Short Term Effects Of Marijuana

Marijuana’s effects on the body and the mind are only recently being known, and still much research must be done to know for sure what facts are true, as well as what is blown out of proportion from cultural and political bias. From what we know now there are obvious short term affects as well as the possibility of substance abuse however long term affects are very rare and require further studies until we know for certain. Upon smoking marijuana the body is almost immediately affected and the symptoms are felt through the body and mind. Some of the more common short term symptoms include “Sedation, blood shot eyes, increased heart rate, coughing from lung irritation, increased appetite, and decreased blood pressure” (1) Other short term effects
The more a student smoked, the worse their academic outcome. Students who smoked marijuana over 15 times a month dropped out of college twice as much as those who used marijuana about two times a month. Even those who used marijuana only a few times a month were 66 percent more likely to be discontinuously enrolled than those who used marijuana less.”(4) Reading this honestly surprised me, though I’ve had feelings of dropping out before I usually link them to other things, though it’s good to keep in mind that some of my doubts may have been from smoking. Again, like in previous studies, they found that there was a direct correlation with marijuana use and lower IQ scores. Not only that, there are the consequences of simply getting caught with it, especially on a college campus. Anywhere from a fine to hard time, it just isn’t worth
After learning what I have, it proved what I knew on the short term, as well as having taught me a few more ways it subconsciously affects you. On the other hand, going through the studies and research on extended effects of the drug I learned that though MANY of the long term effects are in fact myths, some, very important long term effects are honestly real. Another view I previously had about marijuana was that it was a very sociably accepted drug and many of the people you meet, especially in college also did it. Looking back now, that’s a rather narrow way of looking at things. I say this now, out of the dorms and with increased knowledge on the subject, it was more of an environment thing. Though it is accepted to some, many people still see it as something extremely frightening, which is fair. Looking back now also at the frequency of the people who did it, it seemed as though some did it just out of peer pressure. And nobody should be peer pressured to do anything, especially