Marijuana Affects The Brain

There are many drugs, legal and illegal, that many people use and abuse every day. We see stories on the news or on social media about people dying on the street every day due to an overdose on drugs. It becomes hard to deal with illegal drugs that many people use today when a good amount of the population are addicted to using drugs, including teens, especially when these drugs affect the brain, just in different ways. The most commonly used illegal drug is a drug known as marijuana. Teens brains become affected because the main ingredient in marijuana changes brain functioning. For example, they see brighter colors and get an increased appetite. Marijuana can be very addicting to teens because they don't see it as a big risk thinking that
The worst part about it is that we as teenagers get addicted and can't find ourselves to quit and think it is cool that they are smoking something that is dangerous.
“Teens are using less alcohol and cigarettes, but they are smoking marijuana because they don't perceive it to be as harmful as teens did in the past” (Gwynne, Kristen. "Teens Are Choosing Marijuana over More Harmful Substances." Teens at Risk). I feel that even though they are drinking less and not smoking as many cigarettes, they still don't see that smoking marijuana is still a problem because it can affect their brain due to it acting on the brain's reward system. Marijuana has been used the most since 1981, but the percentage of cigarettes being smoked and alcohol being consumed have dropped in the last 3 years. According to NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), about 25% of teens surveyed said they had tried marijuana at least once last year. In my perspective, I don't think
As marijuana enters your brain it causes people to feel high by acting on your brain's reward system which makes it feel pleasurable. When the article states it make it feel pleasurable I think of chocolate or maybe even ice cream because once we eat it we get addicted and can't stop eating it. When people smoke marijuana and it enters the brain it sometimes can make people laugh a lot, sleepy or depressed, or even produce anxiety, fear or panic. If I were one of those people I would stop immediately because I don't want to feel sluggish all day or even become depressed just because of a drug that no one really needs. Also, inhaling marijuana can increase someone's heart rate and can expand blood vessels in the eyes, making them look red. Normally a person's heart rate is 70-80 beats a minute but if you smoke it increases by 20 to 50 beats a minute. In my opinion, if my heart rate was to raise I would be very careful because I would think that I am dying and as a teenager I don't think they would want to die because they haven't lived life