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Deviance and Marijuana Use

Deviance and Marijuana Use


Deviance is any act, attribute, or belief that violates a cultural norm and elicits a negative or positive reaction. Peer pressure is a major contributor to the deviant behavior of marijuana use in young members of our society. Dealing with this peer pressure is a fact that most every teenager must sometime face. As teens grow older, they must face some challenging decisions, and peer pressure plays a factor when people your own age try to influence your decisions. Peer pressure is a major excuse as to why teens experiment with marijuana. Smoking marijuana is deviant behavior. This drug use goes against the norms of society and its effects can be extremely negative.

Peers entice other young people to experiment with marijuana with the excuse that it is a safe drug. This is far from the truth. The Antidrug Commission published research of marijuana use on the brain. They found that "THC changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is acted on by the hippocampus. This is a component of the brain's limbic system that is crucial for learning, memory and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations." The THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main chemical in marijuana that gets you "high." Using marijuana with its strong THC content suppresses neurons in the information-processing system of the hippocampus. When we learn behaviors, which depend on the hippocampus, they are deteriorated because of marijuana smoke. Short-term memory is needed to learn and perform tasks that call for more than one or two steps. Smoking marijuana causes some changes in the brain that are like those caused by cocaine, heroin, and alcohol.

The effects of smoking marijuana on the respiratory system can do serious damage. Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers have. These individuals may have daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds (www.drugabuse.gov). It can destroy your immune system, because when you get "high", your whole body gets "high" even your T-cells, which help to fight disease.

Regardless of the THC content, the amount of tar inhaled by marijuana smokers and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers. This...

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Category:   Psychology

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