TEENS Marijuana Brochure
TEENS Marijuana Brochure
TEENS Marijuana Brochure
national institute
on drug abuse
national institutes
of health
Contents...
/ 1.
Q: W
hat is marijuana?
Are there different kinds?
A: Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded
leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. You may
hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed,
grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. There are more
than 200 slang terms for marijuana.
Sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah; it’s a Spanish word),
hashish (“hash” for short), and hash oil are stronger forms
of marijuana.
All forms of marijuana are mind-altering
(psychoactive). In other words, they change how the brain
works. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol),
the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain
more than 400 other chemicals. Marijuana’s effects on the
user depend on its strength or potency, which is related to
the amount of THC it contains. The THC content of marijuana
has been increasing since the 1970s. For the year 2006, most
marijuana contained, on average,
7 percent THC.
/ 2.
Most teenagers do
not use marijuana.
Fewer than one in
five high school
seniors is a current
marijuana user.
“I don’t think it’s
cool at all and I
don’t see why they
try to pressure it
on other people.”
— from the videotape,
Marijuana: What Can
Parents Do?
/ 4.
Q: H
ow long does marijuana stay
in the user’s body?
A: THC in marijuana is rapidly absorbed by fatty tissues in
various organs. Generally, traces (metabolites) of THC can
be detected by standard urine testing methods several days
after a smoking session. In heavy users, however, traces can
sometimes be detected for weeks after they have stopped
using marijuana.
/ 5.
teens may feel they need marijuana and other drugs to help
them escape from problems at home, at school, or with friends.
No matter how many shirts and caps you see printed
with the marijuana leaf, or how many groups sing about it,
remember this: You don’t have to use marijuana just because
you think everybody else is doing it. Most teenagers do not
use marijuana.
/ 6.
Marijuana can mess
up your performance
in school, sports,
and other parts of
your life.
Q: What are the short-term effects of
marijuana use?
A: The short-term effects of marijuana include:
• problems with memory and learning;
• distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch);
“I used to be
real athletic.
When I started
using drugs, I
just stopped play-
ing all together
‘cause I thought I
had more important
things to do.”
— from the videotape,
Marijuana: What Can
Parents Do?
/ 8.
Effects can be unpredictable, especially when other drugs are
mixed with marijuana.
/ 9.
known that marijuana smoke contains some of the same, and
sometimes even more, of the cancer-causing chemicals found
in tobacco smoke. Studies show that someone who smokes
five joints per day may be taking in as many cancer-causing
chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes
every day.
• Lungs and airways—People who smoke marijuana often
develop the same kinds of breathing problems that cigarette
smokers have: coughing and wheezing. They tend to have
more chest colds than nonusers. They are also at greater
risk of getting lung infections like pneumonia.
• Immune system—Our immune system protects the body
from many agents that cause disease. It is not certain
whether marijuana damages the immune system of people,
but both animal and human studies have shown that
marijuana impairs the ability of T-cells in the lungs' immune
system to fight off some infections.
Q: D
oes marijuana lead to
the use of other drugs?
A: Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns
of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal
drugs without first trying marijuana. For example, the risk
of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried
marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using
marijuana puts children and teens in contact
/ 10.
with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So
there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed
to and urged to try more drugs.
Q: H
ow can you tell if someone
has been using marijuana?
A: If someone is high on marijuana, he or she might
When the early effects fade, over a few hours, the user
can become very sleepy.
Q: Is marijuana sometimes
used as a medicine?
A: There has been much talk about the possible medical use of
marijuana. Under U.S. law since 1970, marijuana has been a
Schedule I controlled substance. This means that the drug, at
/ 11.
least in its smoked form, has no commonly accepted medical use.
THC, the active chemical in marijuana, is manufactured
into a pill available by prescription that can be used to treat
the nausea and vomiting that occur with certain cancer
treatments and to help AIDS patients eat more to keep up
their weight. Scientists are studying whether THC, and related
chemicals in marijuana (called cannabinoids) may have other
medical uses. Because of the adverse effects of smoking
marijuana, research on other cannabinoids appears more
promising for the development of new medications.
/ 12.
Marijuana and
driving do not
mix. Users often
have delayed
responses to
sights and
sounds drivers
need to notice.
Q: I
f a woman is pregnant and smokes
marijuana, will it hurt the baby?
A: Doctors advise pregnant women not to use any drugs because
they could harm the growing fetus. Although one animal study
linked marijuana use to loss of the fetus very early in
pregnancy, two studies in humans found no association
between marijuana use and early pregnancy loss. More
research is necessary to fully understand the effects of
marijuana use on pregnancy outcomes.
Studies in children born to mothers who use marijuana
have shown increased behavioral problems during infancy and
preschool years. In school, these children are more likely to
have problems with decisionmaking, memory, and the ability
to remain attentive.
Researchers are not certain whether health problems
that may be caused by early exposure to marijuana will
remain as the child grows into adulthood. However, since
some parts of the brain continue to develop throughout
adolescence, it is also possible that certain kinds of problems
may appear as the child matures.
/ 14.
“When I would sit
down and try to
figure something
out it was like
my brain would
stop working.”
— from the videotape,
Marijuana: What Can
Parents Do?
/ 15.
Q:
Can people become addicted
to marijuana?
A: Yes. Long-term marijuana use leads to addiction in some
people. That is, they cannot control their urges to seek out and
use marijuana, even though it negatively affects their family
relationships, school performance, and recreational activities.
According to one study, marijuana use by teenagers
who have prior antisocial problems can quickly lead to addiction.
In addition, some frequent, heavy marijuana users develop
“tolerance” to its effects. This means they need larger and larger
amounts of marijuana to get the same desired effects as they
used to get from smaller amounts.
Q:
What if a person wants to
quit using the drug?
A: In 2004, over 298,000 people entering drug treatment programs
reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse. However, up
until a few years ago, it was hard to find treatment programs
specifically for marijuana users.
Now researchers are testing different ways to help
marijuana users abstain from drug use. There are currently
no medications for treating marijuana addiction. Treatment
programs focus on counseling and group support systems. There
are also a number of programs designed especially
to help teenagers who are abusers. Family doctors can be
a good source for information and help when dealing with
marijuana problems.
/ 16.
For more information on marijuana
and other drugs, visit the National
Institute on Drug Abuse Web site
at www.drugabuse.gov,
www.marijuana-info.org, or
www.teens.drugabuse.gov
and/or contact:
National Clearinghouse for
Alcohol and Drug Information
P.O. Box 2345
Rockville, MD 20847
1-800-729-6686
(The TDD number is
1-800-487-4889.)