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What It Does
Smoking marijuana in pipes, bongs, or rolled like cigarettes are the most
common forms of use. The chemical in marijuana that leads to its high is
called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which affects the user at the
cellular level. The short term effects of marijuana include increased heart
rate, memory and coordination loss, difficulty thinking, anxiety, and panic
attacks.
The brain, lungs, and heart all suffer the effects
of marijuana use. For the heavy and long-term users, the chemicals in
marijuana cause problems in the brain resulting in irreversible memory
deterioration and difficulties learning. Behaviorally, the user may also
display more aggressive and angry tendencies. The lungs can be damaged
by smoking marijuana much like the effects detected in tobacco smokers.
Lung tissue may be destroyed and the user left with higher susceptibility
to chest colds and coughs. Since the heart rate increases during use,
the long term marijuana user risks damage to the cardiovascular system.
 Infofax
- Marijuana
Arizona Statistics
Marijuana remains one of the most popular drugs of choice. Half of all
high school seniors, 45 percent of tenth graders, and 26 percent of eigth
graders reported trying marijuana in 1995, which is three to four times
the rates in 1991. Marijuana use sharply increased in 1993, but did not
continue to grow in 1995. As for regular use, 22 percent of all high school
and 9 percent of all junior high school students said that they smoked
marijuana at least once a month in 1995. Among elementary students, 3
percent said they had tried marijuana in the past month. Parents estimated
that 4 percent of Arizona youth use marijuana, whereas the actual use
for elementary students was 3 percent, middle school students 9 percent,
and high school 22 percent in 1995.
Straight talk about marijuana
"The memory of what happend that night scares me even now. I know all
I did was smoke pot that night and I am sure there is a good chance it
was laced with something else, but the whole point is that with illegal
drugs, you just never know what can happen. I was completely naive and
thought the whole 'I'm only having fun, its only pot' thing. But what
I thought was only pot proved to change the rest of my life. All I'm asking
is that you educate yourselves and realize you are not invincible--you
are human."
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