A stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogen? What Is the Characteristic Feature of Cannabis? Let’s find out together!
What are the primary sorts of drugs?
The classification of drugs is based on their effects and qualities. Each often belongs to one of four categories:
Depressants are medications that inhibit brain function. Examples include alcohol, alprazolam (Xanax), and barbiturates.
These medications enhance your mood and boost your alertness and energy levels. Typically, they are very addictive and might lead to paranoia over time. Cocaine, methamphetamine, and ADHD prescription drugs are examples.
Hallucinogens: This class of drugs modifies your sense of reality by altering the communication between nerve cells in the brain. MDMA, LSD, and psilocybin are examples.
Opiates are potent medicines that induce feelings of euphoria rapidly. They are highly addictive and can cause enduring brain damage. Heroin, morphine, and other pharmaceutical medicines are examples.
So, where does weed, often known as marijuana, lie among these classifications? The solution is not as straightforward as it may seem. Its effects can vary greatly between individuals. In addition, different types and strains of cannabis might have unique effects.
According to the University of Maryland, cannabis can be classed as a depressive, stimulant, or hallucinogen. However, it is not considered an opiate.
Continue reading to find why marijuana is a depressive, stimulant, and hallucinogen.
CANNABIS AS A DEPRESSANT
What Is the Characteristic Feature of Cannabis? Depressants influence the neurological system and slow cognitive function. These actions can help to calm nerves and relax tight muscles when combined. Depressants can be used to treat sleeplessness, anxiety, and muscle spasms, among other problems.
However, depressants can also have short-term adverse effects, such as:
- nausea or confusion
- diminished motor coordination
- reduced blood pressure
- slowed respiration blurred speech dizziness
- impaired vision
- loss of short-term memory
- dizziness
Similar beneficial and negative effects are produced by marijuana, including:
- relaxation
- muscle relaxation during slumber
- loss of short-term memory
- dizziness
- While depressants are generally less addictive than other types of medicines, barbiturates carry a significantly greater risk. Over time, you might build a tolerance to depressants, including marijuana, meaning that you need to consume more of it to achieve the same effects.
You can also develop a dependence on cannabis for specific reasons. For instance, if you rely on marijuana to help you sleep, you may have problems falling asleep without it.
In addition, smoking anything, no matter if tobacco or marijuana, irritates the airways and increases the risk of respiratory disorders such as bronchitis and a persistent cough. Discover more about the effects of marijuana on the body.
CANNABIS AS A STIMULANT
What Is the Characteristic Feature of Cannabis? Stimulants have opposing effects from those of depressants. They frequently boost your heart rate and blood pressure, leading some people to breathe rapidly. Additionally, stimulants might improve your mood, especially immediately after use.
In contrast to depressants, which commonly induce drowsiness or relaxation, stimulants promote alertness and energy. Additionally, they can boost your attention span.
Stimulants can also have undesirable and occasionally deadly side effects, such as:
- elevated core body temperature
- paranoia
- cardiac arrhythmias anxiety seizures heart failure
Sometimes marijuana is considered a stimulant since it can cause:
- heightened moods
- accelerated heart rate anxiety paranoia
- Remember that marijuana affects people differently. After using it, some individuals may feel calm and at ease, while others may feel extremely alert or worried.
Cannabis poses fewer hazards than other stimulants. For instance, methamphetamine and cocaine are extremely addictive substances with long-lasting impacts on the brain and body.
As a stimulant, marijuana has the same dangers as a depressant. Its mood-enhancing properties can eventually develop to dependence, and smoking it can cause lung problems.
CANNABIS AS A HALLUCINOGEN
What Is the Characteristic Feature of Cannabis? Perhaps the most common misperception regarding marijuana is its hallucinatory effects. Although hallucinations are conceivable, they are uncommon and do not affect all users. However, the effects of marijuana, such as altered perception of time, are also part of a hallucination.
Hallucinogens are chemicals that modify your perspective of reality by altering your sensory perception or by causing visual or auditory hallucinations.
Remember that hallucinations and paranoia related with stimulants are distinct phenomena. In contrast to hallucinations, which are mistaken impressions of things, events, or sensations, paranoia consists of a false belief that is typically accompanied by distrust.
For instance, a hallucination may cause you to perceive the person in front of you as an animal. On the other side, paranoia may lead you to believe that the individual has been following you in order to harm you.
In addition to hallucinations, hallucinogens can produce the following:
- changed perception of time and space
- loss of control over physical abilities
- a higher heart rate
- nausea dry mouth disconnection from self or surroundings
- Many people and organizations define marijuana as a hallucinogen since it can have all of these extra effects.
Hallucinogen use can cause speech impairment, memory loss, anxiety, and sadness over time. In rare instances, individuals may develop psychosis, flashbacks, or hallucinogen persistent perception disorder.
As a hallucinogen, marijuana does not have this effect, but it can produce anxiety and despair in some people, as well as alleviate these symptoms in others. Remember that you can acquire a tolerance or reliance to marijuana, and that smoking it can injure your lungs.
THE CONCLUSION
The psychological and physiological effects of marijuana differ from person to person. It can make some individuals drowsy or relaxed, while giving others an energy boost and enhancing their attentiveness.
Some people can also use it to address mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. Over time, it might really induce anxiety in some individuals.
Consequently, marijuana is a depressive, stimulant, and psychedelic.
We hope you enjoyed reading our article and that you got an answer to the question “What Is the Characteristic Feature of Cannabis?“.
