Marijuana and its mental effects

In the last 40 years marijuana has become one of the most significant non-prescription drugs in western countries. This drug is a vital part of the social and recreational life of many people and yet it remains a drug whose importance is largely unexplored. Basically still illegal in most countries, there are moves afoot to provide an increasingly tolerant legal approach to the drug.
This site takes a critical look at marijuana in a variety of ways, including its social role, its mental effects. The argument is that marijuana is addictive and also has a negative impact on the brain in its long-term effects.

Naming the drug

What drug is it exactly under discussion. Well, some people do start out confused because marijuana is identified by so many names, both formal and in slang. Marijuana is also known as weed, cannabis, Indian hemp or dope. Marijuana is smoked, based on the dried leaves of the plant, much like tobacco. The resin that is contained in the flower of the marijuana plant may also be collected and processed and then consumed as hashish, which usually looks like a block of black chewing gum.

Popular weed

Marijuana is an extremely popular non-prescription drug and has been so for many decades in western societies, as well as other parts of the world. Consumption of dope increased massively from about the 1960s in an era of rebellion and increasing decadence, in the west. Since then there have been periodic campaigns to reduce use in some countries. Yet in the Netherlands the drug has virtually been legalised. You can legally buy marijuana there in some cafes in small quantities.

Some analysts suggest that spending on marijuana in Australia is about 75% of that spent on beer, or 1% of Gross domestic product.

Marijuana and addiction

Marijuana IS addictive. But cone-heads are generally very reluctant to accept this idea. They don't like to think of their favourite drug in this way and they don't want to acknowledge this unnatural and stigmatised dependence. All the more reason why proof and evidence for addiction needs to be explained.

Comparisons to dependence on other drugs are difficult to make. There is no equivalent word for "alcoholism" to specifically describe someone who cannot stop smoking extreme amounts of dope. What do we mean by extreme? Well when we talk about an alcoholic we have a definite and common image in our mind about the condition. But what is the equivalent for drugs such as marijuana?

People who are addicted to a substance such as dope are often in denial about the effects of the drug on their body and mind. But it is not a simple case of denial. Their denial can be quite robust, precisely because their mind is subject to a complex set of self-deceiving motivations.