The aim of drug detoxification is to rid the body of toxins that build up by drug use. The first step of drug detoxing is drug withdrawal. The meaning of withdrawal is to discontinue the use of an addictive substance, and to break the physiological and mental readjustment that accompanies such discontinuation. Basically, once you stop using drugs, the physical and behavioral withdrawal symptoms may follow.

The nature and harshness of the withdrawal symptoms can vary greatly depending on the particular drug or drugs that were being used as well as the frequency of use. These days there are few people who use one drug exclusively. It is very ordinary to see individuals in drug detoxification programs that use combinations like alcohol and cocaine, or alcohol and prescription medications for example. Drug detox is a method that applies to any individual who is addicted to substances. Detoxification helps reduce the uncomfortable symptoms of drug withdrawal.

This can be performed in many different ways depending on how you decide to receive treatment. Most drug detoxification centers simply provide management to avoid physical withdrawal to alcohol and other drugs. Ideally, a trained detoxification facility will incorporate counseling and therapy during their drug detox to help with the psychological anguish that the person may experience as well.

Detoxing should cover all aspects of the individual’s withdrawal and cleansing from drugs. The removal of drug residuals is a key goal in drug detox. Without this process, drug residues can remain in one’s body and cause residual cravings for years after drug use has stopped. A vital step in a successful drug detoxification as well as drug rehabilitation is flushing out these accumulated noxious residues so that the individual no longer experiences unwanted unpleasant effects from the drugs they have taken.

Lately, scientists have been looking into the long term effects about smoking weed. For those who are considering marijuana rehabilitation, it is always best to get as much information about your addiction as possible.

Recently, as accounted in a study comparing smoking cessation in adults who smoked both tobacco and marijuana with those who smoked only tobacco, scientists found that the relationship between marijuana use and continued smoking was particularly strong in those who smoked marijuana daily at the time of the original interview,  thirteen years prior to the follow up interview.

In a study of close to 500 individuals, they found that people who smoked marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers do. They also discovered that many of the extra sick days used by the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses.

The key to conquering any addiction, and to find your way to marijuana rehab is to understand just what all those years of drug abuse might have done to your body.

It seems that cancer of the respiratory tract and lungs may also be advanced by marijuana smoke. A study comparing cancer patients and an equal amount of healthy individuals produced strong substantiation that smoking marijuana increases the likelihood of developing cancer of the neck, and that the more marijuana that someone smoked, the increased chance of developing cancer as statistical analysis of the information suggested that marijuana smoking doubled or tripled the danger of getting these cancers.

For those who are only part-time smokers, it seems even infrequent marijuana use can cause burning and stinging of the mouth and throat. The study showed that people that people who smoked weed regularly end up with the same respiratory problems of tobacco smokers Side effects were a daily cough and phlegm production, a heightened risk of lung infections, more frequent acute chest infections, a heightened risk of lung infections, and a greater propensity toward obstructed airways.

Some adverse health effects caused by marijuana may occur because THC impairs the immune system’s ability to fight off infectious diseases and cancer. In laboratory experiments that exposed animal and human cells to THC or other marijuana ingredients, the normal disease-preventing reactions of many of the key types of immune cells were inhibited. In other studies, mice exposed to THC or related substances were more likely than unexposed mice to develop bacterial infections and tumors.

Marijuana smoking has the potential to advance cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because it contains irritants and carcinogens. One reason is that smoke from marijuana contains up to 75 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke.  Marijuana also produces high levels of an enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic type and these levels may speed up the changes that ultimately produce malignant cells. Weed smokers usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do as this elevates the lungs’ exposure to carcinogenic smoke. These facts suggest that, pack for sack, smoking weed may increase the risk of cancer more than tobacco does.

In one study, the results showed  has that a person’s risk of heart attack during the first hour after smoking marijuana is four times their usual risk. The scientists  suggest that a heart attack might happen because marijuana raises blood pressure and heart rate and reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.

So far this study has not been duplicated and the results are still inconclusive.