Marijuana addiction and health complication linked to it: Also known as cannabis sativa

What you need to know about Marijuana addiction is that despite the myths around it, this drug is illicit and has serious health complications.

Many at times we are faced with certain misleading statements about illicit drugs, with their users making every effort to convince non-users of how good these illicit drugs are good and should be used freely. The truth is that once illicit it is bad and nothing can be good about it. Looking at the way drugs ruin families, societies and even nations, I cannot just sit and pretend that things will normalize with time without doing something about it. And that is the reason why doctor Dalal Akoury who is a renowned addiction expert of several decades made a very passionate decision to create a medical center (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center) whose main objective is to transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to finding their own inner healing power and exercising it for total recovery about all kinds of addictions. Besides that it will interest you to note that Dr. Akoury’s practice primarily focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. And now with such a professional on board we can proceed to sharing with you what you need to know about marijuana addiction so that you can separate between myths and facts. In this article our focus is going to be on marijuana and therefore if you have any concerns that you need clarification from the expert then you can call doctor Akoury on telephone number 843 213 1480 and she will gladly address your concerns professionally.

Now back to the discussion, marijuana is derived from the hemp plant, cannabis sativa and it is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves. Marijuana is one of the most commonly used and abused illicit drug globally with the U.S being one of the highly rated in is abuse. This substance is loaded with over 400 different chemicals with the main one being that which brings alteration to the mind known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. The level of THC content in marijuana after cultivation can range from less than 1% to more than 30% and has been increasing dramatically, making marijuana increasingly potent and more addictive. This therefore defeats the myth that marijuana addiction is harmless because the fact is and according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), in 2010 there were over 572,000 marijuana-involved admissions to hospital emergency rooms. This is not a small thing that you can easily wish away, and in the same report it was also established that during the same timeframe, an estimated 11,406 emergency department visits involved a synthetic cannabinoid product, sometimes referred to as “synthetic marijuana” and commonly known by street names like “Spice” or “K2”.

Marijuana addiction and health complication linked to it: How is marijuana used?

Marijuana is a substance with very many street names and it is commonly known as pot, weed, herb, dope, reefer, grass etc., it is mostly administered into the body through smoking just in the same way cigarette (joint) is smoked or in a pipe, water pipe, bong or in a blunt (a cigar emptied of tobacco and refilled with a mixture of marijuana and tobacco). Besides that marijuana can also be taken in as a mixture of baked goods like cookies or brownies and also brewed as a tea. According to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, a more concentrated, higher THC content and resinous form of marijuana is called hashish and it comes in the form of sticky black liquid, hash oil. Doctor Akoury says that the smoke of this substance often has a pungent and distinctive, usually sweet-and-sour odor. Marijuana is sometimes laced with crack cocaine and hallucinogen phencyclidine (PCP), making marijuana even more dangerous. As we progress into the discussion, let us now dig deep into its effects in our lives.

Short-term effects: it is important to note that he effects of marijuana are generally felt within a few minutes and reach a peak between 10 and 30 minutes. Overall, most of marijuana addiction short-term effects wear off within 2 or 3 hours and that explains why users often take it repeatedly to realize the high.

How does marijuana addiction affect the brain? This is very important because when someone smokes marijuana, THC is absorbed by the lungs and into the bloodstream, which then transport the THC to the brain and to all other organs of the body, producing the “high” that users experience. The parts of the brain most affected include those that influence pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, sensory and time perception and coordination of movement.

Long-term effects: According to NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), research has shown that, in chronic users, marijuana’s adverse impact on learning and memory can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off. Because of this, a daily user of marijuana may be functioning at a suboptimal intellectual level all of the time. Research has also shown poorer cognitive abilities than non-users, including memory capability, math and verbal skills and that explains why marijuana is very addictive in nature.

Even though users will tell you that marijuana is not addictive, the fact is that year in year our more teens are admitted in various health facilities for treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than all other illicit drugs combined. This according to the studies carried out by NIDA, long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction for about 9% of users and increases among those who start young to about 17% and daily users between 25-50%. Because of the addictiveness nature of the substance, long term users who are trying to quit always suffer withdrawal symptoms including irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving. The symptoms begin within a day after last use and peak at 2-3 days and latter subside within 1 or 2 weeks. Therefore if you still have some concerns even after reading this piece of information about “what you need to know about marijuana,” then you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for a one on one discussion with her and all your concerns will be addressed professionally.

Marijuana addiction and health complication linked to it: Also known as cannabis sativa