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A young teenager sits on a curb, nervously tapping his foot with head looking down at the dirty concrete road. As a towering dark haired law officer is sifting through the glove and arm rest compartment of the teen’s car. The teenager sat baffled wondering how he went from being pulled over because one of his headlights was out. To being asked “Is it OK if I search your sir?” by the police officer. “What could possibly be taking so long?” the teenager thought. He knew he had nothing that would incriminate himself. The officer abruptly then springs from driver seat of the car and yells “Sir, do you have any substances that I should be aware of?” Suddenly, the teenager recalls his friend had left his marijuana below the front passenger seat of his car. “Sir?!” the police said sternly and just then the teenage realized that the events that were about to unfold would change his life forever…
Today, many teenagers find themselves in the same predicament (as the teenager in the story above?), because they make the mistake of "holding onto" their friends marijuana. An event such as this isn’t uncommon in United States. Because marijuana’s illegal in the U.S., it is becoming more common for law officers to pull young drivers over. The war on marijuana places 60,000 individuals, the majority of which are under the age of 30, behind bars costing taxpayers $1.2 billion annually. Although marijuana is legal as a medicine use only, in a few states, other drugs such as tobacco and alcohol are legal in all states. Both tobacco and alcohol can be equally if not more harmful to one’s health. The prohibition on marijuana however, has caused far more accidental deaths than the use of marijuana itself. Additionally, the common misperceptions and general unawareness of its many advantageous attributes, it remains illegal in most states. All recreational substances come with their own set of responsibilities and restrictions. Recreational use of marijuana should be...