In the nineties, many teenagers in the United States referred to the drug using slang terms. Some of the most popular names are 'weed', 'pot', 'reefer' and ' trees'. In actuality, "marijuana is a plant belonging to the hemp family... The active principle responsible for the drug's effects is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), obtained from the amber-colored resin of the flowering tops and leaves of the plant... it has been found to contain more than 400 separate substances"(Compton Encyclopedia).

Cannabis sativa, "One of the oldest known drugs... was acknowledged as early as 2700 BC, in a Chinese manuscript" (Compton's Encyclopedia). In fact, the Chinese used it for many medical purposes and as an intoxicant. However, in the past few decades, many people have concealed the positive effects and medical uses o

Another widely believed misconception is that marijuana users experience addiction ["a physiological need for a drug that is habit - forming" (p61, John Salak)] and that long - term marijuana users often need help and drug treatment as well as experiencing physical dependence and withdrawal. That is simply not true. The fact is that most people who use marijuana do so only occasionally, "a small minority of Americans - less than 1 percent - smoke marijuana on a daily or near daily basis. An even smaller minority develop dependence on marijuana. Marijuana does not cause physical dependence. If people experience withdrawal symptoms at all, they are remarkably mild" (p.26, Zimmer and John P.). There were studies conducted, which showed that most of the people who try this drug do not become frequent and long-term marijuana smokers.

Unlike many people think, Marijuana use does not significantly contribute to highway accidents "at some doses, marijuana affects perceptions and psychomotor performance - changes which could impair driving ability. However in driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairment - consistently less than that produced by low to moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. In contrast to alcohol, which tends to increase risky driving practices, marijuana tends to make subjects more cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is detected in blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. Studies have also found that subjects tend to drive more cautiously after smoking marijuana. They take fewer risks, drive at lower speeds, and maintain a greater distance from other cars."(p126, Zimmer and John P.).There was a lot of research done on this subject, and a very recent marijuana - driving study was conducted at the Institute for Human Pharmacology in the Netherlands. In this study, the subjects were given different amounts of THC and the subjects drove on a highway, both, closed and open to traffic. The results show that marijuana has an insignificant effect on the driver's performance.

Many people believe that marijuana is a gateway drug, however, that is not fully true. The reason why some people might believe that misconception is that "few cocaine,

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Approximate Word count = 1520
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)