Question

You made plans with your friend Jason to order some pizza and watch the new Transformers movie. When you arrive at Jason’s apartment you smell a distinctive odor in the hall. When you open his door, a smoky cloud lingers in the living room. Jason has invited his cousin Max over and they seem to have been smoking something. Their eyes are red, they seem extremely relaxed, and there are food and candy wrappers all over the place. Jason says that he totally forgot you were coming over, but you should stay and hang out anyway. What have Jason and Max been smoking?

Choose at least 4 of the following questions to answer:

1. What drug has the individual in this case been using? What led you to believe this?

2. What are the subjective effects of the drug (i.e., what has a person reported feeling after using the drug)?

3. What receptors, transporters, or neurotransmitters could be involved? How does the drug affect these receptors, transporters, or neurotransmitters?

4. Provide at least one relevant website concerning the drug in question.

5. Is this drug addictive? What are the consequences of continued use of this drug?

6. Putting yourself in the role of a professional counselor or biological psychologist, what advice do you have for concerned family or friends of someone using this drug?

Answer 1

1. the drug taken in this case might be marijuana. i feel so because it has a strong smell and helps in relaxing the body. it also causes redness inn the eyes and it is scientifically proven that smell associated with it will cleary indicate its use. it also causes over esting as a reaction which is justified by the candy wrappers.

2. research suggests that most people smoke marijuana because the high makes them feel relaxed, happy and detached from the society. other effects which are reported are dizziness, lost seense of time, heavy breathing, redness in eyes, increased apetite, dry mouth, slowed reaction time, thinking random things, anxiety, depression and short term forgetfulness.

3. anandamide is a chemical in the brain vwhich acts like a neurotransmitter and sends chemical message in all the neurons in the nervous system. it affects brain areas influencing memory, concentration, pleasure, thinking, movement, coordintion and sensory and time perception. THC which is present in marijuana is similar to these anandamides and as a result of these similarities cannabinoid receptors get attached to them and get activated producing the effects similar to that of anandamide.

4. the website of national institute of drug abuse has all the content about the drug mentioned in the question.

5. using marijuana can lead to marijuana use disorder which in severe cases turns into addiction. it is associated with dependence which means people can experience withdrawal symptoms when they do not take the drug. long term effects of marijuana are- irritability, mood and sleep difficulties, restlessness, extremely increased or decreased appetite, cravings and restlessness. continued use also declines our IQ resulting in low performance in schools and high chances of dropouts, impairment in thinking and ability to learn, addiction, low self satisfaction, antisocial behavior, relationship issues, potential development of opiate abuse, financial crisis, dependdance and even unemployment.

6.