The Dangers of Legalizing Marijuana

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The legalization of marijuana would have a detrimental effect on the United States due to the dangerous psychological and physiological impacts that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has on the human body, the hazards that the wide scale use of marijuana would pose to the entire US population, and the social obstacles that the legal use of such a powerful hallucinogen would create for an individual in both the current and future generations. Due to the dangers associated with its use, marijuana should remain illegal throughout the United States. Though the exact chemical makeup of marijuana is very complex, its main component, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is fairly well known to most people. Tetrahydrocannabinol is " the main psychoactive substance found in the cannabis plant" (Princeton University, 2006.) The effects of this powerful drug have been chased after by many people for hundreds of years. But it is reasonable to assume that the millions of Americans who partake in the use of marijuana for recreational purposes fail to understand the hazards that the seemingly harmless plant can have on both their personal health and the health of those around them.
Marijuana use is directly associated with the development of many adverse multi-systemic defects within the human body, as well as several psychotic disorders. As soon as tetrahydrocannabinol is introduced to the body it can "pass across the biological barrier that separates the brain from the bloodstream" (Steve Connor, 2006.) Once inside the brain the individual tetrahydrocannabinol molecules act as biologic barriers to block neurotransmitters from passing throughout the brain. After long term exposure, the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is primarily responsible to memory...

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...m Johns Hopkins to Harvard that marijuana can alter and end lives. If we as Americans choose a recreational substance over the safety of our own children, the results would reap havoc throughout many generations to come.

Works Cited

Brooks, D. (n.d.). Weed: been there. Done that.. NYTimes.com. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/opinion/brooks-weed-been-there-done-that.html?_r=0
Cox, R. G., Zhang, L., Johnson, W. D. and Bender, D. R. (2007), Academic Performance and Substance Use: Findings From a State Survey of Public High School Students. Journal of School Health, 77: 109–115. doi: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2007.00179.x
Rocky Mountain HIDAT. (2013) The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Immpact. Volume 1, 58
Wheelock, B. (2002) Physiological and Psycological Effects of cannabis:review of research findings. Volume 1, 51

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