Did you know that marijuana can have more effects on your body, good and bad, than simply giving you a “high”? Marijuana is derived from the cannabis plant; its stem, leaves, seeds, and flowers all produce weed. Like any other medication, marijuana may trigger both beneficial and harmful side-effects.
Effects on marijuana on your body:
- Relaxed feeling: Marijuana contains THC, a psychoactive ingredient, capable of stimulating those parts of your brain which respond to feelings of food and pleasure; it releases dopamine that produces euphoria.
- Mental health: Some users of marijuana have experienced anxiety after consuming marijuana. So, it can worsen symptoms of depression or any mental disorder that you may already be suffering from.
- Distorting thought process: Marijuana is said to cloud one’s judgment and senses; it can either make you lose your time sense, hamper your motor skills like your ability to drive, or heighten your senses.
- Addiction: Many people using marijuana on a regular basis can get hooked to it. This means that they are unable to stop its use even when it begins to affect their relationships and career. Physically, one’s body can become dependent on this medication too; so, the body may enter into a withdrawal stage which makes one irritable, restless, insomniac and less inclined to eat.
- Brain impairment: Marijuana makes it rather hard for people to learn something new, focus on important stuff, or even remember things. This effect may be short-term and the feeling fades away after a day or two but for heavy pot-users, it can have a permanent effect. Their alertness, IQ levels, memory, and learning abilities may be severely compromised. This condition is more noticeable amongst teens using pot.
- Lung damage: Pot smoke is known to irritate and inflame the lungs; so regular users may experience breathing difficulties just like a person smoking cigarettes regularly. Such individuals have ongoing cough and lungs become more susceptible to infections.
- Heart problems: Marijuana accelerates the heart rate; heartbeat can jump from about 70 beats to almost 120 beats per minutes for almost three hours afterwards. But this added pressure can heighten the risks of strokes and heart attacks.
- Eases pain: One of the beneficial effects of smoking weed is that it can relieve symptoms like pain; this explains why medical marijuana is an accepted form of treatment in states like Washington DC. Medical marijuana is found to be effective for reducing ongoing pain, muscle spasms and stiff muscles, fibromyalgia, sleep issues, anxiety, appetite loss or weight loss for AIDS patients, chemotherapy side-effects like nausea, epileptic seizures, etc.
- Increases urge to eat: People who are regular weed users tend to feel hungrier; so, the use of medical marijuana can help cancer patients and AIDS patients regain their appetite and weight.
- Intensifies alcohol-related problems: If you are already a heavy drinker then consuming marijuana can double the chances of alcohol-related problems, like drunk-driving or professional problems.
- Underweight babies: A baby is likely to be premature or born underweight when its mother has been a regular weed user.
- Cancer: While research has not yet proved there is any connection between cancers and weed smoking, there is some evidence to show that heavy weed usage can lead to testicular cancer.
