Pubdate: Fri, 08 Apr 2005
Source: Bowdoin Orient, The (ME Edu)
Pubdate: April 8, 2005
Contact:  http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/letters.php
Website: http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/
Address:  6200 College Station, Brunswick, ME 04011-8462
Copyright: 2005 The Bowdoin Orient
Author: Jeff Benson, M.D.

FRESH WEED WORRIES

Some THC Side-Effects Less Pleasant Than Others

Dear Dr. Jeff: I like to smoke a little pot now and then. Is that a 
problem? W.N.

Dear W.N.: An increasing body of research suggests that marijuana is 
neither the deadly toxin its foes portray, nor the benign herb its 
advocates promote. What has become clearer is this--heavy, regular use of 
marijuana may be more harmful and habit-forming than previously suspected.

The principal active ingredient in marijuana is 
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC. Researchers have discovered THC-binding 
receptors throughout the body and brain, and naturally occurring THC-like 
endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids, which bind to these receptors.

Endocannabinoids appear to play an important role in regulating mood, 
appetite, pain, memory, and a variety of other sensations and functions.

Current research into these mechanisms is in part driven by the debate over 
medical marijuana use. For many people with AIDS, cancer, and other 
debilitating diseases, marijuana offers substantial relief from pain, 
nausea, and loss of appetite. Chronic marijuana use, however, may have 
harmful effects as well.

THC seems to change the way in which sensory information is processed by 
the hippocampus, the part of our brains' limbic system which integrates 
sensory inputs with emotions and motivations, all components of memory 
formation, and learning.

Longitudinal studies of high school students who smoke marijuana regularly 
do show a trend of lower academic achievement and greater behavioral 
problems. Of course, it may be a little tricky here to sort out cause and 
effect!

A much-touted study of college students is reported to show that critical 
skills relating to attention, memory, and learning are all impaired in 
people who use marijuana heavily. This study likely has several important 
flaws, especially around issues of matching and THC "washout."

Whatever the shortcomings of the research, however, it seems clear enough 
to me, for pretty obvious reasons, that getting stoned every day is likely 
to have a deleterious impact on one's academic performance.

There may also be other health consequences to consider. Regular marijuana 
use is definitely associated with depressed libido, lower sperm counts, and 
occasional breast enlargement in men, as well as with irregular menstrual 
cycles in women. Marijuana smoke contains more tar than tobacco smoke, and 
may be even more damaging to lung tissues. Daily users have more 
respiratory problems and injuries from accidents than those who smoke less 
often or not at all.

Smoking pot elevates your blood pressure, raises your heart rate (as much 
as 50 percent in the first hour), and has been shown to increase some 
people's risk of heart attack up to five-fold.

The question of marijuana's addictive potential remains somewhat 
contentious. On the one hand, more than 75 million Americans have smoked 
marijuana at least once and it remains the most commonly--and 
casually--used illicit substance across the nation. On the other hand, more 
than 120,000 people enter treatment each year for their marijuana 
dependence. More young adults enter drug treatment with a primary diagnosis 
of marijuana dependency than for all other drugs combined. Many 
commentators point out that currently available marijuana is very much more 
potent than it used to be, so is more likely to become abused. The THC 
concentration of pot today is at least eight to nine times greater than in 
the '70s.

Some researchers believe that some ten to fifteen percent of the population 
are in some manner vulnerable to the dependence-causing characteristics of 
marijuana and can therefore become addicted to it.

These individuals might develop cravings for the drug, and develop 
tolerance to its effects, needing to smoke more and more of it to reach the 
same high. When they stop using marijuana regularly, these individuals 
might develop withdrawal symptoms that could last for weeks, including 
reactive depressions, anxiety, anger, insomnia, or nausea.

If you have questions or concerns about marijuana use, you can always 
contact the Health Center or the Counseling Service. The Addictions 
Resource Center in Bath would be an excellent off-campus alternative. And 
there are many web-based sources of information, including the National 
Institute on Drug Abuse (www.nida.nih.gov/NIDAHome.htm, Facts on Tap 
(www.factsontap.org and www.drughelp.org), and Go Ask Alice 
(www.goaskalice.columbia.edu).

Stay informed, and take good care of yourselves!

Jeff Benson, M.D.

Dudley Coe Health Center
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom