Short Term Effects of Smoking Weed

For some people, smoking weed makes them feel good. Within minutes of inhaling, a user begins to feel “high,” or filled with pleasant sensations. THC triggers brain cells to release the chemical dopamine. Dopamine creates good feelings—for a short time. But that’s just one effect…

Imagine this: You’re in a ball game, playing out in left field. An easy fly ball comes your way, and you’re psyched. When that ball lands in your glove your team will win, and you’ll be a hero. But, you’re a little off. The ball grazes your glove and hits dirt. So much for your dreams of glory.

Such loss of coordination can be caused by smoking weed. And that’s just one of its many negative short-term effects of smoking weed. Weed affects memory, judgment, and perception. Under the influence of weed, you could fail to remember things you just learned, watch your grade point average drop, or crash a car.

Also, since weed can affect judgment and decision making, using it can cause you to do things you might not do when you are thinking straight—such as risky sexual behavior, which can result in exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, like HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; or getting in a car with someone who’s been drinking or is high on weed.

It’s also difficult to know how weed will affect a specific person at any given time, because its effects vary based on individual factors: a person’s genetics, whether they’ve used weed or any other drugs before, how much weed is taken, and its potency. Effects can also be unpredictable when weed is used in combination with other drugs.