The Physical And Psychological Effects Of Marijuana
Marijuana has been used as a drug since the beginning of time, yet there
are still many mysteries about its health effects on humans. Marijuana, or
cannabis sativa, is a preparation of the crushed flowers and buds of
female hemp plant. The existence of the plant has been reported as early
as 1500-1200 BC. in China, and cannabis has been described as an analgesic
as early as 200 AD . Since then, an overwhelming number of studies have
attempted to explain the physical and psychological effects of cannabis
on humans.
Physical Effects
Physically, cannabis is relatively harmless. Studies have observed
interesting results, including that it causes structural changes in the
brain, depresses ...
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for avoiding safeguards of bias and reporting "changes"
that occur normally in the mammalian brain. Wu et al. found a correlation
between cannabis use and low sperm counts in human males. This is
misleading because a decrease in sperm count has not been shown to have a
negative effect on fertility and because the sperm count returns to normal
after cannabis use has stopped..
Another claim made was that cannabis causes chromosome breakage. The
primary source for this are studies that were conducted by Dr. Gabriel
Nahas in the early 1980s. Nahas observed abnormalities in somatic (not
sex) cells of rhesus monkeys in vitro (i.e., in test tubes and petri
dishes) and then made the unjustified conclusion that these changes would
occur in human bodies in vivo (in the body). Nahas' work was criticized by
his colleagues and, in 1983, he backed away from his own conclusions.
A widely held claim has also been that cannabis lowers male testosterone
levels. This theory has been challenged ...
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teas and food for centuries,
avoiding the carcinogenicity of smoke altogether.
Despite cannabis' known negative effects to lung function, it has never
been reported to cause a single instance of lung cancer. Tobacco, though,
is expected to kill 400,000 people this year. If cannabis is so much more
dangerous to a user's lungs than tobacco and is so much more carcinogenic,
why aren't there stacks of reports of cannabis-induced lung cancer? One
interesting theory is that it's because tobacco tars are significantly
radioactive, while marijuana tars aren't at all. Winters found that a
pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker of tobacco is exposed to 8000 mrem of
radiation a year, equal to the dose of ...
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The Physical And Psychological Effects Of Marijuana. (2006, December 24). Retrieved May 25, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Physical-And-Psychological-Effects-Marijuana/57606
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"The Physical And Psychological Effects Of Marijuana." Essayworld.com. December 24, 2006. Accessed May 25, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Physical-And-Psychological-Effects-Marijuana/57606.
"The Physical And Psychological Effects Of Marijuana." Essayworld.com. December 24, 2006. Accessed May 25, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Physical-And-Psychological-Effects-Marijuana/57606.
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