Marijuana is scientifically known as cannabis and considered to be a psychoactive drug and as a medicine. It has been used even in the ancient times as a tool in religious rites and spiritual meditations. However, its addictive effect and its physiological effects made to be a drug that is illegal in many parts of the world. In the United States, some areas legalized the use of medical and recreational marijuana while other places are now considering it. Marijuana is dangerous drug that should be kept away from people especially the minors. Marijuana should not be legalized since it could bring health problems to the user and the people around, could endanger the public from physical and emotional harm, and cause unpredictable consequences (Stimson 1).
The THC or the tetrahydrocannabinol is the psychoactive ingredient of the marijuana. Most of the medical marijuana has low THC and it is commonly the used for legal purposes. However, marijuana has the addictive properties even if there is low amount of THC (Stimson 1). The users could are addictive to the drug and legalization of it could create more opportunity for them to use the drug. It is commonly known that the drug could provide negative side-effects such as decrease in short-term memory, paranoia and impaired motor skills. Legalizing marijuana could result to more users suffering from the negative health effects of the drug.
One of the major reasons why some States Legalized marijuana is to eliminate the black market and to remove the syndicate behind it. It could make the public become safer from criminals. However, legalization of the cannabis could not protect the public from impairment of the users (Stimson 1). The users could be very psychoactive that he could not control their actions and could endanger them as well as the people around them. It could led to injuries in the streets, in the workplace as well as in the homes. The children would not be safe if their parents were using recreational marijuana. The normal lives of the people would be at stake if the use of marijuana has been legalized.
Another reason for legalizing marijuana is to increase the revenue from the tax and sales of the recreational drug. However, it could led to unpredictable consequences that could led to social cost. Its increase availability could result to more minors using the recreational drug. Their future career and health would be at risk since the drug is addictive and it has negative health effects. Marijuana is more addictive than the other legal drugs such as alcohol and cigar (Stimson 2). The legalization of the drug would also benefit the syndicate to increase the flow of marijuana in the community. Drug trafficking and other crimes would be some of the negative effects of the legalization of marijuana.
There are positive reasons why some areas are legalizing the use of medical and recreational marijuana. However, the social effects and the health effects outweigh these benefits. There could be a dramatic change in the ways of lives if the use of marijuana has been legalized. The social cost such as increased usage of the minors and increase in the crime rates would be a lot more than the cost of advantage of legalizing the addictive drug. Some of the proponents of the legalization of the drug argues that it is somewhat the same with the legalization of the use of alcohol and cigar during the 1900s. However, there are more social cost of legalizing the drug than the legalization of the alcohol and the cigar. Marijuana is a very addictive drug and could destroy the normal lives of the people so it should not be legalized.
Work Cited:
Stimson, Charles. Legalizing Marijuana: Why Citizens Should Just Say No. The Heritage Foundation, 56, 1-13. 2010. Print.
