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There are many reasons why some children and young teens start smoking marijuana. Most young people smoke marijuana because their friends or brothers and sisters use marijuana and pressure them to try it. Some young people use it because they see older people in the family using it. Others may think it's cool to use marijuana because they hear songs about it and see it on TV and in movies. Some 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.
History:
South Africa is traditionally one of the largest Dagga producing countries in the world. Dagga is primarily cultivated in Kwazulu Natal, the Eastern Cape (especially the former Transkei), Swaziland and Lesotho. This Dagga has for years been exported to America and Europe and is then exchanged for more serious drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy. In 1928 the cultivating and use of Dagga was prohibited (banned) in South Africa.
Chemical name:
THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main active chemical.
They also contain more than 400 other chemicals.
Plant name:
Cannabis Sativa
Street name:
Marijuana, grass, weed, hash, ganja, spliff, zol, Cannadis, boom, blunt, bong, skyf, matakwane, pot, herb and hundreds of other names worldwide. Hashish ("hash" for short), and hash oil are other forms of Dagga. Different varieties are on the market... Transkei, roobaard, malawi cob, DP, Durban poison, jad, majad, seedless, hydroponics, skunk, kei,
Form:
It comes as flower heads & small leaves (sometimes with stalks and seeds) called Dagga, or a solid, dark lump known as 'hash' or 'resin', or a sticky, dark oil (hash oil). It can be rolled (usually with tobacco) in a spliff or joint, smoked in a pipe or bottle neck - with or without tobacco - or cooked and eaten in food. Soem even make tea and it is also smoked in waterpipes (Hubbly-bubblies). Other home-made pipes are also very popular.
It is sold in bank packets (called "bankies"), match boxes, pokes (paper rolls), arms (larger newspaper packages), small paper rolls (called "sticks"),
Effects:
• Its psychological effects can be subtle and hard to classify, but common effects can be relaxation, euphoria, feelings of hilarity and introspection.
• In some users it can also produce anxiety or panic, short-term memory loss, confusion and poor coordination.
• Heavy users may become lethargic and apathetic and find it hard to concentrate.
• May bring on a craving for food (often referred to as 'having the munchies').
• Cooking the drug then eating it makes the effects more intense and harder to control.
All forms of marijuana are mind-altering. In other words, they change how the brain works.
Many usres experience a 'turning point' in their cannabis use when it ceases to become enjoyable and instead provokes paranoia, fear or other 'bad trip' type symptoms. In a recent study, between 10%-15% of people who smoked cannabis reported "paranoid" or "confused" feelings as a disadvantage of smoking cannabis. And around 30% gave "negative experiences" as their reason for permanently quitting cannabis. (Cohen DA, Kaal, Hendrien L,)
Duration:
Anything from 2 - 3 hours.
Detectable in the urine for up to 6 weeks.
It takes approximately 30 days for the body to rid itself of the THC of one Dagga cigarette. In certain parts of the body it can take up to 6 months.
Eating cannabis (Space cakes/ Muffins) triples the effect (very dangerous).
Risks & Side effects:
• Diminished short-term memory
• Loss of concentration and coordination
• Impaired judgment
• Weakened Liver functions
• Increased risk of accidents
• Loss of motivation
• Diminished inhibitions
• Increased heart rate
• Anxiety, panic attacks, and paranoia
• Hallucinations
• Damage to the respiratory, reproductive, and immune systems
• Cannabis is high in carcinogens and regular use may cause cancer and damage the lungs.
• Although not physically addictive (in the same way as heroin is), regular users become psychologically dependent, and feel they can't get by without it.
• Mixing cannabis and other drugs, including alcohol, can have unpredictable effects.
• Causes brain damage and many other sicknesses.
• distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch)
• problems with memory and learning
Findings so far show that regular use of marijuana or THC plays a role in some kinds of cancer and in problems with the respiratory and immune systems. People who smoke marijuana often develop the same kinds of breathing problems that cigarette smokers have: coughing and wheezing. They have more chest colds than nonusers. They are also at greater risk of getting lung infections like pneumonia. Animal studies have found that THC damages the cells and tissues in the body that help protect against disease. When the immune cells are weakened you are more likely to get sick.
Law:
It is still totally illegal to have Dagga in your possession or to smoke it.
Therefore, all Dagga smokers are criminals!
Statistics:
• Dagga contains 7 times more tar than Tobacco.
• SA has double the amount of users than the average world country.
• 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.
• Dagga use by teens increase their risk of developing a mental disorder by 40%
• Teens who used marijuana at least once a month for a year were three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who didn't use the drug.
Other Questions
Does Marijuana Affect School, Sports, or Other Activities?
It can. Marijuana affects memory, judgment and perception. The drug can make you mess up in school, in sports or clubs, or with your friends. If you're high on marijuana, you are more likely to make stupid mistakes that could embarrass or even hurt you. If you use marijuana a lot, you could start to lose interest in how you look and how you're getting along at school or work. Athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC. Also, since marijuana can affect judgment and decision making, its use can lead to risky sexual behavior, resulting in exposure to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
How can I tell if someone I know is using Dagga?
• Bloodshot eyes
• Sleepy eyes
• Unnatural thirst or hunger
• Uncontrollable moods / mood swings
• Talkative or Giggles
• Bad decision-making
• Stains on hands
• Dagga seeds or pips lying around
• Dagga rests or dust found in pockets of clothing
• Broken bottles or bottle necks
• Rizzla machines and papers
• Unknown odours in home
• Incense burnt in rooms
• Eye drops or Lipice that is used extensively
• Empty bank bags
• Lotto or Tab tickets that was folded
• Rasta colours (red, green and yellow)
• Empty matchboxes
• Brown paper - packaging of "Sticks"
• Untidy lifestyle
Most of the abovementioned substances can be found in dustbins
What about Dagga's medicinal values?
According to the National Narcotics Control Board there is no medicinal use for Dagga recognized in any country and there is no scientific evidence that the Dagga plant as such has any medicinal purposes that have not beensubs tituted by safer drugs.
(See articles below for more evidence)
Source: NIDA, SANCA
NEWS ARTICLE
Smoke it, brew it or eat it – there's no denying the popularity of the weed known by as many names as there are ways to use it. There's also no denying its addictive properties and the well-known dangers that accompany the use of it, but did you know it could be deadly? Or that it could literally shrink your brain?
New research says it can; and while many still tout the drug as an effective painkiller that subdues the agony of certain illnesses, there is substantial research being done which debunks not only this theory, but proves that the use of dagga may actually not have any positive benefits at all.
Dagga shrinks the brain
One study conducted by the Orygen Research Centre and the University of Melbourne, has shown that long-term heavy use of marijuana may cause two important brain structures to shrink. Brain scans showed the hippocampus and amygdala were smaller in men who were heavy marijuana users compared to non-users, the researchers said.
The hippocampus regulates memory and emotion, while the amygdala plays a critical role in fear and aggression.
The study also found the heavy cannabis users scored much lower than non-users in a verbal learning task, which involved trying to recall a list of 15 words.
Yet pro-dope groups supporting legal sales and regulation of marijuana took issue with the findings, particularly because the study subjects were men who were heavy, long-term users. They claimed that the study might have delivered different results were the subjects "moderate or occasional users".
Quitting dagga as hard as cigarettes
Adding fuel to this raging debate is another study at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, which has shown that quitting marijuana can cause withdrawal symptoms as severe as those from quitting tobacco. This would then imply that the addictive nature of the drug would eventually lead to the aforementioned "moderate or occasional users" becoming addicted and finding it harder to cease using.
The study found that as with nicotine withdrawal, quitting marijuana caused symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, sleep problems and difficulty concentrating.
Thus, as lead researcher Dr Ryan Vandrey concluded, "Marijuana is not as innocuous as some people would lead you to believe."
Depressed teens vulnerable to dagga
This is one of the primary concerns many have with teenagers and their attraction to the weed – especially depressed teenagers who, according to a report from the White House in the US, are most vulnerable.
According to a White House Office of National Drug Control Policy report, teens who reported being depressed at some point in the past year were more than twice as likely (25%) to have used marijuana than those who weren't depressed (12%).
Even more shockingly, it revealed that marijuana use by teens not only increased their risk of developing a mental disorder by 40%, but that teens who used marijuana at least once a month for a year were three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who didn't use the drug.
Turning it into a vicious cycle, the paper also noted that teens who smoked dagga when they felt depressed were more than twice as likely as other teens to abuse or become addicted to it.
Dope deadly after heart attack
However, as we all know, it is not only teenagers who abuse this easy-to-come-by drug. Adults are just as guilty – and perhaps even more at risk of the dangers associated with it.
A US study of the Baby-Boomer generation who were long-time marijuana users found that the number of 45- to 64-year-olds who reported marijuana use was three times higher than it had been 10 years earlier. However the crux of this study, carried out at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, was to determine whether these ageing marijuana users would have a poorer prognosis in the years following a heart attack.
Their findings were grim: among more than 1 900 heart attack patients the researchers followed, those who reported regularly smoking marijuana in the year before the attack were two to four times more likely to die within the next four years.
The researchers claimed that this could be because marijuana has a number of effects that could be dangerous for older adults, with risk factors for a heart attack. Since the drug triggers a spike in resting heart rate, as well an increase in blood pressure it speeds the heart rate which creates a greater demand for oxygen, and can also limit the body's ability to use oxygen.
Their findings highlighted the fact that marijuana users had higher odds of dying from both cardiovascular causes and causes unrelated to their hearts. These elevated risks remained even when they factored in the effects of cigarette smoking, a habit common among marijuana users.
Dagga not effective painkiller
And for those who still believe that dagga used for "medicinal purposes" such as a painkiller is effective – think again. Not only is it ineffective, but it may actually exacerbate a number of other problems.
The Austrian study conducted at the Medical University of Vienna, found that oral cannabis (a form of medical marijuana) was ineffective in treating certain types of acute pain and actually increased sensitivity to some other kinds of discomfort.
The researchers admitted they were surprised to find an absence of any form of analgesic activity of THC-standardised cannabis extract during their study and instead found that high doses of cannabinoids may even caused increased sensitivity in certain pain conditions.
This is contrary to previous research which implied that cannabis and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC - the main psychoactive component of marijuana) may help ease chronic pain in cancer patients, spinal cord injury patients, and people with multiple sclerosis. Yet the researchers stand by their findings and described them as "conclusive".
Sources: HealthDay News, Reuters Health, Health24.com (Amy Henderson, Health24.com, July 2008)
MORE:
Medical Marijuana Truth and Lies
Lie:
Marijuana is an effective medication for neasea associated with cancer chemotherapy.
Truth:
Oncologists overwhelmingly reject the idea of prescribing smoked marijuana. Crude marijuana contains over 400 different chemicals. THC, the main active ingredient in crude marijuana, is available as the prescription drug Marinol, for the treatment of nausea associated with chemotherapy; however safer and more effective anti-emetic medication are available and preferred by oncologists.
Lie:
Marijuana is a beneficial treatment for glaucoma.
Truth:
There is no scientific evidence that marijuana prevents the progression of visual loss in glaucoma. While marijuana, as well as alcohol and a host of other substances, and lower intraocular eye pressure, the medication must be carefully tailored to the individual to prevent further eye damage. Besides numerous adverse side effects of smoking marijuana, the dose cannot be controlled.
Lie:
Crude marijuana is effective in treating the wasting sysndrome associated with AIDS.
Truth:
Smoking mairjuana compromises the imune system and puts AIDS patients at significant risk for infections and respiratory problems. Current scientific studies show that Marinol (oral THC),which is effective in icreasing appetite but is ineffective in increasing weight gain.
Lie:
The government is withholding important medicine from suffering patients by not allowing the prescribing of marijuana.
Truth:
Crude marijuana does not meet the scientific requirements for efficacy, quality, purity and safety necessary to be considered medicine. It is neither compassionate nor medically responsible to prescribe harmful impure substances to ill people.
Lie:
Smoking marijuana reduces the spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis.
Truth:
In a recent double-blind scientific study, the latest high-tech electronic equipment was used to determine if smoked marijuana had any benefit in treating spasicity in patieints with MS. The study found that all patients receiving marijuana rather than palacebo perceived their spascity to be lessoned, when in actuality, it was made worse.
Lie:
Many doctors want crude marijuana available so they can prescribe it to their patients.
Truth:
Most doctors want the best medicine possible for their patients. Although synthetic marijuana (THC) in a pure and standardized form is available by prescription, it is often the last choice of doctors, because better medicines are available. The American Medical Association, the Federal Drug Administration, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academey of Ophthalmology, and the American Cancer Society have all rejected the use of smoked marijuana as medicine. Marijuana is not recognized as a medicine in generally accepted pharmacopeia, medical references or textbooks.
BY ANY MODERN MEDICAL STANDARD, MARIJUANA IS NO MEDICINE!
Source: DWI
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