While marijuana is debatably not harmful in technical terms, many people consider it to be a gateway drug, something which allows worse drugs into the comfort zone of users.
Because marijuana has similar effects to alcohol, many people have become desensitized to the use of the drug.
According to Janice Williams at Newsweek, “a Harvard-Harris Poll survey found a majority of voters—some 57 percent—thought making marijuana legal across all 50 states would make society better.”
However, those numbers are including the number of people who think the drug should be legalized only for medical use.
Whether marijuana users like it or not, there are studies showing it is a gateway drug. Because it can get people in a relaxed mindset about other, more physically addictive drugs, it is dangerous and should not be legally in the hands of everyone.
While the drug can be helpful to people in pain needing relief, everyone else using the drug is using it to escape a reality they will eventually have to come back to.
A recent study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found “[A]dults who reported marijuana use during the first wave of the survey were more likely than adults who did not use marijuana to develop an alcohol use disorder within 3 years.”
Marijuana does allow people to think more openly about the use of other drugs, which allows them to become addicted. Legalizing this drug for recreational use would only create problems, and invite more addicts into society.
Despite negative effects marijuana would have on the society, many argue it should be legalized because “cross-sensitization is not unique to marijuana. Alcohol and nicotine also prime the brain for a heightened response to other drugs and are, like marijuana, also typically used before a person progresses to other, more harmful substances.”
According to Williams at Newsweek, “60 percent of voters do believe that crime is on the rise, with 40 percent saying drugs are the leading contributor to crime in America.” This data shows despite people’s ideas to legalize marijuana, the majority of citizens still believe an increased use of marijuana would result in more crime overall.
However negative legalizing this drug for recreational use would be in the U.S., it would provide excellent results for the medical, scientific side of things.
While in certain hands, it could be catastrophic to the people as a whole; but for research purposes and medicinal use, marijuana should be legal.
In another study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, because cannabinoids, the chemical found in marijuana, can possibly provide relief and help for people with certain conditions, I believe it should be legally prescribed to specific patients. Marijuana, specifically, is being looked at as a possible way to treat childhood epilepsy, but more research on the subject is necessary.
However, the drug can easily be abused if it is completely legalized, and for the most part, the people who are fighting to legalize it are the people who do not need it for medical reasons.
While marijuana would be productive if legal for medical purposes only, allowing it to be used recreationally could potentially open up a set of floodgates introducing more harmful drugs into society.
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Marijuana needs to be legalized for medicinal use
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