Temple 1

Tori Temple
Professor Scaife
Comp I
11/20/2015
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most widely used drug in the entire world
today,(Weintraub). Marijuana is very much available in the United States, and
usage is increasing every day. Marijuana is a drug that people sometimes like
to call dope. Dope is defined as a drug taken illegally for recreational
purposes (Fig. 1). Although marijuana is legalized in Colorado, Alaska,
Oregon, and Washington for recreational use, the rest of American hasnt
legalized it. In an article I have read called Marijuana a man named Paul
was dared by his best friend to smoke a joint at the age of fourteen. His
friend pressured him into smoking a joint by calling him a chicken. After
using the drug for seven years he was addicted. Paul said he was tired of
feeling paranoid and learned that he kept pushing people away from him. He
then was left all alone(Foundation for a drug free world). People need to be
aware of how marijuana can affect your life.
Legalizing marijuana for recreational use is not an appropriate decision
for any state to make. This can be determined by looking at major brain
changes caused by casual marijuana use, the many people who want
marijuana legalized for personal use, and the effects on the heart from
marijuana.

Temple 2

Figure 1 Marijuana the plant (THCzar420 - The King Of THC. THCzar420 - The King of THC. Web. 19
Nov. 2015. )

Why do many people think that smoking marijuana is harmless and not
as addicting like other drugs? As you can see in Figure 1. Marijuana looks as
if it is an innocent plant that just grows in wild. Many people also think that
smoking marijuana is relaxing to the mind and helps people completely
forget of tension, stress, and troubles. What most marijuana smokers dont
know is that casual marijuana use is linked to major brain changes. In the
first study to link casual marijuana use to major brain changes, Greer says
that even occasionally smoking marijuana may rewire your brain and cause
structural changes (Greer,2014). People dont understand that the brain is
vital to the human body, and if studies show that smoking marijuana even
just casually can rewire brain waves, then what will happen to those people
who smoke big doses of marijuana? What is going to happen to their brain?
According to GPA is lower in comparison to those who do not smoke pot.
Why do you think marijuana is called Dope? People who smoke pot act and
do stupid things (Thomas). A different study seemed to show that

Temple 3

adolescents who started using marijuana before the age of 18 and

diagnosed as addicted by the time they were 38 experienced a drop in IQ
by early adulthood (Does Marijuana cause brain damage). Being in college I
know my education is extremely important and I know that my future means
more to me then doing dope just to make me feel calm. The fact that the
study starts at age 18 means most of these people still have a future ahead
of them and many of them may also be in college.
Many people are for the legalization of medical marijuana. If one
were to take a survey and ask people who smoke marijuana, if marijuana
should be legalized for recreational use, they would, of course, say yes. The
next question to ask them is why they would want recreational marijuana to
be legalized. Most would probably say it keeps them relaxed and takes stress
away. From articles on the internet, one can assume that marijuana smokers
will fight to get recreational marijuana legalized. For example in an article
called Why people use marijuana? the author simply writes that
Marijuana is a widely used illegal drug all over the world The author then
says There is no concrete reason why people smoke marijuana it may be
due to peer pressure, a habit inculcated from someone in the family or just a
try to taste the drug(Why People Use Marijuana). The author discusses
about the effects of using marijuana, and after all of the hard work that the
author has gone to write this article, I observed that he was disowned by
comments made by viewers. One comment quotes for all those people who
think weed should stay illegal they are Idiots.there are many more things

Temple 4

that affect your body and all weed does is relax you and make you feel
better (Why people use marijuana?). Many of the comments on the
articles page, Why People use Marijuana? are made by people who are
very much offended by the subject of making recreational marijuana legal.
Many argue with people who are against it, just to show satisfaction for their
own marijuana use. For example, another comment said, I have smoked
weed for about 9 years im 21 so I have smoked it from a young age and to
be honest I talk more when im high and have never experienced any
negativity from the drug.(Why people use marijuana?). I believe as if these
people that have written these comments are uneducated in the area of
marijuana. They dont have any evidence or anything to back up their
comments when it comes to supporting marijuana.

Figure 2. Weed, (Karen Weintraub, Special for USA TODAY. Casual Marijuana Use Linked to Brain Changes. USA
Today. Gannett, 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.)

As ive previously mentioned heart rates and weak pulses are also a
negative sign of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. There have been

Temple 5

stories where a marijuana smoker was driving down the interstate and got in
a wreck because their heart rate has been slowed down due to the quick
smoke they had before getting in the car to drive. A study published today
in the Journal of the American Heart Association further demonstrates that
marijuana use increases the risk of major cardiovascular events such as
heart attack, heart rhythm disorders, and stroke , particularly in young
people without other heart disease risk factors(Abraham, MD). With america
already having trouble with the youth, legalizing marijuana will only increase
the youth to be able to get there hands on another drug. For the study,
researchers in France looked at data from the French Addictovigilance
Network between 2006 and 2010. They identified 35 out of nearly 2,000
marijuana-users with known medical conditions linked to the heart and
arteries in the brain or limbs(Firger). Youth smoking marijuana is bound to
increase their chances of having heart attacks and weak pulses. A prior
study showed a 480 percent increase in the risk of heart attack within the
first hour following marijuana use, primarily in those at risk for heart attack
(Abraham, MD). As you can see in figure 3. this man is having a heart attack
and probably needs assistance with medical marijuana. Medical marijuana is
legalized to help patients that are in pain, but how is that okay when people

Temple 6

are going into the hospital because of having a heart attack due to the use of
smoking recreational use of marijuana?

Figure 3. Heart attack, (Karen Weintraub, Special for USA TODAY. Casual Marijuana Use Linked to Brain Changes. USA
Today. Gannett, 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.)

After reading a Ted Talk I have learned that speaker Ethan Nadelmann
(figure 4.) grew up in a religious family that frowned upon drugs. When he
went off to college he was given opportunities to smoke pot but he felt that
alcohol was more effective than pot. He also thinks that the legalization of
marijuana will give more of a reach out to people over the age of forty as to
the young youth. Nadelmann then explains War on Drugs is largely about
kids. Its about every parents desire to put our baby in a bubble, and our
fear that drugs will pierce that bubble, America needs to take a stand
against legalizing recreational marijuana. Legalizing marijuana is a bad
decision for America to make. There will be many consequences in the
legalizing of marijuana; these consequences will be too much to handle for
U.S citizens. This is determined by the looking at the brain changes caused
by casual marijuana use, the many people who want marijuana personal use,
and at the effects on the heart caused by marijuana.

Temple 7
Figure 4. Nadelmann, (The War On Drugs Has Got to End: Ethan Nadelmann Speaks at TEDGlobal 2014.TED Blog The
War on Drugs has got to end Ethan Nadelmann speaks at TEDGlobal 2014 Comments. N.p., Jul. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. )

Temple 8

Works Cited

The War On Drugs Has Got to End: Ethan Nadelmann Speaks at TEDGlobal 2014.TED Blog The War
on Drugs has got to end Ethan Nadelmann speaks at TEDGlobal 2014 Comments. N.p., Jul.
2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Abraham, William, MD. Is Marijuana Bad for your Heart? AN EVERYDAY HEALTH LEADER. N.p., 26
April 2014. web. 17 April 2014.

Karen Weintraub, Special for USA TODAY. Casual Marijuana Use Linked to Brain Changes. USA
Today. Gannett, 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Thomas, John. Marijuana Legalized for Recreational Use: Let That Thought Go up in Smoke. LIBERTY
VOICE. N.p., 14 April 2014. Web. 17 April 2014.

Marijuana Use May Lead to Cardiac Arrest and Other Heart Problems. CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d.
Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Does Marijuana Cause Brain Damage? - TruthOnPot.Com.TruthOnPot.com. N.p., Feb. 2012.

Web. 19 Nov. 2015

Why People Use Marijuana?Why people use marijuana?Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Temple 9
TRUTH ABOUT MARIJUANA VIDEO - Real Life Stories - Side Effects Of Marijuana, Cannabis
and Hashish Facts. TRUTH ABOUT MARIJUANA VIDEO - Real Life Stories - Side Effects of Marijuana,
Cannabis and Hashish Facts. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.