Marijuana is harmful drug consumed in various ways; it can be smoked as a pipe or a cigarette, it is also consumed in cookies or cakes. This paper is aimed at determining profoundly reasons why it should not be legalized.
- Sources
(Caulkins 77), according to Caulkins, the effects of marijuana are dreadful; to start with, it affects the user by causing ‘impartment of short-term memory, hallucinations, logical thinking, energy loss, impaired immune system, and damage of the brain nerve cells.
(Caulkins 23), according to Caulkins, Cannabis causes abnormal cell division. A pregnant woman who is a regular smoker of marijuana is more likely to give birth prematurely to an undersized baby. Therefore, if marijuana is legalized, pregnant women would suffer physically, undersized children would be born, and the society would be ailing.
(Kilmer 12), according to Kilmer, Cannabis causes more damage to the lungs than regular cigarettes. Studies also show that smoking a lot of marijuana tempers with the mental functioning. It disrupts nerve cells in the brain hence affects memory. Therefore, if it is legalized today, many users would end up losing their memory, and damaging their sensory nerves.
(Reuter 62), according to Reuter, there is a likelihood of its wide increase. Aside that, issue with community and health costs would arise. These costs would be triggered by increase in illnesses such as cancer, and increased accidents due to motor impairment.
- Summary
Legalization of marijuana would cause deep wounds to the economy because it would change its way of making money. In conclusion, I believe that marijuana should not be legalized for all the bad reasons. It should not be legalized because of its financial problems, physical effects, and government issues. The effects of marijuana are dreadful as it affects the user by causing ‘impartment of short-term memory, hallucinations, logical thinking, energy loss, impaired immune system, and damage of the brain nerve cells.
- Recommendation
Smoking a lot of marijuana tempers with the mental functioning. Legalizing marijuana would not help users, instead, it would cause more harm than good. Its effects are long-term and in most cases, its users and abusers end up in psychological burdens. Both to users and the society, legalizing marijuana would lead to many evils in the society. It is therefore better if marijuana remains illegal.
Introduction
Marijuana, also known as cannabis is a dry, ground mix of leaves, seeds stem and flowers of the cannabis sativa plant. It is usually smoked a cigarette or in a pipe. It can also be eaten in food for instance, baked cookies. Statistics show that it is the most commonly abused drug. Should marijuana be legalized? This paper will clearly detail both views of the question under contention and state profoundly reasons why marijuana should not be legalized.
Governments all over the globe have spent decades and billions fighting drug abuse. However, there is a school of thoughts that believe that the most commonly used illegal drug, marijuana, should be made legal. They argue that apart from the feel good effect one gets from taking marijuana, the drug serves very real medicinal purposes. First, cannabis is an effective pain killer. For this reason, governments make it illegal in order to boost the profits of their patrons in the medical companies. Secondly, marijuana stimulates appetite. There are several AIDS and cancer patients who rely on marijuana for this purpose. Either their disease or treatment for the disease lowers their appetites. However, the legal alternatives for marijuana do not achieve this. The effects of marijuana are dreadful; to start with, it affects the user by causing ‘impartment of short-term memory, hallucinations, logical thinking, energy loss, impaired immune system, and damage of the brain nerve cells (Caulkins 77).
The war against marijuana, instead of being won, only compounds the problem more. Making a product illegal puts it in the black market. Due to the risks the distributors face, they sell it at high prices hence making it a lucrative industry. The dealers go ahead and sell their products to even children so as to maximize their products. Since alcohol and cigarette stores are legal, they will hardly sell their products to under-age people. In conclusion, if marijuana is legalized, people will use it more freely for the rightful purposes (Reuter 62).
As some people believe that they should be allowed to do whatever they please to their bodies, others argue that the state has a responsibility to protect people from harming themselves, and indirectly harming others, by smoking marijuana. They take their stand that marijuana should be illegal. Some of the argument they put forward are as follows. Marijuana is a threat to one’s health. Scientific studies show that marijuana smoke contains more cancer causing substances than tobacco smoke. This means that cannabis causes more damage to the lungs than regular cigarettes. Studies also show that smoking a lot of marijuana tempers with the mental functioning. It disrupts nerve cells in the brain hence affects memory (Caulkins 23). Cannabis causes abnormal cell division. A pregnant woman who is a regular smoker of marijuana is more likely to give birth prematurely to an undersized baby. Research shows that, parents who use marijuana during pregnancy end up having birth defects or even giving birth to children with mental abnormalities.
Apart from the health effects, marijuana also has psychological and social side effects. Since it tempers with a one’s memory, a frequent marijuana smoker will always be on the losing side in his day to day activities. Adolescents who use cannabis are at a higher risk of pregnancy, dropping out of school and even having problem with the law. They, in the long-run, end up achieving less educationally and occupationally. As a result they tend to be less happy with their lives. Eventually they become depressed and resort to drug addiction.
The issue of legalizing marijuana has been the topic of hot debates for many years. In some states, including Colorado, it has been legalized for medical use. However, recreational marijuana has been legalized, as well. Now, kids in Colorado can go to a supermarket and buy recreational marijuana as if they buy soda or cookies. I believe that a great mistake has been made in Colorado and that young people are not to be experimented on when it comes to legalizing marijuana. Otherwise, they will have to pay a great price for legally smoking it at a young age.
Thinking that if marijuana is sold legally and is easily accessible then people will not think of it as a forbidden fruit and will use less is very irresponsible and dangerous. Statistics for states with legalized medical marijuana can prove that. In Denver, the number of teens (12 years and older) that have used marijuana for the past 30 days increased 4.3% (Polk). A 0.05% increase for the whole nation for the same age group is observed. By 2010, 12.2% teens in Denver were known to have used marijuana for 30 days (Polk).
Another alarming issue with legalizing marijuana is that, there is a likelihood of its wide increase. Aside that, issue with community and health costs would arise. These costs would be triggered by increase in illnesses such as cancer, and increased accidents due to motor impairment. Notably, marijuana is not harmless; it affects the brain because it is addictive. Its long-term use could alter the nervous system and cause treacherous effects in the long run. Marijuana use is also associated with an 8 to 10 point in I.Q; it worsens cognitive performance in the realm of verbal learning.
Not only does marijuana affect human brain highly negatively, it is dangerous for adolescents, as well. It impairs judgment, reasoning, intelligence, and clear thinking. Marijuana using teens have problems at school. In 2008-2012, there was a 45% increase in expulsions related to drugs (Polk). This is statistic data about Colorado schools. In just one academic year, “a 10-year low in drug-related suspensions and expulsions flipped to a 10-year high” (Polk).
Marijuana should not be legalized for easy access. Instead, the society must build such an environment where children can be safe, where they can get a good education and thrive in their lives. There would be no need for them to use marijuana at all. Moreover, I believe this should be applied to everyone, not just children. At this point, it is clear that legalizing marijuana may cause more harm than good in the society. It is therefore better if marijuana remains illegal.
Cannabis causes abnormal cell division. A pregnant woman who is a regular smoker of marijuana is more likely to give birth prematurely to an undersized baby. The majority of smokers would end up buying marijuana instead of their needs. For instance, users would opt to buy the rolls instead of buying food or other basic needs. The legal alternatives for marijuana do not achieve any objective. The effects of marijuana are dreadful; to start with, it affects the user by causing ‘impartment of short-term memory, hallucinations, logical thinking, energy loss, impaired immune system, and damage of the brain nerve cells (Kilmer 12).
Additionally, legalization of marijuana would cause deep wounds to the economy because it would change its way of making money. In conclusion, I believe that marijuana should not be legalized for all the bad reasons. It should not be legalized because of its financial problems, physical effects, and government issues. The effects of marijuana are dreadful as it affects the user by causing ‘impartment of short-term memory, hallucinations, logical thinking, energy loss, impaired immune system, and damage of the brain nerve cells. Marijuana is a threat to one’s health. Scientific studies show that marijuana smoke contains more cancer causing substances than tobacco smoke. This means that cannabis causes more damage to the lungs than regular cigarettes. Studies also show that smoking a lot of marijuana tempers with the mental functioning. Legalizing marijuana would not help users, instead, it would cause more harm than good. Its effects are long-term and in most cases, its users and abusers end up in psychological burdens. Both to users and the society, legalizing marijuana would lead to many evils in the society. It is therefore better if marijuana remains illegal.
Works Cited
Caulkins, Jonathan P, Angela Hawken, Beau Kilmer, and Mark Kleiman. Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know. , 2012. Print.
Caulkins, Jonathan, et al. "Design Considerations for Legalizing Marijuana." Addiction 107.5 (2012): 865-871.
Kilmer, Beau, et al. Altered State?. RAND Corporation, 2010.
Reuter, Peter. "Marijuana Legalization: what can be learned from other countries." Santa Monica, CA: RAND (2010).
