What do you think about on weed?

Marijuana is a shredded, green-brown mix of dried flowers, stems, and leaves from the plant Cannabis sativa. A stronger form of marijuana, called hashish (hash), looks like brown or black cakes or balls. The amount of THC (the active ingredient) in marijuana and marijuana products has increased greatly over the years.

Marijuana is usually rolled and smoked like a cigarette (joints or doobies), or put in hollowed-out cigars (blunts), pipes (bowls), or water pipes (bongs). Recently, it has become increasingly popular for people to inhale marijuana or stronger marijuana extracts using a vaporizer (called "vaping" or "dabbing"). Some people mix it into food or brew it as a tea.

There is also "synthetic marijuana" — manmade drugs that are chemically similar to THC — that can be dangerously strong. Names for these drugs include "K2," "Spice," and "Herbal Incense." They can be so potent that overdose deaths have happened.

Short-Term Effects

The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). When someone smokes marijuana, THC goes from the lungs into the bloodstream. From there, it ends up in the brain and other organs.

THC connects with a receptor on nerve cells in the brain. The marijuana "high" results from THC's effects on the nerve cells that control sensory perception and pleasure.

THC also connects with receptors on nerve cells in other parts of the brain that affect thinking, memory, coordination, and concentration. This can cause unwanted side effects, including:

• trouble thinking and problem solving
• problems with memory and learning
• loss of coordination
• distorted perception

These side effects are temporary, but they can make it dangerous to do things like drive while under the influence of marijuana.

People also might notice other short-term side effects of using marijuana, such as:

• an increased appetite
• feeling lightheaded or drowsy
• a decrease in inhibitions

Long-Term Effects

Research has found that people who use marijuana over a long period of time can have more lasting side effects. For example:

Changes in the brain. Marijuana can affect the parts of the brain that play a role in our ability to remember, multitask, and pay attention.

Fertility issues. Animal studies suggest that using a lot of marijuana might be linked to decreased sperm count in men and delayed ovulation in women. Pregnant women who use marijuana might be more likely to have babies with developmental and behavioral problems.

Respiratory problems. People who smoke marijuana a lot can develop problems with the respiratory system — like more mucus, a chronic cough, and bronchitis.

Immune system problems. Using marijuana a lot might make it harder for the body to fight off infections.

Emotional problems. People who use a lot of marijuana are more likely to say they notice signs of depression or anxiety. If someone has a condition like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, marijuana can sometimes make symptoms worse.

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Other Problems

Here are a few ways marijuana use could affect you:

Criminal charges. Marijuana laws can be confusing. Some states are changing their laws to make it legal to have small amounts of marijuana in some situations (like when it's prescribed for medical use). Some have even made recreational use of marijuana by adults (over 21) legal. But there are conflicting federal laws against using, growing, or selling marijuana — and people caught with it could face charges, including jail time.

Career problems. People charged under marijuana laws may end up with criminal records that hurt their plans for college or finding a job.

Drug testing. These days, employers often test for drug use as part of the hiring process. Marijuana can show up on a drug test for several weeks after it was last used. So people who use marijuana may find they don't get a job they want. Some companies do routine drug tests on employees, so people who use marijuana can lose their jobs.

Medical Use of Marijuana

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved pills containing THC or other cannabinoids (chemicals similar to THC) as a way to help relieve pain, nausea, muscle stiffness, or problems with movement. There's still a lot of discussion about the medical use of marijuana, though. THC and other cannabinoid pills are only available in some states and require a doctor's prescription.

At the moment, there's not enough research to say for sure if smoking marijuana is any more helpful than taking THC or other cannabinoids as a pill. Scientists are still studying this.

What If I Want to Quit?

People who use marijuana for a while can have withdrawal symptoms when they try to give it up. They may feel irritable, anxious, or depressed; have trouble sleeping; or not feel like eating.

Marijuana withdrawal can be a bit like caffeine withdrawal: It's usually worse a day or two after someone stops using marijuana. After that, withdrawal symptoms gradually decrease. They're usually gone a week or two after the person no longer uses the drug.

Marijuana can be addictive. About 1 in 10 people who use the drug regularly can develop a "marijuana use disorder." These people can't stop using marijuana even though it causing problems in their lives. This is much more likely to happen in people who start using marijuana before age 18.

If you or someone you know wants to stop using marijuana but has trouble quitting, it can help to talk to a counselor. Studies suggest that a combination of individual counseling and group therapy sessions is the best approach for stopping marijuana use.

In this post, we will discuss Smoking Weed: 10 Effects of Marijuana on Your Body.

When it comes to polarizing health topics, few subjects spark more debate than weed (except maybe CrossFit or the Paleo Diet). Can it improve your health? Lower stress? Make you more forgetful? Even make you thinner? The science is still, well, hazy—but some research is starting to give us an idea of what exactly weed does to the human body.

For instance:

Toking up regularly could dull your emotional response and cause addiction, according to a marijuana study from the University of Michigan Health System.

Researchers analyzed 108 people in their early 20s (69 men and 39 women), all of whom were taking part in a larger study of substance use.

Recent Study On People Who Smoke Weed

In the study, participants sat in an MRI while they played a game, in which they pressed a button when they saw a target on a computer screen cross in front of them.

Before each round, they were told they could win 20 cents or $5—or they might lose that amount, or have no reward or loss. Scientists assessed the moment of anticipation (a.k.a. when volunteers knew they could get a few dollars richer).

Now, you’d think getting free money would be cause for excitement, but scientists found the more marijuana use volunteers reported, the less their reward centers were activated.

“Over time, marijuana use was associated with a lower response to a monetary reward,” study author and neuroscientist Mary Heitzeg, Ph.D, said in a press release.

“This means that something that would be rewarding to most people was no longer rewarding to them, suggesting but not proving that their reward system has been ‘hijacked’ by the drug, and that they need the drug to feel rewarded—or that their emotional response has been dampened.”

Is Weed Addictive?

That’s not all. Smoking weed might also be more addicting than you think.

“Some people may believe that marijuana is not addictive or that it’s ‘better’ than other drugs that can cause dependence. But this study provides evidence that it’s affecting the brain in a way that may make it more difficult to stop using it. It changes your brain in a way that may change your behavior, and where you get your sense of reward from,” Heitzeg said.

To be fair:

Even if one scientific study suggests that marijuana might help your bones grow or hurt your short-term memory, that doesn’t necessarily make it true.

All this research is still developing, and it’ll be a long time before we know anything for sure about weed’s effects on the human body. Still, it’s good to know where science is heading.

Find out all the other ways—good and bad—marijuana could be influencing your health.

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1. It Can Damage Blood Vessels

Secondhand smoke may not seem all that bad. But it can have a major impact on your blood vessels, according to research from the American Heart Association.

After rats inhaled secondhand smoke for one minute, their arteries carries blood less efficiently for at least 90 minutes. When they were exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, however, their blood vessels recovered after 30 minutes.

"While the effect is temporary for both cigarette and marijuana smoke, these temporary problems can turn into long-term problems if exposures occur often enough and may increase the chances of developing hardened and clogged arteries," said study author Matthew Springer, Ph.D.

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2. It May Increase Testicular Cancer Risk

Smoking weed may increase your odds of getting testicular cancer, researchers at the University of Southern California found. In the study, men who had testicular germ cell tumors were more likely to report previously using marijuana than those who didn't have the tumors.

While the findings were interesting, more research needs to be done to determine if there was a causal relationship between cancer and marijuana use, a doctor for the American Cancer Society said.

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3. It Impacts Short-Term Memory

Stoners get a bad reputation for being forgetful, but it turns out the stigma might not be entirely myth. In one study, Northwestern University scientists found that former pot smokers had developed brain abnormalities in regions associated with short-term memory, and performed slightly worse on memory-related tasks.

Even more unsettling:

The brains of pot smokers were found to be abnormally shaped and looked similar to brains damaged by schizophrenia. (That's not to say that smoking weed causes schizophrenia, of course, and obviously a lot of research still needs to be done on the topic.)

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4. It Hinders Creativity

Artists, musicians, and other creative types sometimes credit marijuana as their source of inspiration. However, a study from the Netherlands seems to prove otherwise.

Volunteers who were given marijuana with high THC content were not able to come up with as many solutions to a problem as those given a placebo.

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5. It Could Destroy Brain Cells

All those jokes about stoners killing their brain cells? They might have some merit, according to a 20-year study on smoking pot, which suggests that lighting up could decrease cognitive function, in addition to an increased risk of psychotic symptoms and disorders.

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6. It Could Help Heal Broken Bones

It's not all bad news for pot smokers. Weed may help bones heal stronger and faster, according to a study from Tel Aviv University. Cannabinoid cannabidiol, which is found in cannabis leaves and stems, helped mice recover from broken bones more effectively.

Researchers believe the substance helps minerals get into the bone tissue, making bones stronger, sturdier, and less likely to break in the future. 

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7. It Isn't Great for Your Job Prospects

If you want to be successful, then you better lay off the weed, according to scientists at UC Davis and Duke.

“People who smoked cannabis four or more days of the week over many years ended up in a lower social class than their parents, with lower-paying, less skilled, and less prestigious jobs than those who were not regular cannabis smokers,” study author Magdalena Cerdá said in a press release.

Cerdá and her colleagues had more bad news to share—cannabis users also had more financial troubles, tended to be more antisocial behavior at work, and experienced more relationship problems.

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8. It Can Triple Your Risk of Death from Hypertension

People who smoke weed are typically given the stereotype of being relaxed and chill. But that calm facade may not reflect what’s going on when it comes to blood pressure, says one study from Georgia State University.

According to the research, marijuana use was found to triple a person’s risk of death from hypertension (high blood pressure) compared to those who didn’t smoke weed.

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9. It Could Make You More Vulnerable to Alzheimer’s

If you want to keep your mind sharp, you might want to lay off the pot. In one 2016 study, researchers found that marijuana users had significantly lower blood flow to the brain than healthy non-smokers.

That low blood flow to different parts of the brain, the hippocampus in particular, could put pot smokers at higher risk for cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s, according to the study.

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10. It Can Cause Coughing Fits and Anxiety

To better inform young people of the adverse side effects that can occur after smoking weed, researchers surveyed 1,500 college students on the type and frequency of bad reactions they'd experienced.

The study, published in the Journal of Cannabis Research, found more than 50 percent of participants noted having coughing fits, anxiety and/or paranoia.

They were categorized as 'moderately' and 'quite distressing.' The three least-common reactions were fainting, visual hallucinations, and cold sweats.