Cannabis (a drug) ? Introduction

2009.04.27

Cannabis is also referred to as Marijuana in Hindi cum Sanskrit. Cannabis is actually a psychoactive drug which is extracted from the plant Cannabis sativia also known as Cannabis sativa.

Consumption of cannabis dates back to prehistoric times and its consumption have increased in the twentieth century as compared to the previous years. It is consumed usually for recreational, religious, spiritual and medicinal purposes. About four percent of the world’s population consumes cannabis on an annual basis while around 0.6 percent consumes it on a daily basis. However, cannabis has become banned in most of the countries and is called an illegal drug according to the Misuse of drugs act, 1971. The statistics have varied since then. While some countries have strictly prohibit the use of Cannabis for any purpose whatsoever some of them fully allow the consumption of Cannabis.

Cannabis affects a person consuming it both psycho actively and physiologically. Some negative short term effects of cannabis consumption are increased heart rate, lowered blood pressure, psychomotor coordination impairment, loss of concentration, and memory loss every now and then. The long term effects of cannabis consumption are still not very clear. Since cannabis is altogether a stimulant as well as a depressant, hallucinogen and antipsychotic as well it tends to bring a hallucinating effect to everything for a person consuming it.

The different forms of Cannabis include the Marijuana or the ganga which is made from the flowering tops of female plants containing about 1% to 22% THC, Hashish also called hash or charas which is made from concentrated resin containing heated glandular trichomes, Keif which is another form of hash produced in the Moroccan country which is the sifted cannabis trichomes containing only glandular heads called trichomes which are left at the bottom of a grinder when grinding marijuana and are later gathered used for smoking, Resin which is a tar like substance containing both THC and cannibinoids. It has all the properties of Marijuana except that it is less healthier and more harsher than Marijuana. The Marijuana smokers only smoke resin as a last resort when they don’t have marijuana available with them..

Cannabis is known to help deal with many symptoms. Cannabis is also used as a drug because medically cannabis is a well known drug for the treatment of spasticity, painful conditions such as neurogenic pain, movement disorders, asthma and glaucoma. Cannabis is also used for relieving a patient sometimes and is also used to control vomiting and nausea, anorexia and helps with weight loss. Cannabis has recently been used to treat AIDS, MS, Adult attention deficit disorders, certain untreatable forms of tumor growth and many other diseases.

Cannabis is a safe drug though it is not easily available in the market or in the medical stores even though compared to Hashish and marijuana it has not caused a single death up till now as its toxic levels are low and even if a person consumes huge amounts of it, it won’t be fatal for him or her.