The legalization of marijuana is a multifaceted and controversial issue that has sparked serious debate over the years. Marijuana is prohibited by international treaties and by national and local laws worldwide. However, the laid down laws are under challenge in various countries. In 2013, Uruguay became the first nation to experiment nationwide legalization of marijuana. Since 2012, the United States has had four states legalizing the use of marijuana for commercial purposes (Fischer, Russell, Rehm & Leece, 2019). In Washington DC, voters passed an initiative to legalize personal possession and home production. Experts warn that, the effects are likely to be complex and it will be difficult to conduct assessment for some time (Fischer, Russell, Rehm & Leece, 2019). Legalization, in whatever form, would create both good and bad effects, and the magnitudes of those impacts are uncertain (Watson & Erickson, 2019). Notably, this report is against the legalization of marijuana. The recommendation report to the committee will draw ideas from the history, drug use/abuse terminology, physiological effects, and connections to other drugs, use, prevention, and treatment. It seeks to demonstrate that legalization of marijuana is inappropriate since its usage is harmful to human health; it leads to negative physiological impacts, marijuana is a gateway to other drugs, causes use disorders, and its treatment and prevention is cost intensive.
History of Marijuana
Historically, marijuana is one of the oldest psycho-actives. Archaeological evidence indicates that marijuana was in use over 10,000 years, prior to Neolithic Revolution and farming invention. Historical documents show that, the first medicinal application took place in China around 2700 BC (Fischer, Russell, Rehm & Leece, 2019). Early writings have equally shown that Chinese were the first to discover the medicinal value of marijuana. This report is against the legalization of marijuana despite the fact that it has been used for centuries as a medicine and fiber. Cannabis has been used for recreational purposes for years, with the first people to use it being the Napoleon soldiers. In addition, they used it as a painkiller, while they were in Egypt. In United States, marijuana was being grown alongside tobacco for use in making paper, cloth, and rope. It was not used for smoking purposes. The Virginia Assembly had passed legislation in 1619 to allow and encourage farmers to grow marijuana (Watson & Erickson, 2019).
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Towards the late 19 th century, marijuana was a dominant ingredient in most medicines and was widely available. In 1920s, marijuana was legal in Chicago, New York and San Francisco. Tea pads were very common in these places and here, the marijuana smokers could smoke and relax in private. In 1930, New York alone had over five hundred tea pads. Following a prohibition of the repeal in 1933, there was increased use of marijuana (Watson & Erickson, 2019). However, continued use of marijuana led to increased cases of crime, and irresponsible sex. In that regard, states began to pass laws restricting use, selling and shipping of marijuana. For that reason, marijuana legalization should be discouraged because it is a menace.
Drug Use/Abuse Terminology
The report recommends that marijuana should not be legalized, considering it is prone to being abused. Abuse of marijuana will be evident if it is used in ways that are harmful to the health of the users or others. Use of marijuana for the wrong reasons can have dire impact on one’s ability to learn, conduct activities that require attention, or maintaining healthy relationships (Watson & Erickson, 2019). When made available to adults and adolescents through legalization, they will end up abusing it. Legalization of marijuana will increase its availability among young people. By so doing, avenues for new marijuana formulations will be introduced either in vaporized or edible form. Although there lacks a documented evidence of consumption patterns among young people if marijuana is legalized, the drug has been associated with marijuana use disorders, psychotic illnesses, and negative school performances.
According to World Health Organization, increased use and abuse of marijuana leads to impairment, and has dire effects on daily life functions (Ward, Lucas & Murphy, 2019). Young people with a habit of using cannabis can develop cannabis dependence syndrome and they might find it difficult to have control over it. Prolonged use has been associated with chronic bronchitis, lung inflammation, airway injury, and negative impacts on pulmonary defense. Legalization of marijuana should be discouraged considering that, its use leads to schizophrenia among the users, besides causing trachea injury if used for a long period. Laws should be made to ensure that marijuana use is controlled. Scientific reports and medical reports should be made available to people to ensure they understand the negative impacts marijuana use has on young people (Ward, Lucas & Murphy, 2019). The efforts should commensurate with the ones of providing information of alcohol and tobacco.
Physiological Effects
The government should not consider the legalization of marijuana owing to the physiological effects associated with it. Marijuana use is associated with disorders and psychiatric problems such as schizophrenia. Studies indicate that, schizophrenia cases are prevalent among the populations that use marijuana when compared to the rest (Ward, Lucas & Murphy, 2019). Indeed, apart from the brain, marijuana affects other body parts. Individuals using marijuana have problems with learning and memory. In some cases, they experience distorted perception, have difficulties in problem solving and thinking (Ward, Lucas & Murphy, 2019). Prolonged use of marijuana leads to increased heart rate, coordination loss, panic attacks, paranoia, and anxiety. As debate ranges on regarding the addictive capacity of marijuana, its legalization should be discouraged as much as possible. Studies have shown that, among the physiological effects are anger, anxiety, depression, nervousness, and irritability. Continued use of marijuana is associated with interrupted sleep, violent outbursts, and restlessness and appetite problems (Ward, Lucas & Murphy, 2019).
Connections to Other Drugs
In its context, Marijuana has been identified as a gateway to other drugs. Gateway drug theory holds that, prior to becoming hard drug users, most addicts start with marijuana. Most individuals who end up abusing cocaine, heroin, and meth begin with marijuana. Notably, although marijuana is identified as a non-problematic substance, and to some extent as medical in nature, its biggest problem lies in being the gateway to other narcotics. In often cases, young people are exposed to illegal drugs through marijuana, and as such, it should not be legalized. The gateway theory of marijuana is enough proof that it should not be allowed to be used freely (Pacula & Smart, 2017). Although proponents of marijuana argue that legalization would no longer make it a gateway drug, the idea will only make it easy for individuals to possess and consume illegal drugs. Notably, studies indicate that, 90% of people who use cocaine began by using marijuana. In fact, one study revealed that, individuals between 12 and 17 who use marijuana stand a higher chance of using cocaine (Leyton, 2016). However, sections of studies hold that, marijuana is not a gateway drug rather it serves an endpoint. Arguably, it is an exit drug in the sense that, individuals use it as a substitute for more harmful drugs.
Use, Prevention, and Treatment
This report is against legalization of marijuana because prolonged use leads to a marijuana use disorder. The disorder causes disability and behavioral problems, which is a risk to individual heath. A report released by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) indicates that, 2.5% of the adults, close to six million individuals have suffered the marijuana disorder in the last one year. The study indicated that, prolonged use of marijuana could have harmful effect on the society and individuals. It was revealed that, the disorder could lead to serious mental disability (Leyton, 2016).
Legalization of marijuana for use in recreational purposes could mean that youths have easy access to the drug. Such a move would pose a major concern to the pediatric health in the country. In its context, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has expressed its position numerous times regarding the potential harm that marijuana can cause to young people (Mikos & Kam, 2019). Increased usage would require that the country establish means of prevention and treatment in order to curb its harmful effects on young people. Individuals using marijuana stand a risk of getting mental illnesses, and other cognitive problems. Legalizing marijuana would mean coming up with strict regulations to ensure the health of youths and children is protected.
Although strategies are available to treat the health disorders caused by marijuana, it would be inappropriate to legalize it. Individuals suffering from marijuana disorders can seek behavioral therapies and other forms of treatment to minimize its use. This is especially the case for individuals suffering from serious mental disorders. One of the treatments that can be administered is the cognitive-behavioral therapy (Elizabeth, 2018). This type of treatment helps individuals to identify and rectify problematic behavior and practice self-control. Contingency management and motivational enhancement therapy are equally two approaches that can be used to treat individuals suffering from marijuana use. All these strategies are cost intensive, and legalization of marijuana would lead to high cases of marijuana use disorder cases.
Conclusion
In overall, the government should not consider legalizing marijuana because its usage is harmful to human health; it leads to negative physiological impacts, marijuana is a gateway to other drugs, causes use disorders, and its treatment and prevention is cost intensive. Legalizing marijuana would increase its availability among the young people, and they will end up abusing it. Increased use of marijuana will lead to dependence syndrome and eventually, the victim will be unable to control it. Marijuana legalization should be discouraged since the drug serves as a gateway to other drugs. Prior to using hard drugs, individuals become used to marijuana first, and as such, it should not be legalized. Increased consumption of marijuana is harmful to human health, and as such, prevention and treatment is expensive.
References
Elizabeth, M. (2018). The Impact of Legalization of Medical and Recreational Marijuana. The American Journal of Nursing. Volume 118 - Issue 7 - p 16. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000541420.13348.d8
Fischer, B., Russell, C., Rehm, J., & Leece, P. (2019). Assessing the public health impact of cannabis legalization in Canada: core outcome indicators towards an ‘index’ for monitoring and evaluation. Journal of Public Health , Volume 41, Issue 2, Pages 412– 421, https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy090
Leyton, M. (2016). Legalizing marijuana. Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience: JPN, 41 (2), 75– 76. doi:10.1503/jpn.160012
Mikos, R.A. & Kam, C.D. (2019). Has the “M” word been framed? Marijuana, cannabis, and public opinion. PLoS ONE 14 (10): e0224289. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224289
Pacula, R. L., & Smart, R. (2017). Medical Marijuana and Marijuana Legalization. Annual review of clinical psychology, 13 , 397–419. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045128
Ward, K. C., Lucas, P. A., & Murphy, A. (2019). The Impact of Marijuana Legalization on Law Enforcement in States Surrounding Colorado. Police Quarterly, 22 (2), 217–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611118819902
Watson, T. M., & Erickson, P. G. (2019). Cannabis legalization in Canada: how might ‘strict’ regulation impact youth? Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 26 :1, 1-5, DOI: 10.1080/09687637.2018.1482258
