Recently, all of us have been taken aback by the idea of legalizing marijuana. The explanation of politicians, why it has to be legalized, turned out to be even more shocking. They claim that the imprisonment that is the result of smoking, buying and selling marijuana can affect the health of these people much more severely than the consuming this weed. Let us get some more insight into what marijuana is.
According to Mahmoud A. ElSohly, the Research Professor at the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Mississippi, Marijuana is a mixture of the dried and shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of Cannabis sativa – the hemp plant. The mixture can be green, brown, or gray. Stronger forms of the drug include sinsemilla, hashish, and hash oil. Of the more than 500 chemicals in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, is responsible for many of the drug’s psychotropic (mind-altering) effects. It is this chemical that changes how the brain works, distorting how the mind perceives the world (ElSohly, 2014). Marijuana is commonly smoked using pipes, water pipes called “bongs,” or hand-rolled cigarettes called “joints” or “nails.” It is sometimes also combined with tobacco in partially hollowed-out cigars, known as “blunts.” It can also be brewed as a tea or mixed with food (ElSohly, 2014).
Just after the first inhaling, the heart starts beating extremely rapidly, the person feels completely disoriented, cannot control the movements, but feel very high.
Unfortunately, this pleasant feeling does not last long. After half an hour, the person starts to feel depressed, become anxious and irritated. Some people can even get a panic attack or feel the urge to commit suicide. People, who try to quit smoking marijuana, start to suffer from the withdrawal symptoms. This is definitely an addictive habit that can lead to the dramatic consequences. An estimated nine percent of the people, who smoke the marijuana, will become dependent. People, who begin using marijuana before the age of 18, are 4-7 times more likely to become addicted than adults. It is estimated also that about 1 in 6 people who start using this weed as a teen, and 25% to 50% percent of those, who use it every day, become addicted to marijuana (Winters, Lee, 2008).
Those, who regularly smoke marijuana, put their fertility at a serious risk because marijuana changes the structure of the sperm cells and destroys the menstrual cycle in the women’s organism. The babies born to marijuana-addicted people are undersized, underweight, and their brain abilities are limited.
It also influences the brain structure of adult people. The memory is deteriorating very fast, and the IQ drops many points. It also causes the vessel constrictions, which can result in a stroke or the heart attack in the future. It is also known that marijuana contains twice more carcinogens, which cause lung cancer, than ordinary cigarettes.
Our politicians claim that the legalization of the marijuana will significantly decrease the violence among the criminals because the imposed taxes will considerably reduce the profit from this business. The government will not have to spend so much money on the persecuting of marijuana sellers, and will have additional money for building children’s playground, parks, and hospitals.
They also claim that this way it will be safer to smoke marijuana, because the quality of it will be controlled by the special control system, and more people will be able to receive proper treatment, which requires using this weed as it has already proved to be helpful for people, who is suffering from such diseases as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder and for those, who is undergoing chemotherapy.
They are sure that the prohibition of marijuana creates an image of it as of so-called “forbidden fruit”, and the temptation to try it becomes even stronger than if it was allowed. But creating a freedom in these terms will mean depriving them of possibility to be free from the drug addiction in the future.
They also do not mention the fact that since the marijuana erases the moral boundaries, the person is much more likely to commit a crime, robbery, rape or vandalism. The risk of car incidences is also extremely high because the alertness is deteriorated, concentration is poor, coordination is lost, and the time of reaction is extremely slow.
Legalizing marijuana will not only make this drug more accessible for the adults whose fear to be punished restrained them from trying it by this time, but also creates the risk of falling marijuana into the children hands. For the authorities, the effect of marijuana on the personality has a clear advantage: it dumbs people down thus making them easier to manipulate.
Works cited:
ElSohly MA. Potency Monitoring Program quarterly report number 124. Reporting period: 12/16/2013 -03/15/2014. Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse; 2014. Web. Accessed on 27 Jan 2016 at https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/marijuana;
Winters, K. C. & Lee, C.Y. S. Likelihood of developing an alcohol and cannabis use disorder during youth: Association with recent use and age. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2008; 92, 239–247. Web. Accessed on 27 Jan 2016 at http://teens.drugabuse.gov/node/952;