Title: Mental and Physical Effects of Marijuana
Headings: What marijuana does to your body and brain
What marijuana does to your body and brain
Erin Brodwin
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Marijuana can make us feel good.
It can make your heart race.
Weed may help relieve some types of pain ...
A worker tends to cannabis plants at a plantation near the northern Israeli city of Safed June 11, 2012.
... like the discomfort of arthritis ...
... or the pain of inflammatory bowel disease.
A volunteer displays cannabis buds at the La Brea Collective medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, California, March 18, 2014.
Marijuana may also be helpful in controlling epileptic seizures.
But it can also mess with our sense of balance.
File photo of a man gesturing during a demonstration in support of the legalization of marijuana outside the Supreme Court building in Mexico City
And it can distort our sense of time.
Weed can also turn your eyes red.
And you'll probably get the munchies.
Mmm, pizza.
Marijuana may also interfere with how we form memories.
And in some people, weed could increase the risk of depression.
Marijuana buds are seen at the "Oregon's Finest" medical marijuana dispensary in Portland
Regular use is linked with some specific brain changes — but scientists can't say for sure whether one causes the other.

Content: In 1998 study focusing on the brains of volunteers using magnetic resonance imaging, the authors noted that many had altered blood flow to the cerebellum, which most likely plays a role in our sense of time. Weed can also turn your eyes red. Jeff Golden / Flickr, CC
Since weed makes blood vessels expand, it can give you red eyes. And you'll probably get the munchies. Mmm, pizza. Jun/Flickr
A case of the munchies is no figment of the imagination — both casual and heavy marijuana users tend to overeat when they smoke. Marijuana may effectively flip a circuit in the brain that is normally responsible for quelling the appetite, triggering us to eat instead, according to a recent study in mice. It all comes down to a special group of cells in the brain that are normally activated after we have eaten a big meal to tell us we've had enough. The psychoactive ingredient in weed appears to activate just one component of those appetite-suppressing cells, making us feel hungry rather than satisfied. Marijuana may also interfere with how we form memories.