Commonly Used Drug in the USA - Marijuana - Research Paper Example

Marijuana The article discusses issues based on the most commonly used drug in the USA, marijuana. The drug shows mild withdrawal symptoms, modestly cured by behavioral therapies. However, marijuana is detrimental for mental health as it lowers the ability to learn and memorize along with posing various health side effects. Medicines to counter the effect of TCH should be synthesized to achieve successful treatment from marijuana abuse. The drug may play a vital role as medicine but should be meticulously use to avoid health hazard. Marijuana‎‎ Marijuana is an illegal drug that is obtained from parts of the plant known as Cannabis sativa. It contains delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a chemical that effects brain functioning. Marijuana statistics depict that the drug is highly abused in United States. Approximately 69 million people, above 12 years of age have used marijuana at least once. In 2006, according to the survey conducted by National Survey on Drug use and Health (NSDUH) it was the most common addictive drug in America. Around 14.8 million people widely used Marijuana as per the NSDUH survey. It is widely used by young adults in the age group ranging from 18 years to 25 years of age. The data emphasizes college students who at large fall under this category as reported by Centers for Disease Control. (CDH) This is most likely due to the low cost of the drug. The recent statistics illustrates that marijuana was accounted for 16 % of all admissions to health care facilities among which the ratio of males over female was higher (Fernandez & Allison, 2004). Even with such a high popularity, the rate of abuse of marijuana is decreasing. According to the Monitoring Future survey, the rate declined from 6.7% in 2006 to 5.7% in 2007 among eighth graders. Above all, around 74.3% eighth graders perceive the use of marijuana as detrimental for health. However, this drastic fall in the rate is probably due to other drugs that are also easily obtainable. Anyways the hallmark of this decline is that people are abandoning its usage but they might suffer withdrawal symptoms. Comparatively, marijuana has mild withdrawal symptoms than any other drug. The most common symptom is craving for the drug. It is reported that around 75.7% people abstaining from marijuana desperately craved for it. Mood swings are followed by craving. It is estimated that around 50.5% people trying to quit marijuana went through mood swings, petulancy or anxiety while other suffered from restlessness, aggression, nervousness and a lack of concentration. Insomnia is another common withdrawal symptom. People often face problems in sleeping. Few even encounter nightmares and vivid dreams that distract their sleep. People have headaches after they quit smoking (Kathmann et al, 2006). Though they are not prevalent but can be very painful for those who might experience them. Other symptoms include alteration in appetite, weight gain or loss, digestion problems, cramps or nausea. Some people have experienced night sweats, loss of sense of humor, changes in sex drive and shaking or dizziness. Physical symptoms fade swiftly where as psychological symptoms prevail for longer time span. If marijuana poses mild withdrawal symptoms it is not necessary that its intake has fewer side effects on human health. The main health problem arises from smoking and increase in dose may lead to lung infections. Marijuana is an irritant to lung and may bring about respiratory nuisance such as daily cough and phlegm production. It may also provoke cancer as the drug contains cancer-causing chemicals. The National Women’s Health Centre reports that marijuana has lower the functioning of human immune system. An over dose of this drug may result in toxic psychosis causing hallucinations, delusions and a loss of self identification. It increases heart rate by and may result in heart attack, in particular, in aged consumers or people suffering from cardiovascular diseases (Fernandez & Allison, 2004). Marijuana adversely affects the brain. The THC molecules, discussed earlier, and the brain chemical anandemide have identical chemical structure. Hence the THC molecule easily acts on specialized cells known as cannabiniod receptors which once activated play an important role in neural communication network called endocannabiniod system. This network is responsible for normal functioning and development of the brain. The parts of the brain that are highly concentrated with cannabiniod receptors are affected. Such parts influences pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement. Hence marijuana consumers undergo mood swings and swaying point of views. It affects their ability to think and solve problems. Most importantly, it effects learning and memorising power of an individual. A study indicates that adolescence marijuana consumers show low activity in brain areas responsible for memorizing and learning. Pregnant women consumers put their babies at a greater risk of neurobehavioral problems. As the particles in marijuana are able to imitate the structure of brain chemicals, they may cause the endocannabiniod system in the brain of the fetus to malfunction. Consequently, the child may exhibit innate problems of mental weakness (Borgelt et al, 2013). It is important to treat patients suffering from marijuana. Many behavioral treatments seem to cure the drug abuse and addiction. Motivational therapy (MET), Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and Contigency management might help in treating marijuana’s patients. All the three programs aids by developing resistance in abusers to abstain from using drugs. However, CM achieves its aim by handing out vouchers to enrollees as reward for testing negative for drugs. These vouchers are later exchange with positive items or services like pro-social activities (Borgelt et al, 2013). Family based treatments are also conducted like the multidimensional therapy, multi-systemic therapy, family support network intervention and brief strategic family therapy. Ironically, overall success rate of behavioral treatment is not promising. Almost 50% of the patients refrain from using drugs and mostly continue consuming within a year.(NIH) Perhaps it is due to unavailability of medicinal treatment for marijuana. Negative side effects of marijuana may be solved with the creation of suitable medicines. Research work is progressing in this field and scientists have developed a cannabiniod agonist medication with lofexidine that may help in overcoming drug withdrawal symptoms. Apart from this, molecules identical to the chemical structure of cannabiniod receptors should be synthesize. In this way the TCH molecules will act on the synthesized molecules instead of the natural receptors. Therefore, it affects preventing targeted areas of brain from malfunctioning (Mahmoud, 2007). However, marijuana has some potential medicinal properties. Scientists have discovered that it contains substances that relieves pain, controls nausea, stimulates appetite and decreases ocular pressure. Dronabinol(Marinol) and nabilone(Cesamet) are examples of FDA approved medicines that contain marijuana and prescribed to patients in order to control nausea in cancer patients and increase appetite in people suffering from HIV aids. References Borgelt LM., Franson KL, Nussbaum AM., Wang GS (2013). "The pharmacologic and clinical effects of medical cannabis". Pharmacotherapy 33 (2): 195–20 Fernandez, J. & Allison, B. (2004). "Rimbonabant Sanofi-Synthelabo". Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs (5): 430–435 Kathmann, M., Flau, K., Redmer, A.,Tränkle, Ch. and Schlicker, E. (2006). "Cannabidiol is an allosteric modulator at mu- and delta-opioid receptors". Naunyn-Schmiedebergs Archives of Pharmacology 372 (5): 354–36 Mahmoud A. E. (2007). Marijuana and the Cannabinoids. London: Springer Read More