Reasons for Using Marijuana
If you use marijuana, or are addicted to the drug, do you think of the reasons for your use? Are you doing it just for fun? Are you doing it to relax? To avoid reality (or consciousness)? To help with PAIN? People use marijuana for a lot of reasons but these are some of the most common.

How it affects you
According to NIDA, 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, marijuana 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.

Did you know Marijuana was addictive?
Research proves that it is. It's true that withdrawal might not be as severe as with heroin or other drugs, but research shows that people who regularly smoke marijuana have withdrawal symptoms when quitting-drug cravings, decreased appetite, nervousness, irritability, stomach pain, aggression, and anxiety, among others.

Driving Skills Impaired
Marijuana affects the skills needed for safe driving: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination and reaction time. There is another very important fact here. Marijuana makes most people very sleepy and groggy.

Compared to Cigarettes
Many experts say that marijuana cigarettes are just as bad, if not worse. This is because a joint can contain the same cancer-causing agents as the cigarette, only at higher doses! 

Judgment impaired-Crime More Likely
Marijuana can impair your judgment and lead to anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and paranoia. Teens who become regular marijuana users are three times as likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who don't, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. The Household Survey also found that teens who frequently use the drug are almost four times as likely to commit a violent act-either against people or property-than those who don't. They're five times as likely to steal.

If you would like to know how marijuana affects the body, click on the link on the ride side of this page (technical facts).

If marijuana is causing a problem in your life, please get some help. We are here to help! Find a local Chapter of Narcotics Anonymous or call your local Health Care Professional.