Cannabis Sativa

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Cannabis Sativa
Leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds are smoked,
combined with food, or brewed as tea Marijuana
dried leaves and flowers Hashish concentrated,
resinous substance from the top of the female
cannabis plant Hash oil sticky black liquid
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The High
Pervasive sense of well-being and happiness A
series of cellular reaction is kicked off by
membranes of certain nerve cells in the brain
binding to the THC THC connects to cannaboid
receptors The receptors in parts of the
brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought,
concentration, sensory and time perception, and
coordinated movement
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Marijuana Abuse
The most commonly used illicit drug in the United
States The marijuana available today is 5 times
more potent than what was available in the
1970s Marijuana abusers accounted for 15 of
admissions to drug treatment facilities in the
United States in 2002 75 male 55
white 40 were ages 15 -- 19 56 abused
the drug by age 14 92 abused the drug by
age 18
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Short-Term Effects

• Mood
• Many feel happy
• Some feel anxious and paranoid
• Mood may be easily influenced by others
  behavior
• Temporal Disintegration
• Trouble retaining and organizing information
• Problems with learning, problem solving, and
  memory
• Disjointed speech and lapses in attention
  and concentration

• Distorted Perception
• Loss of Coordination
• Increased Heart Rate

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Long-Term Effects

• Brain
• Increase in activation of the
  stress-response system
• Changes in activity of nerve cells
  containing dopamine
• Heart
• Risk of heart attack quadruples in the 1st
  hour after smoking marijuana
• Lungs
• Daily cough, phlegm, acute chest illness,
  heightened risk of lung infection
• Increased risk of cancer marijuana contains
  5070 more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than
  tobacco smoke
• Impaired Immune System

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Long-Term Effects

• Learning and Social Behavior
• Depression, anxiety, personality
  disturbances
• Impaired memory, attention, and learning up
  to 4 weeks after use
• Addiction
• Most evidence suggests that people do not
  develop a tolerance to THC
• Reverse tolerance becoming more sensitive
  to the effects of marijuana with repeated use
  (not laboratory tested)
• With long-term use, smoking marijuana may
  become a compulsive behavior

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Medicinal Marijuana

• Early studies found that marijuana relieves
  nausea and vomiting accompanying cancer
  chemotherapy
• FDA approved synthetic form of oral THC which is
  now used to treat nausea and vomiting in
  chemotherapy patients and AIDS wasting
• Use inhalers with purified active ingredients of
  marijuana rather than smoking
• Current studies looking at using marijuana to
  treat tremors in multiple sclerosis, sleep
  disorders, CD4 immunity in AIDS, and neuropathic
  pain

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Medicinal Marijuana

• No current accepted medical use in the United
  States
• Too few scientific studies conducted to determine
  therapeutic utility of marijuana
• Negatively affects almost every organ, the
  central nervous system, the endocrine system, the
  respiratory/pulmonary system, and the immune
  systems
• In order for the drug to be approved for
  medicinal use, the benefits must outweigh the
  risks

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Sarah Kreiger Psyc 213 Substance abuse disorders