ABSTRACT

According to the White House, in 1995, 77% of all current illicit drug users were marijuana smokers. Approximately 57% of current illicit drug users limited consumption exclusively to marijuana (United States Congress, The National Drug Control Strategy, February, 1997). There is national debate over whether to legalize the use of marijuana; some speaking for (Kassirer, 1997), while others are opposed (Nahas et al., 1997). In the midst of this ongoing debate a better understanding of the potential health effects of marijuana use and the neurobiologic mechanisms that underlie these effects is of considerable interest.