Marijuana

The single most common illegal drug in use today by most statistics, whether right or wrong, is Marijuana (also called pot, weed, ganja, chronic, and many other things). Marijuana is a plant grown in humid climates that contains the active ingredient THC. The drug is smoked in pipes, cigarettes called "joints" (among other things) or out of various other smoking devices.

Through various processes these active ingredient can be extracted from the plant and made in to hash, hash oil and various other drugs that can be classified as having the same sort of effect on the user.

A Marijuana user is often classified as a stereotypical "stoner". Very low in motivation, often unkempt in appearance, but rarely "dangerous" or hostile in any way. Most of the time the long time pot smoker really has a very low chance of becoming violent and prefers to just lay around, listen to music, bury themselves in little projects around the house, watch TV or the like. Can be anti-social, or overly social, it has different impact in that regard depending on the type of person the pot smoker is to begin with.

If the pot smoker uses other drugs, most certainly other behavioral issues will be involved. But speaking for strictly pot usage, typically the worst problem is that of theft. This is due to the low motivation, which is often, though not always, accompanied by a lack of education and employment, and the need for money. Violence rarely comes in to play in typical circumstances, however.

Of course, the level of impact it has on the user depends on the frequency of use. Casual users will very often lead normal, productive lives, have and hold jobs, and take care of business in general. Chronic users will be the worst cases of slow mental processes, lack of personal motivation and increased likelihood of infrequent employment and therefore increased risk of criminal activity to make money.