Marijuana is a dangerous illegal drug that comes from the Indian hemp plant Cannabis. It is the most widely used of all illicit drugs, giving off the false guise that it is not as dangerous as it truly is. It contains over 420 different chemicals, including d-alpha-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). As with other mood-altering drugs, marijuana raises the levels of dopamine in the brain. After the drug’s effects wear off, the user is left craving more. In the year 1999 alone, over 200,000 Americans entered substance abuse treatment with marijuana as their primary drug. If legalization occurred, the number of users would grow exponentially, and we, as future taxpayers, would be forced to support their immoral habits. Along with mental addiction, marijuana has many adverse effects including: hallucinations, paranoia, impaired short-term memory and reaction time, difficulty with concentration and coordination, loss of motivation, risk of infertility, coughing, heart and lung damage, increased risk of lung cancer, and a weakened immune system just to name a few. It is the job of the US government to protect its citizens from harm, legalizing marijuana would do the exact opposite. I already know what one of your major arguments is going to be: marijuana should be legal because alcohol and tobacco are legal and they cause many more deaths. However, there are some serious flaws in this argument. For one, because marijuana is illegal, it has been much more difficult for scientists to conduct research on the long-term effects of using the drug- while they have been doing controlled studies on alcohol and tobacco for decades. The facts are that marijuana is a stimulant, depressant, and hallucinogen- so it exhibits similar traits to both of these substances and many others. Tobacco, as we know, is one of the major causes for lung cancer is the US. Marijuana contains 50-70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than cigarettes, along with the fact that marijuana users inhale more deeply and for longer than cigarette smokers. Marijuana increases the heart rate of the user by 20-100 percent and it is 4.8 times more likely that the user will have a heart attack in the first hour after smoking. As a hallucinogen and depressant, marijuana is extremely dangerous for drivers. Marijuana impairs judgment, interferes with depth perception, and slows reflexes. Also, while alcohol and its effects are usually eradicated relatively quickly, marijuana can have effects on the user for days after using and can be detected in their system after up to 90 days. Now, think about it, if marijuana were made legal, people in public transportation, such as school bus drivers, would be able to get high on weekends, and then drive the American youth in the week. That’s not a risk I think any of us are willing to take. Yes, tobacco and alcohol are legal, but the US government is doing everything in their power to inform their citizens not to use these drugs. You can’t watch TV for a half hour without seeing a commercial about the harmful effects of cigarettes or the .08 BAC for alcohol. However, the government trying to illegalize these substances would result in a giant fiasco for it is much harder to take something away from the population that they’ve had forever, than it would be to keep prohibition (which is what the US government is successfully doing with marijuana at the present. In addition to the harmful effects of marijuana alone, it is commonly mixed with other drugs and substances which increase the risks exponentially. It is a gateway drug that increases the users risk to move onto even worse drugs. An individual who uses marijuana is 17 times more likely to use cocaine than someone who has never used marijuana. In Holland, where, as most of you know, marijuana is legal, the drug problem has grown substantially. Not only is there the expected increase in marijuana users since the drug is legal, but heroin addiction levels have tripled as well. The European drug model is not successful and not the way the US should go. So wouldn’t this allow us to infer that legalizing marijuana would only increase the war on drugs, except against different drugs? Now is the issue of medical marijuana, of which I am sure you will try to praise for its numerous health benefits and how it is a medical panacea. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine conducted a study to assess these so called healthful benefits. They concluded that smoked marijuana is not recommended for the treatment of any disease condition. In addition, there are more effective medications that are currently available. Marijuana weakens the immune system, so giving it to patients with HIV/ AIDS and compromised immune systems would actually speed the progression of the disease. Recent studies by the Mayo Clinic show that THC is actually less effective than standard treatments in helping patients regain lost appetites. Besides all the proven information that THC is not the most effective way to treat many diseases, a synthetic version of the drug, Marinol already exists. Medical marijuana already exists in a pill form and has been legal since 1985. It is much more effective than smoked marijuana at treating nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite; even though there are other effective medications to treat all three of these. So doesn’t it seem a little strange that people are still pushing so hard for the legalization of medical marijuana even though it already exists. Clearly it is just a guise to legalize all forms of marijuana for recreational use. Legalization activists have turned the argument from decriminalization to a way to help those with incurable diseases. Really?! The argument for medical marijuana is a load of crap, developed by the extreme narcissists who plague this country and only care about their own bodily pleasures, rather than the good of the nation as a whole. Contrary to popular belief, marijuana use is not as widespread as many activists would like you to believe. Only 1 in 7 10th graders are current marijuana users and that number has been dropping steadily. Legalizing marijuana would send a bad message to most high-schoolers: If the government thinks it should be legal, than it clearly cannot be doing too much harm to me. Drugs users and addicts, especially young users would shoot up. The argument of free will is wholly wrong here as well. Marijuana is addictive. Addictions cause the user to develop a mental craving and need for the drug. They no longer have the free will to make that choice as their body needs the drug. The War on Drugs has been an ongoing battle against harmful illicit drugs for decades now. Many men have lost their lives fighting to protect others for what they believed in. Legalizing marijuana would mean they would have died in vain. Yes, billions of dollars have been spent, but the results shouldn’t be measured by money spent but rather the thousands of American Youth who have been saved from the horrors of drugs. The war on drugs is an ongoing struggle that will never be completely 100% solved. However, just like any other social issue, the struggle should not be abandoned. We wouldn’t ever give up on reducing poverty or increasing education just because we have eliminated all of the problems. It simply isn’t plausible. The majority of drug users seek treatment, not ending up in jail. Only 5 percent of inmates in federal prisons are there simply for possession. Crime rates would actually increase and jails would fill more if marijuana was legalized. This is because crime and drug use go hand-in-hand and with US government regulation and taxation, marijuana prices would increase. Also six times more homicides are committed by people under the influence. While possession charges for marijuana would be gone, the influx of new users would cause more violence related charges.
