Negative Effects of Marijuana (Essay with Outline)
Negative Effects of Marijuana (Essay with Outline)
A drug is described by Webster’s New World Dictionary as, “any chemical agent that effects body processes.” Is marijuana good or bad? Does it have more positive short-term effects than bad? What about the long-term effects? Is there really something that smokers have to be in fear of? By examining both sides of this controversy, we can decide if marijuana has more positive or negative effects.
Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried shredded flowers and leaves of “cannabis sativa,” or more simply, the hemp plant. Marijuana is a mood altering or “psychoactive” drug, it is also known as weed, trees, pot and many more nicknames.(Comptons)
Marijuana itself comes from the Indian hemp plant. It is the third most widely used drug in the United States. And according to a survey taken in 1988, and it is the number one illegally used drug in the United States. Marijuana is so popular that an estimated one out of every three people in the US has tried it and around 44% of US high school students have smoked it. Marijuana users are not easily detected. It is a drug used in all areas of society.
The Indian hemp plant is found all over the world, including the US. There are three different types of Indian hemp, “Cannabis Sativa,” which is the most widely used and grown type of marijuana.(Wu, TC)
Marijuana can be taken in three ways: by eating, made into a tea, or smoking (the most popular).Sometimes, when potential smokers cannot bear the inhale of the smoke into their lungs, they will eat it, chewing it up, so it get diffused into their bloodstream, or make it into a tea, for the same reason. Smoking can be done two ways using a pipe, or by one of two cigarettes called a “joint” or a “blunt”. A joint is a rolled piece of paper that is twisted at the ends. A blunt is normally an emptied cigar wrapper filled with marijuana. In a blunt you can fit much more marijuana. Though a blunt isn't always purely marijuana, it can be mixed with other drugs such as angel dust.
Marijuana has different effects on people, and certain types of cannabis can cause different effects in the same...