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Marijuana and the Body.

Slide 3 Notes: This is an opportunity to Warm-up demystify how drugs generally work in List all the ways a person can consume marijuana. the body. Ultimately, when one uses a mind-altering substance one will use the fastest method to get that substance into the bloodstream and up to the brain so it can modify brain functioning. For example, in the case of heroin, the fastest way to get it to the brain is by injecting it; for alcohol, it means drinking it; in the case of marijuana, that may mean inhaling the smoke. In any drug (ab)use situation, the blood travels throughout the body and impacts all the organs that the blood feeds into (which is every organ). Slide 4 Notes: Putting a THC/CBD product on Here are a few ways that people consume marijuana: the skin is a common method of using ● Smoking it using a bong, pipe, rolling papers, or marijuana medicinally. dab device ● Inhaling it using a vape pen ● Eating it ● Putting it on the skin

Slide 5 Notes: Again, because blood travels Methods of Consumption throughout the entire body, whatever ● Different methods of consumption can affect the body in different ways substances that are in the blood will ● Organs, glands, and our nervous system are all susceptible to the effects of marijuana use. also impact the endocrine system ● To understand the different effects of consumption you must look again at the Endocannabinoid System. (glands and hormones) and organs.

Slide 6 Cannabinoid Receptors Notes: The purpose of this slide is to demonstrate that there are Just as there are cannabinoid receptors in the brain, there are cannabinoid receptors throughout the also receptors in the body. This image shows where those body receptors are located. Because of body that are all impacted by this, marijuana affects more than just the brain. marijuana use. Impact does not just happen in the brain. Slide 7 Parts of the Body

We are going to discuss the parts of the body and how marijuana affects each system.

Slide 8 Lungs Notes: CPOD, bronchitis and airway obstruction are all medical conditions When cannabis is smoked, vaped, or dabbed, it affects the lungs by increasing coughing, wheezing, that are caused by heavy marijuana irritation, and lung butter (the stuff that a smoker hacks up when first use. Incidentally, heavy marijuana waking up or exercising) and can cause long-term chronic lung problems. users do not get lung cancer at rates as high as tobacco users. This is thought to be because of the anti- tumoral effects of the CBD in marijuana. However, with higher levels of THC in conventional marijuana, there is less room for the CBD compound and its beneficial effects. https://www.webmd.com/lung- Commented [MF1]: cancer/news/20060523/pot-smoking- not-linked-to-lung-cancer

Slide 9 Digestive Notes: some of your students may

When cannabis is smoked, vaped, dabbed, or eaten, it know someone or they themselves can initially decrease any feelings of nausea and vomiting. But long-term chronic use can cause Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome. Characteristics of the syndrome include: may be experiencing Cannabinoid ● Severe cyclic nausea and vomiting ● Abdominal pain ● Symptoms stopping when marijuana use stops Hyperemesis Syndrome. It is a ● Symptom relief from hot shower or bath relatively new diagnosis but one that is It is important to note that Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome is not limited to edible products. This syndrome is linked to cannabis consumption in any form. getting more and more attention with legalized recreational marijuana. Slide 10 Liver Notes: When marijuana goes through the liver after being eaten, it is broken When one eats foods with THC, the liver metabolizes the THC, which means it breaks it down into usable down into a smaller compound called parts and waste products. With cannabis ingestion, the liver is 11-hydroxy-THC which can produce a required to process additional chemicals. more hallucinogenic effect once it gets to the brain. https://herb.co/marijuana/news/happe ns-liver-eat-edibles

Slide 11 Heart Notes: Because marijuana impacts

● When cannabis is smoked, vaped, dabbed, or eaten, it can increase the heart rate by 20 to constriction of the blood vessels, the 50 beats per minute, which may lead to an increased risk of heart attack for those with a heart must work harder to push blood heart related predisposition. An increase in heart rate can also lead to in increase in anxiety. around the body. ● Cannabis consumption can also reduce blood pressure, which could lead to fainting or feeling dizzy.

Slide 12 Salivary glands

There are cannabinoid receptors in the glands responsible for producing saliva. When cannabis is smoked, vaped, dabbed, or eaten, it reduces the functioning of these glands and one might experience a dry mouth.

Slide 13 Physical Appearance Notes: Marijuana can affect the

● When cannabis is smoked, vaped, dabbed, or eaten, it affects physical appearance: endocrine system and all glands in the ● Eyes can be bloodshot (THC causes blood vessels to expand) ● Teeth may become yellow (from tar inhalation when body, thus impacting hormone smoking) ● One might experience acne (THC can cause hormonal imbalances that can contribute to acne) ● Marijuana can also inhibit testosterone and increase production. estrogen potentially causing a condition called Gynecomastia which can cause enlarged breast tissue in males.

Slide 14 How marijuana use can affect some of Notes: This is a short, 50-second the physical systems just discussed. video.

Marijuana and The Body Video

Slide 15 Edibles

● Eating something with marijuana can have a different effect than smoking it. ● It can take longer to feel the effects of the marijuana that has been eaten. ● Marijuana is metabolized differently in the liver and can potentially create a more hallucinogenic effect. ● What happens in the body when a person EATS a product with marijuana in it? ● Digesting Marijuana Video

Slide 16 Notes: This video on how marijuana Edibles affects the hypothalamus is one ● Why do people get hungrier when they use marijuana? ● How might this side effect of using marijuana impact one’s physical health? example of how marijuana impacts ● Marijuana and Hunger Response Video parts of the brain with a heavy concentration of cannabinoid receptors.

Slide 17 Notes: When plant material is burned, Diving deeper into marijuana’s impact on the lungs it goes through a combustion process. When one smokes or vapes marijuana, the respiratory system is one of the most affected systems in the body. ● Your lungs are the filters for your body. They take in air that you breathe along with everything in it This process releases gasses and and filter out the bad stuff to make oxygen available for your blood. ● If you inhale smoke from tobacco, marijuana, or other substances, your lungs must filter out the extra stuff that you have breathed in. particulate into the air, regardless of ● Cannabis smoke is similar to tobacco smoke in that it contains very small particles mixed into gas (vapor). Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and nitrosamines are present in similar concentrations in both tobacco smoke and marijuana smoke. what plant material (pine, tobacco, marijuana, etc.) is burned.

Slide 18 Diving deeper into marijuana’s impact Notes: Often people think that on the lungs because marijuana does not have

● Any time one burns and smokes plant material (marijuana, tobacco, etc.), the combustion process releases several harmful chemical gases, regardless of pesticides or added chemicals in it that how “natural” the plant is. When inhaled, these chemicals enter the lungs and are absorbed by the blood stream. it is healthier to smoke. This doesn’t ● Have you ever wondered exactly what chemicals are inhaled with tobacco or marijuana smoke? Following is a list of a few of the chemicals in each. typically matter because when anything is burned, it will let off a bunch of gas simply by the combustion process as seen on the next slide. Slide 19

Slide 20 Notes: For the purposes of this Glove Activity experiment, we use pine tar because ● What goes into the lungs when smoke is inhaled? Let’s see! you can’t get “marijuana tar”. ● We are going to do an activity using Pine Tar and Acetone (two of the chemicals produced by Directions and supplies for this activity smoking marijuana) are in the Teacher Training and Resources link of this course. Make sure you are aware if you have any students with sensitivities to smells or latex. Additionally, this can create a pretty smelly room so ensure that you have a sealed plastic bag or Tupperware to put the glove in after the experiment. The glove will continue to deteriorate as time goes by.

Slide 21 Tar Notes: Ask kids to think about a wood burning fireplace if relevant. Typically, When one smokes tobacco or marijuana, in addition to inhaling gases, tar particles are also on the inside of the fireplace, there is a inhaled. Any time plant matter is burned, it leaves behind a tar bunch of black tar that dirties up the residue that coats the smoking device and the lungs. glass. This is the same thing smoking does to the lungs. Slide 22 Tar Notes: Ask students if they think that

● The inside of the lungs become coated with tar the tar stops at the end of the smoking when marijuana is smoked, similar to the glass in this bong. devise or filter on a cigarette or if it ● In fact, because most smoking devices lack a filter and it is common to hold the smoke in the lungs for extended lengths of time, smoking continues to go into the mouth, airway marijuana hits the lungs with about four times the amount of tar than smoking a cigarette does. and lungs. Of course, it continues!

Slide 23 What About Vaping? Notes: This section is relevant for any

● Isn’t vaping safer? Not so fast… form of vaping including using a ● Using a vaporizer to inhale THC (or, in the case of e-cigarettes, nicotine) also introduces chemicals into the lungs. hookah pipe, vaping flavored oil or ● Typically, no combustion process happens when one uses a vaporizer, but the heating of the marijuana and the propylene glycol releases chemicals into the inhaled air. juice, using an e-cigarette or using a vaporizer with THC oil.

Slide 24 What About Vaping? Notes: Some vaporizer products use vegetable glycerin rather than ● The substances that are heated in a vaporizer are the marijuana substance along propylene glycol. propylene glycerol. Either substance ● Propylene glycol is a chemical that is used to create artificial smoke or fog for fire-fighting training and in theatrical is utilized to get the THC, nicotine or productions. Inhaling propylene glycol may affect the health of the airways and lungs. flavored oil to the lungs and then allows the user to exhale a substance that looks like smoke but is actually the chemical vapor. Slide 25 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Notes: Researchers do not know the ● Propylene Glycol belongs to a class of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are considered to be likely cancer causing health impacts of inhaling VOCS or compounds. ● VOCs are released when the liquid in a vape pen is heated to the point that it becomes vapor. oils into the lungs. Anytime one ● This is also true of the fruit flavored additives and vegetable glycerin often found in vaping products, including non-nicotine products such as Juul Pods. introduces an outside chemical (other than medicine) into the lungs, there is going to be an impact on the health of the lungs. See the following article for information on “popcorn lung”. https://www.webmd.com/lung/popcorn -lung#1

Slide 26 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) ● If you use an e-cig or a vape pen to inhale nicotine, THC or fruit flavors, you are inhaling VOCs into your body. ● A 2018 study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics determined that urine tests of teens who vaped showed elevated levels of FIVE different toxins in their bodies when compared to the urine tests of teens who did not vape.

Slide 27 Notes: This activity gives the students Glove Activity #2 a chance to feel what propylene glycol ● Let’s explore what propylene glycol (a common VOC in vaporizing devices) feels like. feels like. This substance is nontoxic ● Imagine what this substance might do to the lungs once inhaled? and is an oily, slimy substance. Make sure you have paper towels or a sink on hand for kids to wipe the substance off their hands after touching. Directions and supplies for this activity are in the Teacher Training and Resources link of this course. Slide 28 Exit Ticket

How is inhaling marijuana similar to inhaling tobacco?

Slide 29 Exit Ticket

In both cases, you are inhaling combusted plant material that contains several harmful chemicals such as acetone, ammonia, and tar.