Missouri high school student use ranked 36 percent in 1995 and increased to 46 percent in 1997. It is just one of more than 400 chemicals found in the marijuana plant many for which the effects on the human body are not yet known. THC is found throughout the marijuana plant but is concentrated in oils found in the leaves and in the seeds. Through hybridization, marijuana grown today is many times more potent than that grown even 10 years ago. It is grown extensively in warm climates, both in the United States and in other countries, and is routinely smuggled across our borders.
Smoking is the most common method of using marijuana.
Marijuana also is sometimes added to food and ingested. Marijuana is far from harmless, despite the claims of groups trying to have its use decriminalized. It blocks messages going to the brain and alters the user's perceptions and emotions, posing a danger not only to the user, but also to those who come into contact with the user.