Marijuana/Hash – Is it harmless?

According to the Texas Department  of Health Services statistics for the year 2006, there were 6,665 people admitted into state funded substance abuse problem for abuse of marijuana and hash.  This is out of 55,155 admissions total for that year into state funded substance abuse treatment programs.

There were a couple of very interesting points regarding those statistics.  One of the statistics for admissions into the substance abuse centers is how many of the patients admitted  are involved with criminal justices.. For those admitted for marijuana and has, the percentage of those involved with criminal justice is 47%. This percentage is higher than any other type of abuse including heroin, and amphetamines.  The age at which use was started is the very lowest at 15.  Average of first use for those admitted for treatment for alcoholism is 16 years old. Age of those admitted for marijuana or hash addicted is also lower than any of the other categories at 27 years old.

These statistics from Texas certainly gives food for thought in the debate to the degree of harm that marijuana and has h cause, whether it should be legalized and treated and what message should be send to our kids and youth regarding these drugs.  There are celebrities such as Bill Marr who on his show makes little to nothing to smoking pot. In fact he promotes it as something good to do. How can that be the case if over 6000 youth have to be admitted just into the state funded programs in Texas for treatment and when almost half of them are involved in the criminal justice system. 

I would say that it is a serious detriment to a persons live that they have to gone to treatment for substance abuse and be criminally involved. Those two things often makes it very hard for someone to get a job. It would be interesting to see how many of these who start using marijuana and hash at a young age even make it through a college education or are able to obtain decent jobs.

Holland is an example of legalization of marijuana. I am familiar only with one treatment program in that country, but I do know that they have a very hard time getting addicts actually drug free as they think once they are off, for example, opiates, they can continue smoking pot. It requires a lot of education to tell someone that a substance that you can buy legally is so harmful.

The Texas statistics quoted here make it clear that there is harm for youth in using marijuana. What can we do? One thing for parents to consider is that if they know that their child is using these drugs, should seek treatment and not brush it off as something “normal” that all kids do. The other thing is to educate our youth on the complete truth about all drugs. If they really know, most of them will make sane decisions on their own.
 

Key Topics

Cocaine Drug Rehab in Texas E-mail
Needing Drug RehabCocaine is a strongly addictive stimulant drug that comes from the leaves of the coca plant, with the majority of the supplies coming from South America . Some forms of cocaine are used in medicines, such as local anesthetics for eye, ear, and throat surgery.

It is usually sold on the street as a fine white powder and is generally either sniffed into the nose or injected by needle into a vein, with the latter being the type of administration that is most common with cocaine addiction. When cocaine is boiled or cooked with sodium bicarbonate, it is converted into a freebase form called crack cocaine and is more addictive that before and is relative cheap per dose and devastatingly expensive during addiction. This can then be smoked and results in a brief, intense high.

What is going on in the body?

 Those with Cocaine addiction introduce the drug into the body through many types of routes. It can be rubbed into the mucous tissues of the body, inhaled by smoking or snorting, infected into one’s veins, or the cocoa leaves can be chewed to release the active substances into the membranes of the mouth and throat.

Cocaine passes quickly into the brain and causes a buildup of dopamine by blocking the normal recycling process. These high levels of dopamine stimulate the nerve cells and cause a feeling of euphoria.

Since Cocaine is a fat-soluble compound, the body has the “wisdom” to store this drug in the fat tissue of the body so that it can be released in measured doses that the liver and kidneys can then metabolize and expel. This phenomenon causes the cocaine user to have cocaine in his blood and brain for months and even years after he has quit using the substance. This causes the user to crave the drug long after it’s ingestion and is one of the major reasons why so many cocaine drug rehabilitation centers are not successful in graduating persons with long-term success in staying drug-free.

The effects of cocaine can be felt in literally seconds and provide a dramatic high that last three to five minutes. This is seen most dramatically with crack cocaine. A craving for more of the same immediately follows this feeling of euphoria. Dependency develops in less that two weeks of use and some research indicates that psychological dependency develops after the first use. Tolerance develops quickly and the desire for more and more is an endless struggle.

 In the short-term, with a normal dose, one feels energetic, restless talkative, euphoric, with an increase in pulse rate, temperature, blood pressure, metal alertness, followed by a temporary decrease in apatite.

In large doses one will feel bizarre, and, perhaps violent a paranoid feelings, muscle tremors, dizziness and a sense that the room is spinning. People with cocaine addiction may also experience hallucinations, strong addiction and cravings, will begin to neglect everything except their habit, intense paranoid ideation, a feeling that reality isn’t real, extreme irritability, and, of course tolerance and the need from more and more cocaine. Weight loss is also associated with cocaine addiction in the same manner that it is with amphetamines. Once the drug is removed, the person suffering from cocaine addiction may have extreme depression, anxiety, nightmares and other sleep disorders.

The main risk of addiction is the unrealistic behaviors that cause one to irresponsibly spend money and violate ones ethical code.

 Long-term use will cause physical decline due to the lack of good nutrition and sleep. One can also experience abnormal heart conditions, breathing problems, heart attacks, problems with the nasal septum or passages, an increased risk for infections, thinking problems, seizures and strokes.

Important and unique information for anyone that want to get help for cocaine drug rehabilitation center:

In seeking advice for these conditions, find a program that demonstrates a high success in rehabilitating clients with cocaine addiction. You should look for a program that doesn’t see this addiction as a disease or a moral problem, but has the technology to address the cocaine addiction and can demonstrate its success statistically and through testimonials from graduates of the program that can speak to you directly. As mentioned earlier, these program universally employ the bio-physical approach to handling the accumulation of the cocaine in the fat tissue of the body and represent successful outcomes far above 50% of those that complete the program.
 
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