You must be high! Especially if you believe legalizing a substance that has more overall disadvantages than advantages is the right thing to do. Cannabis, also known as marijuana is the most abused illegal drug in the United States. The debate on the legalization of recreational marijuana has gone on for many years. As always, there are two sides to a debate. In the marijuana debate there are individuals who want marijuana to become legal and then there are the individuals who want marijuana to remain illegal. Recreational marijuana should remain illegal due to there being too many health risks. With marijuana being legal the number of dependent users will increase which can be harmful and the legalization of marijuana has had disastrous outcomes
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Drug dependence is the body’s physical need to a specific substance. A CNBC report found that marijuana is the leading substance dependence other than alcohol in the United States. With over 7 million Americans who claim substance abuse, 2/3 of them claim to be marijuana dependent. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) there are over 22 million monthly marijuana users in the United States. If marijuana was to be legalized that number would rise. An increase in the amount of marijuana users would lead to an increase in emergency room drug related patients and an increase in drug impaired driving. The NIDA reported that nearly 456000 emergency room visits in the United States had marijuana mentioned in the medical record. Marijuana can be a factor in highway crashes and deaths. The legalization of marijuana would increase the amount of drug related accidents. A clinical chemistry research journal by Dr. Rebecca L. Hartman and Dr. Marilyn A. Heustis; Cannabis Effects on Driving Skill, found evidence that suggested smoking marijuana was associated with substantial driving impairment and that THC in the blood led to poor judgement, concentration and a worse reaction time when behind the …show more content…
A few notable places that have legalized marijuana are Amsterdam and Colorado. In Amsterdam marijuana under the amount of 5 grams is considered legal and pot is allowed to be smoked in public places. To many the tourism boom in Amsterdam due to the legalization of weed in small amounts seemed like a success story, but that is where they are wrong. The legalization of marijuana led to Amsterdam becoming the first city in the Netherlands to ban students from smoking the drug at school because it became such a problem that the mayor of Amsterdam Eberhard van der laan declared “no smoking zones” near school property because students were arriving to school stoned reported by the UK’s Daily Mail. this just shows that marijuana legalization will affect the youth. 2014 was the first year recreational marijuana was made legal in Colorado. During that first year according to the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) the crime rate rose by 7 percent compared to the 2013 year. Also in a Huffington Post article which interviewed the president of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association Ernie Martinez, he spoke of how since the legalization of marijuana the “availability of black market marijuana is ever present and cheaper than legalized.” Even with government regulations, individuals are still finding ways to get weed
Drug dependence is the body’s physical need to a specific substance. A CNBC report found that marijuana is the leading substance dependence other than alcohol in the United States. With over 7 million Americans who claim substance abuse, 2/3 of them claim to be marijuana dependent. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) there are over 22 million monthly marijuana users in the United States. If marijuana was to be legalized that number would rise. An increase in the amount of marijuana users would lead to an increase in emergency room drug related patients and an increase in drug impaired driving. The NIDA reported that nearly 456000 emergency room visits in the United States had marijuana mentioned in the medical record. Marijuana can be a factor in highway crashes and deaths. The legalization of marijuana would increase the amount of drug related accidents. A clinical chemistry research journal by Dr. Rebecca L. Hartman and Dr. Marilyn A. Heustis; Cannabis Effects on Driving Skill, found evidence that suggested smoking marijuana was associated with substantial driving impairment and that THC in the blood led to poor judgement, concentration and a worse reaction time when behind the …show more content…
A few notable places that have legalized marijuana are Amsterdam and Colorado. In Amsterdam marijuana under the amount of 5 grams is considered legal and pot is allowed to be smoked in public places. To many the tourism boom in Amsterdam due to the legalization of weed in small amounts seemed like a success story, but that is where they are wrong. The legalization of marijuana led to Amsterdam becoming the first city in the Netherlands to ban students from smoking the drug at school because it became such a problem that the mayor of Amsterdam Eberhard van der laan declared “no smoking zones” near school property because students were arriving to school stoned reported by the UK’s Daily Mail. this just shows that marijuana legalization will affect the youth. 2014 was the first year recreational marijuana was made legal in Colorado. During that first year according to the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) the crime rate rose by 7 percent compared to the 2013 year. Also in a Huffington Post article which interviewed the president of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association Ernie Martinez, he spoke of how since the legalization of marijuana the “availability of black market marijuana is ever present and cheaper than legalized.” Even with government regulations, individuals are still finding ways to get weed