But even now at age 53 (Today's my birthday)
but as someone who consumed near 100 tabs from my late teens to mid-20's, I never had a bad experience.
I took it three times and the last time convinced me never to do it again. It took me a good 24 hours to come back to reality. In those days, in the SF Bay area, some idiots thought it was funny to spike your drink or food at a party or concert. Anyone who followed the Grateful Dead knew what they were in for.
Personally I enjoy the feeling of being in control of my body and especially my thought process and don't want anything controlling how I feel. What anyone else decides to do is up to them as long as they do no harm to me or mine.
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http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/marijuana-use-and-its-effects#1
How Does Marijuana Affect You?
If you’ve ever smoked a joint or eaten a pot-laced brownie, you’re hardly alone: More than 1 in 3 people in America have tried
marijuana at one point in their lives.
Though occasional use isn’t usually harmful, pot can affect your body and mind any time it gets into your system. Here’s what you need to know.
Physical Effects
Marijuana comes from the hemp plant
Cannabis sativa.It has an active ingredient called THC that makes you feel high. THC and other compounds in marijuana can also affect the way your body works.
Most people smoke the plant's dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds. But marijuana can also be mixed into food (like brownies, cookies, and lollipops), brewed as a tea, or inhaled with a vaporizer.
No matter how it gets into your system, it affects almost every organ in your body, and your
nervous system and immune system, too. When you smoke pot, your body absorbs THC right away.
(If you eat a baked good or another item, it may take much longer for your body to absorb THC, because it has to break down in your
stomach before it enters your bloodstream). You may notice changes in your body right after you smoke. The effects usually stop after 3 or 4 hours.
How Does Marijuana Affect Your Brain?
Smoking pot can increase your
heart rate by as much as two times for up to 3 hours. That’s why some people have a
heart attack right after they use marijuana. It can increase bleeding, lower
blood pressure, and affect your
blood sugar, too.
We don’t yet know if marijuana is linked to higher odds of getting
lung cancer. But the process does irritate your
lungs -- which is why regular pot smokers are more likely to have an ongoing
cough and to have
lung-related health problems like chest
colds and lung infections.
Other physical effects of marijuana include:
- Dizziness
- Shallow breathing
- Red eyes and dilated pupils
- Dry mouth
- Increased appetite
- Slowed reaction time (If you drive after using marijuana, your risk of being in a car accident more than doubles.)
If you’re a long-time user, you can have physical withdrawal symptoms -- like cravings, irritability, sleeplessness, and less appetite -- when you stop.
Changes to Mind and Mood
Most people use marijuana because the high makes them feel happy, relaxed, or detached from reality.
Smoking pot can also have less-pleasant effects on your mind and mood, too. You might have:
- A distorted sense of time
- Random thinking
- Paranoia
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Short-term forgetfulness
These effects usually ease up a few hours after you’ve used the drug.
Risks of Marijuana Use
Though you may have heard otherwise, marijuana
can be addictive: Nearly 10% of people who use it become dependent on it. It isn’t clear whether marijuana is a gateway drug that makes people more likely to try harder drugs like
cocaine and
heroin.
The amount of THC in marijuana has gone up in recent years. Most leaves used to contain between 1% and 4% THC. Now most have closer to 7%. Experts worry this might make it easier to become dependent on or addicted to marijuana -- and it also strengthens many of the drug’s mind-altering effects.
Even if you buy from a legal, state-regulated dispensary, it can be hard to know exactly how much THC or other compounds found in marijuana you’re ingesting, so the effects can be unpredictable.
Marijuana can also cause more health problems if you have a condition like
liver disease,
low blood pressure, or
diabetes.
If you’re a man, heavy use could lower your
testosterone levels, and your
sperm count and quality. That, in turn, can zap your
libido and
fertility.
Research shows a link between marijuana use and
mental health problems
like
depression,
anxiety,
suicidal thoughts, short-term
psychosis, and
schizophrenia. While it’s not clear if marijuana causes these conditions, it can make them worse.
