Marijuana has been a recreational drug for over five thousand years!  Use dates back to 3,000 B.C., when the Egyptian pharaohs first fashioned themselves as gods and began building pyramids.  You would think that this is a drug used so widely and for so long that there’s no need for marijuana rehab, right?  Well, you’d be wrong!

People use various parts of the plant to get high.  Its psychoactive component is THC, which stands for Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.  The leaves of the average plant contain approximately 3% THC.  More savvy users seek out weed that contains only the flowers and the buds from the plant; this mixture averages 8% THC but it can go as high as 24%.

Some people extract resin from the flowers for smoking-hashish-which yields from 2 to 20% THC.  The last byproduct is hash oil, a concentrated form of hashish, which contains from 17% all the way up to 70% THC.

When is there a genuine need for marijuana rehab?  Many people insist its effects are harmless.  But in reality marijuana poses a three-pronged threat:

• The first threat comes from its hallucinogenic effects. This drug causes you to lose your sense of coordination and the ability to make good judgments. Plus, many users often complain of rapid heartbeat or anxiety, and they suffer spells of paranoia. Many people think it’s safe to drive after smoking weed because the police can’t smell it on you if you’re pulled over-but they’ll detect it anyway! And just like an alcohol high, you risk crashing your vehicle or making foolish judgments about what’s going on around you.

• Next, there is real danger to the brain. Marijuana suppresses neurotransmitters that enhance learning skills and memory. People who use marijuana regularly suffer from deteriorated attention spans and memory skills. Studies show that children who have sustained exposure to marijuana before birth exhibit faulty reasoning skills and short attention spans.

• Third is the danger to the lungs from smoking any kind of product. The THC is just one of 400 chemicals in this plant. Marijuana smokers are just as likely as cigarette smokers to wind up with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders (COPD). How would you like to develop cancer of the lungs, throat, or lips? There are also studies being done on its negative effects on the immune system.

• We’ve talked about the hallucinogenic effects of weed, but there are also psychological effects. They run the gamut from failure to participate in school activities or sports, or even losing your job. Chronic users would rather smoke pot than anything else. The result is that they lose all the good people in their lives. Who wants to sit around and watch a pothead get high when there are great things to do in the world?

There are other dangers, like a dealer who mixes his marijuana with other drugs that harm the user.  But the most important reason to seek marijuana rehab is that it is the number-one drug taken as a first drug experience.  More than 50% of drug users name it as their first drug, and its use has more than doubled in the past decade.  Most people who try it will move on to another drug.

The term abuse is used to describe anyone who uses in spite of problems they have with their families, school, job, or with the law.  Use turns to dependence when someone quits caring about anything except how to get his next marijuana high.  That person will eventually develop tolerance-so he’ll have to use more grass-and he risks withdrawal symptoms like tremors, anxiety, sweating, and insomnia.  Marijuana rehab can help!

HowOMG.com