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How does cannabis affect our bodies? Well, it affects our central nervous system and it is
dose-related. So the more a person is smoking, the higher the impact. We see euphoria,
disorientation, that relaxation, impaired judgment, sensory alterations, psychotic reactions,
they might start hallucinating, they might become delusional. One of the impacts of cannabis
use disorder on the body is amotivational syndrome where the person no longer has any
motivation to get anything done. And this especially if the usage has started as a young
person will truly impact the trajectory of their life and their future. It affects the heart.
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You will see the person has tachycardia, so their pulse is going to go over 100 and they
may have orthostatic hypotension. And this is important because after they're using the
cannabis if they stand up very fast, they might pass out. If they pass out, they'll fall down
and in that fall can injure themselves, can find themselves with head injuries. Cannabis use
affects the respiratory system. They have laryngitis, they have bronchitis, you're going to
hear a hoarseness, they get obstructive airway disorders, they have lung damage, and
even lung cancer. It also affects the reproductive system because it alters hormones in
women. So, it might dysregulate their menstrual cycles. It decreases sperm count in men.
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And it also lowers the motility of the sperm and it changes the structure of the sperm.
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And therefore you're looking at oftentimes people who are unable to have children.
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Again, as all substances, there is that intoxication and there's also withdrawal. So what
do we see when we see a person who is intoxicated on cannabis? Well, we see an
impairment in coordination, impact on memory, impairment in judgment, and their speech
is impaired. This is a real problem if anybody is thinking that they can use cannabis and
go to work, use a car, get on a bike. We're going to see a person who is using cannabis
usually has red eyes, the sclera. They have an increased appetite also known as they get
the munchies. Their heart rate starts increasing so we see tachycardia. But if they use
a lot of cannabis, we see they're consciousness, their LOC level of consciousness can be
impaired. As I said, people can become addicted to and need to use cannabis. They will
go through the tolerance and dependence stages and then enter into, when they don't
have it they will start going through withdrawal. So what will that look like? Well, there
will be sleep disturbances. There will be depression. We're going to see anxiety, increased
agitation. There might be anger so we're going to see moods changing. And you will see
weight loss because without using the cannabis, they're not going to be eating quite as
much. Cannabis, remember, is used as a medication especially in areas like for pain
medication for patients with cancer because it does increase their ability to eat and it
does take away some of that pain. Even though the cannabis is being prescribed, it doesn't
mean that they can't then still get a cannabis use disorder. I've had clients who got off of
using oxycodone and changed to using cannabis for pain medication and were able to stop
using narcotics but they still had to make sure that they used it as prescribed or it can
become misused. And we also see in withdrawal a person is going to have headaches,
they may have abdominal pains. So, cannabis, although it's used recreationally is also and
that is legal in many states now, it is also used as prescribed medication to assuage pain
and to increase appetite. It's also used for certain eye problems. When it is misused,
the person can develop tolerance, the person can become dependent, the person can
experience withdrawal. And the nurse needs to be able to assess what is the use, how often
is it used, how much is used, and keep that patient safe during the time that they are
under our care.