In the journal, “Legalization of Marijuana: Potential Impact on Youth,” Alain
Joffe and W. Samuel Yancy introduce different perspectives to the debate on the legalization of marijuana and address the potential effects legalization and criminalization can have on people, especially for teenagers. The writers begins by introducing the two positions on this debate: while oppositions suggest that legalization of cannabis will employ a high number of users to abuse this drug, advocates believe marijuana is not as detrimental and costs less than other substances like alcohol and tobacco. Joffee and Yancy list some states that want to allow marijuana while providing other places that are skeptical about the legalization of medicinal marijuana to raise awareness that legalization is still a
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They even report how this drug works and the potential effects of this drug including the decrease in “attention span, motivation, problem solving, and coordination” (Joffe and Yancy 633). Seeing the history and statistics of people who used drugs like cocaine around the 19th and 20th century, Joffee and Yancy infer the use of marijuana will drop after several years if cannabis is legalized, and as determined by the Institute of Medicine, a potential reason why cannabis is a deleterious substance is because there is little proof of it being a medication.
Furthermore, after conducting a survey, Johnston et al--the writer for “Marijuana Decriminalization: The Impact on Youth”--identified that more adolescents are willing to admit to using marijuana due to the lax repercussions; following this, the authors provide the different consequences for using marijuana in the US, Australia, Netherlands and use statistics to illustrate the increase and decrease use