The average marijuana plant contains over 400 chemicals and when the plant is smoked or vaporized the heat produces many more. Receptors in the nerve cells of the brain receive these chemicals and the chemicals cause the nerve cell to change in some way. ... The medulla controls many functions essential to life such as heart rate and digestion so the lack of receptors in this area has prevented any deadly overdoses of marijuana. ... The brain is quite possibly the most important organ in the body and the use of marijuana causes the brain to function in ways that can be dangerous to the user ...

• Word Count: 466
• Approx Pages: 2

This increased nerve activity can cause cells to become dependant upon nicotine to function normally. ... The coca plant didn't gain popularity until after the Civil War. ... Cocaine blocks a receiving nerve cell from sending a message back to the sending nerve cell. ... Upon reaching the brain alcohol first depresses the highest brain functions. ... Regular use can decrease testicular function, and lower sperm count. ...

• Word Count: 1357
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The opium poppy is a plant found in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and parts of Central and South America. ... History and Use 6000-year-old Summerian texts refer to the opium poppy as the 'joy plant'. ... Heroin is derived from raw opium gum, which is produced only by the opium poppy plant, although other varieties of poppy exist. ... The hill tribe growers use a technique called slash-and-burn farming to prepare the poppyfields for planting. ... Just before reaching maturity, the poppy plant produces a flower. ...

• Word Count: 3024
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Marijuana is in the form of a plant and is usually smoked in the form of a cigarette, or sometimes in a pipe, bong, vaporizer, or other types of smoking paraphernalia, or less commonly it can be ingested. ... Alcohol affects the liver and the brain, where the only affects of marijuana are some lost brain cells, which are probably almost the same amount lost as from drinking. In the long term alcohol will deteriorate the liver and kill just as many if not more brain cells than marijuana, also a person who smokes pot every day can still go through life do the things they would normally do, get...

• Word Count: 756
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

At this phase there is no going back now because you have already began to need the drug to function. ... Cocaine is mostly an illegal drug that comes from the leaves of a plant called coca. ... The brain's normal function in this case is to chemically convey information to and from the receptors. ... Marijuana is the dried leaves and female flowers of the hemp plant, used in cigarette form as a narcotic or hallucinogen. ... It's main psychoactive ingredient, delta- 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); is what causes euphoria by stimulating brain cells to release the chemical dopamine. ...

• Word Count: 1776
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

Despite the many arguments that suggests marijuana is a dangerous substance, there hasn't been a thorough study yet on this extraordinary plant. ... Several studies argue that long-term use of marijuana has been shown to produce cancerous cell changes and other studies suggest that smoking marijuana can lead to lung cancer. ... According to a recent study by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ten chronic marijuana users were evaluated as test subjects to see if marijuana had any effect on the cognitive functioning of the human body. ... We have relied on many pla...

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For instance, medical marijuana user William Foster of Oklahoma was sentenced to 93 years in jail in January 1997 for growing 10 marijuana plants and 56 clones. ... Cultivation of 100 marijuana plants or more carries a mandatory prison term of five years. ...

• Word Count: 2773
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

If used as a teen it can cause retarding of the normal brain cells. ... Let's take a look at the brain and it's functions. ... Its is quite a useful plant, able to be manufactured into food, clothing, and more, however marijuana also has medical properties as well as a mind altering chemical called THC. ...

• Word Count: 10574
• Approx Pages: 42