoid receptors are found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement. Marijuana activates the endocannabinoid system, which causes the pleasurable feelings or "high" and stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain's reward centers, reinforcing the behavior. Other effects include changes in perceptions and mood, lack of coordination, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, and disrupted learning and memory.
Our Brain
The hippocampus plays a critical role in certain types of learning. Disrupting its normal functioning can lead to problems studying, learning new things, and recalling recent events. Chronic marijuaua use disorder, that begins in adolescence, is associated with a loss of IQ points, as compared with people who don't use marijuana during their teen years.3 However, two recent twin studies suggest that this decline is related to other risk factors (e.g., genetics, family, and environment), not by marijuana use itself.4
THC affects the cerebellum, the area of our brain that controls balance and coordination, and the basal ganglia, another part of the brain that helps control movement. These effects can influence performance in such activities as sports, driving, and video games.
Since THC affects areas of the frontal cortex involved in decision making, using it can make you more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as unprotected sex or getting in a car with someone who’s been drinking or is high on marijuana.
Marijuana use has been linked with depression and anxiety, as well as suicidal thoughts among adolescents. In addition, research has suggested that in people with a genetic risk for developing schizophrenia, smoking marijuana during adolescence may increase the risk for developing psychosis and for it developing at an earlier age. Researchers are still studying the relationship between these mental health problems and marijuana use.
When someone uses marijuana, heart rate—normally 70 to 80 beats per minute—may increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute or, in some cases, even double. This effect can be greater if other drugs are taken with marijuana. The increased heart rate forces the heart to work extra hard to keep up.
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