Cannabis Drug is also denoted as the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa and mostly Marijuana. It grows in most temperate to tropical parts of the world. It is used both for its fiber and its psychoactive properties.Although it is still employed in some traditional systems of medicine, cannabis is of little importance in modern medical practice.
The amount of psychoactive material in a given cannabis preparation is influenced by a number of factors:
- the characteristic of the plant
- the place and circumstances of its growth
- the nature of the preparation
- the age of the harvested material
- the way in which it is stored.
The usual method of consuming cannabis is by smoking it, but it may be ingested as an ingredient of a food or beverage.The effects of cannabis appear sooner when it is smoked, and greater amounts are required to produce comparable effects when cannabis is ingested.
Signs And Symptoms Of Cannabis Drug
The usual immediate symptoms and signs resulting from low to moderate doses, in general order of appearance and increasing dose, may include:
- a mild to marked euphoria
- sensory and perceptual changes
- some decrease in the sense of identity and reality
- visual, but less often auditory, hallucinations.
Cannabis drug users often report a sense of increased auditory and visual sensitivity, with an enhanced appreciation of music and works of art. The perceptual changes involve mainly space and time.
At high dosage levels, a state of acute intoxication is usually observed, the major manifestations of which often include:
- paranoid ideas
- illusions and delusions
- depersonalization
- confusion and restlessness
- excitement
- Hallucinations
Inability to walk properly, however does not normally occur, even after large doses of cannabis. It is possible that some long-term behavioral effects attributed to cannabis use are due largely, or in part, to the socio-cultural setting in which the drug is taken.
For example, in a society where the use of cannabis is illegal and generally disapproved of, the user is ipso facto engaged in non-conforming behavior.
Drug dependence of the cannabis- type is a state arising from the chronic, regular or periodic use of cannabis preparations.
Characteristics
- A moderate to strong psychological dependence related to the desired subjective effects.
- Little, if any, physical dependence (some possible withdrawal symptoms have been reported), but there is no evidence that the withdrawal of cannabis, even from an extremely “heavy” user, produces an abstinence syndrome that begins to approach in severity those produced by drugs of the alcohol, barbiturate, and opiate type.
- Perhaps some degree of tolerance associated with “heavy” use
