The Brain's Response to Marijuana
Hi, my name is Sara Bellum. Welcome to my magazine series exploring the brain's response to drugs. In this issue, we'll investigate the fascinating facts about marijuana. Some of this information was only recently discovered by leading scientists. You may have heard it called pot, weed, grass, ganja or skunk, but marijuana by any other name is still a drug that affects the brain. Did you know marijuana can cause some people to lose focus on events around them? It makes others more aware of their physical sensations, and it has still more effects on other people. All these different changes are caused by chemicals that affect the brain. More than 400 chemicals are in the average marijuana plant. When smoked, heat produces even more of them!
Where Does Marijuana Come From? Marijuana is the dried leaves and flowers of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Like all plants it's sensitive to the environment where it grows. Different weather and soil conditions can change the amounts of the chemicals inside the plant. That means marijuana grown in a place like Hawaii might be chemically stronger than marijuana from Mexico or vice-versa.

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