• Problems
• How We Help
• Treatment
• Fast Help
• Family Intervention
• Secondary Care
• Accommodation
• Rehab Costs

Effects of Regular Cannabis Use

Cannabis is not that dangerous right? After all, its things like coke and heroin that really muck you up. Well, fans of nasty illnesses are in for a treat because this article contains all the nasty side-effects, illnesses and ways to die that are associated with weed. If you don’t want to know the score, look away now.

Effects of Cannabis on the brain

The main active ingredient in cannabis is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. This is the chemical that kicks up a cellular stink in the brain and ultimately leads to the high you get when you smoke it. THC changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is acted on by the brain. Researchers have found that neurons in the information processing system of the brain and the activity of nerve fibres are suppressed by THC. This leads to memory loss and the deterioration of learned behaviours.

Effects of Cannabis on the heart

A recent study found that cannabis use can make the heart rate increase by up to 29 beats per minute. When used with another drug such as cocaine the heart rate went up even higher. This kind of stress is not good for the body and can lead to high blood pressure and heart complaints. Doing anything physically demanding while using cannabis can put serious stress on the cardiovascular system and cause big problems.

Effects of Cannabis on the lungs

Regular cannabis smokers often have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers have, largely because most of what they are smoking is actually tobacco. Individuals may have to put up with coughs and phlegm, chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds. Long-term users can also suffer from abnormal functioning of the lung tissue, which has been injured or destroyed by smoke.

The amount of tar inhaled by cannabis users and the level of carbon monoxide they absorb is also three to five times greater than tobacco smokers. This is because users inhale more deeply and hold the smoke in the lungs for longer.

Effects of Cannabis on mental ability

A recent study compared heavy users with light users, and gave them several tests that measured aspects of attention, memory, and learning. Surprise surprise, the light users did better than the heavy users who made more errors, had more difficulty sustaining attention, and more problems with working out what the problem actually was. Researchers concluded that this was probably down to their heavier use.