AIR-CLINIC WRITING CONTEST 24: "Uses & Abuses Of Marijuana"
in November 2017 I was posted as intern in psychiatry department of our college. Oncs at about 8 p.m. tall and lean young man entered my room accompanied by two male members of his family. I was lone doctor posted their so I had to complete all the procedures myself.
I offered this young man couch and asked him reason of visiting hospital. He did not utter a single word. So I asked his brother and he told me that half an hour ago my brother was lying uncouncious in his room and there was some obnoxious smelling smoke circulating in room and I guessed that he had smoked some weed.
On hearing , i told the two accompanying members to be out of my room for sometime. I knew this was the only way to make young man speak. As they left, I made him to stand so that he can see there is none of his family members around.
Than he began talking and gave history of smoking bhang (cannabis /marijuana). I asked him reason of smoking and it was purely recreational.
I asked what benefits you get out of it and how long have been smoking?
He replied that i have been smoking since two years and i smoke to get rid of stress.
After smoking I feel relaxed, energetic, lost in my own world & feel tension free. He further added, hat is all I need.
On examination I found that young man had red eyes, decreased BP and increaaed pulse rate. To stablise the vitals, i started IV fluids.
I was curios to seek history of long term effects of marijuana as he had been smoking since two years. So I called his brother and told him the whole story. Then I asked him that did they notice some chamges in his behavior during this period?.
Although he gave vague history of hierarchy of symptoms but they can be correlated to the marijuana abuse.Some of the symptoms were
Lack of self care. Avoid family functions. Carelessness at work.(May be due to decreased shoert term memory or due to derealisation/deperaonalisation) Binge eating ( I correlated it with increased appetite after smoking).
For me the most shocking part of the story was the supplier of marijuana. When I asked the young man, where from do you get the Bhang to smoke?. He told me that he purchase it from friend who is son of a* religious guru*.
I kept gazing him for a minute without saying anything. This is a clear cut example of misuse of marijuana as marijuana has held sacred status in several religions. It has been used in an entheogenic context – a chemical substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context in some countries like nepal and INDIA (our country).
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