The legalization of marijuana has created an uproar of support and disregard across the country. Although there are many benefits to smoking, ingesting, and even drinking marijuana, there are plenty of cons to legalizing such a drug. Legalization will decrease the safety of consumers, cause an expansion of crime in the United States, along with other detrimental personal issues to those at risk. Marijuana legalization opens the doors to a dangerous future in our country
People with addictive personalities aren’t the only ones to become addicted to something. Marijuana addiction is subtle but insidious, as it seems to only become a serious problem when it becomes worse than possibly could be. Quitting something is always easier said than done, and when marijuana makes one feel relaxed, and at ease, it leaves plenty of room for them to want to engage in drug use much more common. Legalization will only promote the possibility of such addiction, as well as put those susceptible to such tendencies as a much higher risk.
Marijuana effects different people in different ways, although its effect on mental health has shown decreases in cognitive ability and further harm to the person taking the drug as well as those around them. Therefore, consumer safety is automatically compromised. Starting with a simple joint to addiction, and addiction to a vast decrease in the improvement and progress of mental health to an overall plunge in the safety of a community.
One of the many negative side effects marijuana has on the person and the society is that it promotes laziness and gluttony. While impairing mental judgement and slowing the cognitive process, marijuana use only leads to couch potatoes and hungry slovenly like people who enjoy the simplicity of doing nothing and scarfing down a bag of chips while doing so. This also leads to a decline in job opportunity, especially relating to stigma. The stigma that currently embodies the weed smoking culture is that of a lazy and unproductive community, something that no job wants for their business. Rapper Afroman said it best when he stated in his song “Because I Got High”, “I messed up my entire life, because I got high.” It harder to find and hold on to a job when all someone wants to do is sit at home and watch movies all day, rather than expanding their abilities and learning new and useful skills.
Heavy drugs are almost exclusively linked to marijuana use as it has become a fantastic gateway drug. Those more willing to consistently use and eventually abuse marijuana are more likely to turn to harder drugs to create the high they can no longer achieve from doing marijuana after long term use. The legalization of marijuana will only increase the likelihood of drug abuse in people trying for the first few times to a consistently active user.
It may be discrete, but after a while marijuana legalization will essentially begin to cost more than it’s worth. If and when buying through clinics becomes too expensive and too heavily taxed, similar to what happen to cigarettes, people will turn to dealers that sell marijuana. In the rise of illegal drug trade and illegal drug use, crime will involuntary increase dramatically. And growth in the illegal drug trade and an expansive drop in control of this substance can and will eventually lead to a much bigger drug problem in the US.
Marijuana legalization can be devastating for the sake of personal growth, the safety of those around you, and the overall well-being of our country. We cannot afford to take a step back in progress by legalizing such a drug, that will only encourage dangerous things like crime, addiction, and a decline on the economy.
