The legalization of Marijuana in Colorado has been great news for every user over the age of 21, but has anyone bother to ask the question “What negative impact will this decision have on the children of Colorado”? The legalization of marijuana will increase the risk of use by adolescents and teenagers in our schools. We are sending a message to our younger generation that it’s ok to get “high”. A quote by –Nine-Inch Nails “Kind of like a cloud I was up, way up in the sky and I was feeling some feelings you wouldn’t believe… I decided I was never coming down.” (1)
Being a young teenager myself, I was exposed to marijuana by the time I reached junior high. I would see my friends smoking pot behind the school and wonder to myself “What is so great about this drug”? I was so afraid to try it because of the stories that my mother would tell me or what the teachers would say during health class. Once I reached high school, I had several friends getting “high” every day. My first period was computer class and I could see how many of my friends didn’t want to do the assignments because they were completely zoned out. Nevertheless, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. So I decided to smoke pot one day at my friend’s house, and to my surprise I fell asleep. I was disappointed because I was told by my friends, how it will make you laugh and have a good time. Instead I ended up being paranoid and anxious and afraid my parents would notice my glazed look once I came home from school. I eventually stop smoking pot because of the affect it had on my ability to function in school and at home. Plus, I was looking for a part-time job and wanted to make sure I could pass a drug test.
The majority of people who support marijuana use, be...
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...ses. There is also a financial benefit of growing and selling pot, supports say it will help provide jobs, which in turn will help the economy. We need to look at the message we are sending out to young people. Supporters of marijuana will argue that, “It is the parents fault if kids have access to their pot or I don’t have children so this issues doesn’t apply to me”. My response, would be, “One day you will have children and how can you tell them not to use drugs when you voted for the legalization of marijuana for recreation use”.
Works Cited
1. Bomier, B. (2014), Renaissance of the American School Building. Anoka, MN: Environmental Resource Councilhttp://envrc.org/content/marijuana-booklet.pdf
2. National Survey on Drug Use and Health
3. Dr. Vokow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
4. National Families in Action Campaign, Jan 3 2014
Marijuana is influencing children as young as 10 to smoke, it decreases your brain cells rapidly, and can cause you to face jail time. In the article “Legalize This!” by Douglas N. Husak it states “Our alleged concern for the welfare of children seem to vanish as soon as they actually begin to use illicit drugs. When a child is caught with drugs, sympathies are put aside and mercy is seldom forthcoming” (68). Due to their surroundings, most children become what they see. If they see all the adults smoking marijuana freely around them, of course their going to think it’s okay to smoke marijuana. They believe with marijuana staying illegal, it should be impossible for them to smoke weed. Once the child smokes illegal drugs, they’re no longer seen as being innocent. They’ll be punished severely for their actions. The novel “High Price” by Dr. Carl Hart, discusses Dr. Harts personal story growing up around poverty, drugs, and turning his life around to better himself. The text states “The U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics examined the connections between drugs and crime in prisoners, analyzing data from 1997 to 2004. It found that only a third of state prisoners committed their crimes under the influence of drugs and only around the same proportion were addicted” (110). Drugs have proven time and time again to influence prisoners to do wrong especially when they’ve become
Mekdlawit Demissie IGED 130-06 Informative Speech Outline Topic: Marijuana Speech Goal: To inform the audience about the long and short term effects of marijuana usage. Central Idea: Marijuana is the most commonly used drug amongst young people in the United States. Introduction: I. Attention getter:
About one out of five 10th graders and about 1 out of four high school seniors used marijuana in the past month (Facts for Teens, 1). It is the second most popular drug among teens in the US (Encarta, 1). Teens, ages 12-17, that use marijuana weekly are nine times more likely than non-users to experience with illegal drugs and alcohol (Fed. Study, 1). More 13 & 14 year olds are using drugs, fifteen pe...
This legalization allowed anyone to smoke and possess up to an ounce of marijuana as long as you are over the age of 21. Colorado is not just making a difference for the people that need it medically but even a difference for the people that do not need it at all. Since they legalized the drug in Colorado, petty arrests have decreased from almost 6,000 yearly to 120 yearly. As an added bonus, Colorado made a profit of almost seventy million dollars in marijuana tax revenue . This money went towards improving schools and the community. The alcohol revenue earned grew and just under forty two million in the same year. 19.6 million will go to the education system for Colorado in comparison to the previous year when there was only 13.9 million going towards the education (Ryan). Not only did it create revenue for the community and school systems, it also created many open jobs for people of the area. It also helps provide information about medical marijuana and where it comes from .
Macleod, J., Oakes, R., Copello, A., Crome, I., Egger, M., Hickman, M., & ... Smith, G. (2004). Psychological and social sequelae of cannabis and other illicit drug use by young people: a systematic review of longitudinal, general population studies. Lancet,363(9421), 1579-1588.
Many could argue that marijuana is destructive physically as well as mentally. “The National Institute on Drug Abuse says marijuana can cause heart irregularities, lung problems, and addiction” (Welch). “One joint can be just as damaging to [the lungs] as smoking at least two and a half cigarettes” (Ruff). According to Dr. Tom Wright, director of a substance abuse treatment center for adolescents in Rockford, “teens may be especially sensitive to marijuana’s effects because their brains are still being formed” (MJ Rebuttal). However, the marijuana legalization proposition would have tight restrictions and regulations by the states that would eliminate some of those issues, such as age. These facts are not consistent; the evidence is not backed from reliable sources. One institute is referred to, but more experts are needed to verify the information.
The legalization of marijuana has been a highly debated topic for many of years. Since the first president to the most recent, our nation’s leaders have consumed the plant known as weed. With such influential figures openly using this drug why is it so frowned upon? Marijuana is considered a gateway drug, a menace to society, and mentally harmful to its consumers. For some people weed brings a sense of anxiety, dizziness, or unsettling feeling. Like alcohol, tobacco or any other drug, those chemicals may not respond well with their body. For other people marijuana brings joy, a sense of relief, and takes the edge off of every day stress. For those who are associated with cannabis, purposes usually range from a relaxant, or cash crop, to more permissible uses such as medicine, and ingredient to make so many other materials. We now need to look at what would change if marijuana were legal. Benefits to the economy and agriculture, health issues, and crime rates are three areas worth looking at. Deliberating on the pros and cons of this plant we can get a better understanding for marijuana. From there it will be easier to make a clear consensus on what is best for the nation.
...e legalization of marijuana in the United States would drastically reduce crime in our cities and form a more productive society through its positive uses. In accomplishing these goals we are bettering our nation and making society safer for future children in America.. The fact remains, though, that alcohol and tobacco, which are two "proven addictive" drugs, remain legal in our nation today, whereas marijuana, a proven "non-addictive drug", is statistically shown to have not caused a death from overdose since its existence to the present date. It appears as though the legislative decisions concerning marijuana law policy is unbalanced, but our nation will never conserve funds due to government spending, and our medical treatments will never totally be as effective without the unconditional legalization of the Cannabis Sativa plant, otherwise known as marijuana
The legalization of marijuana has the potential to bring our economy back to life if it were to be legalized. There are a number of ways in which legalization could improve the economy. We could use the revenue from taxes on marijuana to provide for a better quality of life for Americans in need. Legalizing marijuana would also save us money by cutting the cost of putting someone in jail for harmless marijuana related charges that waste tax money. Also it would put more money into circulation by keeping the profits off the black market and into the legal and taxed market. With an estimated twenty-five million active marijuana smokers in America that consume nearly thirty-one million pounds of marijuana each year, we are missing out on extreme revenue that this country cannot afford to go without for much longer (Krulick).
My best friend used to smoke marijuana on a regular basis. Over time, he developed many obvious bad habits and changed his life style tremendously. He started getting lazy with schoolwork, and did not show much interest in anything at all. His parents noticed all these side effects that had been occurring but were unaware that their son smoked marijuana. After the grades fell so much, they decided to take him to get checked out because they were afraid he had developed some sort of ADD. They come to find out that because of him smoking so much marijuana it had led to brain problems, memory problems and affected his thinking skills. He was unable to stay concentrated on something and constantly was out of breath when any physical activity took place. My friend finally quit smoking marijuana because he saw what it was doing to his life. Many teens try marijuana not knowing all the side effects that come with this drug. This drug has many misconceptions from when it is really legal to what marijuana will actually do to your body. People think that marijuana is the most harmless drug because one never hears of people dying from it or getting deathly ill. This is false because marijuana does things to the body that can not be seen from the outside. The majority of the damage is in the brain and lungs which can get extremely dangerous. All the bad side effects from this drug will really harm people’s bodies and ruin their futures and lives.
The use of drugs and mind-alternating substances has been a part of society for decades. The ‘high’ that people attain from the use of such substances is very attractive and exciting however, the effects of this use are minimized. Particularly for youth, a group of individuals who are seeking independence and experimentation, drug use represents the balance between taking risks and taking responsibility for one’s actions. However, the developmental processes of adolescents are known to not encompass the maturity required to fully think through such decisions. As such, the use of a ‘smaller-scale’ drug like marijuana is even more minimized. The purpose of this paper is to discuss what the risks of using marijuana are for youths, why they are the most affected, how this problem has progressed over the last three decades, and what preventative measures and treatment options are in place. It will also discuss what schools, parents, and government agencies could be doing to help improve the issue, and the impact that this issue is having on society.
For thousands of years human beings have attempted to find ways to get passed the struggles of their lives. With the pain of the world stopping people from enjoying simple pleasures, sometimes there is a need for help. Marijuana brings millions of people relief from the pain they feel on a day-to-day basis. This completely natural plant which helped so many people has puzzled the leaders of our nation for a long time. The THC in marijuana causes its users to experience a mild-huluciginic or high. The effect that marijuana has on a person has prevented the product from being legalized. Many other details about the plant, like the speculation of it being a gateway drug, have put another blockage on its legalization. Even though there are speculations about the plant, the benefit that it brings to the table most definitely out way its disadvantages. Marijuana can also alleviate several symptoms associated with cancer and Aids treatments and disorders. While Marijuana is effective as a medicine, it is also extremely lucrative. The economic benefits that Marijuana brings to the table are endless. Upon marijuana’s legalization, the economy would experience an immediate influx. Legalization of Marijuana would also drastically reduce crime in our cities and form a more productive society through its positive uses. The benefits that marijuana brings medically and economically are considerable enough to legalize its use medically or recreational.
Many experts fear that social cost increase dramatically. That means that because of the higher consumption rate, the number of health issues caused by marijuana consumption will increase. Furthermore, “there is plenty of evidence that drug-using employees are less productive and less healthy” (Walters, John P. “No surrender: the drug war saves lives”). What goes along with this is that a higher consumption rate also affects school. Experts fear that it has “a negative effect on high school graduation rates, college enrollment, and youth employment” (“Legalisation of Marijuana” Student Resource Center).
The topic of Legalizing Marijuana has been a very conversational argumentative issue in the American society and moreover in the American politics today. There are many good arguments on why Marijuana should be legalized and my argument is based on facts and supporting details to prove why Marijuana should be legalized. The legalization of marijuana would be profitable to our government and economy, according to Evan Wood, the founder of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. The U.S. taxpayers have spent an estimated $2.5 trillion on the war on drugs. The Legalization of Marijuana would have a medical use, and also useful in some religions; after all Legalizing Marijuana would eliminate the cost of keeping Marijuana illegal which cost the U.S government in excess of billions annually.
What is a drug? A drug is “a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being” (Drug, n.d). We the people have established that marijuana is an illegal drug. Lately around the United States we are starting to change the rules for that. There are states that have deemed it O.K. to sell marijuana to the public for health reasons. With this happening a lot of things are being brought up. One of the main topics that come up is the economic value that this revenue will generate and how it will affect the states.