Informative Essay: The Dangerous Effects Of Marijuana

Cannabis has copious amounts of effects on your body and brain. The effects range from bad all the way to good. Negative effects of cannabis may include anxiety, paranoia, and lowered reaction time, increased heart rate, distorted sense of time, and in some cases, psychosis. Cannabis does have positive effects for people with illnesses including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and many more. For teens, however, there is an increase of cannabis’ negative effects on the brain. This may include decreased brain activity, decreased neurons, trouble thinking and focusing, and a higher rate of dropping out of high school. Chronic users of cannabis may become dependent on it. It can also increase your rate of respiratory problems,

The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is a long-standing controversy. For centuries marijuana was prescribed to alleviate symptoms associated with a variety of illnesses. Anti-medical marijuana sentiments began with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act banned the use of marijuana completely, categorizing it as a drug with no medicinal value, high abuse rates, and detrimental health effects (http://www.farmacy.org/prop215/apha.html). Since 1996, numerous states including California, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have passed medical marijuana initiatives supporting the right to prescribe marijuana for seriously or terminally ill patients (http://www.marihemp.com/marimed.html). The American Public Health Association and the Institute of Medicine represent two organizations that have recently researched and endorsed advancements in the study of medical marijuana. Both groups support the use of marijuana for specific treatments, such as reducing nausea in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, stimulating the appetites of AIDS victims, and limiting spasticity in MS patients.

Marijuana should be legal because prohibition doesn't help the country in any way, plus, it causes a lot of problems. There is no scientific evidence that suggests prohibition decreases drug use, but there are several theories that suggest prohibition might actually increase drug use. One effect of marijuana prohibition is that it makes the drug available to minors. Marijuana dealers usually don't care how old a buyer is, as long as they have the money. It is actually easier for high school students to obtain marijuana than it is alcohol; this is because alcohol is legal and therefore regulated to keep it away from teenagers. If marijuana were legal to people above the age of twenty-one like alcohol, then it would be harder for teenagers to obtain it. Prohibition is not working and I believe that education and treatment are better ways to address the drug problem.

Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally upon our planet. Doesn’t the idea of making nature against the law seem to you a bit . . . unnatural? -Bill hicks. Since 2016 there has been a recorded of 1,246,170 medical marijuana users. There’s millions of valid reasons for the use of marijuana. So why is there such a down look on medical marijuana?

Marijuana prohibition stands as one of the most unwarranted policies of the United States. Every year we are spending billions of dollars on the War on Drugs with little benefit. Data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show there were an estimated 1,552,432 arrests for drug-related crimes in 2014 – a slight uptick from the 1,531,251 drug arrests in 2013. Marijuana offenses accounted for 48.3 percent of all drug arrests. Most marijuana-related arrests were for possession of the drug. By mere possession, there was one marijuana arrest every 48 seconds in 2014. Including arrests for distribution, there was a pot-related arrest every 42 seconds. This prohibition makes no sense, especially in a country where alcohol use is

Marijuana is a drug misunderstood by many nation wide however, most people do not consider it 's legitimate medicinal application. Medical marijuana defined by Drugfacts refers to the use of the whole unprocessed plant to treat a disease or illness. The Drug Enforcement Administration has listed it under the schedule I classification which is the same classification that heroin, LSD, ecstasy and many other drugs are under. The classification identifies the drug as a dangerous substance that has no recognized medicinal use as reported by the DEA. It 's classification as a highly regulated Schedule I drug makes it challenging to study its medical benefits. Due to this classification, marijuana is commonly regarded by the general public as possessing "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" (DEA.gov). The DEA has yet to acknowledge many conducted scientific studies that point to the very tangible medical benefits of cannabinoids (Voth and Schwartz 1997). The blockade on marijuana research has caused a severe halt in reaping the benefits of THC. The drug is a better alternative than many drugs given to patients as seen in some cases of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and chronic terminal conditions like cancer, because of its "analgesic, sedative, and anticonvulsant" properties (Abood, Sorensen, and Stella 2012). Marijuana can serve as both a viable treatment option and improves the quality of life through its pain relieving capacities. While

THC disrupts the nerve cells in the part of the brain where memories are formed. This makes it hard for the user to recall recent events (such as what happened a few minutes ago), and so it is hard to learn while high. A working short-term memory is required for learning and performing tasks that call for more than one or two steps. Some studies show that when people have smoked large amounts of marijuana for many years, the drug takes its toll on mental functions. Among a group of long-time heavy marijuana users in Costa Rica, researchers found that the people had great trouble when asked to recall a short list of words (a standard test of memory). People in that study group also found it very hard to focus their attention on the tests

People might think smoking marijuana is cool. They might try it without knowing what it is or what affects is has on you. Once someone smokes it for the first time, they might keep doing it again and again and they could get hooked on it for life. People who use marijuana usually never use any other type of illegal drugs, but more than seven thousand five hundred people get arrested for using marijuana every year. There is a wide variety of marijuana, but they are all based off of two marijuana plants, Indica and Sativa. Marijuana is very popular in America, and all over the world. Marijuana affects the body, it can be used as medicine, and marijuana can be addictive.

Medical Marijuana Marijuana is medicine. It has been used for thousands of years to treat a wide variety of ailments. Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) was legal in the United States for all purposes - industrial and recreational, as well as medicinal until 1937. Today, only eight Americans are legally allowed to use marijuana as medicine. NORML

Experts from the National Institute of Health or NIH have confirmed that marijuana is an effective, safe and inexpensive alternative for treating nausea caused by AIDS medications and cancer treatments other such ailments as glaucoma, muscle spasms, intractable pain, epilepsy, anorexia, asthma, insomnia, depression and other disorders (Iversen 23). Other such ailments in which marijuana has been said to help are Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, repetitive migraines, and Alzheimer’s, but the NIH has not reported those results (<a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/medmj990317.html">http://www.abcnews.go.com/medmj990317.html). The National

I actually believe that it should be legal. A marijuana overdose has actually resulted in zero deaths compared to deaths caused by opioids, which is 17,465 and the deaths caused by prescription drugs, which is 25,760. However, it is impossible to deny that marijuana isn’t involved when it comes to accidents that results in injury or death.

Through the years marijuana has been known by many names, and almost as many opinions have been held concerning its effect on people. Not all of those opinions have been correct in fact; most have been pure propaganda. Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It does not have fatal side effects, and it is not only used by lazy people. These are just some of the stigmas that have plagued marijuana over the years. The truth is that marijuana is a medicinal plant and, as such, should be used to treat medical conditions instead of the chemicals created by big pharmaceutical companies. Though today marijuana still has a negative stigma associated with it, medical marijuana should be legalized nationwide due to its health benefits for those with terminal

In the end my opinion stays the same. Marijuana should be legal, and everyone who has used the drug would say the same. Being safer than alcohol and way less addictive should have already been enough to allow the drug to be rescheduled. While I hope to see marijuana legalized in my life time. I have come to terms that this is just not where we are at as a society. With my experiences with my generation people still have their fears about the drug. Until we are allowed to research marijuana further we will not have the information to change people’s minds. Until then my opinion that I share with many others stays the same. Marijuana must be

Have you ever thought about drugs like marijuana and the history or impact it can cause on your life? Many people do not think about these things when it comes to taking drugs. They just like to take drugs for fun and usually don’t care what happens. Well many people don’t know a lot about marijuana. There are a lot of things you should know before taking any type of drug like marijuana.

Some medical reasons that marijuana shouldn’t be decriminalized are that it has long and short terms effects. Examples of the short term outcomes include memory loss, difficulty with thinking, loss of motor skills and increased heart rate. According to the National Institutes of Health show that someone smoking about five joints per week is taking in as many cancer causing chemicals as someone smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. There is no science proof that smoked marijuana can be used for medication. Since cannabis plants are polluted with a range of fungal spores, smoking marijuana may increase the risk of infectious organisms. Taradiff, J. "Marijuana and the War on Drugs. “Marijuana. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomas Gale, 2008. 157. Print.