Dangers of Smoking Weed

Weed is also known by several other names that include marijuana, ganja, hemp and so on. Its scientific name is cannabis. Basically, it is an illicit drug with strong psychoactive qualities. Today, the number of people who are smoking weed is increasing at an alarming rate. People of all age group and from all walks of life are using it. The worst part is that even teenagers have developed the habit of smoking weed. Most of them start it on an experimental basis and soon they fall prey to its addiction. Though weed is dangerous for all ages, its effect is more harmful for the teenagers.

What are the Dangers of Smoking Weed?

There are almost 400 types of chemicals present in weed which are injurious for human health. Among them, THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the most active ingredient which causes severe harm to the human brain. Some of the effects of smoking weed are short term and others have a lasting effect on the mind and body of the smokers. The temporary effects which usually show up within 10-30 minutes of smoking weed and subside by 2-3 hours are as follows:

• An instant effect of smoking weeds is the sense of well-being which many people describe as a 'high'. It is this mood altering effect which is the main attraction for which most people want to smoke weed again and again. It induces fantasies and dreamy pleasures that relaxes their mind for some time.
• Perception gets distorted. For this reason, it is dangerous if weed smokers try to drive a car or operate machinery in this condition.
• Rapid increase in heart rate which can be dangerous for people with heart disease and high blood pressure.
• Coordination between eyes and limbs gets badly affected. As a result, the reaction time gets delayed.
• Strong doses of smoking weed may lead to hallucination, anxiety attacks and paranoia.

As the components of weeds like THC are soluble in fat, they tend to get deposited into the fatty tissues found in various parts of the body that includes liver and lungs and starts affecting the entire functioning of the body. The long term changes that take place in physical and mental health of people who smoke weed everyday are as follows:

• Like cigarette smokers, weed smokers too suffer from various respiratory problems that include persistent cough, chest congestion, bronchial asthma, etc.
• It weakens the immune system so much that it cannot fight off infections and diseases properly. This makes weed smokers susceptible to various forms of infections.
• Smoking weed is bad for teens for many different reasons. Their cognitive skills get impaired and they fail to learn new skills and lose their problem solving ability. This is because they find it difficult to keep the focus, stay attentive and absorb information in their mind. It may lead to delayed puberty. It badly affects their coping skills and they often suffer from deep depression.
• It is bad for reproductive health of both men and women. This is because it tends to reduce production of certain hormones that are essential for normal functioning of the reproductive system. Men may have problems like erectile dysfunction and low sperm count. In women, it may hinder the normal ovulation process and affect their monthly cycles.
• Smoking weed while pregnant is dangerous because it affects the normal growth of the baby. Moreover, it has an adverse impact on the neurological development of the unborn child.
• Those who smoke weed on a regular basis are at a higher risk of developing various forms of cancer such as lung cancer, throat cancer, brain cancer because it contains a high amount of carcinogenic components.

There are some people who refuse to accept these facts about dangers of smoking weed because it has some medicinal values. It is true that weed is being used for medicinal purposes like controlling pain and seizures, cancer care and is a component of some drugs too. However, that does not prove that it is a harmless substance and the health risk associated with it cannot be ruled out. It has its ill-effects on health and anyone who has the habit, should quit smoking weed. Those who cannot quit it on their own should take help from trained professionals in marijuana rehab centers.