Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on is marijuana a dangerous drug.

Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on is marijuana a dangerous drug. Marijuana is a mixture of dried parts of the plant hemp including leaves, stems, seeds and flowers. It appears green, brown, or grey depending on the composition. It is referred to by many street names such as herb, weed, grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. It is usually consumed in the form of a cigarette (referred to as ‘joint’ or ‘nail’) or pipe. More often than not, it is consumed with other illicit drugs like cocaine (called ‘blunts’) or tobacco. It is taken in mainly for the mental effects like an altered state of consciousness, perceptual changes like hallucinations and heightened sensory experiences. The main active chemical having psycho-activity in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) (Astolfi, 1998).

Marijuana is the most widely consumed illicit drug in the world (Maxwell, 2003). The consumption is most prevalent in New-Zealand (20%) and least in Canada (8.9%). The prevalence in U.K and U.S are the same (9%) (Maxwell 2003. Gfroerer, 1992).

According to the statistics on drug abuse published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2002 (based on National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 2001), marijuana constituted 33.1% of the illicit drugs ever used. It also constituted 12.9% of the drugs recently used. The mean age of initiation was 18.5 years. According to the same study, at each age, marijuana use was more common among males than females. Males were more likely than females to have ever used marijuana. The prevalence of marijuana use peaked in males and females aged 20–29 years (Maxwell, 2003). In young people aged 14 to 17 years, the drug was used at least once by 28% of persons falling in this group whereas in the elderly people, consumption decreased after the age of 40 years and the rate continued to decrease as age increased thereafter. The consumption of marijuana was much higher in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (50%) when compared to non-indigenous Australians (33%). Also, there was no difference noted in marijuana intake between those living in urban areas and those in remote and rural areas. The drug abuse was more in those with English speaking background than those with the non-English speaking background. Women who were either breastfeeding or pregnant or both consumed much less than other women.