The topic for this written report is the effect of alcohol and marijuana on fertility. There are various types of drugs which are very well-known these days where people use different types of drugs in extremely divergent motive underneath. Drugs are defined as chemical substances that modify the structure of the chemical reaction inside the human body in some ways when taken into the body (Levinthal, 2008). Drugs could be categorized as illicit and licit drugs, whereas the intention is differentiated into recreational and instrumental purpose.
Due to its mixture of numerous chemical ingredients, drugs affect people psychologically and physiologically in different ways specifically infertility. Infertility is the inability or failure to conceive and have offspring after a year of regular intercourse without the use of contraception (FamilyDoctor, 2006). Not many people are aware of the side effects of drugs on human fertility, for example the effect of the licit drugs – alcohol and tobacco, and illicit drug such as marijuana on the inability to produce offspring in the long run.
Nowadays many youths take drugs due to its availability and peer influence although they know the varied consequences. However, they disregard the matter of fact that fertility is one of the side effects with the continuation of the substance abuse. In other cases, people need to take instrumental drugs for health purposes and had to bear the consequences of being infertile. Therefore this phenomenon has made us interested in further understanding the chosen topic.
In this paper, we will discuss about the effect of alcohol as a licit drugs and marijuana as illicit drug on human fertility. Intake of alcohol is a possible causal factor of public health importance as consumption is widespread and increasing in many countries due to its easily availability and it is categorization as a legal drugs, nevertheless drinking alcohol can adversely affect fertility specifically in excessive amount and can also cause damage to the baby itself during pregnancy.
As in contrast of side effect of Marijuana outcomes, consuming alcohol is more hazardous to women rather than men (Division of Alcohol and Drugs Abuse, 2000). Some of the negative consequences of drinking alcohol concerns the significance of human being’s fertility and health issue, especially under circumstances such as pregnant woman in which the alcohol is easily transferred to the baby through the placenta considered as serious problems, therefore as a matter of fact various health problems varied diversely where a women is in different stages of life.
It is all started off by the stage of a young girl, where they started drinking habitually since young, higher possibility of changes in hormone may depress the levels of estrogen in a period of two weeks since the alcohol was last digested in moderate level (Division of Alcohol and Drugs Abuse, 2000). Teenagers are easily influenced without knowing the consequences such as higher risk of HIV, AIDS, and any other sexually transmitted disease (Division of Alcohol and Drugs Abuse, 2000).
Those women whom started early drinking habit may experience a disruption in their menstrual cycle in which it will have big influence on their reproduction system, such as less fertile, early menopause, and other related alcohol behavior (Division of Alcohol and Drugs Abuse, 2000). Intake of alcohol during late stage of life may cause impairment in the women’s postmenopausal health in two ways, directly as in the failure of the organs, and indirectly as in alteration of blood levels of sexual streoid (Division of Alcohol and Drugs Abuse, 2000).