Final of Growth Process Essay

Edison Enciso

Professor Bailey

English 120-016

28 Oct 2014

Growth Process Essay

Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

Currently, for medical usage, marijuana is legal in 24 states included New York and for recreational usage, it is legal in Colorado and Washington States and is being debated in other states. However, marijuana is still considered an offense under Federal law. Promoting a debate about legalization of marijuana, many people compare marijuana with alcohol and tobacco since all of these produce impairment in the health of people who consume these products; however, consumption of alcohol and tobacco are legal in our country. If alcohol and tobacco are unhealthy and dangerous products, and are legal, why is it still illegal marijuana for recreational use? This is the question people who promote legalization of using. However, marijuana is a dangerous drug that affects mental health and the personal lives of human beings; consequently, marijuana should not be legalized.

Many people consider marijuana to be a soft drug; on the contrary, this drug is completely dangerous for our health. A few days ago, I read the interview with president Obama done by David Remnick. Remnick asked the president’s opinion about legalization, and Obama responded, “As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.” At that moment I thought like many other people think about marijuana that is not too harmful for our health. However, Marijuana is a product of a plant that contains more than 400 chemicals, having as its principal active component the THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) that is psychoactive ingredient. Using  marijuana changes the way the brain works, and has effects such as impaired short-term memory making it difficult to retain and learn information, slowed reaction time affecting driving skills, altered judgment and decision, increased heart rate by 20-100%, and altered mood leading to euphoria, calmness, and anxiety and paranoia, in high doses. Also, for many years, marijuana has been considered for the department of Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule I. This means marijuana is a substance that has no approved medical use and has a high potential for abuse. Currently, the marijuana is classified in the same level of drugs as heroin and Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and even it is considered more harmful than morphine and cocaine

Many people lose their jobs and families because of addiction; marijuana is an addictive drug. When I worked in a factory and operated a machine, I had a helper, Peter Perez who was 47 years-old. We work together for about two years. During that time, he was a very active person, but he was more active after the first break of 15 minutes. He used to smoke marijuana at that break time without caring if it was raining or cold or hot.  One day in the factory changed the rules of  break and nobody could go outside without permission. Then, because of that, he was caught smoking marijuana in the bathroom and fired immediately. After about two years I bumped into him at the supermarket near the area where I lived and he told me that because of marijuana, he had already lost three jobs and had separated from his wife. He tried to stop smoking marijuana many times but he could not do it.

Many people who support legalization of marijuana consider cigarettes more harmful than marijuana. However, according to a study led by Dr. Donald Tashkin at University of California, concluded that smoking marijuana is more dangerous than smoking cigarettes. Because although smoking marijuana cause the similar damage respiratory than smoking cigarettes, the probability of develop a cancer of people who smoke marijuana is higher than people who smoke cigarette. This is “because smoker typically hold their breath four times as long as tobacco smoker after inhaling, marijuana smoking deposits significantly more tar and known carcinogens within the tar”. His studies also add “marijuana smoking is associated with a range of damaging pulmonary effects, including inhibition of the tumor-killing and bactericidal of alveolar macrophages the primary cells within the lung.”

If marijuana for recreational usage is legalized, large companies will promote the usage of this drug in the population; therefore, our country will have more dead, sick and addicted people. Currently large companies that sell unhealthy products such as alcoholic beverage and cigarettes have the economic capacity to promote their products to generate good profits. Many of these companies are paradoxically sponsoring of sporting events such as boxing, soccer, American football and others. While the image of these athletes shows a healthy life, these companies have been selling unhealthy products. Large companies with great economic power have been using the persuasive power of advertising to promote their products. For example, few days ago I watched a commercial of miller lite beer  the commercial shows a couple with athletic bodies running on the beach and others young people with slim bodies in different socializing. At the end of the commercial, the message is that we can drink Miller Lite because this will not alter the shape of our bodies due to its low calory content. However, alcoholic beverages are addictive can contribute to cancer.  Something similar happens with commercials of cigarettes. Therefore, if marijuana is legalized, these same powerful means of persuasion will be used to promote the consumption of marijuana.

In conclusion, scientifically marijuana is a drug that produces noxious effects on mental health, the heart, and lungs of human beings. For this reason, this drug is classified by department of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as Schedule I, and under Federal law, it still is considered an offense. The marijuana is addictive and causes personal and familiar damage in a society. Medical research found that marijuana is more harmful than cigarettes and people who smoke marijuana have more probability to develop a cancer. Also, smoking marijuana is associated with a range of damaging pulmonary effects. If marijuana for recreational usage is legalized, then large companies will induce us to smoking marijuana through of the persuasive power of the advertising and will cause more sick and dead people as a consequence of its legalization. Therefore, marijuana must not be legalized because our life and health will be at serious risk.