Marijuana

Drugs are found everywhere and most likely everyone is using them. Larger percentages of teenagers are tempted by the usage of illegal drugs. Many people take drugs because they believe it will help them think better, be more popular, make them fit in, or become better athletes. Some are curious and figure that one try would not hurt. Often it is because someone had convinced them that taking drugs would make them feel good or for medical purpose. However, the truth is drugs do not solve problems that occur in our lives, but instead harm and affects us. Therefore, marijuana usage should be prohibited from other usages but legalized for medical purpose only.

First of all, most common drugs are marijuana, heroin, GHB, ecstasy, cocaine, crack, and nicotine. According to the Brown University health education center common drug such as, “marijuana is the dried flowers, leaves and stems of the Cannabis sativa plant. The main active ingredient in marijuana is THC (delta 9 tetrhydrocannabinol). Marijuana is usually smoked, using a pipe, a bong or by rolling a joint.”

However, researchers had been comparing the connection between drug usages in people but the definite factors have not been accomplished yet. There can be many reasons for this particular drug to be kept illegal. For example, according to Marry Williams book titled Marijuana, “marijuana is a harmful and addictive drug that has short-term and long time effects. Short-term effects are memory loss, anxiety, and a decrease in cognitive and motor skill; long-term consequences include a weakened immune system, increased risk of cancer, respiratory diseases, and heart problems.”

Other reasons for this drug to be illegal are problem that has been increasing where more teens are in treatment for marijuana use than for any other drug or for alcohol. Also, adolescent admissions to substance abuse facilities grew from 43 percent from 1994 to 60 percent in 1999. Marijuana is much stronger now than it was decades ago. In addition, according to data from the Potency Monitoring Project at the University of Mississippi, the THC content of commercial-grade marijuana rose from an average of 3.71 percent in 1985 to an average of 5.57 percent in 1998; in U.S. it increased from 3.2 percent in 1977 to 12.8 percent in 1997.

According to ……numerous single-dose studies have shown that THC produces a dose-dependent reduction in performance on laboratory tasks measuring memory, attention, reaction time and motor control. There is also growing evidence from experimental and epidemiological studies that recent marijuana use reduces driving ability and increases the risk of car crashes, particularly when drives consume alcohol and marijuana. When

Another research was done by Reddy, Resnicow, Omardien, and Kambaran, 2007 in “Prevalence and correlates of substance use among high school students in South Africa and the United States.” This particular research determined that the rates of past-month alcohol and marijuana use were lower among South African students than among US students, but rates of illicit hard drug use were higher. Correlates of use in the two countries differed. This study also illustrated that for example, female gender was protective against tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in South Africa, whereas in the United States it was protective only against marijuana use.

Although marijuana is illegal and its possession, use, sale carry heavy prison sentences, fines and disciplinary consequence what about the medical use of marijuana? Coming to the point to legalize, marijuana should be legal for medicinal purpose only and prohibited from other usages. For example, according to_____ “for certain individuals with AIDS and the 15 percent of chemotherapy patients whose nausea is not relieved by currently available medicines, marijuana may