The Ugly and the Good, Facts about Cannabis You Should Know Before
According to data from an article published in The Lancet 2007, cannabis is not as harmful and dependent as tobacco and alcohol. However, it's also wrong if we believe that cannabis is harmless. Although cannabis might not physically hurt the human body, overdosing THC's hallucinations is inherently dangerous, and the long-term psychological effects are difficult to evaluate. There is nothing wrong with most of the countries identifying it as a drug.
With more countries legalizing cannabis, using cannabis became a casual norm, including Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, etc., who have smoked it, and considered no harm.
There are two types of cannabis use: one is medical use; the other is recreational use. Ingestion of small doses of cannabis can have a series of physical and psychological effects. Cannabis addiction is dominated by mental dependence and can be tolerated if used in large quantities for a long time.
As the oldest and most famous hallucinogenic plant in the world, there was a passage in The Enmity of Monte Cristo that Franz, a young man from the upper class of Paris, was taken to Monte Cristo. He tasted the green food on the silver cup at the feast of the mysterious cave. After that, "the body is light and light. In the air, Perception becomes very agile, and the amount of senses seems to have doubled. The original terrifying and gloomy horizon becomes blue, transparent, and boundless, filled with the blue of the sea, and the brilliance of the sun, rising straight up into the sky." This hallucinogenic effect is caused by cannabis.
Sinbad, the Sailor, invites Franz to have dinner, and for dessert, they have hashish. They start talking, and Franz says, "I feel the eagle's wings springing out at my shoulders, and with those wings, I could take a tour of the world in four and twenty hours."
Cannabis has a specific effect on medicine.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the fruit of hemp is called "hemp seed." It moisturizes the intestines and treats constipation. The flower is mainly used to treat amenorrhea and forgetfulness. The husk and bracts are poisonous, but they cure strain, break accumulation, and disperse pus. They don't taste good - the leaves contain anaesthetic resin. After years of experiments on animals, it has been observed that cannabinoids can kill some level of cancer cells and even reduce the size of the tumour.
Cannabis is often used to treat certain terminal illnesses (cancer, AIDS). It helps to increase appetite, relieve pain. Also, it relieves neurological symptoms such as glaucoma, epilepsy, migraine, and emotional instability and relieves chemotherapy patients. Although medical cannabis is still politically controversial, doctors often recommend it informally to patients.
One type of synthetic cannabis active ingredient, THC, is an open prescription drug in many countries. THC also has the effect of reducing arterial blockage. Sativex, a sublingual spray made from cannabis extract, is approved in Canada to treat multiple sclerosis and can be legally imported into the U.K. and Spain as a prescription drug.
What needs to be distinguished is that in most countries around the world (including legal countries), there are strict limits on recreational cannabis, while the more legal ones are used in medicine. Defining cannabis requires understanding its medical effects, side effects, and effects on the human body to understand why different countries have different views on it.
The physical and psychological side effects of cannabis are as follows:
Physiologically:
(1) Faster heart rate: an average increase of 25 to 50 times per minute, reaching 140 times per minute. The increase in heart rate is related to the dosage and blood content.
(2) Congestion and dilation of the blood vessels of the ocular conjunctiva: typical red eyes appear.
(3) It can reduce intraocular pressure, which is conducive to the improvement of glaucoma.
(4) Long-term use will increase blood volume.
(5) Extensive use can produce orthostatic hypotension.
(6) Long-term inhalation damages the function of bronchial epithelial cells, causing bronchitis and wheezing.
(7) Inhaled substances have specific carcinogenic effects.
(8) Long-term use of cannabis can cause severe damage to health.
(9) Neurological disorders. Overdose can cause unconsciousness, anxiety, depression, hostile impulses, or suicidal intentions. Long-term cannabis smoking can induce confusion, paranoia, and delusions.
(10) Damage to memory and behavior. The abuse of cannabis can weaken brain memory and concentration, calculation, and judgment, making people's thinking sluggish, obscured, and memory confused. Long-term smoking can also cause degenerative encephalopathy.
(11) Affect the immune system. Smoking cannabis can destroy the body's immune system, resulting in low cellular and humoral immune function and susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections. Therefore, cannabis smokers suffer from oral tumours.
(12) Smoking cannabis can cause diseases such as bronchitis, pharyngitis, asthma attacks, and laryngeal oedema. Smoking a cannabis cigarette on lung function is ten times greater than that of a cigarette.
(13) Affect movement coordination. Excessive use of cannabis can damage the coordination function of muscle movement, resulting in an imbalance of standing balance, shaking hands, loss of complex operation ability, and the ability to drive motor vehicles.
The psychological effect of taking cannabis:
A brief period of anxiety may appear within 1-2 minutes after smoking cannabis, and there will be inexplicable and vague anxiety and irritability. After a few minutes, it will enter a hearty period. You feel exceptionally stable, comfortable, relaxed, and happy. You think that everything is beautiful. Full of happiness, when dealing with others and turning into a period of intoxication, calm and contented, no longer talking with others, willing to be alone in a state of ecstasy.
Some users are indifferent and show little concern for the surrounding environment. If the abuser himself has an anxiety or depression tendency, his symptoms will aggravate after smoking cannabis. Emotional changes may stimulate weird behaviors, such as giggling, crying, yelling, and even impulsiveness.
The effect on your Perception
Dependents are generally in a quiet mood, feel vivid, rich and profound about colors, and feel that the surrounding things are colorful and colorful. The ability to appreciate music is enhanced, and people become susceptible to other sounds. The senses of touch, taste, and smell can all be enhanced. Abnormal Perception manifests various forms of illusions, hallucinations, and comprehensive obstacles to perceptions such as time, space, and body shape.
Thinking and Association
While the perception changes, the brain is more competent in work. New ideas continue to emerge. Some people feel dull thinking and think that they have lost the ability to associate.
Psychomotor function
Mainly manifested as slow-motion response and inability to coordinate sports operations. Long-term abusers develop symptom clusters of lack of motivation, manifested as insufficient initiative, depraved personality, and depraved morals.
Cognitive impairment
A wide range of cognitive impairment, memory, thinking, concentration, and judgment is reduced, and slow reaction. The damage of cannabis to memory is not only evident but also complex. The most crucial impact is short-term memory, while long-term memory is less damaged. The user's signal perception and tracking behaviour are impaired, manifesting in the slowdown in reaction and information processing, resulting in obvious impairment of those with higher technical requirements. For example, driving a car and operating machinery are easily affected.
Personality change
Long-term cannabis smokers often have personality changes, resulting in "unmotivated syndrome," which manifests as emotional apathy, sluggishness, boredom, laziness, irritability, changes in sleep cycles, and lost interest in personal appearance, hygiene, and diet. Inability to concentrate, poor memory, and obvious judgment impairment show a state of mental decline.
Social influence
Cannabis has a destructive effect on the physical and mental health of young people. It severely affects adults' mental quality and adolescent development, decreases career initiative, completely loses the ability to work, live and study, and occasionally has unprovoked aggressive behaviour.
In Europe and the U.S., cannabis is legal in some places; even in areas that are not legal, the accessibility of cannabis is relatively easy. Europe and the United States have mature cannabis supply and marketing, and there are even elites in finance, art, politics, and academia. Even ordinary citizens who are law-abiding have a high chance of being exposed to cannabis. So people might have an illusion that cannabis is relatively safe and familiar and has low social harm.
Conclusion:
The use of cannabis will help people with specific kinds of pain and suffering. But overdosing on cannabis shouldn't be encouraged. For first-time cannabis users, start with a low dosage. Keep an eye on how your body reacts.
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