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Paul Nguyen Professor Jan Rieman English 1102 3/1/12

Chemical Effects of Cannabis to the Human Body

What is Cannabis? Cannabis, also called as Marijuana, is an illegal drug in most countries, where it is illegal to use, possess or grow. Most countries have not legalized it for personal use but for medical uses, for example: Belgium, the Netherlands, Israel, and 16 states in the US. The drug contains for than 400 different chemicals compounds, with 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) being the major psychoactive chemical compound. Psychoactive meaning: that the drug affects the mind or mental process, in other words regarding cannabis, being high. Prevalence of Cannabis With the rise of cannabis use in the recent years in the United States, there is a growing concern of the harmful effects of the drug. Such as the acute side effects of cannabis or the effects of chronic use. The acute side effects are caused by cannabis which is related to the psyche and cognition. For example, acute side effects can happen to those who take a dose that exceeds their own bodys limit, causing the user to have anxiety, impairment of memory and changes in sensory perceptions. For the chronic effects, the main issue with that is the user may induce psychosis (a severe mental disorder) and dependency of the drug (W.Hall).

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General Physical Effects on the Body Most of the effects of cannabis are caused by the chemical compound THC. It produces reversible tachycardia with the increase of cardiac labor and the demand of oxygen, and also the increase of blood pressure with the decrease in parasympathetic (deals with the nervous system) tone (S.C. Clark). For those who are chronic users, THC can lead to bradycardia, which is the slowness of the heart rate, usually fewer than 60 beats per minute (R.T. Jones). At higher dosage, dilation of the blood vessels can increase, causing dizziness and reddening. Other effects that THC offers are the effect on salivary glands and pupils and muscles. For the salivary glands, hypo salivation and dry mouth can happen. For the pupils, the reaction to light is slowed and tear flow is also decreased. With both of these effects in the mouth and eyes, there can be a potential increase in risk for infections in eye and respiratory tract. As for muscles, they are in a relaxed state, which causes the reduction in strength and impaired coordination. This could lead into possible falls or stumbling while walking. Tolerance The human body can develop tolerance to the effect of cannabis. In a study, Jones and Benowitz administer daily doses of 210 mg of oral dronabinol (synthesized THC) to 120 volunteers for 11-20 days. The volunteers did indeed develop a tolerance to the impairments and the psychological high by the end of the study. But then again, this was a controlled dosage of THC. The effects are related to the psyche of the body, so if the dosage was larger than what the body can handle, the user will show signs of symptoms. With tolerance, the effects of cannabis are dose-dependent.

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Accidents Involving Cannabis The chemical THC, which is in cannabis, can impair vision, psychomotor performance, and the cognitive functions. In other words, the user is in a relax state with their ability to do simple things are decreased. If the user is driving, this can greatly increase the risk of causing a traffic accident. After alcohol, cannabis is most frequently found in impaired drivers and drivers that are involved in accidents. Then again, cannabis effects depend on dose, psyche, and tolerance ranging from not much effect to a strong effect. Studies estimate that acute cannabis uses can double the risk of causing an accident (R.K. Jones), while regular users, with higher tolerance, who are acutely intoxicated, seem to have no increased risks. (F.Grotenhurman). Another study found that regular cannabis users showed lower scores of dizziness and increased cognitive abilities, more than those who are not regular users (O.Drummer). Depression Cannabis and THC may cause anxiety and depression but it also help with these symptoms. Cannabis is often used to relieve psychological problems and those who suffer diseases dealing with the body. For depression, clinical studies observed that cannabis had an anti-depressive effect. Young Cannabis Smokers This topic should already be inferred, but the use of cannabis by young people may have a negative effect on their body, such as mental health, since the body has not fully developed yet. In a study called Dunedin study, a long-term study in New Zealand, between cannabis and mental health problems was observed. This was a study about the use of cannabis by young people. It was concluded that people at the age of 18 had a higher risk of mental illness than
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those who are at the age of 21. Also the use of the drug and mental illness was linked to the persons socioeconomic status, and behavior problems. Problems for Chronic Users Even though heavy chronic users may have high tolerance for the effects of the drug, they still have problems. Depending on the intensity and duration of use, they can still show impairments of memory, attention, and ability to organize complex information. The possible explanations of these effects are influence by the chemical of cannabis. It causes cerebrovascular resistance, making blood flow difficult from one area to another in the body. Other Organ Systems Long term effects of smoking cannabis can also have a negative health effect on other systems in body, such as the immune system and circulation system. The THC causes a certain cells in the body to not correctly develop, like Th1 and Th2 cells. These are a type of white blood cells that maximizes and establish the capabilities of the immune system. The THC in the drug also cause a lot of decreases in cells and chemicals that the body needs, but cannabis also help with inflammatory diseases such as Crohns disease but it has a negative effect on other diseases such as AIDs and cancer. In a three-week clinical study, HIV positive adults smoked cannabis and THC showed no beneficiary results were shown. Cardiac arrest is another risk from smoking cannabis due to the effect on blood pressure and heart frequency. That means that there is an abnormal blood circulation due to the failure of the heart to contract correctly.

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Hormonal Systems Due to cannabis and the chemical THC acting on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, a large number of endocrine processes were caused by the drug, as a result, affecting sexual and other hormones as well as glucose metabolism (L. Murphy). The changes in human hormones levels were due to the effects of acute cannabis or THC ingestion, but those effects were very minor (L.E. Hollister). Tolerance can be built to these effects, but there was a study on male fertility. After several weeks of smoking 8-10 cannabis cigarettes, a slight decrease in sperm