THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA USE

THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA USE

INTRODUCTION

Most people know the short-term effects of marijuana use instill increased appetite, drowsiness, and short-term memory loss. However, the long-term use has not been freely informed to the general public. It is important for the recovering marijuana addict to understand that he will be dealing with over the next few years of recovery and he will be happy to note that through recovery, the brain will gradually return to a somewhat normal state. This, of course, does not mean that the recovering marijuana addict will able to be the way he was prior to using marijuana since the THC has a dramatic effect of mutating the neurology of the brain. There will be a high level of cognitive distortion that may be repaired depending on the brain of the marijuana addict. Sadly, there are some cases where the marijuana addict has become psychotic and has needed to stay hospitalized at a psychiatric treatment. The dependency of the damage to the marijuana addict also has to do with the predisposition of any mental illness disorder i.e. epilepsy, temporal lobe epilepsy, bipolar, OCD, ADHD, etc. Marijuana uses who have begun smoking early in life from the age of preteens to their mid-teens have a high risk of creating mental stagnation i.e. learning, concentration, and retaining information.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, they claim that ‘a number of studies have linked chronic marijuana use and mental illnesses. High doses of marijuana can produce a temporary psychotic reaction (involving hallucinations and paranoia) in some uses, and using marijuana can worse the course of illness in patients with schizophrenia. A series of large studies following users across time also showed a link between marijuana use and later development of psychosis. This drug use, drug potency, and the age which it was first taken; those who start young are at increased risk for later problems.” The long term effects of marijuana can cause severe paranoia that creates cognitive distortion where even in recovery; the marijuana addict is prone to assume that everyone is against them or there is a conspiracy going around that can cause personal relationship problems. Added to the paranoia, most marijuana addicts are highly argumentative, hostile, and disruptive making them difficult to deal with and get along with.

Treatment for the marijuana addict is best handled with the professional care of a rehabilitation center. Although treatment is usually a 28 schedule, the marijuana addict has three month and longer period time in a rehabilitation facility. One of the reasons why the marijuana addict is recommended to stay for such an extended period of treatment is mostly due to the disruptive social skills as well as the extreme sense of complacency that he has regarding everything particularly self-care and self-worth. It has been said that it takes about 28 days to change or formulate a habit and that is all that would be effectively done in the first month allowing the marijuana addict to register that they have become powerless over their addiction and marijuana has made their life unmanageable particularly regarding relationships, self-neglect, and his ability to motivate himself to doing work and therefore is more work needed to be done on him. Treatment facilities offer sociological and psychological life skills, addiction information, and recovery plans and enable the marijuana addict to develop new attitudes and habits to replace the old addiction behaviors.

COGNITITVE DISTORITION OF THE MARIJUANA ADDICT

Marijuana slows the brain patterns of the user causing him to develop lethargic behaviors, lack of motivation, complacency, and a slow slurred speech. One of the reasons that has been researched that causes this is the THC that flows into the brain via the bloodstream automatically charges an unusual release of neurotransmitters and hormones making the central nervous system activate faster than normal. This is why many marijuana addicts enjoy smoking weed stating that they feel highly creative, easily inspired, and they have increased pleasures in doing physical and mental activities. However, these feelings diminish immediately after a short while and leave the addict feeling low, irritable, sometimes distorted, and exceptionally lazy which is how an experimental user can find himself being an addict after using marijuana enough times. This abnormal brain activity will start having long-term effects on the marijuana addict causing their ability to retain information lessen and they easily become forgetful and absent-minded. Many marijuana addicts who are students will notice their grades slipping and becoming frustrated during tests and exams because they struggle to report the information they knew so well a few hours ago on paper leaving them to have a lower self-esteem and lack confidence in their mental facilities.

“In a study published in December 2013, researched at Northwestern Medicine found that teens who smoked marijuana daily about three years had abnormal changes in their brain structures to the working-memory and performed poorly on memory tasks. The researchers found that memory-related structures in their brains appeared to shrink and collapse inward, reflecting a possible decrease in neuron volume.” (Bergland, Heavy Marijuana Use Alters Teenage Brain Structure, 2014). The endocannabinoid system is situated in the brain allowing a variety of physiological including appetite, brain-sensation memory, and mood. These chemicals that are produced in the body, cannabinoids, interact with the endocannobinoid system regulating the body’s functions. These chemicals simulate the runner’s high and the ability to create levels of serenity but they are augmented through marijuana use.

The postsynaptic neuron (activated in the cannabinoids) are released in a backward direction travelling to the presynaptic nerves and creates the limitation of the amount of neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, neroprinephrine, etc). However, once the THC is entered in the endocannabinoid system; it is overwhelmed interfering with the natural regulation of the cannabinoids which is what causes the marijuana addict to feel intense emotions like euphoria, increase need for instant gratification, and enforce the cognitive distortion. This is also one of the reasons that the person’s reflexes are slow since the THC disrupts the short-term memory allowing the person to have his judgment affected. THC also affects the hypothalamus which affects the appetite and libido. Although, unlike crack or cocaine addicts, the marijuana addict may not necessarily be found in brothels but are as promiscuous since their inhibitions are lowered on the drug and are susceptible to have unprotected and injudicious sex with anyone. Equally, the sense of judgment and coordination becomes impaired by the effects of THC in the brain as it affects the cerebellum, spinal cord, and brain stem. Therefore, the central nervous system is highly augmented from the marijuana and causes unusual activities like the hypersensitivity, inability to deal with complex thoughts, and misinterpreting messages from others while being spoken to or reading.

EMOTIONAL STAGNATION OF THE MARIJUANA ADDICT

The withdrawals from marijuana are depression, self-pity, and anger/frustration. However, it is the self-pity and depression that possibly affects the recovering marijuana addicts the most. The depression is caused by the inability to have the dopamine neurotransmitter released as intensely as it used to for a period of time and this makes them prone to sadness, pessimism, and having a lowly attitude. They also prefer to isolate loneliness and starvation of human touch and communication. As much as the isolation is self-inflicted, it is also called by their immature and hostile behaviors which want to remove themselves from the recovery marijuana addict finding him to be morbid, aggressive, stinging with sarcasm, and purposefully verbally hurtful to others. “The personality and brain images, the researchers found from the cannabis users had ‘blunted’ behavior, cardiovascular, and brain responses. The (marijuana) abusers also scored higher on negative emotional reactions. The researcher’s concluded that cannabis interferes with the brain’s reaction to dopamine.” (Weinberg, Marijuana Linked to Depression, 2014).

This personality of the recovering marijuana addict forms him into a person full of shame, guilt, and remorse. Even as the marijuana addict goes into recovery and begin the work of self-acceptance, he still struggles to let go of the harm he did to himself and others in the past making him all the more susceptible to self-pity. Depending on the personality of the marijuana addicts, it can take quite some time for them to let go of the past and focus on the present and the potential of the future. However, even that makes him all the more prone to stress and anxiety. The marijuana addict has a low self-esteem which may come from his failure to achieve, his lack of accomplishments, and/or his difficulty in developing and maintaining relationships. He is also unusually hard on himself which may come from his perfectionism and/or his lack of self-acceptance. The long-term effects of the emotional/personality inadequacies makes both recovery and dealing with the life on life’s terms exceptionally difficult for the marijuana addict.

Aggression is common in many, if not all, marijuana addicts. Marijuana addicts come in two forms: the highly aggressive one that leads him to hostile behaviors and the other who has passive-aggression making him warrant to act out on his resentments and the inability to deal with his anger in healthy ways. The recovering marijuana addict starts his treatment, he may find it either easy to justify his anger or is in denial of having any angry emotions at all. At least when he is honest about his anger and resentments, there is a chance that with the help of professionals that he can work on his problems and learn to deal with his anxiety in appropriate ways but those who are in denial make recovery only more difficult for themselves. Perhaps it is because the marijuana addict sincerely would like to believe that he is a peaceful, gentle creature – after all, the other name for the joint is the ‘peace pipe’. But marijuana numbs all intense emotions as well as making the marijuana addict fall into the fantasy world of ‘all is right in this world and nothing could possibly go wrong for me’.

After the marijuana addict has been off the THC for a couple of weeks, he will start becoming infected with intense feelings and emotional wounds that he tried so hard to keep in hibernation. He begins to remember why he smoked marijuana in the first place; to avoid feelings of loneliness, avoid feeling being alienated from his family and friends, and to forget his childhood and past resentments of who did what to him and why it injured his feelings so much. Then, before he knows it, the marijuana addict will begin lashing out on all people, places, and things and become the monster he tried so hard to repress.

THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS ON THE MARIJUANA ADDICT’S RELATIONSHIPS AND ACADEMIC/VOCATONAL LIFE

During active addiction, the marijuana addict would have most likely made friends with those who also used and abused his friendships. It takes only a short period of recovery for the marijuana addict to acknowledge that the people he thought were his friends were only using him as much as he was using them. A using-buddy relationship merely exists as long as there are enough of the drugs or alcohol to go around and once that ceases; there really is no reason to hang around with each other. The marijuana addict soon discovers in recovery that the using buddy relationship was abusive: financially; emotionally; and psychologically and in hindsight had it not been for the marijuana; the addict would have never associated with these people in the first place. Looking back at his relationships, the marijuana addict may notice when he stopped interacting with real friends and having relationships based on intimacy was when he began to start abusing marijuana.

The marijuana addict will have always destroyed his relationships with his family and loved ones through his selfish needs and acts as well as sporadic hostile behaviors. He will think that the real reasons why his family and loved ones no longer want to associate with him is because they hate him and have no trust in him but the reality is that this is his perspective is mere projection. It is actually the marijuana addict who has created intense emotions of hate, hostility, and distrust in his family and loved ones. As the marijuana addict progresses in his recovery and begins to do some form of therapeutic work be it through the 12 Step Program or attending sessions with a psychologist or therapist; he will eventually begin to see that it was through his dishonesty, selfishness, and aggressive notions and behaviors that caused the disharmony in his relationships with his loved ones. The long-term effects of marijuana addictions is isolation, aggression, and self-neglecting demeanors which is possibly things that the marijuana addict has to learn to comprehend as it would have been easier to blame his problems on everyone else (especially his family).

Through his social deviance and rebellious behaviors during his scholastic years when he was first experimenting with marijuana, the addict will have to accept that his was the reasons why he could never measure up in high school, university, and/or created stagnation and disloyalty in his career. As previously mentioned, marijuana dramatically effects the brain and personality of the marijuana addict eventually causing short concentration spans, lethargia, lack of motivation, and low work tempo that will would have caused the inability to complete assignments, study for test and exams, or focus on a somewhat menial tasks at work. This inability would create many arguments at home, from his co-workers, and his employees making the addict’s self-esteem and self-confidence take a beating. And as many addicts do in times of self-pity; he will smoke more of the marijuana to escape from his problems and welcome pseudo-confidence which creates this vicious cycle of incompetence.

It is unfortunate that many marijuana addicts drop out of school and college to seek the so-called freedom of the ‘hippie lifestyle’ of smoke, love, peace, and harmony. This only causes the marijuana addict to be only more willing to never want to go back to school and complete his high school diploma or any other credentials as many of them feel they are overaged and this with their low self-esteem makes them see as degrading to be with kids much younger than they are. Instead, some marijuana addicts either choose to live off their parents or get low-paying jobs with no chance of progression or earning money to get a tertiary education. The marijuana addict continues this downward spiral into an unsatisfactory life of living but he is somehow deluded to feeling that they are getting their cake and eating it by maintaining their marijuana habit while having some kind of employment.

Many recovering addicts do find it difficult to rejoin their life-interrupted when they quit using their drugs of choice. Some struggle in school but are still happier and feel more productive when they do receive their high school diploma or degree. Those recovering marijuana addicts who have a career find that they get more stimuli from their workforce from the intellectual and social aspect then they ever would have from staying on their drug. Either way, it may be challenging to strive through the long-term effects of marijuana dependency but almost all recovery marijuana addicts prefer life without the use of pot regardless of where they are academically or vocationally because now there is a future with hope and potential.