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General Effects
Only two effects of marijuana on the human body have been established without question: a reddening of the eyes (conjunctival vascular congestion) and a temporary increase in the rate of heartbeat (tachycardia) Marijuana also appears to dry up the mouth and the tear ducts. ... Zinberg of the Harvard Medical School and Andrew Weil, then a medical student at the same institution, conducted a series of pilot experiments in an effort to learn about the effects of marijuana intoxication on human beings. ...
Among other findings, the Zinberg and Weil study disproved the commonly held notion that marijuana causes a dilation of the pupils This "fact" had been so prominently believed by the general public that it was often used by the police as a cause for searching a residence for illicit drugs. ...
Subsequent studies and surveys have revealed other basic effects of marijuana.[4] Users commonly report an increased ability to concentrate on whatever it is they are doing or thinking about; for many, marijuana leads to a general increase in the intensity of most aspects of life. ... Conversation and general awareness, after being stimulated during the first hour, will often fade a little in the second. ... The effects of coming down may be delayed by a second or third round of smoking or by going to sleep. ... Although different kinds of marijuana appear to have somewhat different effects, the determining factors reside in the individual rather than in the drug.
Marijuanas most common effects occur in the mind of the user. ...
There are physical effects as well, and smokers sometimes talk of such responses as a tingling sensation in their limbs, a drop in body temperature, and various other subtle changes. ... "
How Marijuana Works
The agent in marijuana that is thought to be responsible for most of the drugs effects is a psychoactive chemical called delta-g-tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC. ... Research on the effects of these other chemicals is still in the early stages. ...
Until a few years ago, drug researchers believed that most of the effects of marijuana were determined by the drug itself. ... " "Set" has to do with a series of factors relating to the smoker, including his personality, history, mood at the time of smoking, life-style, outlook on life, past drug experiences, and especially his expectations of the drugs probable effects at the time of its use. ... In his study of marijuana smokers, psychologist Charles Tart described set and setting in this way: "The particular effects of a drug are primarily a function of a particular person taking a particular drug in a particular way under particular conditions at a particular time."[7]
Although most researchers at least pay lip service to the importance of set and setting, they often describe the effects of marijuana as though they were the same for everybody. ... It makes little sense to discuss the effects of marijuana in general, because people do not smoke marijuana in general. ... Or, in the words of Thomas De Quincey, the English writer who described the effects of opium to an eager public, "if a man whose talk is of oxen should become an opium eater, the probability is, that (if he is not too dull to dream at all)—he will dream about oxen.
Approximate Word count = 2698
Approximate Pages = 10.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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