What effects can marijuana have on people?

Answer 1

Hungry, happy, sleepy, red eyed, giggly, chill. It can also sometimes give a person paranoid feelings, although the paranoia usually passes in a few minutes. Marijuana tends to interfere with short-term memory, including things like remembering the beginning of a sentence by the time you get to the end of the sentence. Marijuana has a very low potential for actual physical addiction (although it can happen in extreme cases), but it can be psychologically habit-forming. The happy feelings from marijuana can spill over into a sense of complacency, making it difficult for some frequent users to motivate themselves to do productive things in their lives. (Thus the stereotype of a couch potato in a dead-end job, living in his or her parents' basement well into adulthood.) On the other hand, some creative people find that responsible use of marijuana helps them shift their perspective and create new art, literature, or music.

Smoking anything (marijuana, tobacco, or any other substance) involves risks such as particulate pollution in the smoke, nasty chemicals released by burning the substance itself and the paper (if rolled into a cigarette or joint) and the source of flame (particularly butane lighters). Eating food that was prepared with marijuana avoids the dangers of smoking, but the effects are more gradual, fading in over the course of half an hour to an hour or more. If you eat more marijuana food before you fully feel the effects of the first portion you ate, you may get more stoned than you want to be.

Driving under the influence of marijuana (smoked or eaten) can be dangerous, because marijuana affects your visual perception, particularly your perception of speed and distance.