More than 1 in 3 people in America have tried marijuana at one point in their lives. Pot can affect your body and mind any time it gets into your system. The hemp plant Cannabis sativa is marijuana. The ingredient THC is the part of the plant that makes you feel high. This ingredient and others in the plant affect the way the body works.
More states are passing the medical marijuana law. Pain is the main reason people ask for a prescription, says Barth Wilsey, MD, a pain medicine specialist at the University of California Davis Medical Center. It could be from a disease like cancer, or a long term condition like glaucoma or nerve pain. Doctors also prescribe it for muscle spasms, HIV, seizure disorders, and crohn's disease. When your doctor clears you for medical use, you get a marijuana card. You will be put on a list that allows you to buy from a dispensary. Your body makes marijuana chemicals that affect pain, inflammation, and many other processes. Marijuana can sometimes help those natural chemicals work better, says Laura Borgelt, PharmD, of the University of Colorado. The substance can be smoked, vaporized, eaten or taken as a liquid extract.
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The blood carries the THC to the brain and other organs. The user feels the effects in 30 minutes to an hour. THC acts on specific brain cell that ordinarily react to natural THC-like chemicals in the brain. These natural chemicals play a role in normal brain development and function. Marijuana over activates parts of the brain that contain the highest number of receptors. This causes the high feeling that people get. The short term effects include altered scenses, altered sense of time, change in mood, impaired body movement, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, anxiety, slower reaction time, increased heart beat, depression, and impaired