It’s known worldwide by names like ganja, pot, weed, reefer, grass, mota and a thousand others. No matter what it’s called, though, marijuana is being debated because of its possible health risks.

Steve Lux, health educator at University Health Service, said the health effects marijuana has on a smoker’s body depend on the dose taken, or how frequent the smoker uses marijuana.

Jim Parker, author of “Weed: New Facts, Old Fictions,” stated in his pamphlet that the clearest health risk presented by pot is danger to the lungs.

“Marijuana smoke contains the same cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke … and since pot smokers hold marijuana smoke in the lungs longer, regular use could pose the same kinds of cancer risks as cigarette smoking.”

The risk for lung problems, including bronchitis and emphysema, is considered higher for people who smoke both pot and cigarettes, Parker stated.

Another known health risk from marijuana is altered sexual development. Changes in hormone levels caused by marijuana can alter normal patterns of growth and sexual development. In boys and men, marijuana causes decreased blood levels of testosterone. Women and girls also experience a drop in hormone levels after marijuana use.

The brain has been the most closely watched area of marijuana research because it is so important to the human body.

“Marijuana can disrupt short-term memory … calculation skills, reading comprehension and other abilities … with effects lasting several hours after the high disappears … and the more you smoke, the longer they seem to last,” Parker said.

Reaction time and visual tracking ability also could be a problem in special instances.

Parker said some effects of marijuana on the body are unclear. Effects on the lungs, brain and other organs and glands in the body, however, have been proven to be affected by marijuana.

“Probably the biggest thing to remember is that marijuana is a complicated drug, so much that, even after decades of research, we still can’t describe all of what it does, everywhere in the body,” he said.

Dr. Stephen Sidney, an associate director of clinical research with the Kaiser Permanente health plan, said in an ABC News report there are common-sense measures about using marijuana.

“It should be discouraged in teenagers … young teenagers getting involved in drugs are going to have more of a problem with it,” Sidney said.