Alcohol and Marijuana Information
Alcohol
Alcohol is the most readily available and also the most
widely abused drug in the United States. Approximately 50 percentof the
populattion 12 and currently drink alcohol, which is over 120 million
Americans. Nearly half of current drinkers are also binge drinkers (55 million)
and more than 16 million are heavy drinkers.
Although alcohol is a legal
drug and is heavily marketed in the media, it is still very damaging to our
society when things such as domestic violence, promiscuous sex leading to
teenage pregnancy and the spread of disease, lost workplace productivity and
alcohol-related traffic fatalites are taken into account. Scientists and
nonscientists alike have long recognized a two-way association between alcohol
consumption and violent or aggressive behavior. Not only may alcohol
consumption promote aggressiveness, but victimization may lead to excessive
alcohol consumption. Violence may be defined as behavior that intentionally
inflicts, or attempts to inflict, physical harm. Violence falls within the
broader category of aggression, which also includes actions that are
threatening, hostile, or damaging in a nonphysical way.
In addition to
these problems, alcohol abuse can lead to severe liver damage. Normal liver
function is essential to life. Alcohol-induced liver damage disrupts the body's
metabolism, eventually impairing the function of other organs. Multiple
physiological mechanisms can interact to influence the progression of
alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD).
Most of the alcohol a person
drinks is eventually broken down by the liver. However, some products generated
during alcohol metabolism (e.g., acetaldehyde) are more toxic than alcohol
itself. In addition, a group of metabolic products called free radicals can
damage liver cells and promote inflammation, impairing vital functions such as
energy production. The body's natural defenses against free radicals (e.g.,
antioxidants) can be inhibited by alcohol consumption, leading to increased
liver damage.
Inflammation is the body's response to local tissue
damage or infection. Inflammation prevents the spread of injury and mobilizes
the defense mechanisms of the immune system. One such defense mechanism is the
generation of free radicals that can destroy disease-causing microorganisms.
Long-term alcohol consumption prolongs the inflammatory process, leading to
excessive production of free radicals, which can destroy healthy liver tissue.
Bacteria that live in the human intestine play a key role in the initiation of
ALD. Alcohol consumption increases the passage of a noxious bacterial product
called endotoxin through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream. Upon
reaching the liver, endotoxin activates specialized cells (i.e., Kupffer cells)
that monitor the blood for signs of infection. These cells respond to the
presence of endotoxin by releasing substances called cytokines that regulate
the inflammatory process.
Abstinence is the cornerstone of ALD therapy.
With abstinence, fatty liver and alcoholic hepatitis are frequently reversible,
and survival is improved among patients with ALD, including those with
cirrhosis.
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most commonly
used illicit drug in America, with more than 14 million estimated users. A dry,
shredded green/brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves of the hemp plant
Cannabis sativa, it usually is smoked as a cigarette (joint, nail), or in a
pipe (bong). It also is smoked in blunts, which are cigars that have been
emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana, often in combination with
another drug. Use also might include mixing marijuana in food or brewing it as
a tea. As a more concentrated, resinous form it is called hashish and, as a
sticky black liquid, hash oil. Marijuana smoke has a pungent and distinctive,
usually sweet-and-sour odor. There are countless street terms for marijuana
including pot, herb, weed, grass, endo, trees, ganja, sticky-icky, mary jane
and hash.
The main active chemical in marijuana is THC
(delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). THC content can often store in a person's body
for many months after use has ceased, continuing to cause adverse
reactions.
The short-term effects of marijuana can include problems with
memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem
solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate. Research findings for
long-term marijuana use indicate some changes in the brain similar to those
seen after long-term use of other major drugs of abuse.
Some of
marijuana’s adverse health effects may occur because THC impairs the
immune system’s ability to fight off infectious diseases and cancer. In
laboratory experiments that exposed human cells to THC or other marijuana
ingredients, the normal disease-preventing reactions of many of the key types
of immune cells were inhibited.
Research demonstrates that marijuana has
potential to cause problems in daily life or make a person’s existing
problems worse. Because marijuana compromises the ability to learn and remember
information, the more a person uses marijuana the more he or she is likely to
fall behind in accumulating intellectual, job, or social skills. Workers who
smoke marijuana are more likely than their coworkers to have problems on the
job. Several studies associate workers’ marijuana smoking with increased
absences, tardiness, accidents, workers’ compensation claims, and job
turnover.
Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction for some people;
that is, they use the drug compulsively even though it interferes with family,
school, work, and recreational activities. Drug craving and withdrawal symptoms
can make it hard for long-term marijuana smokers to stop using the drug. People
trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, and anxiety. They also
display increased aggression on psychological tests, peaking approximately one
week after the last use of the drug.
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