MARIJUANA ALERT!

[Music] He is one of 15 million Americans who smokes marijuana. He uses it twice a week. And like many of us, he thinks it's harmless. I don't smoke enough of it to hurt me. My parents use it. nothing bad has happened to them. I've smoked it for years and it's no more harmful than a cigarette. But scientists who study the effects of marijuana on the body disagree. They say that everything from our memory to our ability to have healthy children may be affected. Every organ in the body that we tested, the lungs, the heart, the brain, all of them were affected in some way by marijuana use. To see how marijuana affects the body, we decided to examine some of the facts [Music] ourselves. Patrick is a sophomore in college. a good student. He maintains a B average and keeps himself in top physical shape. To see if marijuana affects physical and mental performance, we designed several tests. First, we timed Patrick running a quarter of a mile, 54.2. Next, we tested Patrick's hand eye coordination on a simulated automobile track. Then we put his brain to work with an aptitude test similar to a college entrance exam. 2 days later, Patrick repeated the tests with one difference. First, he would smoke one marijuana joint. The strength of the marijuana was measured at 4 mg of THC per joint, an amount similar to common street grade marijuana. I don't smoke pot normally and I'd never tried running stone before. So, I was just as curious as everybody else to see what the results would be. In the second 440, Pat did not run as quickly. His time was 58, 4 seconds slower than his first race. Behind the wheel, he did no better. He averaged 20% more mistakes of judgment and coordination. mistakes that in a real driving situation would result in accidents. But the college entrance examination showed the most striking difference. Two out of three answers were correct the first time around. Only one out of three was correct now. His score, while under the influence of marijuana, would have never gotten him into college. The altitude test didn't really surprise me, but I thought I ran pretty much the same. When you're stoned, you really can't tell how it affects your performance. Since Patrick's performance was worse after marijuana use, we'd say that marijuana can affect physical and mental performance. Marijuana is a stubborn substance. Its [ __ ] resinfilled smoke sticks to organs like candy sticks to teeth. For this reason, it stays in our system longer than most drugs. Researchers have tracked the same resin from one marijuana joint in the body for as long as 10 weeks. We used to think that marijuana affected only the brain. But now we know that it collects in many organs. When we smoke it, a large amount sticks in the lungs. From the lungs, it reaches the heart and bloodstream where it travels throughout the body. Eventually, the male and female reproductive organs receive their share. Because THC collects in the ovaries of women, scientists are concerned about the effects of marijuana on pregnancy. Let's hear the facts. We carried out a 4-year study on the effects of delta 9 THC, which is the principal active component of marijuana, on pregnancy in the Reese's monkey. The reesus monkey is a particularly good model for this kind of study because the reproductive system of the reesus monkey is so similar to the reproductive system of the human female. What we found was that those females who were subjected to THC every day before and during pregnancy at a level equivalent to the smoking of one joint a day in humans lost many more of their pregnancies than did the controls. Essentially, they lost over 40% of their pregnancies either during the course of pregnancy or in in uh death shortly after birth. The most striking thing about this was in all those cases where we could observe the offspring, they appeared grossly normal. There was nothing abnormal in their appearance, but they somehow just didn't survive. So that it looked as if the presence of the drug in the mother at this level of a joint a day tended to produce a pregnancy that was at high risk for reasons which we do not understand as yet. What advice would Dr. Sassenrath give to expectant mothers? Well, I would certainly advise her to stop smoking marijuana during pregnancy. I don't think there's any question about that. I think the taking of any drug during pregnancy is rather ill advised. We're finding that more and more things are affecting the course of pregnancy and the development of the offspring. Clearly, marijuana has no place in the delicate and everchanging bodies of expectant mothers. Common sense tells us that taking any hot gas into our lungs is not healthy. Cigarette smoke has been shown to cause lung cancer. And it is now believed that marijuana is worse. There are 420 chemical compounds in marijuana smoke. Two of these compounds, benzanthriine and benzopyrene, are cancercausing. In fact, when the substances from marijuana were injected under the skin of laboratory animals, they resulted in the growth of tumors. And there is added danger in the way marijuana is inhaled. We take marijuana smoke deeper into our lungs and hold it longer than most cigarette smokers do. And have you ever seen a tobacco cigarette smoked this short? That's the hottest, most dangerous part of a marijuana joint. For these reasons, researchers compare the lung damage of smoking one marijuana joint to smoking this many tobacco cigarettes. Well, if smoking marijuana caused cancer, you'd hear more reports about it. There'd be more evidence. This man is collecting that evidence. For 5 years, Dr. Barry Calvarice has been monitoring the lungs of chronic marijuana smokers using a device called a body box. He has found changes in living lungs. Changes that are linked with early signs of emphyma, bronchitis, and lung cancer. We did lung function test on 74 chronic marijuana smokers who had smoked on the average 2.5 joints a day for at least 5 years. And we matched them for age and height with 74 males who never smoked marijuana who had the same lung function test done. And we found that the marijuana smokers had a higher airway resistance. That is, it was more difficult for the air to go in and out of the tubes in their lungs because of possible inflammation or the presence of mucus in the tubes, probably caused by the marijuana smoking. In Vietnam, the lungs of soldiers who were killed in action were examined. In those soldiers who were known marijuana smokers, scientists found evidence of premolignant cells which are an early step in the development of lung cancer. But the development of lung cancer takes 20 to 30 years. And because marijuana has become popular in just the last 15 years, it will be several years more before lung cancer due to marijuana smoking becomes prevalent. Unfortunately, lung cancer is often painless until it's too late. The effects of marijuana on the heart has been well documented. Researchers say it can cause high blood pressure, increase heartbeat, blackouts, and in severe cases, stroke. Yeah. Well, I have high blood pressure and uh the doctors have informed me that if I smoke too much, marijuana be well, it'll be fatal to me. And one particular time, I did smoke too much. Uh I went to something like convulsions. Uh my heart stopped for a moment. I hit the floor, smashed my face on the floor, knocked my tooth out of my head, and uh learned a pretty big lesson to see how marijuana affects the heart. Basil agreed to a test. First, we measured his heart rate and blood pressure. Blood pressure. The amount of pressure the blood exerts on the arteries and veins is measured in two numbers. The systolic, the pressure of the blood when the heart beats, and the diastolic, the pressure of the blood when the heart rests. For young adults, a normal blood pressure would be 120 systolic over 80 diastolic or 120 over 80. In this case, Basil's blood pressure was slightly higher to start with, 120 over 100. But the real surprise came after we allowed Basil to smoke one marijuana joint. The grass was the same potency as we had used earlier, 4 mg of THC per joint. After finishing the joint and waiting 20 minutes, we measured Basil's blood pressure again. you know the picture of the camera. This time the blood pressure was much higher 160 over 120. At this level Basil is in danger of blood vessel damage, heart disease and stroke. A condition where a blood vessel can actually burst or become blocked in the brain. And something else had changed. Before smoking marijuana, Basil's heart rate was 60 beats per minute. under the influence of marijuana, it had almost doubled. Smoking marijuana has many dangers. The uh the heart rates can rise tremendously. If you smoke enough marijuana, your heart rate can rise from 60 beats a minute to more than 160 beats per minute. Marijuana is bad for you. I There's no way you can say that it's something that's good for you healthwise. Of course, it's bad for you. Smoking marijuana is like playing Russian roulette. Uh, you might kill yourself with that marijuana. Okay, come on. Seriously, I don't think that one little stick of marijuana is going to hurt you. What could one little joint do? It's not going to mess you up. You know, just one. Nah. Chances are, one joint probably won't do any permanent damage unless it is coated with another powerful drug like PCP, known by those who use it as angel dust. Well, when I first smoked it, I didn't know the marijuana had angel dust in it. And none of my friends did either, but none of them were affected the way I was. I can't seem to concentrate. My mind is always wandering. And how much did you smoke? Oh, from one joint about four hits. The doctor said I'll come down slowly. I guess I'll just have to wait out the time. Donna has not been able to work or drive a car since her encounter with PCP 4 weeks ago. Whether they know it or not, more marijuana smokers are experiencing the effects of PCP and the marijuana they smoke. That's because the practice of combining PCP with marijuana is increasing. In fact, if you were to chemically analyze 15 marijuana joints from different sources, one is likely to have PCP or some other drug added to it. Many systems in the human body are affected by marijuana. And except for the lungs, the organ which receives the largest concentration of marijuana residue is the brain. If you were to smoke marijuana, immediately right afterwards after you smoke, let's say for instance, a joint or two, you can't remember things. Things tend to lose. you know, you tend to uh forget where you put your keys or where you hung your coat. Little small things like that. You have to sit down and think about it for a moment. I think if it comes right down to it, it it's bad for your memory. You don't remember things as they actually happened. You your mind just drifts. What causes the changes in our thought patterns? Why do chronic marijuana users have frequent memory lapses? The human brain is so complex that we still don't completely understand the subtle changes that take place when a drug like marijuana is administered. We do know that brain cells called neurons send messages to one another. Small bits of electrochemical energy which through some miracle of nature become our thoughts and help our bodies to move and function. When marijuana is smoked, fewer messages travel throughout the brain. This decrease corresponds to our memory loss. It may also be the reason for losses of concentration, altered thought patterns, and changes in behavior. The effects of marijuana on the brain was the subject of a study by Dr. John Hanley at the UCLA School of Medicine using an electrophilograph or EEG machine. Dr. Hanley measured brain waves and he found that marijuana smokers showed persistent changes in brain wave patterns. Basically, the experiments consisted of seeing if we could determine the difference between people who never smoked marijuana or who smoked it many years ago and don't use it now and people who smoke it and in those smokers whether there were differences further differences between those who used it heavily, moderately or lightly. We compared uh brain waves for example in the eyes closed resting stage between our non-users and our users. And when we looked at that the energy in for example the alpha rhythm that rhythm that comes from the back of your brain at about 10 to 12 cycles per second. You could see when you look at the computer graphics pattern that there was a decrease in the EEG signal with marijuana use. The energy in the waves definitely changes and it definitely decreases in marijuana users. Researchers feel that changes in brain function may remain long after a chronic smoker has given up the habit causing altered personalities, memory lapses, and difficulty in concentration. But there is a positive side to this. The unhelpful side effects, both physical and mental, are convincing more and more people to stop. Well, before I started smoking, I was pretty outgoing and I like to do things with my family and with my friends and I like school. I like the activities and I got good grades. And then I started smoking and it's like I didn't care about anything. I didn't care about school or my family or after a while of that I just started getting burnt out where I didn't feel like doing anything except sitting in a room watch TV or just sit there not talk to anybody and I didn't like that anymore. So that's when I quit. Well, when I first stopped smoking, all my friends, they'd laugh, you know, oh come on, you're joking here. Take a hit. And I said, no, really, I'm serious. I don't want to do any. and I got weird looks and uh kind of bad vibes from them. I quit about two years ago and um right now just about every single one of my friends that were smoking like I did don't smoke anymore. They got burnt out just like I did. Just took them a little bit longer. Are you happier now that you're not smoking? Definitely. I'm getting good good grades in schools and uh into more activities and I'm just happier with myself. The heart, the lungs, the reproductive system, and the brain can all be damaged by marijuana smoking. Add to this the physical and mental loss of performance, and anyone can see that marijuana is not the harmless drug we once thought it to be. Any one of these should be reason enough to stop smoking marijuana or better yet to never get started. [Music]