What is it?
Marijuana is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. It can be eaten in certain foods or smoked. It is an illegal drug.

What does it do?
The effects vary from person to person depending on how strong the marijuana is, how it's taken and whether other drugs or alcohol are involved. At first, pot can make people feel relaxed, in a good mood and even silly. Users will likely experience dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, some loss of coordination and poor sense of balance, and slower reaction times, along with intoxication. Blood vessels in the eye will expand causing the red-eye effect. NIDA
Smoking marijuana may impair short-term memory while people are using the drug. This happens because all forms of marijuana contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana, which alters the way the brain works. After a few minutes, paranoia or anxiousness may set in, then intense hunger (a.k.a. the munchies). Finally, sleepiness. NCADI For some people, marijuana raises blood pressure slightly and can double the normal heart rate. This effect can be greater when other drugs are mixed with marijuana.

How have you seen marijuana affect people? Share here.

Who uses it?
Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in the United States. Fewer than one in four high school seniors say they are current users. Between 1991 and 2001, the number of 8th graders who used marijuana doubled from one in ten to one in five. Monitoring the Future, 1975-1999 What would you do if someone offered you pot? Take a trial run through our scenarios so you'll be prepared. Click here.

Marijuana affects memory, judgment and perception even in the short-term, as was found in a study conducted by Pope and Yurgelun-Todd published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It can mess you up in school, in sports or clubs, or with your friends. Several studies, including one reported a few years ago in the American Journal of Public Health, indicate that if you're high on marijuana, you are more likely to do things that could embarrass or even hurt you-such as driving under the influence or engaging in risky sexual behaviors. For athletes, THC's effect on timing, coordination, and movement-which can last for several hours-can seriously hurt performance. NCADI

Over the long term, smoking pot can cause you to lose interest in how you look and how you're getting along at school or work. NCADI It can also be much worse for your respiratory health than smoking cigarettes; the amount of tar, carbon monoxide, and cancer-causing chemicals inhaled in marijuana smoke are three to five times greater than that inhaled from the same amount of tobacco smoke. (NIDA Infofax)

It's important also to remember that marijuana is an addictive drug, responsible for about 60% of all the teenagers who seek admission to drug treatment centers in the U.S. Smoking marijuana leads to some changes in the brain similar to those caused by cocaine, heroin and alcohol. (Di Chiara's study-in NIDA information). Research at the University of Columbia demonstrates that people who regularly smoke marijuana experience withdrawal symptoms after they stop using it. (NIDA notes: )

American Council for Drug Education
164 West 74th Street
New York, NY 10023
212-758-8060
1-800-488-DRUG
www.acde.org 

Families Anonymous, Inc.
P.O. Box 3475
Culver City, CA 90231-3475
310-313-5800
1-800-736-9805
www.familiesanonymous.org 

Nar-Anon Family Groups
P.O. Box 2562
Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA 90274
310-547-5800

Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
P.O. Box 9999
Van Nuys, CA 91409
818-773-9999
www.na.org 

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD)
12 West 21st Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10010
1-800-622-2255
www.ncadd.org 

National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
P.O. Box 2345 Rockville, MD 20847-2345
301-468-2600
1-800-729-6686
www.health.org 

National Families in Action
2957 Clairmont Rd., Suite 150
Atlanta, GA 30329
404-248-9676
www.emory.edu 

National Institute on Drug Abuse
6001 Executive Blvd
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-9561.
301-443-1124
www.drugabuse.gov 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration