The Pros And Cons Of Marijuana

When growing up, we are taught that marijuana is a psychoactive drug and to never look its way. But, is smoking marijuana really as bad as anti-drug activists say it is? Maybe there is more than meets the eye or maybe it is just as harmful as shooting heroin. It is a big agriculture industry and will only continue to become more popular whether we want to believe it or not. I chose to write about this topic because I am for medical and recreational use of marijuana (if done responsibly) and it fits right into five of the seven dimensions of wellness; physical, emotional, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual. If it fits in to almost all of the categories that we have been studying, than it must be an important topic. Marijuana is a mind

Cannabis’s primary drug effects come from the chemical delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or “THC.” Marijuana is smoked, vaped, or ingested. It can be smoked from a bowl or form various paper forms and some cook the cannabis in all kinds of food. The concentration of THC in the cannabis plant has been increasing over the last few years and the plant extracts are more potent. It used to be harder to get “high” but now people have learned how to grow marijuana the proper way to have a stronger effect. As every other “drug” out there, there are effects that happen to your body when this chemically driven plant is in your system. Some short-term effects of Marijuana are impairment of thinking, judgment, coordination, and memory. Some physical effects of the “drug” can include dry mouth, increased heart rate, slurred vision, bloodshot eyes, and slurred speech. These effects can last up to 4 hours after inhalation (depending on tolerance). Everyone reacts differently to things

A common argument is that marijuana impairs judgement and makes people act recklessly. This could hypothetically be true, but then explain why alcohol isn’t banned/illegal? Drunk driving kills more than 10,000 people per year (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention). Death by inhalation of Marijuana is zero people. There have been no death related instances because the plant was too potent. Another assumption is Marijuana is a gate-way drug. Only for roughly nine percent of people who smoke it is that true. The other 89 percent are just fine living without Marijuana. By comparison, around one third of tobacco smokers become addicted, as do fifteen percent of booze drinkers. If we’re going to ban drugs based on how addictive they are, marijuana should be very low on the list. What some people can get addicted to is the action of smoking; the oral fixation. The last point I am going to make about commonly said things about Marijuana is when people say it is bad for you. There is fast food, candy, and alcohol on every corner readily available for consumers to buy. People are out there eating themselves to death and weighing over 300 pounds, but somehow the conversation goes back to Marijuana being really bad for you. There is good and bad in everything but we need to find the good in the bad and