Drug Trafficking

Josh LaPlante

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Mrs.Cuellar

Drugs and Behavior

Making Marijuana Legal?

When discussing whether to ultimately make marijuana legal or maintaining the current restrictions on the substance, it is necessary to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages the general public would gain by either decision. You can go almost anywhere and find someone who is either for or against this topic. Some say marijuana is harmless and has definite medical and recreational value. Still, others say that it is a very dangerous drug and should be kept illegal and off the streets because of it being known as the "gateway" drug.

Marijuana is and, in my mind, always will be an illegal drug. Tons of it are shipped either in or out of the United States every year. It is probably one of the most attainable illegal drugs on the streets and is available pretty much everywhere. People have been abusing marijuana for centuries and still there is a debate whether to legalize it or not. It is a CNS depressant that can either be smoked or sometimes ingested orally. Marijuana has been shown to drastically slow reflexes in users and has been linked to car crashes and other accidents where fast reflexes were required. Since it is almost always smoked, the user runs the risk of contracted lung and other types of

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cancer by inhaling the fumes. Especially if it is being smoked in cigar paper wrapping, or a "blunt". In the 1930's it was believed that smoking marijuana turned people into maniac killers. We now know that this is not true and that most of the time it does the exact opposite and makes the user very lethargic and almost catatonic if the user becomes too intoxicated by the substance. Besides the obvious risks associated with smoking marijuana there is the belief that marijuana, in some cases, can lead to the abuse of harsher more illicit drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. This is one of the most startling things about marijuana and if true, may be one of the main reasons that we never see it legalized.

Almost three-quarters of the American