Marijuana

Also known as cannabis or ganja, marijuana is a gateway drug that has been the subject of much debate. On the one hand, marijuana is known to promote the “pothead” culture, which is portrayed by laid-back, charmingly funny individuals who are mildly out of touch (and mostly unemployed or without a real direction in life). On the other hand, many argue for the medicinal purposes of marijuana, which include curbing depression, alleviating nausea and encouraging food consumption among cancer patients – marijuana was also FDA-approved as a means to stop the growth of cancer cells. The most common way to take in marijuana is to roll it up and smoke it, although there is a myriad of ways to smoke it and ingest it orally.

Despite the fact that marijuana's effects in terms of forming habit are considered less alarming compared to tobacco, marijuana's capacity to alter the state of mind is similar enough to more hard-hitting drugs and substances to raise a certain degree of alarm. Apart from this, marijuana's more “innocent” and less intense negative effects may tempt susceptible individuals to try harder drugs. Still, marijuana proves to be highly addictive given time, and marijuana abuse can get very dangerous. Signs of marijuana abuse include hallucinations, withdrawal from social interaction that does not involve marijuana and financial problems rooted from attempts to acquire marijuana. Overdosing on marijuana causes respiratory problems, testosterone deficiency, paranoia and shortening of attention span.