How Does Cannabis Affect Human Beings

Cannabis Effects on Human Beings
In today’s society, there are many opinions about certain topics, such as illegal substances, that differ from one person to another. Those opinions, sadly, are shaped mostly by things that one hears or sees. However, fallacies have become extremely common nowadays. This is why people should always analyze the information they receive before actually believing it. In fact, there are many people that still believe that cannabis is one of the worse drugs on earth. Well, believe it or not, there is not even a single case of death caused by cannabis (Iversen, 2000). Surprisingly, a lot of studies reports on that drug came to the same conclusion: although there are some negative effects on human beings caused
Cannabis, which originally comes from hemp, can actually damage the brain of a person when used excessively. It has been proven by a lot of research (Iversen, 2000) that long-term cannabis usage is permanently damageable for the brain, and especially when abused during youth. According to the National Institute on drug abuse (2012), Tetrahydrocannabinol, the most active compound of cannabis, prevents the development of the brain when it is not fully developed yet, which is usually at age 17 and under. A long-term study of about 25 years done by the Institute has shown some quite interesting results. Apparently, many patients who first smoked when they were aged between 13 and 15 and started smoking frequently for many years now have a significant amount of drop in IQ 25 years later, as the average is numbered at 8. However, some external factors, such as consumption of other harmful substances, were not included in the report. Moreover, cannabis is also damageable for lungs, but only when smoked. Cannabis, like many other plants, releases many different chemicals when burnt, and some of them are carcinogenic for the lungs. Cannabis is actually more carcinogenic than tobacco, but it is also extremely less consumed than tobacco. Since a cannabis smoker will smoke about 2 or 3 marijuana
In order to understand what effects the decriminalization of cannabis could lead to, it is important to understand what the effects of the illegalization of cannabis are. First of all, cannabis is an extremely controversial topic. For many, the fact that it is illegal is extremely unjustified. Actually, according to a large amount of scientists (Iversen, 2000), it is unfair that cannabis cannot even be used for research purpose, as it is sometimes hard to buy cannabis legally for such purpose. Moreover, in some countries such as the United States, the consequences of possessing cannabis, even in a small amount, are way too severe according to most, if not all, cannabis users in the United States. Those who use cannabis for medicinal purpose (for example, AIDS patient) sometimes have difficulties in finding supply of cannabis, and it can be problematic for them. Today, some countries have allowed the use of marijuana, for both medicinal and recreational uses. However, it is difficult to see the consequences of the legalization of cannabis. Since it is impossible to tell how many people used marijuana even before the legalization of the plant, it is therefore impossible to determine if this number has increased or not. Of course, this made cannabis easier to obtain, meaning that it can now be more harmful to people who use it as a recreational purpose in