Marijuana high from using

Despite society s focus on the marijuana high, cannabis historically has provided many meaningful industrial and medicinal values that are not attributed to its psychoactive effects. Researchers discovered that cannabis crops farmed as far back as 12,000 years ago yielded hemp, a distinct variety of the cannabis plant associated with little or no psychoactivity. The first evidence of the medicinal use of cannabis can be traced to a Chinese health publication from... 

Trends in the prevalence of marijuana or hashish use among high school seniors (from Johnston, O Malley, Bachman, Schulenberg, 2006)... 

The frustrations expressed by Ward and Dye stem from at least two major difficulties in the interpretation of these epidemiological data. The first is the issue of confounding variables of alcohol and age. Across all studies, in approximately 80% of the cases where THC was detected, alcohol was also found. Also, marijuana is primarily used by young males, who are over-represented in fatal crashes and are associated with socially high risk-taking behaviors,... 

Psychosocial and environmental factors play a major role in the development and recovery from opioid dependence however, a detailed discussion is beyond the scope of this chapter. In general, the use of such drugs as marijuana and alcohol precedes the use of opioids (Clayton and Voss 1981 Kandel and Faust 1975). Although one cannot predict definitively which users will proceed to opioid use, those who do generally have low self-esteem, disrupted families, and/or difficult relationships with their parents. The increased availability of opioids in inner cities of major urban centers contributes to initiation of use and relapse. It is particularly difficult to avoid use and relapse in areas with high unemployment, poor school systems, and high crime rates, because living in such an area may contribute to the very affects opioid use temporarily reheves. 

THE BRAIN S OWN MARIJUANA-LIKE NEUROTRANSMITTER The very high potency and structure of the cannabinoids contained within the marijuana plant enable them to cross the blood—brain barrier and bind to a receptor for the brain s very own endogenous cannabinoid neurotransmitter system. If this were not true, then the marijuana plant would be popular only for its use in making rope, paper, and cloth. The two currently identified neurotransmitters compounds (and there are probably more) in this system are anandamide, from the Sanskrit word amnia () meaning bliss, and 2-AG (2-arachidonoyl-glycerol). Unlike the other neurotransmitters that I ve discussed, these two endocannabinoids are not stored in synaptic vesicles. 

The legal history of marijuana laws is unusual. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 established the federal prohibition of marijuana. The drug was placed in Schedule I, which defines a substance as having a high potential for abuse, a lack of accepted safety for use under supervision, and no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. Doctors are banned from writing prescriptions for marijuana. Opiate-based medications, which are stronger than marijuana, are in Schedule II and were never banned.,—... 

The election of Jimmy Carter as President in 1976 ensured a continuation of tolerance to drug use, particularly marijuana. In March 1977, the Special Assistant for Health Issues to the President, and high officials from the DEA, the State Department, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), NIMH, the Customs Service, and the Justice Department appeared before the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control to argue for the decriminalization of marijuana. The President himself repeated a similar theme before Congress later that year. 

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