Marijuana Also Affects the Mind and One’s Whole Life

The Mind

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, marijuana produces distorted perceptions, poor coordination, difficulty thinking or problem-solving and problems with judgment, learning, and memory. These changes can increase one’s risk of accident or injury, or for injuring another person.

There are many incidents of accidental death that are associated with the use of marijuana by one of the people involved—either the one killed or another person who caused the accident.

In Philadelphia in November 2013, poorly planned demolition of a building caused a wall to collapse on the building next door, killing six people. The heavy equipment operator was high on marijuana and had opiates in his system at the time of the accident. The doctor who examined him after the accident said that the quantity of marijuana intoxicant in his blood made him incapable of safely doing the demolition job.

A 2012 Canadian review of traffic accidents involving 49,000 people found that marijuana use before the accident resulted in nearly twice the likelihood of having a collision, especially those that were fatal.

Now, there is a new way that marijuana can involve people in accidents. Some people use marijuana to brew up an extraction of THC that is referred to as “wax,” “honey oil” or “butter.” They have to process marijuana with butane (lighter fluid) which pulls the THC out of the herb and concentrates it. Once the waxy THC has been extracted, it can be smoked in a bong.

But butane is instantaneously flammable, as it would have to be to fuel cigarette lighters. In the same way that meth producers sometimes cook themselves in a lab explosion, young people trying to create a batch of wax have cooked themselves in a butane burn. Once vapors collect in the room during the extraction process, any tiny spark can cause a flash fire, even something as small as turning on the light or plugging in a coffee pot. In one Southern California hospital, doctors saw more than 20 of these burn victims between January 2013 and August.

Addiction

Among adults who start using marijuana, about nine percent of them become addicted to the drug. But when a person starts using the drug in their teens, the number becoming addicted rises to 17%.

When a person progresses to daily use, the risk of addiction becomes much higher—25% to 50%.

In 2009, marijuana was stated to be the primary or secondary drug of abuse for nearly three-quarters of a million people who sought rehab for their addictions. About half these people were between 12 and 25 years of age.

And these are only the ones who sought treatment at a publicly-funded rehab facility. Those going to private rehabs or self-help or support groups are not counted in this number.

Conclusion

As long as this report is, there is much more on the health risks of using marijuana that could be reported. It is easy enough to find references to illnesses connected with marijuana use through an internet search.

Anyone who believed that marijuana is harmless because it is “natural” or “given to sick people” now knows the real story. There are many other emotional, functional and moral effects of abusing this drug and these effects have been discussed in other articles that are available on this website, for example, these two:

• http://www.narconon.org/drug-abuse/signs-symptoms-marijuana-use.html
• http://www.narconon.org/drug-abuse/effects-of-weed.html

Marijuana abuse is not harmless. It’s only fair to let people know the risks.

For more information on the health risks of drugs or the way a person can become drug-free, call Narconon.

Resources:

• http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/health/story/2012-02-09/Marijuana-users-twice-as-likely-to-cause-car-crash/^53031202⁄₁
• http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Crane-Operator-Had-Drugs-in-His-System–210608021.html
• http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k12/TEDS_SR_029_Marijuana_2012/TEDS_Short_Report_029_Marijuana_2012.