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Marijuana is one of the most abused drugs in the United States. In view of its widespread abuse, it is important to know how marijuana affects your health. This article discusses short and long-term effects of marijuana abuse. Short-term effects The short-term effects are as follows: •Affects person's performance: Studies show that use of marijuana affects the performance of the person. It affects severely the educational performance of the person - gets lower grades, fails to complete the graduation. Likewise, if the person is working, the drug leads to higher number of sickness related leaves, unexplained absence, more accidents at workplace, more workers' compensation claims, etc., and eventually the productivity of the person declines drastically. •Perception, memory, intellect and psycho-motor co-ordination impairment: Use of marijuana impairs the correct perception of things. This is because THC (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) in it affects part of the brain that is responsible for focus, attention, memory, the ability in senses, and perception of time. The effect is excess stimulation of the brain, which leads impairment of perception. The person feels as if there were things, even if they are not there. Thus, the person feels hallucinated. The THC also affects the normal functioning of the brain and this causes anxiety, nervousness, etc. in the abuser. Further, it leads to loss of co-ordination between the brain and the limbs. Thus, the person is unable to react timely in certain situations such as while driving a vehicle. •Low motivation: Marijuana leads to depression in the person and they do not like to participate in activities that could bring rewards. The person has unreasonable fear, and has low motivation to pursue the normal course of activities. Long-term effects: Use of this drug causes certain effects in the long run. We discuss them here briefly. •Addiction: Marijuana if consumed regularly, the person becomes addicted to it. Research shows that nine per cent of users get addicted to the drug. This number is higher in young starters (17 percent) and 20 to 25 percent in daily users. There are close to 4.5 million people addicted to the drug in the United States. (Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse, USA). The addictive effect of this drug is because of the THC component in it, which makes the brain less receptive to the drug with each passing day. As a result, the person has to use more of it to get similar effect, and therefore gets addicted to the drug in the long run. •Reduced immunity: Studies show that marijuana affects the immunity in the body because the system becomes less sensitive to external agents, even to harmful microbes. Marijuana may affect the T-cells in the immune system of the lungs. •Risk of bronchitis: Prolonged use of marijuana may cause respiratory issues and increase the risk of bronchitis. The chemicals produced, as a result of combustion while smoking, get deposited in the lungs and this leads to bronchitis condition. Marijuana is one of the most harmful substances that causes addiction and affects the most productive and formative periods of people. It is, therefore, sensible to stay away from this drug. DrugTestStrips is an online store offering reliable and FDA approved drug test kits at affordable prices. Marijuana drug testing kit from drugteststrips.com is a simple to administer dip-and-read test designed to detect marijuana use in urine.
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