Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence

by Mitch Earleywine

Higher functions also change during marijuana intoxication. Emotions seem more salient or extreme. Euphoria predominates. Thoughts seem more focused on the current moment. Short-term memory clearly suffers, with users occasionally forgetting one sentence while uttering the next. Sexuality and spirituality increase. Sleep can improve at low doses or suffer at higher ones. A few negative subjective effects also seem common, including anxiety, guilt, paranoia, and perhaps hangover. Some of these effects may stem simply from expectancy, some vary with culture, and some clearly arise as part of the pharmacology of the cannabinoids. The drug’s popularity may rely, in part, on its ability to create all of these disparate but potentially pleasant effects.