Effects Of Smoking Weed

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Effects of Smoking Weed

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. A dry, shredded green/brown mix of flowers, stems and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, is usually smoked as a cigarette (joint), or in a pipe (bowl, bong). It is also smoked in blunts (cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with weed). Weed can also be mixed with food and teas. Or you can smoke a more resinous form called hashish. Marijuana smoke has a pungent and distinctive, usually sweet-and-sour odor. There are countless street terms for marijuana like pot, weed, herb, grass, ganja, and hash.
The main chemical in marijuana is THC ( delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). The membranes of certain nerve cells in the body contain protein receptors that bond to THC. Once in place, the THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimate to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana.
Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes weed, THC rapidly passes from the lungs to the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to organs including the brain.
In the brain, THC connects to specific sites called cannabiniod receptors on nerve cells and influences the activity of those receptors. Some brain areas have many cannabiniod receptors while others have few or none. Many of these receptors are found in the areas of the brain which influence memory, pleasure, thought, sensory and time perception, concentration and coordinated movement.
The short term effects of marijuana can include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, loss of coordination and increased heart rate. Long term use of marijuana causes similar changes in the brain as do with other drugs.
One study has indicated that a user’s risk of a heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour of ...