Research paper about marijuana
Mexico, Paraguay, and the United States are the top marijuana-producing nations worldwide. C. Indict is a shorter, hardier variety with rounded blue-green leaves, grown in Afghanistan for hashish. Most marijuana grown in the Ignited States since the late 1 sass are hybrids of the two and yield a much more potent product than the marijuana of the past. The resin found on flower clusters and top leaves of the female plant is the most potent drug source and is used to prepare hashish, the highest grade of cannabis. The bud of the female plant, called seminally, is the part most often smoked as marijuana.
The Drug The effects of marijuana vary with its strength and dosage and with the state of mind of the user. Typically, small doses result in a feeling of well-being. The intoxication lasts two to three hours, but accompanying effects on motor control last much longer. High doses can cause tachycardia, paranoia, and delusions. Although it produces some of the same effects as hallucinogens like LSI and mescaline (heightened sensitivity to colors, shapes, music, and other stimuli and distortion of the sense of time), marijuana differs chemically and pharmacologically.
The primary active component of marijuana is delta-9-dehydrogenation’s TECH), although other cannabis derivatives are also thought to be intoxicating. In 1 988 scientists discovered receptors that bind TECH on the membranes of nerve cells. They reasoned that the body must make its own TECH-like substance. The substance, named animated, was isolated from pig brains in 1 992 by an American pharmacologist, William A. Advance. Marijuana lowers testosterone levels and sperm counts in men and raises testosterone levels in women.
In pregnant women it affects the fetus and results in developmental difficulties in the child. There is evidence that marijuana affects normal maturation of preadolescence and adolescent users ND that it affects short-term memory and comprehension. Heavy smokers often sustain lung damage from the smoke and contaminants. Regular use can result in dependence. The Legalization Question With the increase in the number of middle-class users in the sass and sass, there came a somewhat greater acceptance of the view that marijuana should not be considered in the same class as narcotics and that U.
S. Marijuana laws should be relaxed. The Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 1970 eased federal penalties somewhat, and 1 1 states decentralized possession. However, in the late sass many states rewrote their drug laws and imposed trice penalties. Beginning in 1996, however, a series of states began enacting medical marijuana laws (two fifths of the states now have one), and in 2012 voters in the states of Colorado and Washington approved the legalization of marijuana.
Opponents of easing marijuana laws have asserted that it is an intoxicant less controllable than alcohol, that our drug-using society does not need another widely used intoxicant, and that the United States should not act to weaken UN policies, which are opposed to the use of marijuana for other than possible medical purposes. In 201 3, Uruguay came the first nation to legalize the growing, selling, and use of marijuana, a move it undertook in part in an attempt to undermine drug cartels.
Uruguay’s legalization, which was a source of controversy in the country, also was criticized by international authorities for contravening treaties to which Uruguay was a party. Medical Uses Controversy surrounds the medical use of marijuana, with proponents saying it is useful for treating pain and the nausea and vomiting that are side effects of cancer chemotherapy and for restoring the appetite in people with AIDS. Its active ingredient, TECH, was synthesized in 1966 and approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration in 1985; synthetic TECH is available by prescription in pill form as traditional (Marino) and enabling (Sesames).
Proponents of medical marijuana say it is not as effective as the herb and is more expensive. In addition to TECH, another cannabis derivative (or cannabis), cannonading (CDC), is an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant and also moderates That’s psychoactive effects. A 1999 U. S. -government-sponsored study by the Institute of Medicine found that marijuana appeared beneficial for certain medical conditions, such as nausea caused by chemotherapy and wasting caused by AIDS. Because of the toxicity of marijuana smoke, however, it was hoped that further research might lead to development of new delivery systems, such as bronchial inhalers.
A number of studies since 1 999 have shown that smoked marijuana has pain-reducing effects when compared with marijuana stripped of its cannabises. The Office of National Drug Control policy has opposed legalization of the medical use of marijuana, citing law enforcement issues and the possibility that some would use it as a pretext to sell marijuana for medicinal use, and the FDA said in 2006 that, despite the 1999 report, that marijuana “has no accepted or proven use in the United States. Proponents, disregarding the law, have set up networks for the distribution of the drug to people who they judge will be helped by it and continue to lobby for its legalization for medical use. In 1996 California enacted the first state law permitting the use of marijuana for medical reasons, and about one third of the states now have some sort of medical marijuana legislation. As a result of a Supreme Court ruling in 2005, however, these laws do not protect medical users with a prescription from federal prosecution.
In 2009 Attorney General Eric Holder ordered that federal prosecutors not focus on persons who clearly comply with state medical marijuana laws, but federal law enforcement officials have moved to close many so-called marijuana dispensaries despite compliance, arguing in part that many prescriptions for marijuana are not justified medically. Another, lower court ruling permits doctors to discuss medical use of marijuana with their patients but forbids them to help patients obtain the drug.
A number of countries, including Canada, permit the medicinal use of the drug. History of Marijuana Use Marijuana has been used as an agent for achieving euphoria since ancient mimes; it was described in a Chinese medical compendium traditionally considered to date from 2737 BC It also has a long history of use as a medicinal herb. Its use spread from China to India and then to N Africa and reached Europe at least as early as AD 500.
A major crop in colonial North America, marijuana (hemp) was grown as a source of fiber. It was extensively cultivated during World War II, when Asian sources of hemp were cut off. Marijuana was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1850 until 1942 and was prescribed for various conditions including labor pains, nausea, and rheumatism. Its use as an intoxicant was also commonplace from the sass to the 1 9305. A campaign conducted in the 1 9305 by the U. S.
Federal Bureau of Narcotics (now the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs) sought to portray marijuana as a powerful, addicting substance that would lead users into narcotics addiction. It is still considered a “gateway” drug by some authorities. In the sass it was an accessory of the beat generation; in the sass it was used by college students and ‘hippies” and became a symbol of rebellion against authority. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classified marijuana along with heroin ND LSI as a Schedule drug I. E. Having the relatively highest abuse potential and no accepted medical use. Most marijuana at that time came from Mexico, but in 1975 the Mexican government agreed to eradicate the crop by spraying it with the herbicide parquet, raising fears of toxic side effects. Colombia then became the main supplier. The “zero tolerance” climate of the Reagan and Bush administrations (1 981-93) resulted in passage of strict laws and mandatory sentences for possession of marijuana and in heightened vigilance against smuggling at the southern borders.
