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John Maltese (not his real name) was one of the premier bodybuilders
of the mid-to-late 1960s. Although he did use drugs, such
as anabolic steroids, to win many of his titles, later in
his career he disavowed the use of most drugs with one notable
exception. Maltese had a preworkout ritual that he claimed
allowed him to train more intensely and concentrate more effectively
throughout his training session.
What was his secret? The enigmatic root of his preworkout
ritual became evident one day in the back room of a popular
Southern California bodybuilding gym. This particular
gym had a sauna that was never used, located in the back
of the men’s locker room. It was the perfect place
to engage in surreptitious behavior. What Maltese couldn’t
conceal, however, was the pungent marijuana fumes.
Maltese smoked marijuana in that room. And he didn’t
just puff on one “joint,” or marijuana cigarette,
either. No, Maltese regularly engaged in a marijuana trip,
losing his thoughts in the wispy smoke that rose slowly
toward the ceiling in his secret alcove. He would emerge
after an hour or so and head directly to the gym floor,
working out with no apparent ill effects. |
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Although marijuana is an illegal drug, many athletes, not
just bodybuilders, regularly smoke “weed” as a
means of relaxation and mind expansion. A long-held tenet
of the drug culture is that marijuana emphasizes the mood
you’re already in. Thus, if you feel good, you’ll
feel even better after the intoxicating effects of THC, the
active component of pot, does its job on your brain.
While marijuana has always had a relatively innocuous reputation
compared to other mind drugs, such as cocaine and heroin,
few people are aware of its true effects on the body. Entire
volumes have been written documenting the physiological effects
of marijuana, but many people are still confused.
Active Ingredients
Known to botanists as Cannabis sativa, more than 100 species
of the cannabis plant, also known as marijuana and hemp, grow
wild throughout the world in temperate climates. Analysis
of the plant yields 460 compounds, of which 60 are cannabinoids,
but the only cannabinoid known to have psychoactive effects
is delta-9-THC. That’s the ingredient that makes you
feel high. Not long ago scientists discovered nerve receptors
in the brain that are specifically affected by THC, which
suggests that the body produces its own natural form of THC.
Different parts of the marijuana plant have different THC
contents. The bracts, flowers and leaves contain the most,
while the stems, seeds and roots contain lesser amounts. The
most concentrated form of all, however, is hash oil, which
is the distilled liquid resin of the female marijuana plant.
Street pot has gradually increased in potency over the years,
and current versions are thought to be five to 10 times more
potent than the stuff people used to “tune in and turn
on” in the ‘60s.
When inhaled, as from a “reefer, or joint, THC is rapidly
absorbed. Studies show the systemic bio-availability of THC
following smoking is about 18 percent, with heavier users
absorbing more than casual smokers. That compares with the
oral uptake, from, say, a pill, of only 6 percent. The peak
effects of the drug occur within 20 to 30 minutes and last
for two to four hours.
THC circulates through the body and, being highly fat-soluble,
easily enters the brain. About 80 to 90 percent of an intravenous
dose of THC is excreted from the body in five days, although
metabolites remain detectable in urine for 10 days after a
single dose and more than 20 days after chronic use. Due to
its proclivity for storage in fatty tissues of the body, in
some cases THC may take up to a month to be eliminated.
How marijuana affects a person varies from individual to individual.
A recent study funded by the United States National Institute
on Drug Abuse involving identical twins found that the likelihood
that you’ll find pot enjoyable has a genetic basis.
What’s more, the effects can vary in the same person.
A 1970 medical review of marijuana described the typical
effects:
“Typically, the user feels a series of jittery ‘rushes’
soon after inhaling. A sense of relaxation and well-being
follows. There is awareness of being intoxicated not unlike
that produced by alcohol. The user becomes acutely conscious
of certain stimuli to the extent that his whole attention
is focused, immersed and at times lost with the sensory experience.
In this state jokes are funnier, misfortunes more poignant
and human relations more deeply perceived.
“The appreciation of food, sex and, in particular, music
is intensified. The user may believe that his thoughts are
unusually profound (an impression rarely shared by observers).
Paranoid thoughts and feelings of depersonalization have been
reported by subjects and observed in the laboratory. Visual
imagery is increased, and in larger doses colors may shimmer
and visual distortions occur. There are feelings of changed
body proportion. Among the most striking perceptual changes
is the subjective slowing of time.”
At least two effects rapidly occur in most people who smoke
marijuana: The eyes redden, and the heart beats faster. This
increased load on the heart tends to impede athletic performance,
as shown in some studies. This occurs because, while pot speeds
the heart, the cardiac stroke volume, or amount of blood pumped
by the heart, decreases. One study showed that in men cycling
against increasing workloads, pot decreased exercise performance.
Another study showed that when 161 men and women took THC,
they experienced a general drop in standing steadiness, simple
and complex reaction times, and other athletic skills. Contrary
to the experience of the bodybuilder described above, if anything,
pot decreases training concentration and focus, an effect
so potent that it can’t even be overcome with concomitant
amphetamine usage.
A crucial question from a bodybuilding perspective is, How
does smoking pot affect anabolic hormones, such as testosterone?
Marijuana and Testosterone
A brief report concerning the appearance in gynecomastia in
three male pot smokers published in 1972 sparked a number
of subsequent studies that examined the relationship between
marijuana use and testosterone levels. Gynecomastia, or “male
breasts,” however, is not a common side effect encountered
with marijuana use.
Instead, the condition is usually the result of an imbalance
between testosterone and estrogen in men, with something causing
an increase in the latter. Since marijuana has no estrogenic
activity, it isn’t likely to cause this condition.
Even so, animal studies clearly point to an inhibitory effect
of marijuana on both testosterone and luteinizing hormone
(LH) production. LH is the pituitary hormone that governs
endogenous testosterone synthesis in men. When it comes to
humans, though, things are far less clear.
Most studies that have examined human marijuana use haven’t
shown any significant effect on testosterone levels in normal
men. A 1983 study, however, did find depressed testosterone
levels after subjects smoked just one joint, with the effect
lasting 24 hours. A 1984 study found that pot not only inhibited
testosterone but also lowered prolactin, thyroid and growth
hormone. It did that by altering the expression of brain substances
that govern hormone release.
Nevertheless, a 1989 study gave 17 male volunteers both high
and low doses of THC and then tested their hormonal responses.
The results showed no hormonal or immune parameters affected
by either a high or low dose of THC. Notably, both testosterone
and cortisol were examined, indicating that pot doesn’t
produce catabolic effects in muscle through increased cortisol
release.
Based on the majority of studies that have looked at the effects
of pot on testosterone levels, it appears that the drug has
little or no effect on this hormone in humans. One study that
examined Jamaican pot smokers, however, did find a significant
decrease in active thyroid hormone in the blood, although
the men showed no apparent thyroid dysfunction. Significantly,
the men also showed normal testosterone levels despite smoking
an average of seven to eight joints a day.
Other Health Effects of Marijuana
The recent passage of Proposition 215 in California and Proposition
200 in Arizona, both of which allow use of marijuana under
medical supervision, has brought public attention to the health
benefits (or lack thereof) of marijuana. This prompted the
National Institutes of Health to convene a committee to study
the medical benefits of pot.
The committee looked at marijuana’s effects on at least
three medical conditions: glaucoma; wasting diseases, such
as those occurring with HIV infection; and the nausea common
with cancer chemotherapy. It concluded that more study is
needed to determine the effectiveness of using pot to treat
those and other disease states.
What’s interesting here is that legally, marijuana is
classified as a schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances
Act. That means it has no medical value and may be addictive.
Yet in 1985 the Food and Drug Administration approved a synthetic
version of THC called dronabinol (trade name Marinol) as a
schedule 2 drug used to treat the nausea and vomiting associated
with chemotherapy. In 1992 the FDA also approved Marinol for
use in treating the wasting syndrome associated with AIDS.
Marijuana, or more specifically THC, does affect many body
systems. Here’s a brief review of its effects:
Immune system - Several test-tube studies
of both animal and human tissue samples suggest that marijuana
may inhibit cell-mediated immune functions. That has to do
with the response of specialized immune cells called T cells
that protect against viruses and cancers.
Other studies on this aspect, however, suggest that any immune
dysfunction induced by marijuana is transitory. In addition,
the immune problem caused by marijuana isn’t sufficient
to overcome other immune systems of the body. This is still
a debatable issue, though, as evidenced by a 1990 study published
in the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Weekly. That
study found THC suppresses the normal growth of white blood
cells and thus may impair immunity in some people.
Chromosome damage - Some studies show that
THC may cause chromosome damage, leading to things like birth
defects. Other studies dispute this, however, with the result
that most scientists studying this issue feel that any chromosome
damage caused by marijuana use is insignificant. Nevertheless,
pregnant women are advised to avoid using any form of the
drug to prevent any possibility of birth defects.
Mental reaction - As noted earlier, taken
in excess, marijuana can induce such symptoms as panic reactions,
paranoia and mania. When studies are produced to prove the
concept of “reefer madness,” however, it turns
out that in most cases people experiencing adverse mental
problems after using marijuana had preexisting mental problems.
Other studies show that marijuana does not predispose people
to violence.
A controversial topic related to marijuana use among younger
people is its effects on memory and learning. This is also
related to the increased potency of marijuana in recent years.
For example, in a study that looked at short- and long-term
memory functions in both pot-using and abstaining teenagers,
the pot users showed defects in short-term memory that would
have a negative effect on learning.
A 1996 study looked at the mental effects of marijuana in
college students. The subjects included 65 heavy and 64 light
pot users who had smoked it for at least two years. The results
showed that heavy users had trouble paying attention and performing
mental tasks even after a day of not smoking. In an editorial
that accompanied the study, however, another researcher noted,
“The few reports of cognitive effects of marijuana lingering
on the day after smoking have not proven reliably reproducible
even by the original researchers.”
More problematic are so-called additives that may be found
in pot. Sources of contamination can include insects, fungi
and in Mexican pot a herbicide called paraquat that can cause
lung damage. A 1989 report in the journal Bioscience found
that pot grown in Hawaii (called “pakalolo”) was
high in the toxic metal mercury. Ingestion of mercury can
lead to such brain defects as forgetfulness, anxiety and paranoia.
Oral absorption of mercury from food sources, such as fish,
is only 7 to 10 percent as efficient as that absorbed from
the lungs, and the body retains only 7 percent of ingested
mercury. That’s in contrast to the 85 percent absorption
of mercury vapors from smoking. It takes about three months
for mercury to clear body tissues once absorbed, although
the nutrients vitamin C and selenium block mercury absorption
and detoxify it.
A so-called amotivational syndrome is closely associated with
pot use. In simple terms, that means regular pot users get
so lazy, they don’t want to do anything except smoke.
Once again, in many cases a preexisting mental depression
causes some people to turn to pot for relief. Studies conducted
among workers in Costa Rica and Jamaica failed to find any
apathy or laziness even among heavy cannabis users.
Marijuana, contrary to earlier reports, does not appear to
cause brain damage. Although it’s been accused of causing
brain atrophy, or shrinking of the brain, newer studies on
the effects of pot in even heavy users failed to find this
effect.
Lung function - Studies that looked at the
effects of marijuana show paradoxical effects. Thus, some
studies show that the drug dilates breathing passages in the
lungs, while others point to a significant degree of airway
obstruction. Smoking pot yields more tar than cigarettes,
and a 1988 University of California at Los Angeles study found
that smoking pot releases five times as much carbon monoxide
into the blood, which ties up oxygen, and three times more
tar than cigarettes. Another study showed that three to four
joints a day can produce as much lung damage as 20 tobacco
cigarettes.
According to Kasi Sridhar, M.D., a professor of medicine at
the University of Miami, smoking marijuana is 100 to 200 times
more likely to cause lung cancer than cigarettes. Sridhar
believes the increasing incidence of lung cancer in younger
people may be due to increased pot use.
Other studies show that pot promotes bronchitis and impaired
pulmonary defenses against infection. The tar produced from
marijuana smoke contains 50 percent more carcinogens than
unfiltered Kentucky tobacco. The fact that pot smokers inhale
the smoke 40 percent deeper than cigarette smokers (except,
of course, President Clinton) adds to the problem. One study
found that smoking just one joint diminished vital capacity
in a manner comparable to that produced by smoking 16 tobacco
cigarettes.
If all this still doesn’t convince you that its use
isn’t so innocuous, how about marijuana as a fat stimulator?
Pot has long been known to cause a peculiar sensation known
as “the munchies,” in which you have an insatiable
desire for junk food after smoking, and it turns out the effect
isn’t just folklore.
A study done at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine looked
at the appetite effects of marijuana on six men for 13 days.
On some days the men smoked two joints in the morning and
another two in the afternoon. On other days they smoked placebo
joints, which didn’t contain THC. The men ate three
meals a day, but also had unlimited access to candy bars,
potato chips, soda and other junk foods.
On the days the men smoked the genuine pot, they ate no additional
food at meals but ate enough snacks to consume 40 percent
more calories than they ate on placebo days. That led to a
six-pound weight gain after 13 days, which was quickly lost
when they ceased getting high. The men were also less active
on pot days and thus also burned fewer calories.
When you add it all up, even overlooking the fact that marijuana
is an illegal drug, this weed has little or nothing to offer
bodybuilders or anyone else seeking maximum health and fitness.
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