Opposite the high rates of alcohol and tobacco use by teenagers, only 18% of seniors use illicit drugs, which are illegal for the entire society. This increase in drug use will not come easy for American society, but instead it will come at a very high price. The price will be that American society will be overrun with drug-related accidents, lost work productivity, and hospital emergency rooms filled with drug- related
In 2008, marijuana use accounted for 4.2 million of the 7 million people aged 12 or older classified with dependence on or abuse of an illicit drug. This means that about two thirds of Americans suffering from any substance use disorder are suffering from marijuana abuse or marijuana dependence. Most, if not all the arguments for legalizing marijuana have a greater harm then the ones opposing it. Some say that it gives the police more time for other crimes, but if we neglect these small crimes they will think it is ok, and move on to stealing cars, and robbing houses. The idea to tax it and make a profit will not work the way it is suppose to because of how easy it is to produce this drug yourself (unlike tobacco, and alcohol),and with people producing their own marijuana they will also be selling it cheaper than the government as well.
There is evidence saying marijuana is very harmful to the body and there is also research that says it only harms the lungs, as done with the inhalation of any kind of smoke. In the 1930's marijuana was thought of as the “dreaded assassin of the youth”, sending them into a troublesome life of crime and despair. Later in the1960's people thought of smoking marijuana as a harmful “giggle” that did no harm. Then, in the 1980's society went back to the “assassin of the youth”
Smoking marijuana has been known to affect the way a person think, feels, and act. Many users’ lose interest in life and become very lazy. People who use marijuana often find it very difficult to concentrate on anything more challenging than television. Marijuana causes a decreased attention span and feelings of isolation. High school and college students who are regular users of marijuana find themselves to be struggling with inner turmoil; feeling depressed, scared, and often suffers from very low self-esteem.
Heroin, which has often been portrayed as being highly addictive, is only so for a small percentage of users. Current legislation also has ramifications on the social lives and well-being of individuals who are prosecuted under anti-drug laws. The primary means of this is stigmatization. According to Cleveland, a policy economist, “policies that stigmatize and imprison drug users may hurt rather than help young people and problem users” (as cited in Thronton, 2007, p.423). Indeed, the criminalization of individuals who—often—are otherwise law-abiding citizens, can affect their relationships with family and friends, as well as their standings with employers and loaners (Ezard, 2001).
When Lane says, “ Recreational use is not the smartest thing” I absolutely agree. A lot of adolescents start smoking marijuana because they are peer pressured. The more they do it, the more they seem to want to keep doing it to “fit in”. It seems that the earlier someone is to start smoking marijuana the more decided they are about legalizing it. Legalizing marijuana would make our government look terrible; because marijuana is a drug that most people use to “escape” or just because they like the feeling.
So for starters, a mass majority of Marijuana users have been using other illegal drugs that have a way worse effect then Marijuana. These kind of people also bring trouble to the streets and the civilians that just so happen to get in their way. So how does this have to do with Marijuana? If Marijuana was legalized in Washington, much like California, it will have a steady increase of people moving into
)Marijuana use is WRONG-whatever one's moral beliefs about pot, marijuana laws have caused far more harm than marijuana use itself: marijuana prohibition drained precious criminal justice resources from our communities, made it difficult to keep pot from our children, and destroyed the lives and families of otherwise law abiding citizens 2.) "Marijuana regulation would send the wrong message to teens"- Regulation wuld REDUCE teen access to marijuana by taking it off the streets, regulating it, and sending adults to prison if they sell pot to young people. According to the White Houe, more than half of US teens try pot before graduationg from high school. In the Netherlands, where marijuana use is regulated, teen marijuana use dropped to only
Long-term studies of students who use drugs show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana. While not all people who use marijuana go on to use other drugs, using marijuana sometimes lowers inhibitions about drug use and exposes users to a culture that encourages use of other drugs. * The risk of using cocaine has been estimated to be more than 104 times greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it.12 In Summary: * Marijuana is a dangerous, addictive drug that poses significant health threats to users. * Marijuana has no medical value that can't be met more effectively by legal
LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS If drugs were legalized it would put the people who have the biggest opposition to it out of business and that is the drug dealers. As a result, the dealers who prey on the young adults by "pushing" drugs in our streets and schools, and the number of new addicts due to this lucrative would disappear. Much of the crimes that are related to drugs come from the addicts who need money to get their fix, not from the effects of the drugs they have taken. In fact if drugs were legalized the addict would no longer have to pay outrageous amounts for a cheap to produce product and as a result they would not have to commit a crime to obtain the money. I believe that the crimes that occur involving the drug trade