His or her hands may tremble and grow cold. The euphoria passes after awhile, and then the user may feel sleepy or depressed. Occasionally, marijuana use produces anxiety, fear, distrust, or panic http://www.starliterecovery.com/marijuana.asp.
Marijuana use impairs a person's ability to form memories, recall events (see Marijuana, Memory, and the Hippocampus), and shift attention from one thing to another. THC also disrupts coordination and balance by binding to receptors in the cerebellum and basal ganglia, parts of the brain that regulate balance, posture, coordination of movement, and reaction time.11 Through its effects on the brain and body, marijuana intoxication can cause accidents. Studies show that approximately 6 to 11% of fatal accident victims test positive for THC. In many of these cases, alcohol is detected as well http://www.starliterecovery.com/marijuana.asp.
"An interesting study was done with airline pilots," Teitelbaum noted. In 1985, scientists gave pilots a small amount of marijuana and then tested their reaction time and abilities as they operated a computer program designed to simulate flying and landing a plane (Amodio, 2005). "When the pilots were stoned, they knew they were messing up the test and they all did terribly," said Teitelbaum. Twenty-four hours later, when the pilots believed they were fine, they took the test again -- and still did poorly (Amodio, 2005).
"Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug, with over 25 million individuals in 2003 estimated to have used marijuana in the past year (Paula, 2004). (1) Although prevalence rates for the general population have been relatively stable over the past decade, the proportion of current users who meet criteria established by the American Psychiatric Association for dependence or abuse of marijuana has increased at a statistically significant rate, from 30.2% to 35.6% (Paula, 2004). In addition, prevalence rates among youth rose considerably during the mid-1990s before stabilizing, while perceptions of harms declined (Paula, 2004). At the same time the United States has experienced a rise in youth use rates and dependence, there has also been a significant rise in arrests (Paula, 2004). There is increasing pressure on many state legislatures to soften their policies toward marijuana as a way of reducing the criminal justice burden, and despite virtually no information available on the economic cost of marijuana use or abuse, there is growing support to do so (Paula, 2004). "
MEMORY ISSUES
With an understanding of the use of alcohol and marijuana it is easier to examine how the impact on memory affects the population. The impact on human memory caused by alcohol and marijuana use has been demonstrated in several recent studies.
Marijuana generally is believed to influence educational attainment through its impact on cognitive functioning. Evidence from the medical literature clearly demonstrates that persistent and/or heavy marijuana use diminishes an individual's cognitive functions, influencing attention, concentration, and short-term memory during periods of intoxication.
Marijuana has been shown to interfere with short-term memory. It interferes with the ability to remember short-term items which in turn interferes with learning.
Research has been conducted to determine the effect marijuana has on the human memory. That research concluded that the ability to learn is significantly compromised because of the effect that the drug has on short-term memory. It prevents the person from remembering information or sustaining the information that is learned (Batchelder, 2004).
Another study concluded that the ability to integrate information into the long-term memory areas of the brain is seriously compromised through the use of marijuana.
The drug has also been proven to interfere with short-term memory in such a manner that 20 minutes later there were memory problems.
In that study, participants were chosen based on a cross section of gender, race and socio economic background. The study used the participants to test the impact that marijuana had on their memories.
The study tested the participants by showing them a list of words and asking them to remember them and study them. In the study the list was long enough to require some work in the memory area but not so long as to be difficult to do (Batchelder, 2004).
The study participants were asked to memorize the list and then they were asked to move on to other tasks.
In 20 minutes the participants were asked to recall and repeat the words that had been on the list while they were under the influence of marijuana and the majority of them had a much more poor recall success and rate than the study group that did not look at the words while under the influence of marijuana (Batchelder, 2004).
In that study the participants, averaged the age of 19 years old and reported periodic use of the drug in the past or no use. If the participants reported a previous heavy use of the drug they were disqualified from the study...
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