No matter how you use weed, it can cause immediate and long-term effects, such as changes in perception and increased heart rate. Over time, smoking cannabis may cause chronic cough and other health issues.
In addition to the immediate effects of cannabis, there may be longer-term effects depending on how you take it, how much you use, and how often you use it. As access to cannabis increases all over Africa and the world, knowing its effects on your body is as vital as ever. Read on to see how it affects each system in your body.
Here are four detriments of smoking weed
Brain Development Issues in Younger Users
There’s evidence that smoking or ingesting marijuana as a teenager or young adult, before the brain is fully developed around 25, can have negative implications on brain development.
One brain imaging study found irregularities in the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in decision-making, among teens who smoked pot. While this area of the brain naturally thins with age, the study showed it was thinner in teens who smoked weed and could have a lasting impact as they become adults.
The idea that weed affects the teen brain into adulthood is one of weed’s more alarming side effects. Without saying that people shouldn’t smoke weed at all, it should be strongly recommended that teens and young adults abstain until a later age.
Greater Risk of Social Anxiety Issues
THC, particularly potent levels of the psychoactive substance, can increase a person’s anxiety, despite marijuana’s reputation for soothing and relaxing people. Those with pre-existing anxiety disorders are at an even greater risk for weed-induced pressure and should avoid using cannabis.
On the flip side, those who might use marijuana to ease their anxiety tend to find, after extended pot use, that their anxiety levels increase when they’re not using cannabis. This can lead to an unhealthy and damaging dependence on the substance.
Problems With Memory and Cognitive Function
Weed’s primary psychoactive ingredient, THC, attaches itself to cannabinoid receptors and areas of the brain like the hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebral cortex associated with memory.
That is why marijuana users tend to suffer short-term impairment of psychomotor function or physical tasks that require conscious thought, like driving. The drug also affects a person’s working memory and executive functions in the short term.
Though the research is sparse, some experts suggest that the side effects of marijuana on short-term memory will only worsen and continue with long-term, regular use.
Cardiovascular and Heart Damage
Research has shown that people with existing heart disease often develop chest pains when under stress faster if they have been smoking weed than if they weren’t.
The side effects of weed and cannabinoids are known to raise heart rates, dilate blood vessels, and make the heart pump harder. This also means that the risk of heart attack for at-risk users is several times higher in the hour after smoking marijuana than it would typically be, according to an article published in Harvard Health.
In conclusion, healthcare providers can correct many side effects of the addiction to smoking weed. They will rehabilitate you as they help you overcome the addiction.
