Government Should Prohibit Marijuana

Marijuana has been deeply studied in the past few decades and has shown scientist many things that weren’t evident before. Marijuana has been linked to many health issues good and bad. It has shown to reduce stress and anxiety, help with headaches, lower blood pressure and one of the most evident and positive health affects is that it has been shown in many studies to stop and even kill cancer cells in the body. There are however negative effects that have been looked into and studied by scientist. These include, blocking memory formation, psychosis, and an increased risk of depression while using marijuana regularly. Not everything revolving around marijuana is a “health issue” though, the biggest reason that people use marijuana today is because it simply makes people feel good. That is a positive effect.

I do not believe that the Federal Government should continue to regulate –and outlaw- marijuana. I believe that the issue should be a concern of the states and not the federal government. According to the Controlled Substance Act, (CSA) (21 U.S.C. § 811), there is no federally recognized difference between medical and recreational marijuana. Importantly no matter what the use is, marijuana is illegal in the United States as far as the federal government is concerned.

The United States of America is losing a major war: the war on drugs. And it is time for us, as a nation, to admit our country’s drug laws are doing more harm than good. The fight against drugs is not as effective as it was originally envisioned. Both the federal government and states have taken extreme measures and enforced strict laws to keep our cities and neighborhoods free of drugs. However, it is time for a change. And I believe this change should start by settling the conflict between federal and state drug laws. The federal government should decide all drug laws nationwide and give less say to the individual states. With that being said, I think the federal government should legalize recreational marijuana use nationwide and lessen the harsh policies enforced and severe punishment for recreational use of other drugs.

Marijuana is illegal in most cities in our country because of the effect it has on the human body. When marijuana is inhaled, THC is released into our bloodstream, brain, and organs. THC levels affect parts in the brain that focus on pleasure, memory, thinking, and coordination. Due to this, marijuana can cause long term damage to one’s brain. Or at least that’s what they want us to believe. There are no real cases where someone has suffered severe

There are a lot of effects that can occur and happen to people who smoke marijuana. For example, if you smoke marijuana wherever you want and it’s in public there can be children that will see and think it is okay to smoke. Suppose you were smoking and kids are near you they are second hand smoking and can be bad for them. When you smoke weed (marijuana) you get what’s called a “high”, a high is something that makes your eyes red and you feel like you’re outside of your body. If people are high while driving it can cause a car accident and can end in fatalities. The more people smoke the more they get addicted to it and sometimes can’t stop smoking it unless they go through rehab.

Marijuana has a variety of effects that can damage a person. There are short and long term effects. Long term effects usually occur if a person uses marijuana from their teenage years. “The short-term effects of marijuana occur because THC rapidly moves from the lungs into the blood. This chemical acts on cannabinoid receptors, leading to a "high" for users. These receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence concentration, thinking, sensory and time perception, pleasure, memory and coordination.” (Patterson 1). Short term effects of marijuana can include

Dr. Drew Pinsky once said “It would be malpractice to say cannabis isn't addictive”. In America, of the 7.3 million people charged were classified with illicit drug abuse in 2012, 4.3 million were with marijuana. The more legal and accessible marijuana gets, the worse it will be for society and the users. Marijuana needs to stay illegal. Marijuana has many effects that prove it needs to remain illegal. Marijuana largely and negatively affects your mental health, is horrible for your physical health, and ruins lives and is dangerous for the community. Looking at those three reasons we can see that marijuana needs to remain illegal because it largely affects your mental health, is terrible for your physical health, and wrecks lives and is dangerous

Scientists are still divided about addiction. Some believe that marijuana is not as addictive, while others claim that two out of every twenty marijuana users develop a dependence of some type to it or a more serious and dangerous illegal drug. Marijuana alters your perception and can lead to multiple problems such as impaired driving, falling, and other numerous injuries. Marijuana also produces what is called a high, which can lead to paranoia, enhanced or intense feelings or emotions that someone is already having. The side effect of marijuana like having the “munchies” can lead to obesity in the long run if marijuana is used long term. There also the downside that more people will have marijuana in their homes around small children, who may be able to get their hands on it, if not stored away properly. Since marijuana is a plant grown from seeds, it would be easy for someone to start growing marijuana and selling it for their own profit to anyone including kids. Some doctors may prescribe marijuana when it may not be medically necessary. Many poor people in need of money who are have prescribed marijuana for medical use may sell it or the seeds for cash, making it easier for drug dealers and kids to get their hands on it. Many others find it offensive to their religion. Marijuana has always been considered a gateway drug that leads to other drugs that are classified as being more hardcore like cocaine.

Though usually known for its effect of giving the user a sense of euphoria, marijuana can also influence the user mentally in a myriad of harmful ways. Coordination and thinking are just a two of the ways this drug can affect the mind. These effects are especially dangerous to the individual when driving. As stated by the author of the article Marijuana Has Harmful Individual and Social Consequences, marijuana is the most commonly found drug in the blood of drivers involved in accidents, in both minor and fatal accidents. (Marijuana Has Harmful Individual and Social Consequences, April 2015, par.11) Marijuana is also able to alter the functioning of the hippocampus and the orbitofrontal cortex, which allows the person to form new memories and shift their focus. (Marijuana Has Harmful Individual and Social Consequences, April 2015, par.9) Thus, with these negative effects on the brain considered, marijuana is not worth being legalized.

Marijuana, a speculated harmful gateway drug where ‘Marijuana raids are more harmful than the drug itself”(Ingraham, 2017). Is Marijuana really that harmful to be illegal? Marijuana is currently illegal in some states in the U.S. and Canada for recreational use, medical use or both. Some areas already legalized the use of Marijuana like California, Nevada, etc. which is causing controversy since other states and countries won’t. Marijuana should be legal as the facts and statistics are coming out, like, the health benefits, the Economic benefits and how a low-risk drug like Cannabis compares to other legal drugs.

That’s because the “Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction; that is, compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite the known harmful effects upon functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities.”Even though Marijuana isn’t a physical addiction(your body NOW needs the drug to survive) but its a mental addiction. Marijuana users feel like they need to smoke just to get through the day, so they can enjoy life, which is a contradiction, Marijuana is a depressant causing you to feel drowsy. People who claim Marijuana isn’t an addictive drug, they’re wrong. About 9 percent of people who use marijuana become dependent on it. It may not seem like a lot but the global number of people who used cannabis at least once in 2007 is estimated to be between 143 and 190 million people.

The first reason medical and recreation marijuana should be legal is, nobody has died because of marijuana but People die all the time from things that the US allows to be legalized . An example of this is cigarettes and alcohol, alcohol kills around 88,000 people a year, cigarettes kill around 480,000 people die a year. 0 people die from marijuana a year. So Things that the US has legalized are more deadly than what they won’t legalize. Another example is the long health term effects. Long term health effects of marijuana are loss in IQ but, the long term effects on heath off alcohol are death of brain cells, liver damage, cancer, depression. Some long term health

According to, Sarah Kershaw and Rebecca Cathcart’s article “Marijuana Is Gateway Drug for Two Debates,” the drug can be used “for medical and emotional problems, and can even help some battling to harder drugs.” Harder drugs such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and even alcohol; “The risk of addiction, they say, is less problematic than for alcohol and other drugs.” Unlike these harder drugs, marijuana is not addictive. It is proven that marijuana does not cause you to overdose or even put you in the hospital. Marijuana they say is “likely one of the safest substances we can interact with.” It does not cause as much harm as these other drugs; there are less

It has also proven to be able to bring in a substantial amount of revenue for certain states. However Marijuana does have its negative effects on the human body. Marijuana causes physical effects which includes increased heart and pulse rate, bloodshot eyes, and dry throat and mouth. Studies have shown that the earlier age people decide to use marijuana the more likely they will experiment with other drugs, and lose interest and are unmotivated to do any kind of schoolwork. It decreases your ability to drive by slowing down your ability to think properly and slows down you reflexes. Studies have also determined after long continued use individuals can become “burnt out” which makes the individual dull, slow moving, and inattentive.

The prohibition of marijuana has sparked a big debate in today’s society Views of a dangerous killer drug we once thought as common knowledge are now being proven wrong by science and it is time for our society to reassess based on our knowledge. Although many still view marijuana as a hazardous drug, it in fact has medical, economic and social benefits such as a lowering the cost of the war on drugs, reducing the prison population, generating tax revenue, and creating jobs. These are just a few of the many benefits that can come with the legalization of marijuana. As we learn more about marijuana and its effects we need to revisit our social, political and legal views on its use.