Though marijuana is illegal, it is the most widely used illicit drug in most developed societies today; over fifty percent of people will use it at some point in their lifetime (Hubbard, Franco, Onaivi 1999). Its peak usage occurred in the 1960’s, but is still at a high today. To many peoples dislike, cannabis actually has legitimate medical purposes. Many anti-drug messages provide people with exaggerated claims concerning the undesirable affects of the drug. Moreover, its recent legalization in ten states, for medicinal purposes, has emphasized the need to understand and know the long-term effects on the central nervous system.
Pope and Yurgelun-Todd(1996) conducted a blind comparison among college students of regular marijuana users versus infrequent users. Their goal was to determine whether frequent marijuana use
In 2003, Igor Grant, a UCSD professor of psychiatry and the study’s leading author, published an article on the cognitive effects of cannabis use. His study involved 704 long-term users and 484 nonusers. His team of researchers examined and analyzed data from 15 previously published studies. Dr. Grant was quoted saying, “The findings were kind of a surprise. One might have expected to see more impairment of higher mental function.” The researchers said that smoking marijuana will definitely affect your perception, but it will not cause permanent brain damage.
Most of the cognitive damage is not big when compared to normal cognitive variability in normal individuals. These impairments would not cause a heavy smoker to “stand out from the crowd.” This does not mean that they don’t have some sort of significance; theoretically speaking, they
Example Essays Home
