MARIJUANA – refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds from the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plant – is one of the most misunderstood drugs of our time. It goes by many different names, such as weed, pot, herb, and grass and can last anywhere from a few hours to 90 days if smoked or used.
Sifting through the rhetoric of this drug can be difficult since it’s the most commonly used psychotropic in the United States, after alcohol, and contains a mind-altering chemical THC and other similar compounds.
How do people use Marijuana?
Marijuana is smoked in hand-rolled cigarettes (joints) or in pipes or water pipes (bongs). Some people also smoke it in blunts – emptied cigars that have been partly or completely refilled with marijuana, while others, use vaporizers – a device that draws out active ingredients (including THC) from the marijuana and collect vapor in a storage unit to avoid inhaling the smoke, and use liquid marijuana extract as its juice.
With the growing popularity of vaping devices, nearly 4% of 12th graders have started vaping THC (the ingredient in marijuana that produces the high), according to the Monitoring the Future survey. https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/monitoring-future In addition, the number of young people who believe regular marijuana use is risky, is decreasing.
What it Does in Your Body
Cannabis or Marijuana, no matter what you call it, find out all the other ways—good and bad—it could be influencing your health and what it will do to your body and brain.
The effects of cannabis vary from person to person, you may feel chilled out, relaxed and happy. Some people become more talkative and get the giggles. Vision with colors may look more heighten and music may uplift your taste to sound better. Plus, hunger pangs (“the munchies”) are common or you may feel like time is slowing down.
If you’re not used to it, you may feel faint or sick, make you sleepy or lethargic, and can even affect your memory. Some people feel confused, paranoid or anxious, and some even experience hallucinations and panic attacks – more common with stronger forms of cannabis like skunk or sinsemilla.
Why Does Weed Make You Hungry?
“THC” — the psychoactive compound in cannabis that makes you high — affects your body physiologically in a few different ways, and hunger pangs (also known as the munchies) occur when THC taps into the part of your brain that controls your appetite, says Ginger Hultin, RD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and owner of Champagne Nutrition. It specifically stimulates the endocannabinoid system in the brain and stimulates a hormone called ghrelin – which makes you hungry.
As THC works into receptors throughout your body, specifically brain’s olfactory bulb (part of how you smell and taste and sense food), it makes food smell better and taste more delicious, which is part of the munchies phenomena. It’s basically your brain working saying your body feel hungry even when it’s not, as effect of marijuana seeds or weed you’re using.
Legalization of marijuana for medical use or adult recreational use in a growing number of states is increasing. But, even if one scientific study suggests that marijuana might help your bones grow or hurt your short-term memory, that doesn’t necessarily make it true.
Science is still, well, hazy on what exactly weed does to the human body. It may take some time before we know for sure about weed’s the effects and while all these researches are developing, still, it’s good to know where the science is heading.
