URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n577/a03.html
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Aug 2016
Source: Citizens’ Voice, The (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
Copyright: 2016 The Citizens’ Voice
Contact:
Website: http://www.citizensvoice.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1334
Author: Kent Jackson
MARIJUANA USE CAN HAVE UNINTENDED SIDE EFFECTS
Not everyone who takes marijuana gets high or feels good.
Some users panic, the National Institute of Drug Abuse said on its website.
Even among patients using marijuana for medical conditions, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received “extremely limited reports” of adverse events.
Ed Pane, a Hazleton drug counselor, said those adverse events include people who ingest edible marijuana, which takes effect slower than other forms so patients ingest more. After the drug kicks in, some users have developed paranoia and harmed themselves or others.
Pane supports using marijuana for treating medical conditions but said doctors have to develop protocols for the drug, which contains risks.
Long-time users may become dependent on marijuana, and studies have found marijuana can reduce IQ points, especially among users who started smoking in early adolescence or whose mothers used marijuana during pregnancy.
Pennsylvania law requires medical marijuana to have labels warning women not to consume it during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.
The label also will warn that marijuana might impair users’ ability to drive and operate heavy machinery.
Smoking marijuana increases blood pressure, which poses a risk especially to older people with heart conditions, the National Institute said. Long-time smokers of marijuana can develop the same breathing problems as tobacco smokers, the National Institute said, and Pennsylvania law bans smoking as a delivery method for medical marijuana, but allows patients to receive the drug through oils, pills, creams, vaporizers and nebulizers.
While marijuana increases appetite in the short term, long-time users notice a decrease in appetite and problems sleeping, the National Institute said.
Marijuana users, the National Institute said, report that they have poorer mental and physical health, lower satisfaction with their lives and more relationship problems than non-users.
Most people who use marijuana don’t move onto harder drugs like opiates, according to the website of the National Institute, which also says: “contrary to popular belief, marijuana can be addictive.” Dependence becomes addiction, the National Institute said, when people can’t stop using marijuana even though it interferes with their lives.
“If a person said marijuana is causing problems in my life, I’ll do everything I can to help them,” Pane said.
But unlike addictions to heroin, cocaine and other drugs for which patients request Pane’s counsel, marijuana doesn’t cause death from overdose.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom