Although I am doing my project on marijuana, I found out that the constant uses of marijuana could lead the abuser to two of the most dangerous drugs around like Cocaine & Heroin and those two drugs alone could put the substance abuser on the track of addiction or death.

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug. The powdered hydrochloride salt form of cocaine can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Crack is cocaine base that has not been neutralized by an acid to make the hydrochloride salt. This form of cocaine comes in a rock crystal that is heated to produce vapors, which are smoked. The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound produced by the rock as it is heated.





Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant that increases levels of dopamine, a brain chemical associated with pleasure and movement, in the brain’s reward circuit. Certain brain cells, or neurons, use dopamine to communicate. Normally, dopamine is released by a neuron in response to a pleasurable signal (e.g., the smell of good food), and then recycled back into the cell that released it, shutting off the signal between neurons. Cocaine acts by preventing the dopamine from being recycled, causing excessive amounts of dopamine to build up, amplifying the message, and ultimately disrupting normal communication. It is this excess of dopamine that is responsible for cocaine’s euphoric effects. With repeated use, cocaine can cause long-term changes in the brain’s reward system and in other brain systems as well, which may eventually lead to addiction. With repeated use, tolerance to the cocaine high also often develops. Many cocaine abusers report that they seek but fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first exposure. Some users will increase their dose in an attempt to intensify and prolong the euphoria, but this can also increase the risk of adverse psychological or physiological effects.

Heroin can be used in a variety of ways, depending on user preference and the purity of the drug. Heroin can be injected into a vein ("mainlining"), injected into a muscle, smoked in a water pipe or standard pipe, mixed in a marijuana joint or regular cigarette, inhaled as smoke through a straw, known as "chasing the dragon," snorted as powder via the nose.

Short-term effects of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dose and disappear in a few hours.After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria ("rush") accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following this initial euphoria, the user goes "on the nod," an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system. Other effects included slowed and slurred speech, slow gait, constricted pupils, droopy eyelids, impaired night vision, vomiting, constipation.

People use marijuana in other ways beside smoking, people put it in their tea, or in their food such as brownies, cookies, and pie. People always look at the negative towards marijuana but this plant help people that have cancer. It takes the pain away from the patiences. Some doctors prescribe their patiences to a low dose of marijuana to ease the pain because it doesn't make you vomit, and you can't overdose on it.

The short-term side effects of marijuana include: problems with memory and learning;distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch); trouble with thinking and problem-solving;loss of coordination; and increased heart rate, anxiety.
These effects are even greater when other drugs are mixed with the marijuana; and users do not always know what drugs are given to them.

The long-term side effects from findings show that regular use of marijuana or THC may play a role in some kinds of cancer and in problems with the respiratory, and immune systems.

Lungs and airways People who smoke marijuana often develop the same kinds of breathing problems that cigarette smokers have: coughing and wheezing. They tend to have more chest colds than nonusers. They are also at greater risk of getting lung infections like pneumonia.

Immune system Animal studies have found that THC can damage the cells and tissues in the body that help protect people from disease. When the immune cells are weakened, you are more likely to get sick

The effects on each person depend on the user's experience, as well as: how strong the marijuana is (how much THC it has); what the user expects to happen; where (the place) the drug is used; how it is taken; and whether the user is drinking alcohol or using other drugs.

Some people feel nothing at all when they smoke marijuana. Others may feel relaxed or high. Sometimes it makes users feel thirsty and very hungry - an effect called "the munchies." Some users suffer bad effects from marijuana. They may suffer sudden feelings of anxiety and have paranoid thoughts. This is more likely to happen when a more potent variety of marijuana is used.

If someone is high on marijuana, he or she might seem dizzy and have trouble walking; seem silly and giggly for no reason; have very red, bloodshot eyes; and have a hard time remembering things that just happened. When the early effects fade, over a few hours, the user can become very sleepy.

Scientist are studying whether or not if marijuana could lead to a person getting cancer. Because that smoke marijuana often smoke cigarettes. But it is known that marijuana smoke contains some of the same, and sometimes even more, of the cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. But people that smoke marijuana often develop the same breath problems that tobacco smokers have as well.

Marijuana is one of the top drugs that people use everyday. If you call it: Weed, Bud, Smoke, Roach, Skunk, or Reefer. It is still bad for your health! This plant could lead the abuser down a road of addiction not only to marijuana but to other dangerous drugs such as Cocaine & Heroin!