Dear Editor,
We learnt that President David Granger has said that the “removal of custodial sentences for possession of small amounts of cannabis is on the cards for Guyana” in sections of the media.
Editor, with the growing movement to legalise marijuana for medical purposes, the drug has become increasingly accessible, and its use has become more widely accepted. Its use is particularly common among young adults, with a high percentage endorsing its use.
Many members of our local and international medical community have acknowledged the therapeutic value of the drug as well, but its social, health, and occupational risks remain as real as ever.
Marijuana comes from the cannabis plant, also known as hemp. Marijuana is often smoked for the fastest delivery of its primary active ingredient.
The buds and leaves can also be consumed in foods or liquids. While marijuana does come from a natural plant source, this does not necessarily mean that it is safe — many illicit drugs are derived from botanical sources, but can still have harmful effects.
The American Medical Association (AMA) recognises that medical marijuana can play a role in treating nerve pain, preventing muscle spasms, and restoring appetite in people with chronic illness. But the AMA adds that the organisation wants to ensure that as a psychoactive drug, marijuana should be subject to the same safety precautions as any other drug in its class.
In popular culture, smoking a joint is often considered no more harmful than having a beer, and many people who smoke pot enjoy the relaxing effects of the drug. In our stressful, accelerated world, marijuana can slow things down and make stress seem to melt away.
In reality, though, marijuana can interfere with motor coordination, short-term memory, and concentration. And regular marijuana smoking can damage the respiratory tract.
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the ingredient in marijuana that fosters dependence and leads to cravings with chronic marijuana use. Cravings can be triggered through neurological changes that disrupt the brain’s reward-seeking circuitry or by psychological issues like stress.
Some susceptible users may even develop patterns of use that qualify as an addiction to marijuana, as categorised by the American Psychiatric Association. According to clinical guidelines, some of these signs may signal an addiction to marijuana.
Withdrawal symptoms often resemble quite the opposite effects as those sought by using the drug in the first place, which means that if you smoke weed on a daily basis and you suddenly lose access to pot, you may start to feel angry and tense. Frequent or heavy smokers who stop using the drug may experience the mild withdrawal symptoms.
You may know many people who smoke a joint now and then without developing any of the signs of addiction or dependence. You may even be one of these casual users yourself. But if you think there’s no danger of becoming dependent on marijuana, take a look at these statistics.
Marijuana is a sedating drug that acts on the central nervous system to create a sense of relaxation, reduce sensations of pain, and impact several of your body’s involuntary processes.
The primary components of marijuana – THC and cannabidiol – act on the cannabinoid receptors in the brain in the following ways.
Like alcohol, marijuana can impede motor coordination and slow reaction times, making it dangerous to drive while you’re under its influence.
In addition to altering the way you think, learn, and react to hazards, marijuana can affect the way you feel too.
Marijuana is the most commonly-used illicit substance, and smoking is the most popular way to use marijuana – inhalation quickly delivers THC to the brain via the lungs.
Marijuana smokers tend to inhale more deeply than tobacco smokers and release the smoke from their lungs more slowly. Regardless, marijuana smoke has been found to be significantly less carcinogenic and harmful than tobacco smoke, though this does not mean that it is safe. Some research continues to explore the relationship between marijuana use and lung cancer.
Marijuana has been popular among teens for years, but a recent spike in marijuana use among young people has addiction experts worried. Statistics from Monitoring the Future, an ongoing study of youth in the United States, show that marijuana use among junior high and high school students has risen over the past few years.
Marijuana is the second most widely-used substance among adolescents. During the adolescent years, the brain and body are still developing, so disruption of this development may cause lasting effects.
Recovery requires a combination of approaches to address the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of substance abuse. Individual counselling can help you explore the reasons why you’ve come to depend on marijuana, while group therapy and drug education can provide you with valuable coping strategies for staying clean and sober.
The focus is on behavioural therapy, the type of which will depend on the doctor and the user — most treatment programmes will adapt their therapy to the patient’s needs.
It is also a common therapeutic technique that helps users address their reasons for abusing marijuana as well as teaches them how to resist future use and temptations by identifying faulty or unhelpful thoughts and beliefs around their use.
I think that the President should not allow the legalisation of marijuana as it would not be of benefit to our society.
Yours faithfully,
Rooplall Dudhnath
