When you have pleasure the pain is reduced. Likewise when pain is there pleasure is gone. The drugs are doing exactly that. The powerful chemicals in the drug numb nervous system and the nervous system becomes incapable of recognizing pain. The chemical in the marijuana related drugs is tetrahydrocannabinol. This chemical is known as THC for short. When the pain is subsided the brain feels the pleasure. The pain or the cause of pain remains there. Only it is not felt. That is how you get the euphoric pleasure. It is not the painless state. Drinking and smoking produce the same effect on the brain to some extend.

Another effect of smoking, drinking and drug abuse is that it leaves a craving in the brain for the substance it used for reducing the pain. The continued use causes addiction to the substance, be it the nicotine in tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Until a century ago alcohol was widely used in medicine as a pain killer. Then the medicines with higher contents of alcohol were abused to produce a euphoric effect on the user. When opposition grew against the use of alcohol a new generation of analgesics was introduced replacing alcohol with chemicals. In course of time it was found that some strong analgesics produced the same euphoric effects as alcohol. Abusers started using these medicines. To this day this practice continues. What the government could do was to control the sale of such strong medicines. The strong analgesics were made prescription medicines.

Even today alcohol remains in a fewer number of medicines as a solvent. Unfortunately, many of such medicines are over the counter medicines. Addicts are still abusing such medicines. All the analgesic medicines which have chemicals or alcohol as the main ingredient produce the same effect. Reduction in pain, inducing sleep and control of anxiety are these effects. It is helpful as long as the patient does not develop an addiction.

People started using marijuana from the prehistoric times. It is easily available as an agricultural crop and it can be used in its raw form as an intoxicant. Its leaves and flowering tops are used for smoking. Even though marijuana contains more than four hundred chemicals the consumer gets the high from the chemical, THC. It goes to the brain through the blood stream. It numbs certain parts of the brain and as a result all feelings of pain are lost. A sense of happiness and well being is felt by the user. Because of this the user will get an urge to use it again. It is not to kill the pain alone. He may find it as a good way to forget all his worries and a path to happiness.

After using a few times he will get a craving for the drug. He becomes an addict. He will start feeling that he cannot live without it. His whole attention will concentrate on how to obtain the stuff. He will do anything to meet this end. He becomes a misfit in the society. His responsibility towards his family as well as that towards himself will be ignored. This is the point where the family, the society and the government have to intervene and rescue him.

The THC in addition to creating a sense of well being it makes the user a chronic sufferer of panic and anxiety. Marijuana is normally used in the form of smoke. For smoking, usually tobacco products like cigarette are used. Nicotine in the cigarette along with THC in marijuana causes cancer. THC in marijuana affects not only the brain cells but also the other body organs. The function of hormone in male and female is hampered. If marijuana is used during pregnancy it will affect the child. Permanent mental retardation and deformity for the child are the two possibilities. Even the use of marijuana for a short period can cause lasting damage to the brain. Memory, reasoning power and concentration can be impaired for ever. Learning will be slowed down, reaction time will be increased and judgment of time and distance will be affected.

Unlike other drugs, the marijuana reduces or kills the competitive spirit in the user. He loses the will to improve. The desire to excel in one’s own profession will be lost. He will be satisfied with what is available at the moment. Their performance will suffer. They have no goals to achieve. They will not feel any responsibility towards anyone. The worst part is that it is very difficult to identify a man who is taking marijuana. So others will never know he is a potential danger to society. When his friends come to know that his behavior is dangerous it will be too late. The desire for the drug will only increase. And his determination to obtain it will increase as the days pass by.

Some of the supporters of the use of marijuana say that marijuana has no hangover as in the case of alcohol. It is a fact. But the damage caused by it is much more than alcohol. The effect of THC remains in the brain and other body organs much longer than in the case of alcohol. Alcohol effect is eliminated from the body within hours of stopping the intake. It is done through the liquids discarded by the body since alcohol is water soluble. It is during this effort to discard the alcoholic remnants the body shows the symptoms of hangover. In the case of THC, it is not water soluble. But it is easily soluble in fat. It merges with the fat in the body as soon as it is consumed. It cannot be eliminated by the blood or urine, both of which are water based. The simple reason is that THC does not dissolve in water. But the chemical is dissolved in the fat and thus remains in the body for a much longer period. Unable to eliminate it the body does not make an effort to do that. That is why there is no hangover in the case of marijuana.