L-R: Head of Department of Nursing Services, Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Mrs. Modupe Akinremi; Director of Administration, Mr. Rasaki Razaq-Oyetola; Medical Director, Dr. Rahman Lawal; and Head of Clinical Services, Dr. Oluyemi Ogun, during the Yaba Nurses Day, in Lagos... on Tuesday.
Jude was having a swell time with his buddies — or so he thought. It was the first time he would be leaving home for an extended period of time, having just gained admission into the university. As such, he felt liberated and thought life couldn’t be better.
Before this night, he had seen his roommates cook and eat what they pejoratively call “super noodles.” It was an unusual dish of noodles spiced with generous quantity of Indian hemp, aka marijuana, pot, etc. He had also observed that after they ate it, they became excited and sometimes engaged in some daring-dos. Unknown to him, experts say, what was really happening to his friends after their marijuana gigs are hallucinations, delusions and disorientation.
On the night in question, it was a Friday and so many events were happening on campus. His roommates suggested they go to the waterfront to watch the stars and have some fun.
Being from a religious home, Jude had never tasted any liquor or smoked all his life. However, he was willing to experiment. At the waterfront, one of the young men lit a fat stick of marijuana which he passed around. Each person took a drag and passed it on to the person next to him.
Jude coughed profusely as he took the first drag of his life, but he soon adjusted, not willing to continue being his friends’ laughing stock. He fell in love with the taste, experimented with other illicit drugs on offer and soon became addicted. He realised that he could not face the day without his usual dose of the drug. By the end of the semester, his situation got out of hand and he became a guest of the neuro psychiatric hospital very close to his school.
What are the dangers of marijuana use? Scientific research indicates that it can cause many health problems. The Head of Department of Nursing Services at Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Mrs. Modupe Akinremi, says to start with, when smoked, marijuana begins to affect users almost immediately and the effects can last for one to three hours. Worse still, she says, when it is eaten in food — as in the case of the ‘super noodles’ — the effects take longer to begin, but usually last longer.
Akinremi explains, “Within a few minutes after smoking marijuana, the heart begins beating more rapidly and the blood pressure drops. Marijuana can cause the heart beat to increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute, and can increase even more if other drugs are used at the same time.”
Physicians say a normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats a minute, and that a heart rate above or below that may signal a problem. You know what this means for marijuana user.
Otolaryngologists say smoking marijuana, even infrequently, can cause burning and stinging of the mouth and throat, and cause heavy coughing. They warn that regular marijuana users can experience the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers do, including cough and phlegm production, frequent acute chest illnesses, increased risk of lung infections and obstructed airways.
Researchers say marijuana contains more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke and because marijuana smokers typically inhale deeper and hold the smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco smokers, their lungs are exposed to those cancer-causing properties longer when smoking.
An online portal, cancer.org, also claims, “Because of the lower blood pressure and higher heart rate, hemp users’ risk for a heart attack is four times higher within the first hour after smoking it, compared to their general risk of heart attack when not smoking.”
During a drama presentation by some psychiatrists at a public enlightenment of the FNPH, the doctors said smoking pot had important medical effects, whether physiological or psychological.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the active ingredient in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which is rapidly absorbed after smoking. “Within minutes, THC and the other substances in marijuana smoke cause short-term medical effects,” NIDA says, “with the attendant rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, increased rate of breathing, red eyes, dry mouth, increased appetite and slowed reaction time.”
As dangerous as this drug is, Akinremi says, marijuana hangs around in the smoker’s system for as long as a month after smoking, impairing the person for several days to weeks after the high wears off.
Psychiatrists say the main effects of marijuana on mood vary and may include euphoria, calmness, anxiety, or paranoia. “Other short-term psychological effects of pot include distorted sense of time, paranoia, magical or ‘random’ thinking, short-term memory loss, anxiety and depression,” Akinremi says.
She also says smoking marijuana is at the root of many mental disorders, including acute toxic psychosis (mental disorder marked by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality, with delusions and hallucinations and often with incoherent speech), disorganised and agitated behaviour, panic attacks, flashbacks, depersonalisation, depression, and uncontrollable aggressiveness.
Akinremi also notes that marijuana use triggers attacks of mental illness, such as bipolar (manic-depressive) psychosis and schizophrenia.
As with every illicit drug use, smoking marijuana is a no-win situation. Fertility experts warn that it lowers men’s testosterone levels and sperm count and quality. According to the Managing Director of Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, marijuana could even decrease libido and fertility in some heavy-smoking men.
Worse still, drug experts say, marijuana sometimes serve as “gateway drug,” as the average user is very likely to try other illicit drugs, all in a bid to get “high.”
In terms of immunity, physicians warn that smoking a joint daily can damage the cells in the bronchial passages that protect the body against inhaled microorganisms and thus decrease the ability of the immune cells in the lungs to fight off fungi, bacteria, and tumour cells.
“For patients with already weakened immune systems such as people living with HIV/AIDS, this means an increase in the possibility of dangerous pulmonary infections, including pneumonia, which often proves fatal in AIDS patients,” experts say.
Physicians further suggest that marijuana is a general “immunosuppressant” whose degenerative influence extends beyond the respiratory system. “Regular smoking materially affects the overall ability of the smoker’s body to defend itself against infection by weakening various natural immune mechanisms, including macrophages (white blood cells within tissues) and the all-important T-cells (which play a central role in cell-mediated immunity),” doctors warn.
It has also been shown that marijuana use can accelerate the progression of HIV to full-blown AIDS and increase the occurrence of infections and Kaposi’s sarcoma (a cancer that causes patches of abnormal tissue to grow under the skin, in the lining of the mouth, nose, and throat or in other organs).
In addition, studies have found that children born to mothers who used marijuana during pregnancy exhibit some problems with neurological development. According to those studies, prenatal marijuana exposure can cause altered responses to visual stimuli, increased tremulousness, problems with sustained attention and memory, as well as poor problem-solving skills.
In response to the epidemic use of hemp use among adolescents, the Medical Director of the FNPH, Yaba, Dr. Rahman Lawal, says the hospital is partnering with the Lagos State Government to educate the people on the dangers inherent in using hemp and other illicit drugs.
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