But the difference is that we all recognize the dangers of alcohol. HILL: How are things misrepresented by anti-cannabis crusaders? They tend to ignore the idea that dose matters. When we talk about the harms of cannabis, young people using regularly can have cognitive problems, up to an eight-point loss of IQ over time.
It can worsen depression. It can worsen anxiety. But all of those consequences depend upon the dose. The data that shows those impacts look at young people who are using pretty much every day. HILL: Cannabis is different than alcohol, because with alcohol, you can use once a week, three times a week, and it can be a problem. You can have eight drinks once a week and get into a whole bunch of trouble. Cannabis is a little different in the sense that the people who run into trouble are using it pretty much every day, multiple times a day for the most part.
HILL: They are. The onset — what will bring you into my office — is different. People who are using cannabis are not going to knock off a CVS to fuel their habit. But when you talk to them, other details are often the same. One unique thing about cannabis is that on the same day, I may have somebody who is 26, smoking four times a day, graduated from a local elite university, and not making it like they want to be making it. Then, the next hour, I may see a year-old woman who has chronic back issues and tried multiple medications, multiple injections, and wants to use cannabis for her pain.
Are you going to dismiss that or let that new information shape what you think about cannabis? You have to be open-minded in an area that is continuing to evolve. What is the truth of the positive health benefits? I would prefer that we use FDA-approved medications when possible. If regular users stop taking cannabis, they may get withdrawal symptoms, such as feeling moody and irritable, feeling sick, difficulty sleeping, difficulty eating, sweating, shaking and diarrhoea.
Regularly smoking cannabis with tobacco also increases the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine and experiencing withdrawal symptoms from nicotine as well as cannabis if you cut down or give up. Regularly using tobacco also increases the risk of tobacco-related diseases such as cancer and coronary heart disease. See tips for stopping smoking. Read more information about cannabis on the Frank website.
Regular cannabis use increases the risk of developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia. A psychotic illness is one where you have hallucinations seeing things that are not really there and delusions believing things that are not really true. Cannabis also increases the risk of a relapse in people who already have schizophrenia, and it can make psychotic symptoms worse. If you drive while under the influence of cannabis, you're more likely to be involved in an accident. This is one reason why drug driving, like drink driving, is illegal.
Cannabis use may affect fertility. Regular or heavy cannabis use has been linked to changes in the female menstrual cycle and lower sperm count, or lower sperm quality in men. Using cannabis while pregnant may harm the unborn baby. Cannabis smoke contains many of the same harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Regularly smoking cannabis with tobacco increases the risk of a baby being born small or premature. Cannabis has not been linked to birth defects, but research suggests that using cannabis regularly during pregnancy could affect a baby's brain development as they get older.
Cannabis contains active ingredients called cannabinoids. Research findings suggest that, unless people are in an enclosed room, breathing in lots of smoke for hours at close range, they aren't likely to fail a drug test. Similarly, it's unlikely that secondhand marijuana smoke would give nonsmoking people in a confined space a high from passive exposure. Studies have shown that people who don't use marijuana report only mild effects of the drug from a nearby smoker, under extreme conditions breathing in lots of marijuana smoke for hours in an enclosed room.
More research is needed to know if secondhand marijuana smoke has similar health risks as secondhand tobacco smoke. A recent study on rats suggests that secondhand marijuana smoke can do as much damage to the heart and blood vessels as secondhand tobacco smoke. What they do know is that the toxins and tar found in marijuana smoke could affect vulnerable people, such as children or people with asthma.
Compared to those who don't use marijuana, those who frequently use large amounts report the following:. People also report less academic and career success. For example, marijuana use is linked to a higher likelihood of dropping out of school.
Use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are likely to come before use of other drugs. For example, when rodents are repeatedly exposed to THC when they're young, they later show an enhanced response to other addictive substances—such as morphine or nicotine—in the areas of the brain that control reward, and they're more likely to show addiction-like behaviors. Although these findings support the idea of marijuana as a "gateway drug," the majority of people who use marijuana don't go on to use other "harder" drugs.
Read more about marijuana as a gateway drug in our Marijuana Research Report. An overdose occurs when a person uses enough of the drug to produce life-threatening symptoms or death. There are no reports of teens or adults dying from marijuana alone.
However, some people who use marijuana can feel some very uncomfortable side effects, especially when using marijuana products with high THC levels. People have reported symptoms such as anxiety and paranoia, and in rare cases, an extreme psychotic reaction which can include delusions and hallucinations that can lead them to seek treatment in an emergency room. While a psychotic reaction can occur following any method of use, emergency room responders have seen an increasing number of cases involving marijuana edibles.
So they consume more of the edible, trying to get high faster or thinking they haven't taken enough. In addition, some babies and toddlers have been seriously ill after ingesting marijuana or marijuana edibles left around the house. Marijuana use can lead to the development of a substance use disorder, a medical illness in which the person is unable to stop using even though it's causing health and social problems in their life. Severe substance use disorders are also known as addiction.
Research suggests that between 9 and 30 percent of those who use marijuana may develop some degree of marijuana use disorder. Many people who use marijuana long term and are trying to quit report mild withdrawal symptoms that make quitting difficult. These include:. No medications are currently available to treat marijuana use disorder, but behavioral support has been shown to be effective.
Examples include therapy and motivational incentives providing rewards to patients who remain drug-free. Continuing research may lead to new medications that help ease withdrawal symptoms, block the effects of marijuana, and prevent relapse. This publication is available for your use and may be reproduced in its entirety without permission from NIDA. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. Drug Topics. More Drug Topics. Quick Links.
0コメント