Should weed be legalised?
There are many reasons, both economic and social for and against the legalisation of marijuana. Cannabis more communally known as weed, is a psychoactive drug grown from a Cannabis plant. Weed is used for recreational purposes or medically as it can prevent pain and is known to kill cancer cells.
There is an ongoing debate, which is worse for you, marijuana or alcohol? Short term binge-drinking can kill you immediately as the alcohol can irritate your stomach which causes vomiting. This can then cause your lungs to get blocked resulting in instant death. Marijuana increases your heartrate but you can’t overdose on it the way you can when drinking alcohol, although smoking marijuana puts you at risk because you aren't in control of your body as your reaction time is slowed. This could cause immediate injury as partaking in normal everyday activities could put you at risk, for example, when crossing the road if your reaction time is slower and your coordination isn’t at its best you have an increased chance of being in an accident.
The legalisation of marijuana has had the opposite effect of what most would have predicted, as Uruguay and Canada have both legalised marijuana. It has been proven that in most states that have legalised marijuana there has been a decrease in the use among teenagers. This is due drugs being less appealing to a wide audience of teenagers because it is now legal, it takes away the thrill of defying the law and government. Although in this century marijuana is mixed with all sorts of other possibly more dangerous substances. Would you want to be taking drugs laced with laundry detergent, bacteria or other more harmful drugs, for example, ketamine, heroin or even cocaine?
Smoking weed has beneficial factor in relation to medicine. Medical marijuana must be grown without the use of pesticides and fertilizers to have a benefit for the patient. The difference between medical and recreational marijuana is that the most beneficial part of the marijuana is cannabidiol which is what heals the patient. However, recreational marijuana users crave tetrahydrocannabinol which creates the psychological effects of the drug. The cannabidiol is known to kill cancer cells, it helps to treat Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety and depression. Although cannabidiol has many benefits for both pain relief and to help cure diseases it also has negative side effects such as psychosis which causes hallucinations and paranoia. This puts the person and others around them in danger because they may harm themselves, although they are not usually violent. There is no cure for psychosis, however there are treatments like long-term antipsychotic medicine.
What do you think, will there be an epidemic? Do you trust our youth to use marijuana safely? If it cures pain and disease would you prevent someone in insufferable pain from using it?
