PUBHLTH 147 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Sedative, Drug Withdrawal, Neuroglia
14 Mar 2017
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Acute effects of marijuana: objective effects, sedative effects. Impairs cognitive and behavioral functions: decreased attention. Increased errors on psychomotor tasks: driving skill impaired, memory impairments, aggression reduced. Increased heart rate and blood pressure: dry mouth, thirst, hunger, headache, nausea, dizziness, effects not fatal (essentially impossible to overdose) Tolerance: users do not seem to increase dose over time, some tolerance observed but limited to subjective effects, goes away rapidly when drug is stopped. Dependence and withdrawal: risk of dependence estimated to be 9, lower than other drugs, withdrawal symptoms, variable among users, limited physical symptoms, not as aversive as other drug withdrawal symptoms. Irritability, depression, restlessness, and agitation: onset after 1-3 days of abstinence, last up to 2 weeks. Pharmacokinetics: distributed throughout the body and brain, metabolism is slow, thc can be stored in fatty deposits of the body, metabolites can be detected for up to 3 weeks in a chronic user.
