Cocaine & Marijuana

1. Cocaine & Marijuana Alexis Flores ENG III 8th

2. What is cocaine? • Cocaine is a powerful stimulant. Stimulants are a class of drugs that can elevate mood, increase feelings of well-being, and increase energy and alertness, but they also have dangerous effects like raising heart rate and blood pressure. • Cocaine comes in two forms: • Powder Cocaine: white powder made from the leaf of the coca plant • Crack: form of small white rocks that are smoke able

3. How many teens abuse cocaine? • According to the 2012 Monitoring the Future study, a NIDA-funded survey of teens in grades 8, 10, and 12, the following percentages of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders had abused cocaine at least once in the past year: • Powder cocaine: 1.0% of 8th graders, 1.8% of 10th graders, and 2.4% of 12th graders • Crack cocaine: 0.6% of 8th graders, 0.8% of 10th graders, and 1.2% of 12th graders

4. What are the short-term effects of cocaine? • Cocaine increases the amount of dopamine in brain circuits that control movement and pleasure, making neurons (nerve cells) fire more. Your heart beats faster, your body feels too hot, you might shake and twitch, and you don't sleep or eat much. • Effects include: • Feelings of sickness • Decrease in appetite • Risk for heart attack and stroke • Risk for getting HIV/AIDS

5. What are the long-term effects of cocaine? • Some people who abuse cocaine experience panic attacks or episodes of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which they lose touch with reality and hear sounds that aren’t there. • Different ways of using cocaine can produce different bad effects. For example, regularly snorting cocaine can lead to hoarseness, loss of the sense of smell, nosebleeds, and a constant runny nose. Cocaine taken by mouth can reduce blood flow in your intestines, leading to bowel problems

6. What Is Marijuana? • Marijuana is a mind-altering illegal drug made from the leaves, stems and other parts of the hemp plant. It goes by more than 200 different names, including pot, weed, grass, herb and Mary Jane. Stronger forms of marijuana include hashish (hash), and hash oil.

7. How common is marijuana use among teens? • Marijuana use is common among teens, but not as common as you might think. While abuse of prescription drugs is up among teens, some sources such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) say marijuana use is down. • In fact, researchers at the University of Michigan found that less than one in five teens currently smokes pot.

8. Why do some teens use marijuana? • Teens smoke marijuana for a lot of reasons. • One big reason is peer pressure: Teens see their friends experimenting with pot and feel that they must do the same to fit in. Still other teens use marijuana as an escape from the painful and stressful things in their lives: their parents' divorce, abuse, depression, academic troubles, etc.

9. What are the short-term effects of using marijuana? Marijuana affects different people in different ways, but the following short-term effects are common: • Problems with thinking and solving problems • Difficulty remembering and learning things • Altered perception of light, sound and touch • Clumsiness • Increased appetite • Increased heart rate

10. What are the long-term effects of using marijuana? • Because it's an illegal drug, marijuana has not been studied in the same way many prescription medications have. This means that we don't have all the answers about how it works and the negative effects it can have on people's health in the long run. • That said, researchers suspect that long-term marijuana use may be linked to problems such as cancer (especially lung cancer), respiratory infections, breathing difficulties and decreased immune system functioning (which can lead to more frequent illnesses and infections).