Legalized Marijuana will have a Negative
Impact on the Community
Haley Blanchette
Editor-in-Chief Remember when Officer Cook taught us that drugs are
bad? They still are.
The government should not legalize marijuana because it will, obviously,
cause more people to use it. Marijuana causes psychoactive and physiological
effects
when smoked; it alters your state of mind.
 When in an altered state of mind, you do not have the mental capacity to make
informed decisions. People do stupid things when under the influence. They have
the potential to not only hurt themselves, but to harm innocent bystanders.
I do not want anyone, unless the person needs it strictly for medical purposes,
to have the legal right to get high.
If cannabis becomes legal, peer pressure will become even more difficult to resist.
There will be one less reason to say no.
Marijuana is a gateway drug. It influences users to experiment with other, more
dangerous drugs such as pain-killers, heroin, and cocaine. Ask any cocaine or
heroin addict what their first experience with illegal substances was and the
answer will most likely be cigarettes or weed. Because more people will experiment
with this psychoactive drug if it is legalized, we will most likely see an increase
in the use of other illegal drugs.
The cost of keeping drugs illegal is immense. Our economy would probably benefit
from legalizing marijuana; however, that does not mean we should actually do
it. Health is more important than money.
Drugs ruin lives. Once hooked, the only thing users want to do is use. It
becomes the only thing they care about.
There is no focus on goals and aspirations because a new lifestyle immerges:
the lifestyle of the stoner. You get up, get high, go to school high, get out
of school, get high in the parking lot, drive home high, don’t do your
homework because you’re too high, and eat a whole lot in between.
Users lose sight of the important aspects of their lives such as friends, family,
and goals. They begin to stop caring about what grades they receive, their number
of absences, and what college they go to.
Marijuana should remain illegal for the benefit of adolescents. You can pretty
much find marijuana at the snap of your fingers at Canandaigua Academy. People
smoke pot. Simply because so many people do it does not make it okay. Return
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