Legalization Of Legalizing Marijuana

For the past decade, the regulation and legalization of recreational marijuana has been a controversial topic in the United States, provoking numerous debates among politicians and policy makers. Marijuana, according to “Marijuana Legalization and Regulation”, has been legalized in five states that have changed their laws to allow small amounts of marijuana: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington D.C. The legalization of the drug across all 50 states is becoming more popular than ever before, with various new polls showing that more than half the country is in favor of legalizing marijuana. However, the legalization of recreational marijuana can and will be detrimental to the 18 and under population because of the harms it poses.
She finds substances like “pills, marijuana, half an ounce of powdered cocaine, and half a dozen vials of ‘ready rock,’ or crack cocaine” (Moore 73). This situation in The Other Wes Moore is a prime example of the idea that exposure to marijuana can lead to drug abuse and other drug use. The article “Want to Know More?” states that long term studies of high school students’ patterns of drug use show that most young people who use other highly addictive and potentially life-threatening drugs have tried marijuana first. The idea that the use of one, seemingly harmless substance can lead to teenage use of more injurious drugs is not surprising. Just the exposure to marijuana can affect the brain during development, a process which continues into the early 20s, and the effects may include changes to the brain that make other drugs more appealing. Animal research also shows that early exposure to marijuana makes opioid drugs (like Vicodin or heroin) more pleasurable (“Want to Know More?”). The exposure to marijuana as a first-time drug user can lead to implications with more problematic, dangerous drugs – just a preview of what is to happen if marijuana is legalized across the
After using marijuana, short-term effects include altered senses and sense of time and changes in mood. More hazardous effects of the substance are difficulty with thinking and problem-solving and impaired memory as well as impaired body movement, which is especially harmful since the age that high school students begin to drive and become more independent is also the age at which marijuana usage is at its highest. The long-term effects are even more detrimental towards brain and body health. “When marijuana users begin using as teenagers, the drug may reduce thinking, memory, and learning functions and affect how the brain builds connections between the areas necessary for these functions” (“Marijuana”). Perhaps the most lethal long-term effect is that of addiction. Teenagers are more susceptible to this long-term problem because of their undeveloped brains. “Because human brain circuitry is not fully mature until the early twenties, teenagers are especially vulnerable to addiction” (“Juvenile Drug Abuse”). The more serious long-term health effects are physically and mentally worsening. Physical effects include breathing problems, increased heart rate and problems with child development during and after a pregnancy, and mental effects usually are hallucinations, paranoia, and worsening symptoms in patients with schizophrenia