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CHEMICAL ADDICTION FACT SHEETS
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Marijuana
The Problem
A drug is defined as addicting if it causes compulsive, often uncontrollable drug craving, seeking, and use, even in the face of negative health and social consequences. Marijuana readily meets this standard criterion.
As the number of young people who use marijuana has increased, the number who views the drug as harmful has decreased. Among high school seniors surveyed in 1997, current marijuana use has increased by about 72 percent since 1991. The proportion of those seniors who believe regular use of marijuana is harmful has dropped by about 26 percent since 1991.
These changes in perception and knowledge may be due to a decrease in anti-drug messages in the media, an increase in pro-drug messages through the pop culture, and a lack of awareness among parents about this resurgence in drug use - most thinking, perhaps, that this threat to their children had diminished.
Because many parents of this generation of teenagers experimented with marijuana when they were in college, they often find it difficult to talk about marijuana use with their children and to set strict ground rules against drug use. But marijuana use today starts at a younger age - and more potent forms of the drug are available to these young children. Parents need to recognize that marijuana use is a very serious threat - and they need to tell their children not to use it. While it is best to talk about drugs when children are young, it is never too late to talk about the dangers of drug use.
What Is Marijuana?
Marijuana is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. There are over 200 slang terms for marijuana including "pot," "herb," and "weed". It is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint) or in a pipe. In recent years, marijuana has appeared in cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana, often in combination with another drug, such as crack.
The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). In 1988, it was discovered that the membranes of certain nerve cells contain protein receptors that bind THC. The short-term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem-solving, loss of coordination, increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks.
Extent Of Use?
Marijuana remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. There were an estimated 2.1 million people who started using marijuana in 1998. Reports from hospital emergency rooms indicated marijuana use has increased significantly, particularly among 12 to 17-year olds. These figures indicate that American teenagers are "a generation at risk", according to Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Donna E. Shalala.
Fact: Research shows that nearly 50 percent of teenagers try marijuana before they graduate from high school.
Marijuana use among the nation's 8th, 10th and 12th grade students rose in 1995, continuing a trend that began in the early 1990's. Marijuana showed the sharpest increase among illicit drugs.
Why Do Young People Use?
Children and young teens start using marijuana for many reasons. Curiosity and the desire to fit into a social group are common reasons. Certainly, youngsters who have already begun to smoke cigarettes and/or use alcohol are at high risk for marijuana use. Research suggests that the use of alcohol and drugs by other family members plays a strong role in whether children start using drugs. Parents, grandparents, and older brothers and sisters in the home are models for children to follow.
Children who become more heavily involved with marijuana can become dependent, which is their prime reason for using the drug. Others mention psychological coping as a reason for their use - to deal with anxiety, anger, depression and boredom. But marijuana use is not an effective method for coping with life's problems. Staying high can be a way of simply not dealing with the problems and challenges of adolescence.
What Are The Signs Of Use?
If someone is high on marijuana, the following signs may be visible:
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dizziness and trouble walking |
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very red, bloodshot eyes |
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silliness and giggling for no reason |
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difficulty remembering things |
In addition, parents should be aware of:
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signs of drugs and drug paraphernalia |
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use of eye drops |
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odor on clothes and in the bedroom |
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clothing, posters, jewelry, promoting drug use |
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use of incense and other deodorizers |
Look for withdrawal, depression, fatigue, carelessness with grooming, hostility, and deteriorating relationships with family members and friends. Changes in a student's academic performance, increased absenteeism or truancy, lost interest in sports or other favorite activities, and changes in eating or sleeping habits could be related to drug use.
Effects Of Use
Within a few minutes of inhaling marijuana smoke, the user will likely feel, along with intoxication, a dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, some loss of coordination, poor sense of balance, and slower reaction time. Blood vessels in the eye expand, so the user's eyes look red. As the immediate effects fade, usually after 2 to 3 hours, the user may become sleepy.
People may feel high (intoxicated and/or euphoric). It's common for marijuana users to become engrossed with ordinary sights, sounds, or tastes, and trivial events may seem extremely interesting or funny. Time seems to pass very slowly, so minutes feel like hours.
Marijuana use by teenagers who have prior social or psychological problems can quickly lead to dependence on the drug. Studies have found that, for troubled teenagers using tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, progression from their first use of marijuana to regular use was more rapid than the progression to regular use of alcohol.
How Is Marijuana Harmful?
Marijuana can be harmful in a number of ways, through both immediate effects and damage to health over time. Marijuana hinders the user's short-term memory (memory for recent events), and he or she may have trouble handling complex tasks. Under the influence of marijuana, students may find it hard to study and learn. With the use of more potent varieties of marijuana, even simple tasks can be difficult. Drug users also may become involved in risky sexual behavior. There is a strong link between drug use and unsafe sex and the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Fact: Marijuana has adverse effects on many of the skills for driving a car. Driving while high can lead to car accidents.
Marijuana affects many skills required for safe driving: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination, and reaction time. These effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana. Marijuana use can make it difficult to judge distances and react to signals and sounds on the road.
Effects on the Lungs
Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers. These individuals may have daily cough, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds. Continuing to smoke marijuana can lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissue, injured or destroyed by marijuana smoke.
Regardless of the THC content, the amount of tar inhaled by marijuana smokers and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers. This may be due to the marijuana user's inhaling more deeply and holding the smoke in the lungs and because marijuana smoke is unfiltered.
Cancer
Findings so far show that the regular use of marijuana may play a role in cancer and problems in the respiratory, immune, and reproductive systems. Marijuana smoke contains some of the same cancer-causing compounds as tobacco, sometimes in higher concentrations. Studies show that someone who smokes five joints per week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day.
What about pregnancy?
Any drug of abuse can affect a mother's health during pregnancy, a time when expectant mothers should take special care of themselves. Drugs of abuse interfere with proper nutrition and rest, which can affect good functioning of the immune system. Scientific studies have found that babies born to marijuana users were shorter, weighed less, and had smaller head sizes than those born to mothers who did not use the drug. Other scientists have found effects of marijuana that resemble the features of fetal alcohol syndrome. There are also research findings that show nervous system problems in children of mothers who smoked marijuana.
Marijuana's Effect On The Brain
Fact: Marijuana smoking affects the brain and leads to impaired short-term memory, perception, judgment and motor skills.
THC affects the nerve cells in the part of the brain where memories are formed. This makes it hard for the user to recall recent events (such as what happened even a few minutes ago). It is hard to learn while high - a working short-term memory is required for learning and performing tasks that call for more than one or two steps.
Long-term marijuana users show signs of a lack of motivation (amotivational syndrome). Their problems include not caring about what happens in their lives, no desire to work regularly, fatigue, and a lack of concern about how they look. As a result of these symptoms, some users tend to perform poorly in school or at work.
Some heavy users of marijuana show signs of dependence because when they do not use the drug, they develop withdrawal symptoms. Some subjects in an experiment on marijuana withdrawal had symptoms such as restlessness, loss of appetite, trouble sleeping, weight loss, and shaky hands.
Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other drugs without first trying marijuana. The risk of using cocaine has been estimated to be more than 104 times greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. It may be that marijuana kills brain cells. In laboratory research, scientists found that high doses of THC given to young rats caused a loss of brain cells. At 11 or 12 months of age (about half their normal life span), the rats' brains looked like those of animals in old age.
Among a group of long-time heavy marijuana users in Costa Rica, researchers found that the people had great trouble when asked to recall a short list of words (a standard test of memory). People in that study group also found it very hard to focus their attention on the tests given to them. Smoking marijuana causes some changes in the brain that are like those caused by cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. Considerable evidence has shown these changes may put a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as cocaine or heroin.
While not everyone who uses marijuana becomes addicted, when a user begins to seek out and take the drug compulsively, that person is said to be dependent on the drug or addicted to it. In 1998, 180,000 people entering drug treatment programs reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse, showing they needed help to stop using.
The Path To Healing
Marijuana is clearly a dangerous drug, which poses a particular threat to the health and well-being of children and adolescents at a critical point in their lives - when they are growing, learning, maturing, and laying the foundation for their adult years. Children look to parents for help and guidance in working out problems and in making decisions, including the decision not to use drugs. Parents' role modeling by not using marijuana and other illegal drugs reinforces this message.
There is no magic bullet for preventing teenage drug use. But parents can be influential by talking to their children about the dangers of using marijuana and other drugs and by remaining actively engaged in their children's lives. Even after teenage children enter high school, parents should stay involved in the schoolwork, recreation, and social activities of their children. Studies shows that appropriate parental monitoring can reduce future drug use, even among those adolescents who may be prone to marijuana use, such as those who are rebellious, cannot control their emotions, and experience internal distress.
Rimrock Foundation has pioneered the Advanced Integrated Model of Addiction Treatment (AIMAT). This model focuses education and therapy on the always-present psychological core of the addiction experience: psychological dependency, mental obsession, emotional compulsion, and the complex pattern of safeguarding behaviors that hide the reality of the illness from both patient and family.
We directly address the physical and psychological elements of dependency disorders, as well as the defeating beliefs that accompany addiction. We give our patients and family members an unparalleled understanding about themselves, their disease, their thinking patterns, and alternative behaviors necessary for abstinence from mood-altering chemicals or experiences.
For further information on Rimrock Foundation's treatment of marijuana abuse, call Barbara Hansen, Admissions Supervisor at 1-800-227-3953 or 1-406-248-3175, or visit our website at rimrock.org. For more educational information on marijuana, contact the Rimrock Foundation Library at 1-800-227-3953 or 1-406-248-3175.
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