The effect of marijuana on the brain and behavior - Research Paper Example

Marijuana and the Brain March 28, Marijuana and the Brain In our modern age, the use of marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes has turned from a subject of controversy to a possibility and, in many jurisdictions, a reality. While emotions have changed about the use of marijuana regardless of its intended purpose, the primary reason that marijuana has come to be treated with such leniency is due to the new information surrounding this drug, most of which declare marijuana as being harmless.

However, numerous studies have revealed that marijuana also has a dangerous side that few acknowledge. Though advantageous in the medical field, marijuana has also proven to affect the state and functions of the brain, as well as the behavior of the individual. When proponents for marijuana legalization first began their protests, the resounding argument was that marijuana was the least harmful of illicit drugs and even safer than the consumption of alcohol. In extremely low doses, both of these statements may have some truth to them, but in the higher doses typical of both recreational and medical users of marijuana, the levels have proven to be dangerous to the overall and permanent condition of the brain.

Each section of the brain, all important to the functioning and behavior of people, is affected by marijuana, whether marijuana is inhaled once or long-term (Onaivi & Marzo 113). These altered sections of the brain include the hippocampus, cerebellum, and basal ganglia, all of which will be discussed in greater detail herein. Marijuana is considered the perfect drug to relax an individual. While marijuana is indeed capable of increasing feelings of calmness and peace, and is often prescribed to patients with stress or severe anxiety, it also alters cognitive functions that affect the way individuals learn and retain information and memories.

The part of the brain that controls cognition, which is the process involved in absorbing, retaining, and utilizing information, is known as the hippocampus. The stimulants in marijuana, as harmless as they may seem to some people, work in the brain to alter the way that information is recorded, often blocking information and not allowing memories to form. This results in many marijuana users having difficulty in learning, as well as putting themselves at risk for problems involving their short-term memory, the consequences of which will increase the older that the user gets (Earleywine 270).

Though marijuana has proven to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease, the damage to the hippocampus becomes permanent. The damage to the hippocampus can be harrowing to marijuana users, but the potential damage to the cerebellum and basal ganglia have proven to be disastrous to others. These two sections of the brain regulate posture, balance, reaction time, and coordination, and the consequences can be deadly if the cerebellum or basal ganglia become damaged. One study was conducted that looked into the changes in these parts of the brain as a result of smoking marijuana, using driving as the investigated activity.

Even with low levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the blood, the subjects of this study were shown to have impaired psychomotor skills, leading to slower responses in braking their vehicles and not being mindful of other activity on and around the road (Battistella et al 7). In a real-world setting, behavior such as this could result in deadly car accidents, proving that marijuana is not more harmless than alcohol. Furthermore, when these sections of the brain experience distress as a result of marijuana usage, the user has increased difficulty in standing or walking properly, maintaining their balance, and speaking correctly.

People are aware that marijuana causes peacefulness, yet they do not realize that this does not mean just in their brain but throughout their entire body (Iversen 88). Marijuana, like most drugs, despite how harmless they may seem, do not focus on a single portion of the brain but the brain as a whole, disturbing its functions until they cease to function properly. After prolonged use of marijuana, the behavioral changes of users becomes more apparent as the brain succumbs to the pressures of the drug.

Changes in behavior that are common in long-term marijuana users include panic, fear, anxiety, and distrust. Similarly, a study conducted by Judith S. Brook, Chenshu Zhang, and David W. Brook revealed that prolonger marijuana usage in adolescence leads to antisocial behavior in adulthood (Brook et al 513), once again proving that the effects of marijuana are not always temporary, or beneficial. Marijuana users also increase their risk of developing depression or experiencing psychosis, which is when the user is subjected to visual and audio hallucinations, delusions, and a lack of personal identity, episodes that can exacerbate their already impaired psychomotor skills.

Marijuana may seem to be a harmless drug with minor side effects. While marijuana has proven to be successful in easing pain or calming nerves in sick patients, there are effects that are not as beneficial. As is the case with any continuous strain on the brain, the more marijuana that is inhaled by an individual, the more at-risk they put themselves for developing a myriad of mental, emotional, and physical complications. Some complications, such as those that would normally be controlled by the cerebellum and basal ganglia, can be hazardous even to individuals who do not inhale marijuana, making this drug more dangerous than people know.

Works Cited Battistella, Giovanni, Eleonora Fornari, Aurelien Thomas, Jean-Frederic Mall, Haithem Chtioui, Monique Appenzeller, Jean-Marie Annoni, Bernard Favrat, Philippe Maeder, and Christian Giroud. "Weed Or Wheel! Fmri, Behavioural, And Toxicological Investigations Of How Cannabis Smoking Affects Skills Necessary For Driving." Plos ONE 8.1 (2013): 1-15. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. Brook, Judith S., Chenshu Zhang, and David W. Brook. "Antisocial Behavior at Age 37: Developmental Trajectories of Marijuana Use Extending from Adolescence to Adulthood." Am J. Addict 20.6 (2011): 509-515. NCBI. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

Earleywine, Mitchell. Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print. Iversen, Leslie L.. The Science of Marijuana. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Onaivi, Emmanuel S., and Vincenzo Marzo. Endocannabinoids: The Brain and Body's Marijuana and Beyond. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis, 2006. Print.