These past couple of weeks we have been finishing up our addiction projects, and our other project called “Coming to our senses.” I was in a group with Savannah, Selam, and Lars. We were assigned to learn about neurons and make a model. We then had to teach about our projects to the class, and we chose to teach with a game we called “The Crumple Paper Game.” This was a lot of fun for both us, and the players of the game. I had a lot of fun giving people directions, and acting like I was on a game show.
Our other project we had to do independently, and it was about how addictions on drugs, alcohol, and social media effect us, our brains, our surroundings, and our environments. I chose to learn about marijuana, and I learned lots I didn’t know. Here is some information I learned:
Being high or “stoned” from marijuana can have different effects on different people. You can feel happy or relaxed when you consume marijuana, others may feel like laughing, or have altered time and sensory perception.
When consuming marijuana, people usually smoke or vape it, but you can also find pot in oils and tea. If you eat it, it’s called edibles. If you smoke or vape it, the drug will go into your lungs and into your bloodstream, and eventually into organs and brain. If you choose to consume edibles, the effects will take longer to kick in.
Before you smoke pot, you are acting like a normal, civilized human being. This is because the neurotransmitters are stopping dopamine from being released. After you smoke pot, the dopamine is released, which makes you happy. You can also feel many different emotions. Some effects are:
Feeling relaxed, happy, euphoric, and laughing more than usual.
Marijuana is now legal in 36 states. IN 2018, more than 11.8 million young adults used marijuana. THC is the ingredient in marijuana that causes you to be high, and the rate of teens and middle schoolers that vape THC is increasing. “Nearly 4% of 12th graders say they vape THC daily.” —National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Questions:
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go?
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “marijuana”?
Do you think you have a social media addiction?
Back from break! This week we started a project on addictions and how they effects our brains, bodies, and more. We chose an addiction from a list Shane created, things like drugs and alcohol, and even social media, because that is definitely an addiction to many people. I chose to learn about marijuana, and to be honest, I think I chose it because of all the weird names it has. I’ve learned that marijuana has some of the craziest names, including Nuggets, Mary Jane, Dope, Weed, Pot, etc.