Freeways I Drove On Yesterday

22W
405S
22W
57N
91E
91W
710W
405S
710E
405N
110E
10E (by accident)
10W
110E
101N
101S
5S
710W

I went to Anaheim for work and Amoeba to get free Sigur Ros tickets for Thursday night with Karisa.

Acapulco Gold, Aunt Mary, Broccoli, Dope, Grass, Grunt, Hay, Hemp, Herb, J, Joint, Joy Stick, Killer Weed, Maryjane, Pot, Ragweed, Reefer, Smoke, Weed

Are all the synonyms my psychiatric nursing textbook "Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing" lists for marijuana. Because I might be acquainted with somebody that has tried marijuana (mj) before (maybe), I thought I'd present some information about the substance from a medical perspective. Much of this information may be common knowledge, but I'll go through a general overview and see where I go from there.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the active ingredient in mj that produces mild physiologic effects including: an altered state of awareness, relaxation, mild euphoria, reduced inhibition, increased appetite, red eyes, dry mouth, increased pulse, decreased reflexes, and panic reactions. Mj is a difficult to classify drug. It is sometimes classified as a hallucinogen, although it rarely produces hallucinogenic effects; it does cause sedation, but it is not primarily a CNS depressant.

A cluster of symptoms known as "amotivational syndrome" has been described in some people with prolonged mj use. These symptoms include: apathy, lack of energy, loss of desire to work or be productive, diminished concentration, poor personal hygiene, and preoccupation with mj. Not all studies have not empirically proved this correlation, though many studies show strong associations between prolonged mj use and amotivational syndrome. Throughout mj use, tolerance can develop in heavy users, meaning higher doses are needed to reproduce a desired result. There are no physiologic withdrawal patterns of abstaining from mj, but there psychological symptoms such as cravings, difficulty sleeping, and weight loss.

So, does mj cause lung cancer? Here's a selection from a systematic review done on attempting to define a link between lung cancer and smoking (i've added definitions in brackets to some of the terminology):

...There were more cytomorphologic [cell shape] changes, in particular metaplasia [transformation of one type of tissue into another type that is not normal for that tissue-occurs with tumors that do no resemble the tissue from which they are derived], alveolar macrophage tumoricidal dysfunction [dysfunctional white blood cells in the lungs designed to destroy cancerous cells before they start massive replication], enhanced oxidative stress [more injuries to tissues], and histopathologic/molecular alterations associated with marijuana smoking compared with controls or those who smoked tobacco [changes in the resemblence of cells]. These findings offer biological evidence that marijuana smoking could be associated with the development of lung cancer in humans, as has been suggested by animal studies and cell line experiments. Specifically, metaplastic cellular changes may lead to malignant transformation. Abnormal macrophage tumoricidal function may result in unchecked cellular proliferation, and enhanced oxidative stress has been described as a mechanistic link in carcinogenesis presumably via mutagenic oxidative DNA damage....Despite these findings, the small number of observational studies fail to demonstrate a clear association between marijuana smoking and diagnoses of lung cancer. Therefore, we must conclude that no convincing evidence exists for an association between marijuana smoking and lung cancer based on existing data (Mehra, R., Moore, B., Crothers, K., Tetrault, J., Fiellin, D., 2006).

Basically, what the author is saying is that everything points to the likelihood of mj causing lung cancer, but based on the current studies that have been conducted, they cannot make the definite claim that there is a link. However, the author does go on to write that this could be attributed to less than ideal measurement techniques: inability to measure dosages for mj smokers, selection bias, and small sample size. So, there is a plethora of evidence that points to the likelihood of the association, but the "smoking gun" of the link has yet to be discovered. To me, it is no different than firefighters who develop lung cancer from inhaling contaminants during a fire, the high prevalence of Chinese women who develop it from frying food with certain ingredients, tobacco smoking, and coal miners from inhaling coal over a long period of time.

That's it for this one I think; let me know what you think. I like to look up topics that might be applicable to some of my acquaintances. These kind of feel like assignments, so if you have an idea you think is interesting, post it and I'll look it up.

References:

Stuart, G., and Laraia, M. (2005). Principles and practice of psychiatric nursing. St. Louis: MO, Mosby.

Mehra, R., Moore, B., Crothers, K., Tetrault, J., and Fiellin, D. (2006). The association between marijuana smoking and lung Cancer: a systematic review. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166, 1359-1367.

Hitting The Jackpot At The Record Shop

All on vinyl for $20.