The Behavioral Effects of Marijuana Due to the High Dependence: Treating Marijuana Users - Research Paper Example

 Marijuana is widely abused among other illicit substances in Europe and USA. Overdependence on the substance causes harm to the brain and can lead to behavioral, cognitive, social, health, and economic effects. Individuals seeking addiction treatment have similar characteristics with users of other substances. The society perceives marijuana as a natural herb, and this detracts from the message delivered by anti-drug campaigners and counselors. The youth are the majority marijuana users and the rate of abuse decreases as they become older. Studies have shown that daily use of large doses leads to tolerance and withdrawal. Moderate to heavy users have withdrawal syndrome accompanied by symptoms such as nervousness, appetite change, and sleep disturbance. However, most of these studies are concerned with behavioral changes and a little research has been conducted on occupational effects. Diplock, Cohen and Plecas (2009) conducted a research that studied the risks of marijuana on health and performance. Research on marijuana use and effects has been providing information for readers but the full extent of the effects is not fully explored. Their research involved collecting articles published from 2000 to 2007. Several databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Medline, and PsychINFO were searched to retrieve articles addressing the use of marijuana. The use of several databases to search for study articles that involved research conducted over seven years can be considered as the source of credibility. The articles constituted of original research and review articles related to harm of marijuana use. According to the research, marijuana use leads to cognitive and motor skills impairment. Marijuana users experience short-term impairment ranging from 5-10 minutes or several hours after use. This involves impairment in focusing attention and response accuracy after smoking marijuana. Users also experience difficulty in maintaining a coherent trail of thought and experience disruptions in filtering processes. Acute intoxication leads to impairment of brain activities related with goal-oriented activities. Marijuana users experience cognitive impairment that affects behavior and common activities such as operating machines and motor vehicles (Diplock, Cohen and Plecas, 2009). This affects individuals working in industries whose duties are operating machines or driving motor vehicles. Consuming high potency marijuana leads to impairments that lead to accidents in industries and on roads. Studies involving older participations reported cognitive impairments in periods of abstinence. This resulted in behavioral alterations such as anger, increased appetite, and social withdrawal. The researchers concluded that the interaction of over 800 chemicals in marijuana causes cognitive impairment and health disorders that cause behavioral changes and affect the working abilities of individuals. Prolonged marijuana use leads to social withdrawal, irresponsible behavior, and social injustices such as crime and poverty. A similar study was conducted by Looby and Earleywine (2007) sampled over 2500 adult cannabis users who smoked on a daily basis. The research was a quantitative study where participants completed an internet survey consisting of measure of marijuana usage and associated problems. The participants were chosen randomly and the researchers focused on those who currently used marijuana daily. The study involved 63.9 percent men and 36.1 percent women aged between 18 to 88 years. Brief questionnaires were issued to increase response and retention rates by the participants. Participants reported marijuana use 7 days a week. However, the participants reported different consumption rates ranging from low to heavy consumers. Participants using heavy doses of marijuana every day were classified as dependent on the drug. They also reported increased consumption in other drugs such as alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and LSD. Some users reported health problems such as respiratory difficulties and chest problems. Participants were asked to rate their motivation as per their own feelings. The test was related to daily activities such as completing their jobs, life intensity, setting life goals, and completing activities during the day. Participants with high dependence on marijuana have little happiness, low motivation, high drinking rates, respiratory problems, and depression. The study also revealed that participants with high dependence had little education and were younger. However, there were several limitations due to the research methodology used by the researchers. The participants were recruited through drug policy organizations and were probably disinclined to report negative use. Therefore, the results may represent an underestimate of the real effects of marijuana use. Internet based data collection may also have hindered users suffering from negative symptoms from revealing the full extent of their symptoms (Looby and Earleywine, 2007. Allsop et al (2012) conducted a study to quantify the significance of cannabis withdrawal. The study recruited cannabis users from Sydney, through postcard campaign and newspapers. The participants used marijuana for five or more days a week and suffered from cannabis dependence. The researchers conducted a phone screening interview to collect dependence severity, demographics, and alcohol consumption. A questionnaire developed by WHO to test alcohol disorders were also issued, and a clinical interview was conducted by trained psychologists to assess psychiatric disorders. The participants were supposed to withdrawal from cannabis use for two weeks, which was the study period. Laboratory tests were conducted to validate self reported abstinence. An online Cannabis Withdrawal Scale was provided to quantify the effect of withdrawal symptoms on normal daily functions. The CWS concentrated on negative impacts of cannabis withdrawal and had high internal reliability. Participants filled the CWS daily for one week while smoking usual doses and for two weeks during abstinence. The study indicated high levels of functional impairment due to cannabis withdrawal among users with high dependency. The impairment was visible in normal daily activities and severe withdrawal symptoms. Participants reported high levels of depression, physical tension, mood swings, anxiety, loss of appetite, and sleeping problems. These issues affected the behavior of the participants and their social participation was affected. This indicates the effects of withdrawal on high dependent marijuana users. However, the study had some limitations that affect the applicability and generality of the results to other users. The study group was small, which inflated type 1 errors during analyses. A larger study subject is necessary for minimizing errors and detecting the difference in magnitude of the withdrawal effects (Allsop et al, 2012). Budney et al (2007) reviewed studies investigating marijuana dependence and treatment. Marijuana dependency has increased in all age groups in the USA. Over the past 20 years, research on psychosocial treatment for marijuana dependency has resulted in behavioral treatments such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), contingency management (CM), and motivational enhancement therapy (MET). Randomized trials on adult outpatient treatment have resulted to reduced consumption and engender abstinence. MET is concerned with quitting and strengthens motivational change with typical MET regimen consisting of 45 to 90 minute sessions. CBT teaches patients skills relevant to quitting and managing problems interfering with good outcomes. Patients undergo 45 t0 60 minute weekly group or individual sessions. A trial study testing a 14 session group CBT session against 2 individual MET sessions indicated significant abstinence among CBT individuals. The trial involved a 4 month follow up activity that indicated high abstinence for CBT and MET group compared to delayed treatment control group. A comprehensive study constituted of 450 subjects who underwent nine sessions of combined MET and CBT interventions. The studies focused on dependence among primary marijuana users. Family based treatment therapeutic interventions such as functional family therapy are crucial for reducing dependence. The study mainly focused on behavioral interventions that can reduce marijuana dependence among adults and young users. Behavioral interventions are the most effective for treating marijuana dependence disorders. The interventions are also concerned with withdrawal symptoms that affect the behavior and normal functioning of individuals. The review incorporated several studies with varying number of study subjects in different locations. The findings can therefore be applied in other study groups with similar characteristics. The subjects in these studies reported abuse of other drugs such as heroin and alcohol, an observation reported in other studies (Budney et al, 2007). Minnes, Lang, and Singer (2011) examined the effect of marijuana and other drug abuse among expectant women. They summarized studies that have investigated the effects of marijuana abuse on prenatal and cognitive behavioral development. The framework utilized in the study addresses prenatal drug exposure and effects on the Central Nervous System and behavior among children. CNS injuries related to drug use have behavioral impairments rather than physical defects. The metabolism of the drugs affects the genetic makeup of the child influencing cognitive development and behavior. These children have a high probability of engaging in drug related activities and violence. They usually have low maternal IQ, psychopathology, chaotic lifestyles, and verbal inabilities. These children have a high probability of placement in foster care or institutions. The study reviewed women smoking more than five joint in a week during pregnancy. Children born had mild withdrawal symptoms and poor autonomic control especially in required tasks. Children from women smoking marijuana in the first trimester had reading and spelling deficits. Those above 16 years had difficulties in problem solving, attention, planning, and impulsivity. Children exposed to marijuana at the first and third gestation trimesters reported depression at the age of 10. Adolescents exposed to marijuana had a 1.3 times chance of becoming frequent users compared to those without exposure. The study had a control group that showed varying results compared to the study subjects. This was necessary for determining internal validity of the study. Adlaf, Mann, and Paglia (2003), examined data from a self-administered interview from a drug survey in Ontario. The survey had 1846 participants from grades 7 to 13 and investigated their experience related to alcohol, cannabis, and driving. The study was conducted in 106 schools and reported 71 percent student participation. The researchers used random half samples for the selected questionnaire items. Results from the study was analyzed through tabulation and revealed that 19.7 percent of the participants reported driving within an hour of smoking marijuana. This number varied considerably with men reporting the highest number of drivers under the influence of marijuana. Driving under the influence is a leading cause of accidents among adolescents. However, the study was self-reported, and participants may have been subjected to non-response bias. This would undermine the true behavior of the respondents. Tabulating the results affected analytical rigor for analyzing the findings from the study. However, the data sample was large, and the results can represent the behavior of Canadian adolescents driving under the influence of marijuana. Gruber et al (2003) used newspapers, and word of mouth to recruit individuals aged 30-55 years to their study. The participants had used cannabis at least 5000 times in their lifetime and were currently smoking at least seven times a week. Another group consisted of individuals who had smoked cannabis for not less than 5000 times and were currently smoking one episode per week. A control group constituted of individuals who had smoked for less than 50 times in their lifetime. The subjects underwent a 28 day period of supervised abstinence from marijuana. This was to ensure validity of the results collected during the study period. The study group constituted of 180 subjects and 72 controls who had met the control criteria for the study. Statistical data analysis used Fisher’s exact test for unordered variables. The results indicated that current marijuana users were younger than former users. Marijuana users had low levels of educational achievement and low income in their families compared to the control group. Heavy users also reported negative effects and low levels of satisfaction compared to the control group. Low academic achievement among users can be attributed to effects of marijuana on cognition. On the other hand, dissatisfaction in life can be attributed to behavioral changes caused by prolonged marijuana use. Iversen (2005) reviewed studies related to the long-term effects of marijuana exposure. The study recruited 63 heavy users who had smoked at least 5000 times and 72 control subjects. The subjects abstained for 28 days and were monitored through urine analysis. During the first week of study, heavy users scored below control subjects in neuropsychological tests. Their results improved, and there was little difference between the two groups by the last day of study. The poor performance can be attributed to withdrawal symptoms that affect cognitive performance. This draws the conclusion that cannabis does not have long-term effects on cognitive abilities and users can recover after quitting. Another study with a sample of over 50 000 men who had used cannabis more than 50 times before the age of 18 had a high risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. These users had severe depression as a result of cannabis dependence. Mental effects in the study subjects resulted to low educational achievement and reduced motivation. Individuals with high dependence had antisocial behavior and other problematic behavior. The studies discussed above are biased towards behavioral effects of marijuana due to high dependence. The subjects had high tendency of engaging in problematic behavior due to cognitive effects of marijuana. Low functionality among marijuana users leads to low motivation in work related activities, which affects occupational activities among marijuana users. CBT intervention providing behavioral therapy is the most effective intervention for treating e individuals with high dependence on marijuana. The research work can be utilized by therapists to treat marijuana users in order to rectify their behavior and improve their participation in occupational activities. More research on occupational effects is necessary to supplement current studies on behavioral effects of marijuana. References Adlaf, E.M., Mann, R. E., and Paglia, A. 2003. Drinking, cannabis use and driving among Ontario students. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 168(5):565-6. Allsop, DJ., Copeland, J., Norberg, M.M., Fu, S., Molnar, A, et al. 2012 Quantifying the Clinical Significance of Cannabis Withdrawal. PLoS ONE 7(9), Budney, A., Roffman, R., Stephens, R. S., and Walker, D. 2007. Marijuana Dependence and Its Treatment. Addiction Science and Clinical Practice, 4(1): 4–16. Diplock, J., Cohen, I., and Plecas, D. 2009. A Review of the Research on the Risks and Harms Associated to the Use of Marijuana. The Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice, 3(2), Gruber, A.J., Pope, H.G., Hudson, J.I., and Yurgelun-Todd. 2003. Attributes of long-term heavy cannabis users: a case–control study. Psychological Medicine, 33, 1415–1422. Iversen, L. 2005. Long-term effects of exposure to cannabis. Current Opinion in Pharmacology, 5, 69-72. Looby, A., and Earleywine, M. 2007. Negative consequences associated with dependence in daily cannabis users. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy, 2:3. Mines, S., Lang, A., and Singer, L. 2011. Prenatal Tobacco, Marijuana, Stimulant, and Opiate Exposure: Outcomes and Practice Implications. Addiction Science and Clinical Practice, 6(1): 57–70. Read More