Stay Away From Mary Jane: Arguments Against Non-Medical Marijuana

Do you think that non-medical marijuana should be legalized or not? There are endless controversies going around on whether this drug should be allowed. The fact is: marijuana is a drug. It is blatantly obvious that marijuana would do more harm than what good it can offer the society.

A drug is a drug. Marijuana, contrary to popular belief, is in fact, addicting. People smoke it and find a sudden temporary relief and relaxation from the drug and starts depending on it like it's one of life's necessities. Although it is an individual’s choice on what they intake and do with their own body, when someone is under the influence of drugs, they are not fully aware of the things happening in their surroundings and may risk other people’s own safety. For example, a person who's high off of marijuana will have poor judgement and driving skills due to loss of coordination and focus. This will increase the likeliness of the person getting in a car accident and may even risk other people’s safety. A study was conducted in Memphis, TN and out of the 150 reckless drivers that researchers tested for drugs, 33 percent of them were marijuana positive and 12 percent were positive for both marijuana and cocaine. Data shows that people under the influence of marijuana have the same judgement and coordination as those of drunk drivers. Casual sex due to lack of proper judgement will also increase the likeliness of unwanted pregnancy or receiving sexually transmitted diseases.

Aside from the short-term effects such as memory loss, lack of concentration and focus, lack of judgement, coordination, distorted perception and increased heart rate, studies show that marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals. 60 out of the 400 chemicals in marijuana are cannabinoids, which causes a series of health risks that impacts a person's mental and physical being. Some risks include deteriorated memory, anxiety, increased risk of cancer of the throat, lungs, mouth and chronic bronchitis. It has also been found that smoking marijuana deposits about three to five times more tar in your lungs than smoking tobacco. It also shows that smoking three to four joints of marijuana every day causes as much harm in your respiratory system compared to smoking a full pack of cigarettes everyday.

Besides from all these hazards that marijuana poses to us, it is also believed to be the "gateway drug" to other more dangerous drugs like cocaine, heroin and tobacco. The Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse in Columbia University has found that people who smoke marijuana are 85 times more likely to move on to harder drugs. It has also been found that 60 percent of young adults who smoke marijuana before they turn 15 use cocaine later in their life. If marijuana is legalized and people move on to harder drugs, debates regarding the legalization of those drugs will occur.

Is alcohol not enough? Alcohol alone has already been a cause of many deaths every year because of alcohol poisoning and drunk driving. Although it is true that marijuana has some desirable temporary effects – the feeling of being ‘high’ – isn’t that the whole reason why alcohol is here? Legalizing marijuana will not assure that people will use it responsibly. Why would you want to legalize marijuana and pose even more hazards to yourself and others? We don’t need any more threats in our society. We don’t need marijuana.