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street. While rising from the chair, another lucid interval showed that another dream had come and gone. While passing through the door, I was aware of having wandered again, but how or when I had permitted myself to fall into the reverie I was perfectly unconscious, and knew only that it seemed to have lasted an interminable length of time.” The user of cannabis feels the onset of the “high”between 7 seconds (when smoking) and up to 30 minutes (aftereating). This involves a relaxed and peaceful, yetsometimes euphoric state of mind. At high doses, it cancause hallucinations. The effects last from 2 to 4 hoursafter the drug is ingested, and it usually leaves the userin a relaxed state for several hours after the high. One ofthe main intoxicating properties is that short term memoryis inhibited for the duration of the high. Thoughts mayseem unclear, and it might be difficult for a user toconcentrate on logical-complicated concepts likemathematics. Long-term effects have been argued for many years. Thereare claims of an “amotivational syndrome” where users aresaid to withdraw from society and lose ambition. Inreviewing evidence for and against the theory of this”syndrome,” however, Marijuana and Health concluded that: “Such symptoms have been known to occur in the absence of marijuana. Even if there is an association between this syndrome and the use of marijuana, that does not prove that marijuana causes the syndrome. Many troubled individuals seek an ‘escape’ into use of drugs; thus, frequent use of marijuana may become one more in a series of counterproductive behaviors for these unhappy people.”Other studies have found another interesting correlation:Shedler reported these results in a longitudinal surveyof adolescents: “Adolescents who engaged in some drug experimentation (primarily with marijuana) were the best adjusted in the sample. Adolescents who used drugs frequently were maladjusted, showing distinct personality syndrome marked by interpersonal alienation, poor impulse control, and manifest emotional distress. Adolescents who, by age 18, had never experimented with any drug were relatively anxious, emotionally constricted, and lacking in social skills.”Among other findings, Utah Power and Light spent $215.00 peryear less on health insurance benefits for drug users thanon the control group, and employees who tested positive forcannabis at Georgia Power Co. had a higher promotion ratethan the company average, and were absent 30 percent less(Morris, 1991). Conclusion Whether cannabis use causes permanent physical orpsychological changes in its users is still under question. The most serious concern is its effects on the pulmonarysystem, yet, studies have often used poor controls (i.e., nofiltration) and their results can mislead an uncarefulreader. Smoking the drug with a different apparatus oringesting it without smoking at all could greatly effect theresults of these studies. The acute psychological effects of cannabis that causeits intoxicating properties are no mystery, as any user canreport. Long term effects of cannabis use could possiblylead to the so-called “amotivational syndrome,” butscientific evidence is lacking.