Last year I did my speech on being green, and how I thought we all had to do our part to make the world a cleaner and safer place to live. This year I am doing my speech on another kind of green—marijuana and whether or not it should be legal and if so, for what purposes.
Although I firmly believe that medical marijuana has its rightful place as being legal in our society to alleviate the pain and sufferings of cancer victims and help treat eye diseases like glaucoma, there is no reason to extend this and make it accessible any further. Besides, I bet more than half the people that use “medical” marijuana shops suffer from nothing more then the urge to get more marijuana. True, revenue could be raised by tax income from the sale of marijuana and there is something to be said for getting drug dealers, often armed and dangerous, off the streets. Also, if it was legal i guess some of the sheen of coolness would go up in smoke and maybe usage would go down. But I believe the downside outweighs the positive effects of full legalization.
THC (the active ingredient found in the cannabis plant) is physically and mentally addictive and can cause extreme intoxication, impairment and ultimately cancer after long-term use. The types of marijuana, like sensimelia have gotten stronger and stronger over time and thus the negative effects are more exaggerated. The more sense they smoke the less they seem to have. And it impairs psychological development and makes people psychotic, or more psychotic than they already were.
With use in children, marijuana stops growth and inhibits the strength of the body as well as the lung’s ability to inhale air and the capacity to destroy cancer-causing cells. Secondhand smoke from cigarettes has been scientifically proven to be at least as bad as firsthand smoke and the same holds true for marijuana, but only worse, as marijuana is stronger than tobacco, contains more carcinogens and kills more brain cells. You should see some of my parents friends (that wasn’t actually in speech).
Driving a car under the influence of alcohol causes many unnecessary injuries and deaths and it is impossible to fully police and prevent these episodes. Imagine the increased difficulties for law enforcement trying to maintain safe roads if marijuana is even more available then it already is! They don’t even have the tools to check for marijuana in the system other than by blood testing so it is way more impractical then detecting alcohol. As a result, ensuring fully safe roads becomes even less of a realistic possibility or even impossible.
We live in a very, very competitive world with millions of people all after the same things—financial success, fame and notoriety. Why voluntarily make it harder for yourself than it already is by purposefully reducing your capacity to think clearly and focus? Sure I understand and appreciate the human desire to experiment and search for new ways of having fun and good times. And, perhaps there is something to be said for, at least once you reach a certain age and under controlled circumstances, the right to try something that won’t kill you if you don’t abuse it. But don’t forget, there is not a single heavy drug user that didn’t start with a casual joint! So in the end you have to figure it out for yourself as the decision is only up to you!
Kenny Schachter