What are the long-term effects of smoking marijuana?
Using marijuana can produce adverse physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral changes, and, contrary to popular belief, it can be addictive. Chronic or long-term exposure to marijuana smoke, just like cigarette smoke, can harm the lungs. The use of marijuana can impair short-term memory, verbal skills, and judgment, and can also distort perception. Not surprisingly, students who regularly smoke marijuana get lower grades and are less likely to graduate from high school, compared with their nonsmoking peers. In addition, marijuana has been associated with a number of mental conditions, including schizophrenia (psychosis), depression, anxiety although we do not know yet whether marijuana can cause mental illness, particularly in healthy people who are not otherwise vulnerable to these disorders. There is good news, however, since there is evidence that if an individual quits marijuana, even after long-term or heavy use, their cognitive abilities (learning, memory) can recover.
