Risks of Cannabis Dependency

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Risks of Cannabis Dependency

What are the effects that Cannabis/Marijuana Dependency has on your life?
Tommy Barnes
Prof. K. Bekker
AB PSY-101
3/14/12

Risks of Cannabis Dependency

Sharma, M. (2009, April). Determinants of Marijuana Use, Abuse and Dependence. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education. Pp. 3-6. The main idea of this article is the study of the relation of Marijuana use, abuse, and dependency. The idea is to look at how might a person first start using and some of the triggers that may influence someone into first using Marijuana. It also shows the scenarios that many people are put in that make them more vulnerable to using Marijuana. A key topic question that the authors are continuing to study is what makes or influences a person to do Marijuana. And how do certain situations people are put into make them more susceptible to Marijuana use. Conclusions that the author has on this subject is that Marijuana Dependency has become a serious and major public health problem in today’s world. Other conclusions made on this article is that tobacco use has been often paired with Marijuana Dependency and also that people in some situations are more vulnerable to be dependant on Marijuana. They also state that marijuana dependency has a major effect on your daily routines as well. The limitations and criticisms I have on this article is that even though there has been many studies done on people in many different situations and how they are more vulnerable to Marijuana use, you cannot base and decide who will try , use, or become dependant on Marijuana by just those studies. The direction of future research is to continue progressing. It is to continue to contract studies and hard numbers on what type of people are actually using and depending on marijuana on a consistent or inconsistent basis.

Risks of Cannabis Dependency

Stenbacka, M. (2003). Problematic alcohol and cannabis use in adolescence—risk of serious adult substance abuse?. Drug & Alcohol Review, 22(3), 277. The main idea of the article was to search for the problems that result from alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use and dependency. It was also to see what the percentages are of people that use marijuana as a gateway drug to other more dangerous forms of addictions. Many questions that the author keeps referring to is what is the actual rate that if people first start using marijuana that they will move onto more dangerous substances for their lives and others as well. And also what are the behavioral and mental risk factors in using and being dependent on either alcohol or marijuana. The main conclusions of this article are that Marijuana dependency definitely isn’t good for your health. It only leads to a bigger problem then you may already have in regards to being a consistent marijuana user. The authors also conclude on that many different variables have to be put into perspective on determining the likelihood of marijuana abuse and the lead to other more dangerous substances. I believe that the criticism of this author’s article is that it has been almost proven that marijuana is a gateway drug to more harmful addictions. Stenbacka, M. also states that it has been found that frequent cannabis use is more common among young people from poor environments, those who drop put of school, engage in truancy, run away from home or commit criminal acts. I would agree with this statement but maybe not all of those factors are in result of marijuana use but is definitely a problem worth keeping an eye on. The direction of research for this particular article is that they will continue to monitor the use of these

Risks of Cannabis Dependency substances and how they affect ones behaviors and what other problems can/will occur if these marijuana users continue to be dependant on drugs. But we do know that marijuana abuse does only have a few positive effects. And can really harm you physically, mentally, and socially.

Hall, W., & Lynskey, M. (2005). Is cannabis a gateway drug? Testing hypotheses about the relationship between cannabis use and the use of other illicit drugs. Drug & Alcohol Review, 24(1), 39-48. The main purpose of this article is that there has been research conducted on young adults over the past quarter century has shown numerous times that alcohol and tobacco are used before marijuana , which is used before more dangerous drugs such as heroin, cocaine, etc. One question that has arose from this article is that the hypothesis that marijuana is a gateway drug to more dangerous and serious drugs is considered to be one of the most debated topics in drug use. The also state that the relationship between marijuana and other illicit drugs have made drug policies different around the world because of the many different views people have on this idea. Hall, W., & Lynskey, M. have also concluded that in the USA drug policies should look to prevent the use of marijuana in order to destroy the possibility that young adults will use other drugs. The main conclusion to this passage is very clear. Users of marijuana will continue to use and abuse it until they are no longer interested in the drug and they need a more intense form of a high. I would have to criticize on the fact that the author’s state that experiments were people would be randomly directed to use marijuana could rule out some questions
Risks of Cannabis Dependency that need to be answered on the effects marijuana dependency really has on people. The direction of future research is to continue to look at the question that does use of marijuana at a young age lead to problems with other drugs. Maybe they wills tart to perform more direct and different types of tests on these issues.

What are the effects that Cannabis/Marijuana Dependency has on your life?
Summary/Conclusion

There are many forms of different drugs out there on the street today but none more famous then the infamous Cannabis plant or marijuana. Marijuana has been proven to be used by all ages usually starting from adolescents and continuing throughout many people’s lives. It has become very popular in today’s world. Although the drug does seem to have positive effects there are much more negative affects that marijuana dependency has on your life. Stated by many people that there are many risk full effects that being dependant on the plant could have (Sharma, M.2009),(Stenbacka, M.2003), (Hall, W., & Lynskey, M. 2005). To begin, there are many effects that marijuana dependency has on your life. Many people who use marijuana regularly see a sudden drop in mental focus, strong mood changes, excessive tiredness, and many more. Marijuana definitely can alter your every day life. You always seem to want or need it. You don’t feel “normal” if you are not using. (Stenbacka, M.2003). The biggest and most controversial question regarding marijuana users and abusers is that does the use and dependence on marijuana lead to other more dangerous drugs. (Sharma, M.2009),(Stenbacka, M.2003), (Hall, W., & Lynskey, M. 2005). All have stated that marijuana use definetly plays a role in your own influence on experiencing more harmful drugs. But studies have shown by all three articles that alcohol and tobacco lead to marijuana and marijuana leads to heroine, cocaine, etc. This is definitely the most interesting piece to marijunana legalization. Many other questions arise from this such as if marijuana was a legal drug would it stop or slow down the addiction to other illicit drugs. While another question could be that drug policies should try to prevent marijuana use by young adults because they are more likely to use more dangerous drugs in the future. (Stenbacka, M.2003). To conclude, people who are dependant on marijuana have seen great signs of personal hardships, bad effects on mental, physical, and social aspects of their lives. It also has introduced users into what is known as the “drug world” and once they are tired of marijuana they usually turn to more dangerous substances.

Risks of Cannabis Dependency
APA reference citation 1. Hall, W., & Lynskey, M. (2005). Is cannabis a gateway drug? Testing hypotheses about the relationship between cannabis use and the use of other illicit drugs. Drug & Alcohol Review, 24(1), 39-48.

2. Sharma, M. (2009, April). Determinants of Marijuana Use, Abuse and Dependence. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education. Pp. 3-6.

3. Stenbacka, M. (2003). Problematic alcohol and cannabis use in adolescence—risk of serious adult substance abuse?. Drug & Alcohol Review, 22(3), 277.