How does dagga affect a person physically

It is possible that secondhand smoke exposure may be enough to cause some of the temporary effects, as well as some of the long-term effects, in some people. More research is necessary to examine the effects of secondhand marijuana smoke. The following article discusses some of the potential benefits and side effects that marijuana has on the body.

Marijuana has many potential psychological effects, and it is worth noting that this is not a comprehensive list. Children and teenagers are susceptible to potential ill effects. When a mother uses marijuana while pregnant, the baby may develop memory and concentration issues as they grow. Breastfeeding mothers who also use marijuana may be exposing their baby to its potentially harmful effects. Women should avoid using marijuana while pregnant and breastfeeding.

Marijuana may affect the brain development of older children and teenagers. This can lead to memory loss, concentration issues, and impaired problem-solving skills. Research strongly suggests that for those under 25 years of age, marijuana use can impair memory and learning ability. Marijuana has many potential short- and long-term effects on the body. Although many proponents believe that marijuana is a modern day cure-all, others believe that its negative effects outweigh its potential medicinal benefits.

People have used marijuana recreationally for many years. As of , 34 states in the United States have some form of legal cannabis. More Drug Topics. Quick Links. About NIDA. Research Report. Marijuana Research Report How does marijuana use affect school, work, and social life?

So while there's probably a link between smoking marijuana and high blood pressure, there's not enough research yet to say that one leads to the other. Pot contains cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical that is not responsible for getting you high but is thought to be responsible for many of marijuana's therapeutic effects.

Those benefits can include pain relief or potential treatment for certain kinds of childhood epilepsy. The new report also found conclusive or substantial evidence — the most definitive levels — that cannabis can be an effective treatment for chronic pain , which could have to do with both CBD and THC.

Pain is also "by far the most common" reason people request medical marijuana, according to the report. One of the ways scientists think marijuana may help with pain is by reducing inflammation, a component of illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis. A preliminary study of 58 patients with RA, roughly half of whom were given a placebo and roughly half of whom were given a cannabis-based medicine called Sativex, found "statistically significant improvements in pain on movement, pain at rest, quality of sleep" for patients on Sativex.

Other studies testing other cannabinoid products and inhaled marijuana have shown similar pain-relieving effects, according to the report. Some people with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis could also benefit from marijuana use, studies suggest. A paper , for example, describes two studies of people with chronic Crohn's. Half were given the drug and half got a placebo. That study showed a decrease in symptoms in 10 of 11 subjects using cannabis, compared with just four of 10 on the placebo.

But when the researchers did a follow-up study using low-dose CBD, they saw no effect in the patients. Researchers say that, for now, we need more research before we'll know whether cannabis can help with these diseases.

The drug can be prescribed to people with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, two rare forms of epilepsy. In fact, it is the first FDA-approved treatment option for Dravet syndrome. In the clinical trial for the drug, common side effects included sleepiness, fatigue, decreased appetite, diarrhea, and insomnia. Marijuana may throw off your balance, as it influences activity in the cerebellum and basal ganglia, two brain areas that help regulate balance, coordination, reaction time, and posture.

Feeling as if time is sped up or slowed down is one of the most commonly reported effects of using marijuana. A paper sought to draw some solid conclusions from studies on those anecdotal reports, but it was unable to do so. In a study that used magnetic resonance imaging MRI to focus on the brains of volunteers on THC, the authors noted that many had altered blood flow to the cerebellum, which most likely plays a role in our sense of time.

Limitations on what sort of marijuana research is allowed make it particularly difficult to study this sort of effect.

Since weed makes blood vessels expand, it can give you red eyes. A case of the munchies is no figment of the imagination — both casual and heavy marijuana users tend to overeat when they smoke. A recent study in mice suggested the possibility that marijuana may effectively flip a circuit in the brain that is normally responsible for quelling the appetite, triggering us to eat instead.

It all comes down to a special group of cells in the brain that are normally activated after we have eaten a big meal to tell us we've had enough. The psychoactive ingredient in weed appears to activate just one component of those appetite-suppressing cells, making us feel hungry rather than satisfied. A study found that marijuana use had no effect on body weight , despite the munchies phenomenon commonly associated with use.

A small study of women from of varying races, sexual orientations, and marital statuses found that people who said they used marijuana before sex tended to have a more pleasurable experience than those who did not use the substance.

Specifically, some women reported having more satisfying orgasms and an increase in their sex drive. Researchers weren't able to pinpoint why marijuana had this effect, but suggested it could be due to the substance's ability to reduce stress and anxiety.

Marijuana can mess with your memory by changing the way your brain processes information , but scientists still aren't sure exactly how this happens. Still, several studies suggest that weed interferes with short-term memory, and researchers tend to see more of these effects in inexperienced or infrequent users than in heavy, frequent users.

Unsurprisingly, these effects are most evident in the acute sense — immediately after use, when people are high. According to the new NASEM report, there was limited evidence showing a connection between cannabis use and impaired academic achievement, something that has been shown to be especially true for people who begin smoking regularly during adolescence.

That has also been shown to increase the risk for problematic use. Importantly, in most cases, saying cannabis is connected to an increased risk doesn't mean marijuana use caused that risk. Scientists can't say for sure whether marijuana causes depression or depressed people are simply more likely to smoke. But one study from the Netherlands suggests that smoking weed could raise the risk of depression for young people who already have a special serotonin gene that could make them more vulnerable to depression.

Those findings are bolstered by the NASEM report, which found moderate evidence that cannabis use was linked to a small increased risk of depression. The NASEM report also found substantial evidence of an increased risk among frequent marijuana users of developing schizophrenia — something that studies have shown is a particular concern for people at risk for schizophrenia in the first place. Researchers think it's possible that CBD might be a useful treatment for anxiety disorders, and that's something that several institutions are currently trying to study.

The recent report suggested that evidence of a link between marijuana and an increased risk of most anxiety disorders was limited. However, the authors wrote that there is moderate evidence that regular marijuana use is connected to an increased risk of social anxiety. As in other cases, it's hard to know whether marijuana use causes that increase or people use marijuana because of an increased risk of social anxiety. A small study of 37 men found that those who used marijuana had decreased sperm counts than those who never used marijuana.

The study did not specify the methods of marijuana consumption used. Another study, however, found that marijuana increased sperm count in men. This study was larger and looked at 1, healthy young men. They found that men who currently or previously used marijuana had both higher sperm counts and higher sperm concentrations than men who never used the substance.

A small study in the May issue of The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association found that people who reported smoking marijuana or eating edibles on a daily or weekly basis needed higher doses of medication for sedation.

Researchers haven't determined why this was the case, but they believe marijuana could potentially desensitize the body's receptors that process sedatives.