A drug can be defined as any substance in small amounts that can produce significant changes in the body and mind. Most people don’t realize that this term can mean anything from the caffeine in almost every soft drink made and the nicotine found in cigarettes, to really hard-core drugs such as cocaine, heroin, LSD, and marijuana. What about sugar, or chocolate, or even salt? Most people would say these are just foods or flavors, but every one of them alters the body or mind in some fashion, and whether people know it or not, are addicting.

Marijuana is a green-brown, or gray mixture of the dried, shredded leaves, and the stems, seeds, and flowers of the Indian hemp plant cannabis sativa. Marijuana can be smoked in a bong or pipe, or rolled up in ‘rolling papers’, commonly known as a joint. It can also be

eaten in such foods as brownies, and in practically anything else edible. Marijuana has over 200 slang or street names. Just a few of those are: pot, grass, reefer, weed, mary-jane, herb, boom, gangster or gangsta, and chronic. Marijuana has been known to be around as early as 3000 BC, located mostly in Central Asia and China. It wasn’t until about the 60’s and 70’s, however, that marijuana gained widespread use in the United States.

Both the short-term and long-term effects of using marijuana are based upon several factors to take under consideration: The user’s experience with the drug, whether it is his first time using it or not; how much THC is actually in the marijuana, that is, how potent the drug is; what the user expects to happen; where and when the drug is used; how the drug is taken, whether it is smoked in a joint, bong, or pipe, or eaten; and whether the user is drinking or using other drugs at the same time.

Some short-term effects of smoking marijuana are as follows: problems with memory and learning, distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch), thinking and problem-solving, loss of coordination, and increased heart rate and anxiety. People who smoke marijuana also are more likely to make idiot mistakes in sports and recreation, or even in clubs. They seem to lose interest in how they look to themselves and to others, and they really do not seem to care how good they are getting along in school or at work. Most importantly, people who abuse marijuana often forget about having safe sex, which can lead to very serious problems.

Another factor that plays a role in persuading people to use drugs is simply peer pressure. Teenagers who would not take drugs on their own are persuaded to do so by their peers, and they choose to do so just to follow the crowd. Many people view drugs as symbols of maturity and sophistication, and fear that if they choose not to use them, they will be denied entry into in-crowds (Weil and Rosen 20).

There are so many reasons why people take drugs that it is hard to say that one may take them for one certain reason, or may be taking one drug for several r

Some topics in this essay:
Weil Rosen, , Catholic Judaic, Asia China, Doors Perception, Sigmund Freud, people drugs, Aldous Huxley, people abuse, abuse marijuana, everyday life, body mind, abuse drugs, physical mental, drugs simply, users marijuana, marijuana smokers, people abuse marijuana,