Cannabis, as many know, is an herbal plant that relaxes the individual using it. It is ingested in many forms, the most common being inhalation by smoking. The use of cannabis has been around for centuries and will continue to proliferate because of its ability to relax the mind and body, and medicinal uses such as; social anxiety, patients with HIV, cancer patients and people with chronic pain. However, it is also highly illegal federally. Cannabis is considered a schedule one drug under the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) scheduling; which means that it is highly addictive and has no known medicinal or scientific uses (“Drug Scheduling”). It is currently in the same class as heroin and ecstasy, while drugs typically harder than marijuana, …show more content…
These years are known for a teens time when they experiment and a young person truly finds their inner-selves and learn to express themselves. However, some people say that because of this heightened sense of invincibility, a potential for recklessness, combined with a growing pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain that assists in complex thinking and decision making, teens are unable to make a thoughtful decision about the drug and its potential consequences. This could lead teens to heightened crime rates. Furthermore, there are amounting studies that show, when used by adolescents, cannabis can lead to a lack of self-control, emotional and mental health issues, sleep deprivation, attention span and memory problems (Wallis). The main theory that author Claudia Wallis, puts forth is that, the ingestion of cannabinoids disrupts the body’s natural cannabinoids that are suspected to play a large role in regulating these functions. So, when a teen inhales marijuana they are overloading their system, potentially causing it to shut down or be naturally produced when not partaking in the …show more content…
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in 2010 the percentage of felons with marijuana based charges is 52% nationally, and 88% of those people convicted simply possessed the drug without intent to sell, or harm others (“Marijuana Arrests by the Numbers”). The Washington Post, a renowned newspaper, reported from the 2016 FBI crime data, that 587,700 people were arrested for simple marijuana possession in the United States alone. The author, Christopher Ingraham, claims that, “more people were arrested for marijuana possession than for all crimes the FBI classifies as violent”