According to the World Health Organization, cannabis happens to be the most commonly used illicit drug worldwide. In the year 2013, it was estimated that around 181.8 million people aged 15 to 64 years used cannabis for non-medical purposes all around the world.

The WHO states that ‘cannabis reliance is a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological phenomena which develops after regular cannabis use,’ and ‘there are some vital indications that the frequency of cannabis dependence increased globally between the year 2001 and 2010.’

Ironically, youngsters form a major chunk of cannabis users, as it has been noticed in the developed countries. Most of these addicted to marijuana started using it in their teens.

Short-term Effects Cannabis Has

• The immediate effects an individual feels after they have consumed cannabis is disturbances in their level of consciousness, intoxication, perception, cognition, behavior along with other psychophysiological responses and functions
• Very few who abuse cannabis for the very first time perhaps experience perturbing symptoms such as anxiety, panic attacks, vomiting and hallucinations. These symptoms may become overbearing and users may have to seek medical assistance immediately.
• Overdose may also lead to impaired driving and accidents
• There are several pieces of evidence linked to cannabis abuse that even trigger coronary ailments. There is a high risk of CVD among young cannabis smokers.

Long-term Cannabis Effects

• Habitual cannabis users start relying on the substance, which is 1 out of 10 users. One in 6 youngsters and 1 in 3 users grow dependence on cannabis
• Regular cannabis users during adolescence are prone to developing severe and importunate negative outcomes than the use that begins during adulthood.
• There is a very close link between the use of cannabis and schizophrenia or psychosis. It is known to produce a wide range of transitory schizophrenia-like symptoms in cannabis users. Moreover, it also aggravates symptoms of various other diseases.
• Young kids using cannabis on a daily basis may show several psychological results. They perhaps be involved in early school leaving, propensity to use other illicit drugs such as heroin or cocaine, signs of depression, showing cognitive impairments and suicidal behavior.

The physical problems related to the long-term abuse of cannabis include myocardial infarctions, acute bronchitis, and increased risk of cancer, strokes in young users, and other respiratory diseases. There have been indicative of evidence that testicular cancer is somehow linked to smoking cannabis and this possible aspect is still to be investigated further.