What Happens to Your Brain if You Smoke Weed for 30 Days

Could smoking devil's lettuce every day for a month be bad for you? What exactly is happening to

your

body or, more importantly,

what

is happening to

your

mind? What if you suddenly left him? Will you pay for your month of indulgence with a nasty withdrawal? Humanity has come a long way when it comes to marijuana. It is now legal for recreational use in 25 US states, plus three territories and Washington D.C. Seven other US states have decriminalized it, meaning it's not legal, but you won't be prosecuted for consuming it. This trend towards general acceptance seems to align with the opinion of the general public.

Polls show that 88% of Americans believe it should be legal for recreational and medical use. The world is changing. It looks like it won't be long until marijuana is legal or decriminalized in many more countries. This is because word on the street is that marijuana isn't half as bad as the Puritans of the past claimed. Even some of the strictest nations when it comes to drugs have done an about-face when it comes to marijuana. We imagine that some of our viewers have been to Thailand last year and seen

what

has been nothing short of a marijuana explosion, and this is a country that not long ago might have put you behind some very nasty bars for having a few few grams of

weed

on your person.

Entire streets in tourist areas today seem like a fantastic dream of the late Bob Marley. Marijuana shops are everywhere. It feels like walking through a marijuana wonderland. The BBC called it that, interviewing a guy who said the country is now “Amsterdam on steroids”, but despite it being a real cash cow, there have been people, including doctors, who have called for a new ban. It does not seem that the government is going to change its position. Surely, if this

happens

in conservative Thailand, marijuana can't be that bad for you... That's what we'll try to find out in this video.

Let's start day one by exploring some myths about this once demonized drug. One theory claims that marijuana can make you crazy, as in the angry crazy kind. And maybe even on your first day of smoking, which makes it extremely relevant to our 30-day journey. There have already been news articles in Thailand saying that someone brutally attacked another person and that now-legal

weed

was blamed. Some of those stories reminded people of a long-ago time when almost every politician came from the mouths of almost every politician. In the past, we humans were completely wrong about marijuana, also known as ganja, marijuana, weed, and weed.

You just need to watch anti-marijuana propaganda films, like Reefer Madness from 1937, which told us that marijuana had “its roots in hell” and if it doesn't it turns you into a murderer or forces you to sleep with the first person you see. walking down the street will leave you in a state of “desperate madness.” Here's a quote from a doctor in the movie explaining what happened to a boy who became "addicted" to marijuana. "Yes. I remember. Just one kid...under the influence of drugs...killed his entire family with an axe." This line is the definition of nonsense.

You don't even need the numerous scientific studies to tell you that marijuana It doesn't usually make people violent, unlike alcohol, which is very legal. As American comedian Bill Hicks once joked: “Marijuana is a better drug than alcohol. I'll show you that. a concert and someone is really violent, aggressive and unpleasant. Is he drunk or does he

smoke

marijuana? That's not scientific at all; With marijuana, there have been some studies that have suggested it could cause antisocial behavior. One such study published by the National Institutes of Health told us: "A meta-analysis found that the risk of perpetrating violence was more than doubled for young adults who used marijuana.

Another silly thing we like is when President Ronald Reagan, during his drug war

days

, said, “I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette has the same

brain

damage as being on Bikini Island during the explosion.” of an H-bomb." I was talking absolute nonsense, but that doesn't mean that marijuana is completely safe when it comes to the well-being of your body or your mind. No medication is 100% safe. Before we address the effects of smoking marijuana after the first day, there is something we must tell you about marijuana in general: the fact that it is not for everyone.

And we mean that some people can have a very bad reaction the first time they take it, especially if they do like many. impressionable teenagers and are attacked before they have verified that they have a vehicle (

brain

) suitable for space travel. You should know that marijuana is a psychoactive drug. It affects your nervous system. It can alter the way you think, what you see and what you hear. It drugs you. How high is your tolerance, if you have one, your unique body, and of course, what kind of weed have you been smoking? It is well known that today's marijuana is usually ten times stronger than that of half a century ago.

Some people seem very sensitive to marijuana, and being very high can be almost like getting high on psychedelics, not always very pleasant, although others may feel a sense of well-being but not as much. We all react differently. Start slowly, is our advice. There are 483 known compounds in marijuana, but the most talked about are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is mainly responsible for the effect, and cannabidiol (CBD), which is currently sold as a possible antidote to anxiety and depression. a cure for pain and various diseases. We will return to this topic soon. Marijuana may not be for you at all, and we mean, for some people, the risk is too great.

There is evidence that it can cause psychotic experiences, especially if you have had them before or they are hereditary. It's weird, but be careful. There are many scientific articles telling us that cannabis is a known risk factor for schizophrenia. Still, according to one of those articles published by the National Institutes of Health, “biological events and a valid model of neurobiological mechanisms are missing.” That means they couldn't figure out what was happening in the brain when something went wrong. They couldn't find the real cause. However, it is well established that people who use marijuana can become delusional and paranoid.

If you

smoke

marijuana and start thinking that all your friends are CIA agents trying to control your mind in the 21st century version of MKUltra, you might be one of those people who should stay away from marijuana. We don't believe the CIA does those things anymore. For some, madness is temporary. After a particularly large dose they may say to their friends, “Look! My thumbs have gotten weird. My heart beats like a beeping clock.” This is from an old cult classic comedy movie with some really funny marijuana parts. It's a movie, but the writer obviously had experience with the drug in question.

Raise your hand if you've ever surreptitiously felt your heartbeat while using marijuana because you imagine something isn't right... It can cause anxiety, and in some people, severe anxiety, leading to outlandish thoughts about something being wrong. in his body. Again, we know some of you are nodding your heads now. Studies have shown that long-term marijuana use can increase the risk of heart problems, but it does not cause the heart to beat fast enough to stop working right after smoking once. That's anxiety talking. Others say that marijuana makes them feel disconnected from themselves (dissociative) and they may hallucinate or just have some really disturbing and otherworldly thoughts.

We don't mean to scare you, but this is something you should know. It is difficult to understand how many people in a population will have a negative experience with marijuana. In a Danish study that included thousands of people, researchers said that 30% of participants who had had a psychotic experience in their lives probably would not have had one if they had never ingested marijuana. Still, many people will not have such negative psychological reactions, especially when taken in small quantities. Millions of people use marijuana every day and are fine. A 2013 world drug report said 180 million people had tried marijuana in the past year.

It is believed that there are currently around 219 million marijuana smokers on the planet. The CDC says about 11.5% of Americans smoked it or did so in 2021. In England and Wales, one study said 13.5% of 16- to 24-year-olds had smoked it in the past year. 40% of those people said they had used it at least once a month. Most of them would have been fine, but some would have had negative experiences. Another study we found said that people who smoke marijuana are three times more likely to believe that people will harm them than people who don't smoke marijuana. Then there was the study that tested people with an intravenous dose of 1.5 mg of THC or a placebo, which means nothing.

Researchers found that marijuana users were 30% more likely to have some degree of paranoia. Other negative experiences included low mood, worry, anxiety, and negative thoughts about themselves. So, with all that in mind, you should start small with marijuana and see how it goes. Let's say you like it and want to smoke again. The first day of marijuana is over. Now it's the second day. You may have noticed some forgetfulness, especially when you smoked weed yesterday. Unlike those times when you were drunk on alcohol, you haven't woken up in a strange bed with a penis scribbled on your cheek, but your memory is a little hazy from the

days

when you smoked.

There is a reason for that. Cannabis affects something called the hippocampus, a part of the brain that helps you process new memories. Studies on rats given regular doses of marijuana showed that they had difficulty remembering how to perform various tasks. There was even long-term deterioration, but these rats were drugged throughout their youth. You're not a rat and you haven't smoked marijuana in years, but this is something you should keep in mind. Studies have shown that regular marijuana use in young people can affect the development of the hippocampus, but that cognitive impairment, like many things related to marijuana, needs to be studied further.

Your month of marijuana use almost certainly won't change the structure of your brain significantly for the rest of your life. You might have some short-term memory problems when you get high again today, but you don't need to worry about long-term things just yet. In fact, some studies have shown that regular marijuana use can help prevent neurodegenerative diseases that affect memory, such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's chorea. Let's say you've been smoking weed for five days straight. Sure, you have some days of spotty memory, but overall, since you're the type of person who likes marijuana and has positive experiences with it, you actually feel fine.

You haven't really experienced any changes. I mean, the middle-aged, long-haired guy who's been selling it to you, the one who always wears that old Ween t-shirt, says he's been smoking it every day since 1997, and says he's fine. Well, he seems to have some motivation problems. A lot of people do it, which is why Afroman wrote the song's lyrics: “I was going to clean my room until I got high/I'll ​​get up and get the broom, but then I got high/My room is still a mess, and I know it.” Why." Again, that's not scientific, but a lot of people have said those things.

We'll get back to the topic of motivation soon. Another thing you've noticed is that you've gained a few pounds. As rapper Master P said in a song: “ You the captain, I'm the crunchy one, you have that dinner, I have lunch. Hit the grass, pass the blunts. You have the red eyes, you want to eat An article published in Nature magazine, also based on stoned rodents. , says that the THC in marijuana can cause changes in the brain's hypothalamus, tricking the rat into thinking it is hungry. There is evidence that smoking marijuana can cause an increase in the production of the hormone ghrelin, which can cause feelings of hunger.

Not only that, but marijuana increases dopamine, a feel-good chemical, so the experience of eating that food could be much more satisfying than normal. If you're a marijuana smoker, it's not necessary. Let us tell you this. Everyone raided the fridge at 2am like a hungry zombie after eating weed. Still, even if you've gained a few pounds, studies have shown that regular marijuana use generally doesn't lead to long-term weight gain. In fact, some studies show thatMarijuana smokers may have a lower body mass index on average. We should just add here that there are so many studies, and so many that are contradictory, that unraveling the mystery of marijuana will require a lot more work.

You could literally spend a day Googling everything good about marijuana and think it's the answer to all the world's problems. You could do the opposite and soon become scared. It is always better to analyze several studies or at least know that they exist. Let's also remember here that people wouldn't do it if it didn't make them feel good. As the book (and movie) Trainspotting says about an illegal substance, not marijuana, but it works with all substances: “People think it's about misery and despair and death and all that, which shouldn't be ignored, but what is forgotten. It's the pleasure of it.

Otherwise we wouldn't do it.” Sticking with the positives, for many chronic pain sufferers, marijuana has been a blessing. You yourself have had neuropathic back pain for years, but now that you have been smoking marijuana for a few days, there has been a considerable reversal of pain levels. The reason for this is that a person's peripheral nerves, the nerves that detect pain sensations, contain many cannabinoid receptors. Scientists now believe that cannabinoids could block peripheral nerve pain. Studies have shown this to be true in animals. Still, as you know, the mind plays an important role when it comes to pain.

You may have heard of the nocebo effect when people feel pain when they shouldn't feel pain. A good example is the case of the guy who went to the emergency room with a long nail stuck through his work boot. He was screaming and yelling, telling the doctors that even the opioids they were giving him weren't working. When they finally cut off his boot, they saw that the nail had gone through the space between his toes. Ashamed, the boy suddenly stopped feeling pain. But he really felt that pain. And with cannabis, there is now good evidence that it can act as a placebo when it comes to pain.

Studies have shown that when people with pain took a placebo that looked, smelled, and tasted like marijuana, they felt a reduction in their pain levels. We have known for decades that when someone takes a placebo for pain, certain neurotransmitters are released in the brain, including so-called endocannabinoids. But there have also been some negative reactions, especially now that you've been smoking it for ten days. You seem to be less motivated. Studies have shown that after marijuana use, people may be less motivated. One study showed that participants who had used marijuana were less likely to press buttons to obtain a reward.

Still, this study showed that if people waited 12 hours, their motivation returned. Now you've realized that sometimes it's good to take a long break from smoking marijuana. Long-time marijuana smokers don't need studies to tell them that overdoing it can make them a little sluggish and not exactly in the mood to do things as quickly as possible. The same goes for reaction times. You may have noticed that when you're high, you can float like a butterfly, but not exactly sting like a bee. Researchers have said this could have something to do with the brain's thalamo-corticostriatal circuit. The Nature Journal tells us this controls "movement execution, habit formation, and reward." The receptors here bind to THC and this can slow down a person's perception of time.

In a 2012 study, scientists said that 70% of participants who smoked marijuana experienced what seemed like an extension of time. Time moved more slowly and this could have something to do with slower reaction times. Studies have shown that performance can be affected. These are controversial studies, given that people smoke marijuana and drive cars or operate airplanes or machinery. One study we found showed that when users had to perform a task after ingesting marijuana for four days, they only had slower reaction times on the first day of the experiment. It seems like they got used to it. Another study, a meta-study, concluded: “Some lower-quality studies have reported next-day effects of THC on cognitive function and safety-sensitive tasks.

However, most studies, including some of higher quality, have found no such effect.” But you've been taking it easy, so your reaction times aren't that different from usual, especially after 12 hours since your last smoke. He also seemed much more prone to sluggishness the first few days he smoked. This seems to improve the more days you smoke. Like most people in the world, the effects seem to completely wear off within two to four hours, but another thing you've noticed is that after 12 days of taking it, you've started to feel more anxious. This is because marijuana stimulates a part of the brain called the amygdala.

Studies on anxiety and cannabis use can be very contradictory. For some people, marijuana helped with their anxiety, but for others, they experienced increased anxiety after long-term use, although causal links were unclear. In a 2017 survey of 9,000 regular marijuana smokers in the United States, 70% said it provided notable health benefits, and nearly 50% said it relieved anxiety. Others said it helped them with their PTSD. Some said it had a positive effect on their phobias and some said it helped with sleep and social anxiety, but others said it caused anxiety, especially when using marijuana with high levels of THC. It's a situation of each to their own.

In your case, the anxiety was only temporary and you only experienced it when you had consumed much more weed than usual. It is around this point in your 30 day experience that you notice the effect that marijuana is having on your lungs. This is mostly a silent effect, although it's true that you coughed something the other day that made you think of the movie Ghostbusters. Just keep in mind that chronic marijuana smoking can increase phlegm production. You have been smoking for quite some time and this could have affected the cellular lining of the large airways in your body, causing you to cough up that slime ball.

Still, you don't mix weed with tobacco like many people in the UK do when they often roll those huge baseball bat joints in their Rizla-based works of art. The question is: is it safe to smoke marijuana just because you don't mix it with tobacco? A 2021 study showed that 44% of Americans believed that smoking marijuana every day is better for your health than smoking cigarettes every day. Of course, the amount you smoke is important. People generally smoke many more cigarettes than marijuana joints. Still, marijuana smoke is still not good for you. Scientists say it can still cause lung cancer and emphysema.

The problem is that scientists haven't figured out how bad marijuana smoke is for you. Not enough studies have been done, something we have seen thousands of times while researching this program. One of the studies was conducted at Ottawa General Hospital in Canada. The researchers compared 150 lung scans from marijuana smokers, exclusive tobacco smokers and non-smokers. The researchers reported that rates of emphysema, or inflammation of the airways, were higher in marijuana smokers than in tobacco smokers. Still, we're talking about 75% versus 70%. Only 5% of non-smokers had it. As for the big C, the Mayo Clinic says cannabis "may" cause lung cancer, but there isn't enough evidence at this time to say it definitely does.

Furthermore, there is also evidence that, in some cases, cannabis compounds have been shown to kill certain types of cancer cells, including those found in breast, lung, prostate and skin cancer. Once again, we must reiterate that there have been some very positive results, but only with some people, so we definitely cannot say that cannabis, primarily CBD, will help someone beat cancer. One thing it seems to do for many people is help with cancer pain, which is why more and more countries have given the green light for its use in limited medical cases. On the other hand, you also have the genotoxic effects of the oxidized hydrocarbons produced when burning cannabis, which is said to create genetic changes that could lead to a carcinogenic state.

An article published by the National Institutes of Health said that marijuana joints "deliver at least four times more tar to the lungs than tobacco cigarettes of equivalent weight," explaining that this is because, in these joints, there is generally no There are filters and people tend to retain marijuana smoke for longer. In summary, when marijuana or cigarette smokers are compared to non-smokers, the incidence of respiratory problems is much higher; One study showed it was one in three compared to one in twelve, but we still can't say for sure if cannabis causes cancer. In one study, a large one, of 65,000 people, it appeared that marijuana use might have had a negative effect on prostate cancer, but not on any of the many other cancers.

The participants were only between 15 and 49 years old, so more studies would have to be done with older people, since cancer is more common in older people. We won't tell you that smoking marijuana regularly doesn't cause cancer, but we won't tell you that it definitely can cause cancer either. What we will say is that spending a month with marijuana is certainly not the riskiest thing you can do in your life. But you're inhaling smoke, and while it may not be as carcinogenic as some news articles might suggest, it's entirely possible that this experience is damaging your lungs.

As things stand, having smoked marijuana daily for three weeks, we don't believe there is any substantial harm. If you smoked joint every day for years, your lungs will suffer. How much, we simply cannot say. It gets even more confusing when you read about vaping marijuana. Vaporizing devices activate cannabinoids, but do not heat them to the point of combustion. You might read this and think, great, so vaping is it, but then you read articles about vaping like this one from Johns Hopkins Medicine: “Emerging data suggests links to chronic lung disease and asthma, as well as associations between dual cigarette use.” electronics and smoking with cardiovascular diseases.

But that same article also said that we still don't have a definitive answer about how bad vaping is for your body. We know that when you vape, you also inhale harmful chemicals, and some doctors in the US have said they have seen more and more people coming to see them with conditions that could well be related to their vaping habit. You probably all know ex-smokers who now vape and look like steam trains most of the day. Still, no one vaporizes marijuana in such high quantities. You have been smoking marijuana daily for almost the entire month. Will it be difficult to leave?

Is marijuana addictive? Once again, this question is not easy to answer. Not all substance addictions and withdrawals are the same. If you have a physical addiction to alcohol or benzodiazepines (Valium, etc.), quitting after a long time can be very dangerous. Not only may you have seizures that can, and do, kill, but in terms of mental well-being, you might think you've plunged into anxiety hell, and we mean hell. This is related to the effect these medications have on GABA receptors. In simple terms, if a substance relaxes you too much, your brain might stop creating chemicals that normally make you shiver, so when you stop doing that, the exact opposite of being relaxed

happens

to you.

The same thing happens with people who stop taking opiates and become incredibly restless and depressed. But what about marijuana? Does that get your poop out when your body no longer has it? In reality, with cannabis withdrawal, you definitely won't experience any of the things we just mentioned. But there is something called marijuana use disorder. It is known that there are people who have become dependent on marijuana. Your body craves the physiological changes that marijuana has been providing. They can develop a tolerance, so they need more and more. Still, it is said that only 10 to 20% of daily marijuana users will develop dependence.

There will be some mild withdrawal symptoms when they wear off, perhaps lasting about two weeks. These may include cravings, irritability, decreased appetite, mood and sleep difficulties, restlessness, and other types of physical discomfort. An article fromUS National Institute on Drug Abuse stated: “In 2015, about 4.0 million people in the United States met diagnostic criteria for a marijuana use disorder; 138,000 voluntarily sought treatment for their marijuana use.” With any psychoactive substance, there is no clear line that can be crossed as to how long and how much you can actually consume before developing a dependence. Everyone is different. There are cases of people who smoke marijuana for years and have no problems quitting, or perhaps only have mild problems.

Then there are people who have smoked for shorter periods of time and who feel quite bad after quitting. But overall, in terms of withdrawal symptoms, marijuana is much, much less dangerous than many substances we use to change the way we feel. Withdrawal from marijuana is millions of times safer than if you were a regular user of things like Xanax, Percocet, or Johnny Walker. Still, you should keep in mind that it is possible to become dependent on marijuana; Studies show that this is a disproportionately greater problem for younger people. Ok, so your month is over. To be honest, since you've taken your weed sensibly, you feel fine.

You are aware of all the psychological dangers that some people face with marijuana use, but it seems that, for now, you are not one of those people who react badly to it. That being said, if you continue like this, there is a very real chance that you will damage your lungs and there is also a chance that you will develop dependency. Still, since you feel better, sleep well, have less social anxiety, and your job hasn't been negatively affected, you think you'll keep going, although to be safe, you'll limit your smoking to small amounts. dose only a few times a week.

Many people don't even know why they smoke marijuana. Maybe they will tell you: “The reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you have marijuana? One person interviewed in The Guardian felt this way for more than 40 years. She got to the point that she didn't even know if she enjoyed it anymore. She said in the interview: "I smoked to go to work, I smoked to wash the dishes, I smoked to relax." In the end, she said her lungs began to hurt and her gums bled regularly. She didn't know why she wanted it, but she craved it when she didn't have it.

One day, she realized that she had gone two days without marijuana and then she thought, "Okay, that's enough." She probably wanted it, but with the help of meetings and counseling, she stopped doing it completely. And guess what? She started dreaming again. That's something you noticed when you smoked for a month. You didn't dream. Many people do not smoke marijuana regularly because it disrupts the amount of time they spend in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when most people dream. Dreaming was one of the big changes for her, but everyone is different when it comes to cannabis withdrawal.

Here are some comments made by people who quit smoking after many years of daily smoking: “I quit after 10 too… I just quit cold turkey, with no withdrawal symptoms.” “The withdrawals have not been fun, I have lost 4 pounds. in two days because it is very difficult to eat. Mentally I feel very clear and happy.” “My boyfriend stopped smoking marijuana about 2/3 months ago and I'm noticing that his behavior is different. He is angrier and not as sweet as he used to be.” And this one: “I quit smoking after about six years of smoking every day. I became anxious and uncomfortable in social situations.

I would overanalyze things and have really strange or delusional thoughts. Forget talking to girls. I couldn't handle it. Since I resigned, all these things disappeared.” As she said on the walls of the Temple of Apollo in ancient Greece, “Know thyself.” With marijuana, you need to educate yourself and evaluate whether it is good for your mental health, while weighing up the pros and cons of how it will affect your body and your life in general. If you really want to experience marijuana, we suggest dipping in slowly rather than diving straight into the deep end. There may be a mysterious ocean out there and you never know what you might find.

As we have told you many times today, scientists have not yet plumbed the full depths of Mary Jane, not completely. To delve deeper into the effects of marijuana withdrawal, see "What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Smoking Marijuana?" Or check out “What Does Heroin Do to Your Body?”