The Living World: How THC Act In The Brain

The Living World

4/14/09

See, Children Drugs Are Bad

It’s a common known fact that drugs are bad, but yet they are still used recreationally, especially among teenagers and young adults. Some of the most popular drugs used today are marijuana, ecstasy, tobacco, and alcohol. Marijuana has many nicknames. Weed, mary-jane, chronic, hash, etc. It is usually smoked, but can also be made with food or as tea. Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body. THC acts upon specific sites in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors,
kicking off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. The highest density of cannabinoid receptors are found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement. Users experience slower reaction times, extensive hunger, poor memory, and lack of motivation. In personal experiences, weed has had no worth-while positive outcome on people that I know have used it, especially regularly. Known users have been arrested, expelled from school, suffered with their grades, or made poor decisions. People have told me that the feeling of being high actually does not feel good at all, and that it makes them depressed or that they are being pulled downward. Consistent use of marijuana can lead to addiction, lung cancer, anxiety, depression, and dependence. Ecstasy is a drug that has stimulant and psychodelic properties. It is taken orally as a capsule or tablet. It is also known as X and MDMA. Short-term effects of taking the drug include feelings of mental stimulation, emotional warmth, enhanced sensory perception, and increased physical energy. Adverse health effects can include nausea, chills, sweating, teeth clenching, muscle cramping, and blurred vision. It is a rumor that exercising, or doing any other activity that would cause the body to heat up such as sex, would cause the body to overheat while on ecstasy and thus would result in death. Personally, I have seen some crazy things while people were on ecstasy. I have heard that taking a shower feels really good, but coming down from a high of mass endorphins is especially painful. A girl I know was coming down from the high so fast and so hard that she was banging her head on the cement in the parking lot because she was feeling so terrible. She then destroyed her phone by throwing it against the wall. Alcohol, although legal over a certain age, is still considered a drug.
When a person drinks alcohol, the alcohol is absorbed by the stomach, enters the bloodstream, and goes to all the tissues. The effects of alcohol are dependent on a variety of factors, including a person's size, weight, age, and sex, as well as the amount of food consumed before drinking. The disinhibiting effect of alcohol is one of the main reasons it is used in so many social situations. Other effects of moderate alcohol intake include dizziness and talkativeness; the immediate effects of a larger amount of alcohol include slurred speech, disturbed sleep, nausea, and vomiting. Alcohol, even at low doses, significantly impairs the judgment and coordination required to drive a car safely. Low to moderate doses of alcohol can also increase the incidence of a variety of aggressive acts, including domestic violence and child abuse. Hangovers are another possible effect after large amounts of alcohol are consumed; a hangover consists of headache, nausea, thirst, dizziness, and fatigue. Some long term effects of alcohol are liver failure, addiction to alcohol or alcoholism, damage to the brain, damage to the fetus of a pregnant woman, and
depression. There are ways to prevent severe hangovers. There is a saying that goes, “Beer before liquor, never sicker. Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.” A hangover is a result of dehydration because of the effects of alcohol on a person’s system. Tobacco is another legal substance that is considered a drug.
Tobacco is typically smoked but can also be chewed and absorbed by way of the gums. When a person smokes a cigarette, the body responds immediately to the chemical nicotine in the smoke. Nicotine causes a short-term increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and the flow of blood from the heart. It also causes the arteries to narrow. Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. This, combined with the effects produced by nicotine, creates an imbalance in the demand for oxygen by the cells and the amount of oxygen the blood is able to supply. This imbalance causes a tobacco high, and most of the times, light
headedness. It is now well documented that smoking can cause chronic lung disease, heart disease, and stroke, as well as cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, mouth, and bladder. In addition, smoking is known to contribute to cancer of the cervix, pancreas, and kidneys. Researchers have identified more than 40 chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause cancer in humans and animals, some including things like rat poison. Smokeless tobacco and cigars also have deadly consequences, including lung, larynx, esophagus, and oral cancer. The harmful effects of smoking do not end with the smoker. Women who use tobacco during pregnancy are more likely to have adverse birth outcomes, including babies with low birth weight, which is linked with an increased risk of infant death and with a variety of infant health disorders. The health of nonsmokers is affected by environmental tobacco smoke, or second-hand smoke. Each year, exposure to second-hand smoke causes many people to die of cancer. The temporary feeling that these drugs give the user does not outweigh the consequences that come with the choice to use these things. Although alcohol and tobacco are legal over a certain age, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t harmful. They still do a lot of damage to the user’s body. Marijuana and ecstasy are illegal in the United States and yet are still widely and popularly used. The word drug carries a negative connotation for these reasons.