By Jack Thomas
Marijuana is an addictive drug that can be a gift and curse to people in the world. It is an drug that is popular in schools and the streets. People often use marijuana to relieve stress from problems they are dealing with in society, school, or at home. Marijuana is, in most states, regulated, according to state Medical Marijuana Laws. These two things create a never-ending cycle of use/abuse of marijuana that destroys one’s motivation in life.
But if we fully legalize recreational marijuana, it eliminates the stress of being charged with a marijuana-related crime, allows for more regulation of product, potency, dosage, and age requirements to help the issue, and it allows the affects of marijuana to be lessened so that people’s lives won’t be ruined.
I first got introduced to marijuana and cigarettes at the age of 16. My friends and I were in my friend Johnny house, and one of them started rolling up a blunt and asked me if I would like to take a hit. I said no at first, but then I started to feel peer pressure from all my friends, which made me feel like if I did not do it I will be a loser out the punch.
For that split second when Johnny sad that to me I felt loneliness and I did not like that feeling, so I did it. That moment change my life forever.
From then on, all I wanted to do was get high, and one day it led me to getting lock up trying to purchase marijuana. I was on a corner of Cambria Street in North Philadelphia when my friend pulled up in a car. A cop was watching me as I got in the car a block away. The cop pulled us over and found the marijuana on me.
I first got introduced to marijuana and cigarettes at the age of 16. My friends and I were in my friend Johnny house, and one of them started rolling up a blunt and asked me if I would like to take a hit.
I was so scared. I was never arrested in my life. They took me to the roundhouse where I was locked up for a night. When they let me see the judge, he give me a release on recognizance (ROR) what means they let me seen myself out and gave me a court date. Fortunately, I was able to get the charge expunged from my record because the judge said since I had no prior arrest that if I go to a drugs program and show I completed it the charge will be dismissed.
In regards to marijuana use for teens, there are several important but preventable factors that take place, first and for most of which is peer pressure. Teens want to fit in with the peers and be a part of the ‘in crowd.’ This can take the form of pressure from their immediate friends or can be influence by other kids they see in school doing drugs.
Drugs can be seen as appealing to teens, however, for their notoriety along with their side effects. Due to the fact that drugs like marijuana are illegal for kids it is much more exciting compared to other types of entertainment, like television and video games. The thrill and chemical changes that come with being high are also attractive features that draw teens in. The National Institute of Health provided great detail on this topic, and further reading on the incentives for teen drug use can be done here.
Both of these incentives can be fixed by legalizing marijuana in controlled amounts. This way it loses its excitement for rebellious teens, thereby causing fewer kids to do it, which would therefore lead to peer pressure becoming less prevalent for other kids.
Both of these incentives can be fixed by legalizing marijuana in controlled amounts. This way it loses its excitement for rebellious teens, thereby causing fewer kids to do it, which would therefore lead to peer pressure becoming less prevalent for other kids.
Getting high had a lot of effect on my life decision making. For instance, I did not want to wake up. Marijuana had me lazy, I did not want to do what my mom told me to do around the house. My school days was terrible and I did not focus in class as much. Basketball was my favorite sport until I start getting high and stopped showing interest end it. My day to day lifestyle was evolving around doing drugs. Marijuana just had me so unmotivated it stumped my growth as a teen in making choices to better myself.
In order to understand marijuana's effect on relationships one first needs to understand the physical and psychological effects of marijuana use. According to an article by Dr. Drew Edwards, “Symptoms of cannabis intoxication include impairment of short-term memory and executive functioning, difficulty concentrating and sustaining focus, inability to multitask, increased sedation, poor coordination and poor inhibitory control.” This in turn affects relationships for marijuana users by making them more disengaged from their family and separate them from reality. This separation causes the family members to feel neglect from the marijuana users and damaging their communication.
Not only does marijuana affect current relationships, but the emotional damage it causes can make finding new relationships much more difficult. To deal with the challenges, users can find themselves solely relying on the marijuana that caused their problems in the first place, according to Edwards.
The influential power of drug use also affected my long term goals. Marijuana contributed to me stopping to applying to colleges. When it was time to go fill out applications, I was limited to selections due to having to take a drug test. By me getting arrested for possession of marijuana, it also put my future career opportunities in jeopardy. If I could do it all again, I would have slowed down on the drugs and stayed focus on my long term goals.
If using marijuana is illegal for everyone, then a teenager is at the same risk of suffering legal consequences from drug use as any adult. Thusly, there is no reason for teenagers to wait until they are adults to smoke marijuana since the consequences are the same regardless of the age you do the crime; technically, minors are actually charged less severely than adults, so, if anything, there is greater incentive to try it as teen than as an adult. If using marijuana as a kid was legally worse than as an adult, then there becomes a real incentive for teens to wait until they are older and more mature to start smoking.
Ethan Nadelmann discusses at a TED Talk the origins of the drug war and how legalization would solve a lot of problems I have discussed in this essay. This thought is supported by the changes in teen marijuana use after legalization in certain states. After marijuana was legalized in both Washington and Colorado the drugs usage amongst teens decreased over the next few years. Due to the fact that it is not illegal and kids think that is not as cool anymore, it does not offer the same thrill in regards to rule-breaking.
Some kids who may use drugs as a teenager can now see that they can wait until they are 21 to use the drug legally. This not only benefits their brains’ growth by waiting but it also ensures they will not face fines or jail time just from smoking marijuana. Britinacca Group, most famous for their encyclopedias, also runs a site called ProCons, in which they lay out arguments on specific issues; this paragraph paraphrased some of their arguments, but you can find the full details here.
In my life I smoked marijuana because of being around my friends and dealing with peer pressure. Marijuana can slow down your life goals if you abuse it, and that is exactly what happen to me. If we can legalize it, we can not only decrease crime rates on the streets substantially but also have a better chance to help everyone in our society become more successful in life.
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