Haven Lerman is the bright teen daughter of one of our writers here at OCW and she recently wrote an essay on marijuana legalization for her English class. We thought it would be great for our readers to see the legalization pros, cons, and melodrama from a teen’s perspective.
Legalizing Marijuana- A teen’s perspective
The topic I chose is legalizing marijuana. I choose this topic because I feel it’s a major issue and because I know that people have a lot of views and opinions about whether or not the drug should be made legal. I also know that there are a lot of pro’s and con’s about legalizing marijuana. I know that marijuana can help people with cancer. It helps them because the pain they’re in makes them nauseated, and when they take marijuana it can help them from throwing up. I also know that marijuana has hemp fibers. These hemp fibers can be used in a lot of other products.
I can assume that legalizing marijuana would have both positive and negative effects. A positive effect would be that if marijuana were made legal, it could help our country out of the recession we are currently stuck in. Also, if it were made legal, then it would open up more jobs, such as growing and selling the drug, so fewer people would be on unemployment. It could also help because if it were taxed, it could help the government as well. I can also assume that marijuana would also have a few negative effects. A negative effect would be that marijuana is known as a “gateway drug,” and if it’s made legal then it could possibly lead people to using other harsher drugs. Another negative effect marijuana may have would be that having more people smoking or consuming the drug could lead to their making stupid decisions. I can imagine that if marijuana were made legal then more people wouldn’t use the drug anymore. I feel that most teens only smoke marijuana because they think it will make them look cool or act rebellious or seem older. Or on the other hand I can also imagine that maybe the exact opposite would happen and it would cause even more teenagers to use it. I can also imagine that if made legal, marijuana could lead to more petty crime and more accidents. These accidents could include people driving while they are high.
When I was searching for information about my topic, legalizing marijuana, I started on Google. Once I was on Google, one of the phrases I typed in was “information medical marijuana”. After I hit enter, I was brought to a list of links and one of these links lead me to a website titled Compassionate Coalition. While I was on this website, I found a decent amount of information on legalizing marijuana. Some information stated that “marijuana is frequently beneficial in the treatment of serious medical conditions; medical marijuana has been used for the following medical conditions: AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and chronic pain.” (Compassionate Coalition page 1 of 2).
Another website I was brought to when I typed in “information medical marijuana” was N.I.D.A. While on this website, I found a great deal of information on medical marijuana. Some of this information said that in 2008 studies show that only 14.6% of 8th graders who smoke marijuana will be lifetime users. It also stated that others only smoked it because it was the popular thing to do. (N.I.D.A. page 3 of 4). At this website I also learned that “marijuana is normally smoked as a cigarette (joint) or out of a pipe or bong.” (N.I.D.A page 1 of 4). Another thing I learned when I typed in “marijuana” was “that marijuana comes from the dried buds (and leaves too, sometimes) of the Cannabis Sativa plant” (Answers.com). When I typed in “legalize marijuana” I was brought to a website named California Medical Marijuana Information. While on this website I discovered that “37% marijuana use (given medically) is used to help both aids related illnesses and mood disorders” (California Medical Marijuana Information page 1 of 1).
Another website I typed in was “Norml.org,” where I found a lot of information about marijuana and legalizing it. I learned that “The smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat than alcohol or tobacco.” (Norml.org). I also discovered that “73 % of respondents said they would vote for making marijuana legal.” (Norml.org). I also came across a bit of information stating, “marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 100 million Americans. According to government surveys, some 25 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 14 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use.” (Norml.org). This website was the most helpful during my research.
While I was researching information about my topic, I not only used the Internet, but I also used some of the books from my school’s library. When I was flipping through the books I came up with a list of positives and negatives ideas about legalizing marijuana. On the positive side, I wrote the following: if taxed it could help the government; not as addictive as smoking or drinking; and helps people with illnesses. On the negative side I wrote that legalizing marijuana could possibly lead to people using harsher drugs and making stupid decisions.
When I chose the topic legalizing marijuana, I assumed that I would end up finding many reasons why marijuana shouldn’t be legal. I thought if marijuana were made legal then the crime and car accident rates would shoot up. I imagined that the only reason so many people wanted the drug to be legal so was that they could get “high” and not have to worry about being caught. After all of the research I did on my topic, I believe that the legalization of marijuana is a very good idea. I have never smoked “weed” but I can only assume that not everyone uses it just to seem “cool”.
I know that many people smoke “mary jane” to reduce their pain. For example, medical marijuana helps people with sleeping problems and depression. Marijuana has also been proven to help people with glaucoma. Some of the symptoms of using marijuana are, “dry mouth, delayed reaction, blood shot eyes, hunger (or the munchies), relaxation, and sleepiness.” (Acde page 1 of 1). The drug should be legalized because it helps so many people in so many ways. It should also be legalized because the plant itself has hemp fibers that they can be used in so many products. “Hemp fibers are made from the cannabis plant” (Ask.com) and can be used in many products including “ paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food, fuel, and for medical purposes.” (Wikipedia).
I know that many people may feel that if marijuana were made legal then everyone would turn in to “pot heads”, but that isn’t true. While the drug may have that effect on a few, that doesn’t mean that it will happen to everyone. I know plenty of people who do smoke or consume the drug and they aren’t any different from those who don’t. Most of these people don’t want many to know they use the drug because it is illegal and they don’t want to be judged by their decisions. If it were made legal then people would be less likely to judge them as harshly. These so called “stoners” are your friends, neighbors, and co-workers and just because they choose to use the drug doesn’t mean you should treat them any differently.
There are many reasons why the drug shouldn’t be legal, such as people could abuse the drug or it could cause more kids to use it. I noticed that for every reason I found why the drug shouldn’t be legal, I found two reasons why it should. Medical marijuana can help in so many ways and if taxed and sold, it could help our government. Marijuana doesn’t make people want to go out and kill or commit crimes. In fact it doesn’t make people want to do much at all. If anything, it makes people more mellow and hungry than anything else. “Every year around 400,00 people die from tobacco, 100,000 people die from alcohol, 20,000 people die from other legal drugs, 15,000 die from all other illegal drugs, 2,000 people die from caffeine, 500 die from aspirin and only 5 die from marijuana related accidents.” (Wikipedia.com). “No one has ever died from marijuana overdose, it’s nearly impossible.” (Compassionate coalition page 1 of 2).
I suppose the debate on whether or not marijuana should be legal will never end. When I started this report I never thought I would be leaning this far toward legalizing marijuana.
Works Cited
“Marijuana symptoms.” Adce. N.p., nd. Web.2 May 2010.
“Where does marijuana come from?.” Answers.com. N.p., nd. Web.1 May 2010.
“Hemp fibers.” Ask.com. N.p., nd. Web.2 May 2010.
“Medical Marijuana use.” California Medical Marijuana Information. N.p., nd. Web.1 May 2010.
Compassionate Coalition. N.p., nd. Web.3 May 2010. Path: Compassionate Coalition.org.
“Marijuana.” N.I.D.A. N.p., n.d., Web. 28 April 2010.
“Marijuana.” Norml. N.p., nd. Web.1 May 2010.
“What is hemp used in?.” Wikipedia. N.p., nd. Web.2 May 2010.
Tags: cannabis, fun, hemp, magazine, marijuana, medical, News, ocw, videos
Nicola
I think that the governaments are very bastards.. and many people speaks without informations about nothing, everytime, they are ignorant and immature…this is the society…I hate this bad world and the marijuana it’s a way to be different….yes, and I like it, what’s the problem?the soldier kill and are gratificated, while I smoke, I speak of the false flags of governaments and I’m the black sheep…sure