Series: Shining a light on drugs – Marijuana

The Herald spoke to Anthea Da Costa from Eikepark about the dangers of drugs.

Anthea, who has owned the Wings Of Inspiration Sober House in Helderkruin for the past four years, has researched multiple drugs, their effects and how they affect a person’s mind, body and soul negatively.

The first drug that we are going to discuss in this series is marijuana. According to Anthea, marijuana is usually rolled up into a cigarette, which is called a joint, and smoked.

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“Other than smoking, it is also brewed as a tea, or mixed with foods. There are many names for marijuana, including weed, blunt, grass, herb, pot, reefer, just to name a few,” said Anthea.

According to Anthea, because a person builds up a tolerance to marijuana, it can lead to people using stronger drugs to get the same high as they initially got with marijuana.

“There are short-term, as well as long-term effects that come with the use of marijuana. Short-term effects include a loss of coordination as well as distortions in the sense of time, vision, and hearing; reddening of the eyes and an increased heart rate.”

According to Anthea, the long-term effects of smoking marijuana include psychotic symptoms. It can possibly also damage your heart and lungs, causing wheezing and coughing, and affect the body’s ability to fight off illness and lung infection.