“Cannabis a boon” or a curse?

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant used for medical or recreational purposes. The main psychoactive part of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol, one of 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids.

Cannabis contains the chemical compound THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol), which is believed to be responsible for most of the characteristic psychoactive effects of cannabis.
This binding, in turn triggers a chemical cascade that eventually stimulates the production of dopamine, a brain chemical often called the “feel good chemical, which is part of the body’s reward system.

The amount of THC in marijuana has grown over the past few decades. In the early 1990s, the average THC content in marijuana was about 3.74 percent in the early 1990s and in 2013 it was almost 10 percent, according to NIDA.

How is it used?

Cannabis can be smoked, eaten or vaporized and comes in different forms. Users report that the subjective effects of cannabis vary significantly depending on the form consumed.

Marijuana − the dried leaves and flowers (buds) of the cannabis plant that are smoked in a joint or a bong. This is the most common form.
Hashish – the dried plant resin that is usually mixed with tobacco and smoked or added to foods and baked; such as cookies and brownies.
Hash oil – liquid that is usually used sparingly (due to high potency) and added to the tip of a joint or cigarette and smoked.
Concentrates – extracts (dabs, wax or shatter) typically using butane hash oil as a solvent, often vaporized in small quantities due to high THC content.

Why Cannabis is a boon?

It Can Help You Lose Weight.
If you’re an avid Green Flower reader, then you’re already aware that cannabis users have been shown to be slimmer, on average, than non-users. That’s because cannabis helps the body regulate insulin production, and manage caloric intake more efficiently.

It Can Regulate and Prevent Diabetes.
Because cannabis helps regulate body weight, it only makes sense that it would help prevent and regulate Diabetes. Again, you can thank the herb’s ability to regulate insulin production for this medical breakthrough.

It Can Help Broken Bones Heal Faster.
Can you believe that cannabis can actually mend broken bones? It’s true, as CBD evidently reacts chemically with collagen, spurring along the healing process.

It Can Control Muscle Spasms.
We’ve mentioned M.S. and seizures, but general muscle spasms are an ailment that affect millions. Cannabis can help calm those muscles, stop them from twitching and deal with the pain associated with spasms.

It Helps Individuals with Eating Disorders.
A common use of medical cannabis is to help regulate eating patterns. Whether you eat too much, or too little, cannabis can help. This is especially helpful for people suffering from disorders like Bulimia and Anorexia.

It Can Help Regulate Your Metabolism.We touched on how cannabis helps your body process and deal with food and obesity. This plays into how it also helps maintain and regulate your metabolism. That not only means sticking to an ideal weight level but generally being healthier and happier!

It’s Effective for Treating Nausea.
Next up on our list of marijuana facts: nausea. This is a relatively common feeling and one that is brought on by any number of things. Some people live with constant bouts on a daily basis, and as you can imagine, it can be debilitating. How does cannabis come into the picture? Chemical compounds in cannabis react with brain receptors to regulate feelings of nausea.

Why Cannabis is a curse?

• Impairment of cognitive functioning complex information involving various mechanisms of attention and memory processes.
• Heavy cannabis consumption is associated with a higher prevalence of symptoms of chronic bronchitis. Also, a higher incidence of acute bronchitis.
• It may increase testicular cancer risk. Yes, weed may increase your odds of getting testicular cancer, researchers at the University of Southern California found. In the study, men who had testicular germ cell tumors were more likely to report previously using marijuana. While the findings were interesting, more research needs to be done to determine if there was a causal relationship between cancer and marijuana use, a doctor for the American Cancer Society said that.
• It could destroy brain cells. All those jokes about stoners killing their brain cells? They might have some merit, according to a 20-year study on smoking pot. Which suggests that lighting up could decrease cognitive function, in addition to an increased risk of psychotic symptoms and disorders.
• It can triple your risk of death from hypertension. People who smoke weed are typically given the stereotype of being relaxed and chill. But that calm facade may not reflect what’s going on when it comes to blood pressure, says one study from Georgia State University. According to the research, marijuana use was found to triple a person’s risk of death from hypertension (high blood pressure) compared to those who didn’t smoke weed.
• It can make you more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s. If you want to keep your mind sharp, you might want to lay off the pot. In one 2016 study, researchers found that marijuana users had significantly lower blood flow to the brain than healthy non-smokers. That low blood flow to different parts of the brain, the hippocampus, in particular, could put pot smokers at higher risk for cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s, according to the study.