Marijuana - Your Brain and Body

Marijuana - Your Brain and Body

Introduction

Marijuana is a mixture of green and brown shredded leaves, flowers, seeds and stem of the plant named as Cannabis sativa. It is also used in a concentrated form as hashish, which appears to be a black, sticky liquid as hash oil. The main active component present in marijuana is the mind altering chemical called as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (NIH, 2012).

It is very easy to abuse marijuana as it can easily be hand rolled in cigraettes called joints, in pipes and in water pipes called bongs. People also use marijuana as smoked in blunts-cigars. The users of marijuana are found emptying the tobacco content of cigar and refilling them with a mixture of marijuana and tobacco. Marijuana smokers usually give pungent and distinctive odour. Marijuana can also be easily mixed with food and can also be brewed to make tea (Cox, 2012).

Discussion

Marijuana and Brain

After the inhalation of marijuana the chemical gets evenly distributed throughout the body. THC is reported as a very powerful and potent chemical compound for use as psychoactive drug. An IV dose of only 1 mg of the drug can produce serious mental and psychological impairements. After a single inhalation by mouth the target for THC is brain and within seconds it reaches the target to produce its effects. Most of marijuana smokers document that they feel relaxed after smoking the drug. It provides them with a feeling of mellow and creates a feeling of haziness and light headedness. It also increase the sensations and detection power of senses. As the eyes becomes dilated and the user might experience strong visible colors. With the declining effects the user may feel paranoid and panic (Bolla et.al, 2002).

To understand how marijuana effects the brain we must first understand the basic working mechanism of the brain and the parts of the brain which are directly affected by THC. The cells of the brain are called neurons and they are responsible for processing the information within the brain. The brain chemcials are called as neurotransmitters and through these chemcials the neurons perfom co ordinated functions. These neurotransmistters fill the gap called synapse present between the neurons. Chemical like THC in the first instance mimic and block the actions of neurotransmitter and disturbs the normal functions taking place. THC binds with the cannabinoid receptors and controls he neuronal activity, this confirms that THC is a type of cannabinoid chemical. The cannabinoid receptors are present in varied concentration in different parts of the brain. The alterations in the cannabinoid receptors can produce several altered physical and mental activites like short term memory, problem solving, learning and coordination ( Iversen, 2008).

Cannabinoid receptors are concentrated in the hippocampus, basal ganglia and cerebellum. The hippocampus plays a significant role in short term memory. When THC binds to the the located cannabinoid receptors in the hippocampus it interefes with the normal memory functions and alters the process for recollection of recent events. In the similar manner ...