Marijuana_Nation!

    

  












The other day I was going through this post on facebook on a page called The Frustrated Indians.  The topic of the post was Marijuana Nation.  Regardless to say the topic dealt with Marijuana,  Bhang, Cannabis all of which are synonyms to  drugs. Instead, there the topic dealt with more of    benefits rather than the ill effects of the drugs.

 The bhang was associated with Lord Shiva,an element to calm down his unleashing and uncontrollable powers. One of the comments on the post that grabbed my attention read as ‘Man made alcohol and God made weed. Whom shall we trust?’ Apparently people have made up their minds, thinking that if God has got a substitute for leisure then why can’t we. Apart from giving them absolutely no reason to laugh whole heartedly marijuana as they claim relaxes them physically and mentally. With its increased usage among students just before studying, they have to say that it helps them concentrate better and so it does but, Do they remember that it damages the memory retention power as well. Yeah! Absolutely they know, but that is in a long run of time, we will see to that later, out comes the reply in defence. What about the damage to the lungs, the brain cells? I have often asked such people. Guess what! They have a copy of an article in TOI about the yearly deaths caused by drugs which show the number of deaths caused by weed as nil.

I am speechless! There is no good reason why they should shun its usage. So in the name of Bhole Baba ka Prasad or Baba Ji ki Buti, people especially college students, are drawing breaths through their chillums and laughing the smoke out, and there seems no way to stop them.

A MATTER OF FACT

Research suggests that there is a relationship between academic performance and adolescent substance use. Students who use alcohol or drugs have been shown to be at greater risk for performing poorly in school, and vice versa.^1-4 The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) asks youths aged 12 to 17 who reported being enrolled in school during the past year about their average grades during the last semester or grading period.⁵ NSDUH also includes questions on the use of alcohol and marijuana during the month prior to the interview. Binge alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least 1 day in the past 30 days.

This report examines the differences in self-reported academic performance (i.e., average grades in the last semester or grading period) among students aged 12 to 17 by gender, age, and substance use. All findings are annual averages based on combined 2002, 2003, and 2004 NSDUH data.