why is marijuana bad?

Question

im currently writing an essay in which i have to say why marijuana shouldnt be legalized. i would appreciate your ideas and opinions. thank you

Answer 1

Because it is illegal and fills your arteries and veins with plaque. The "euphoric feeling" is your brain being starved for blood.

Answer 2

It is amazing to me how many people here have been brainwashed. "It leads to other drugs" is what they said in science class in 1970 because they didn't know any better. But you never hear anyone say that about nicotine and alcohol, the two most addictive drugs in the world. You do not get addicted to marijuana because THC has no addictive properties - period. Have you ever heard of anyone getting in a bar fight ( or any other fight ) after smoking weed? No,you haven't. The reason it is illegal is the window dressing, all the politicians want to "get tough on the war on drugs." Jeez, gimme a break. More people have died or had bad side affecs from drinking too much water than smoking weed. There are more alcoholics and cigarette users now than ever before. Why? And if the government won't allow the FDA to list nicotine and alcohol as a narcotic, how the hell can they say anything about marijuana? They allw alcohol and cigarettes to trash society and they sell us this crap that marijuana is worse? That is like saying they have WMD, trust us, we will find them someday.

Answer 3

The wrong answers here are really amazing. Let's try a few.

1) It leads to harder drugs. Wrong. This myth was made up in 1951 by the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics when he was trying to justify his request for more funding. It never had any basis in fact. In fact, his testimony contradicted his own earlier statements where he said emphatically that there was no connection. See http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/gateway_myth.htm

2) Kills brain cells. Wrong again. THC has actually been shown to preserve brain cells in the absence of oxygen and is being investigated as a treatment for strokes and nerve gas poisoining as a result.

3) Reduces motivation. Wrong. There are several billionaires that are known pot smokers.

First, you should read about how it became illegal in the first place. The story is just plain funny with the huge ignorance. The US Official Expert on marijuana testified in court, under oath, that when he tried marijuana it turned him into a bat. He was the original source of most of the mythology you see in the answers above. You can read this story at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm

Every major study of the subject in history has said that the marijuana laws were the result of racism, ignorance, and nonsense. They all said the laws should have been repealed long ago because they do more harm than good. You don't have to take my word for that. You can read them yourself at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/studies.htm

There is one common factor in everyone who says that marijuana should be illegal -- they simply don't know anything about the subject. Ask any of them a few simple questions like:

1) When was marijuana outlawed?

2) Why was it outlawed?

3) When did the reasons for the law change?

4) In the past 100 years, there have been numerous major government commissions that have studied the subject and made recommendations for changes. Name any three of them and summarize what they said.

If you ask all of the people who gave you answers about how bad it is, you will find that not one of them can even begin to answer these questions. The entire policy is built on ignorance and urban legend. Go with facts, not urban legend.

Just FYI, the Drug Enforcement Agency's own Chief Administrative Law Judge studied the issue for two years and accumulated 15 volumes of research. At the end of his research he concluded that marijuana is perhaps the safest therapeutic drug known to man. You can read the full text of his report in the collection of Major Studies, above.

Answer 4

Read some information from the websites listed below, and make up your own mind. Don't let anyone tell you marijuana is good or bad. Maybe it isn't good or bad, but somewhere in the middle. Make your own decision, don't let anyone, me included tell you what to think.

In 1972, after reviewing the scientific evidence, the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse concluded that while marijuana was not entirely safe, its dangers had been grossly overstated. Since then, researchers have conducted thousands of studies of humans, animals, and cell cultures. None reveal any findings dramatically different from those described by the National Commission in 1972. In 1995, based on thirty years of scientific research editors of the British medical journal Lancet concluded that "the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health."

Answer 5

Pot would be legal in half the countries in the world if it were not for American influence . When prohibition was ended the government needed to find a new adversary and pot became their poster child . Since then the amount of money spent to fight marijuana use and possession in unfathomable . You should be arguing the other side . And beer is the first drug most of us tried , so it must be the road that leads to all other drugs

Answer 6

My son started doing marijuana when he was 13. He did rehab for 5 years and the rest of the family participated in rehab with him so we also could understand what he was going through and learn what we could do to help him after he was done with the rehabilitation.
These are a few things I learned about marijuana from the experts at the drug rehabs and hospitals we had our son in:

Marijuana contains a chemical called THC which has 365 carcinogens(cancer causing agents). That is more than most other sources of these agents. Every time you smoke marijuana, the THC lodges in the base of your brain and remains there for no less than 6 months. THC kills brain cells.That is why marijuana smokers are very slow in their movements and thought processes. If you are a chronic marijuana user, then you are more likely to get lung cancer in only ten years as opposed to cigarette smoking, which will give you cancer in 30 years on the average.
Chronic Marijuana smokers will most likely have their hair turn pure white prematurely. I know several young people, including girls who got white hair from marijuana while they were teenagers. A lot of marijuana smokers think they can fool the drug testers by drinking vinegar and other things, but if a hair sample is taken there is no way to fool the authorities. Marijuana penetrates the hair follicles and stays in your hair for a long time.
Some people will say that marijuana is no big deal and can't do any lasting harm (which I just proved to be untrue). When people say that it is not a gateway drug, they are mistaken. Although marijuana is not actually physically addictive it is very much a psychologically addictive drug; because one quality of marijuana is that when you first start smoking it, it can give you a huge high. Then as you use it more and more the high diminishes, and you want to start using more powerful drugs to get that same high you got in the beginning. Once you start seeking that high because simple marijuana is just not doing it for you anymore, you very likely will move on to one of the physically addictive drugs. So it truly is a "gateway drug".

I hope that this information is helpful and I also hope that it enlightens someone out there who may want to use but now may change their mind.

Answer 7

Though I don't smoke, I know a LOT that do.

First off, $$$. I've seen people shell out my weekly paycheck in one day. Second, tobacco and drinking are more addictive, but I wouldn't say it's completely harmless. Smoke in your lungs can't be good (guess you can make a few brownies :)

Slowed motor reflexes return, eventually. I wouldn't recommending driving and toking at the same time, however.

Should it be legal? I would say yes. Make it legal, tax it, fix our deficit. Same w/ prostitution, but that's a whole nother topic. You might find some useful info by researching Amsterdam and I've heard England has decriminalized up to three ounces, though don't quote me.

A bit random, but I hope this helps.

Answer 8

http://www.azcentral.com/health/news/articles/0503marijuana-war03-ON.html

The research dramatically understates the case. I worked inpatient community mental health for a number of years. I noticed some interesting patterns largely ignored by the field of psychology.

The first is that 100% of the patients used recreational drugs. By far, the most used drug was marijuana. One of my duties was patient history. I noticed an interesting pattern. When I asked about it, every single patient I worked with said the same thing. Their mental illness manifested soon after they began using drugs. Our unit had a DD (dual diagnosis clinic attached to it). Basically, this is a unit that deals with addictions for people with mental illness. Note that we served the entire community. People did not come there specifically because they were both mentally ill and had an addiction. It just turned out that they all did....every single one of them.

Anyway. Part of the job of the unit was to get them to stop using drugs, at least temporarily. The result of this was very interesting. For the most part, most patients who stopped, had most of their symptoms disappear. This never lasted long after tthey left the inpatient unit because they would start again. Only the hardcore, long term users (10+ years of addiction) did not improve.

My conclusion to this is that drug use, especially marijuana use is a root cause for a huge percentage of the cases of mental illness in the western world. I feel pretty confident of what the results would be if widespread study of this issue were performed. I also am confident of the conclusions of such a study. The most important treatment for most mental illness is to get the patient to stop using drugs. All mental health practitioners need to assume their patient is a drug addict until proven otherwise and go after this issue aggressively. Not doing so makes treatment rather pointless.

Answer 9

Marijuana burns brain cells and destroys peoples thinking , and most pot users agree that when you smoke pot , you can't remember from one second to the other what you were thinking about, may I ask you ? how many of us can afford to lose any of our brain cells , I know that I screw up enough by trying to preserve my few brain cells what would happen to me if I burned some of them?? but, if you are so stupid as to want to burn your brain then I think it should be legal, but also if you do you should not be qualified to draw welfare or any other free gov, support , I see this all of the time, and why should I support you if you screw your self up, and can't make a living,or need to be put in a home for the lame brain, but it should be your decision, not mine
so yes it should be legalized , it doe;s have some redeeming qualities,I am told ,even if I don know what they are,

Answer 10

Marijuana has been around hundreds of years. It's not BAD just illegal because the government find a way to put a Tax on it.

Answer 11

Well, it's bad because it distorts your perception and leads you into a false reality. It brings you from a default state into an altered one, and people with addictive personalities will get hooked. It's a substance that can't be trusted with some people. If it were legalized there would be some people who would use it the way you're supposed to, but there would be others who would get high, and do something stupid (like get in a car and kill someone, or something).

Unfortunately, all my good arguements support legalization, but I did my best to help you!