Immediate effects
Small amounts
If you have a small amount of cannabis, the effects can last up to five hours. You may:
- feel unusually well and happy
- do or say things which you normally wouldn’t, engage in risk-taking behaviour like unsafe sex or dangerous driving
- talk and laugh more than usual
- experience anxiety and paranoia
- have bad balance and co-ordination
- feel drowsy
- find it hard to concentrate
- have problems remembering things
- feel hungry
- experience asthmatic symptoms or have trouble breathing if you smoke cannabis
- have a faster heart rate
- have dry, red eyes
- have a dry mouth and throat
- focus on one particular thing and ignore all other things
Large amounts
If you take a large amount of cannabis or if using cannabis for the first time, you may:
- feel confused
- vomit
- be restless
- experience changes in your perception of time, sound, sight, touch and distance
- feel excited
- see or hear things which are not there (hallucinations)
- feel anxious or panicky
- ‘black out’
- feel distant or separate from reality
Cannabis can also cause problems with:
- remembering things
- thinking clearly
- movement
- your ability to do things like drive or operate machines
These symptoms usually disappear when the effects of cannabis wear off.
