Marijuana Should Not Be Legalized

Legalization of marijuana is one of the most complex issues among modern social challenges. It requires a special attention from the government that should balance different dispositions in this question. Many countries have decriminalized cannabis, not considering it a serious drug problem for the human psyche. They believe that a person cannot be dependent on marijuana because the content of psychotropic substances is negligible. Moreover, there is no clear scientific information about how marijuana affects the human psyche, so the desire to heal with the help of marijuana can lead to the opposite result. Some states in the United States partially legalized cannabis for medical purposes, particularly for those people who have mental disorders. However, legalization of marijuana does not only provide a treatment for people but can also result in serious personal and social problems. Marijuana should not be legalized because it increases the number of marijuana consumers, reduces the level of mental development, and leads to the use of more serious drugs.

The first reason for the prohibition of marijuana is the imminent increase of marijuana consumers, which will lead to the possibility of addiction. As the legalization of marijuana also provides its advertising, many people want to try this product because there is no ban on its use. This problem is especially crucial among young people, for whom the use of cannabis is a way to integrate into and adapt to the society. In fact, this idealized vision of things proposes only one side of the problem where its negative features are not essential because of the economic profit. In other words, marijuana leads to more users among young people because they do not see this danger. The industry of marijuana can swipe through the active consumers and strengthen their addiction. For instance, the experience of Colorado shows that about 90% of marijuana use accounts for less than a third of customers. Thus, people with addiction are the main target group for the industry, and they become dependent on this system that often uses people-trafficking despite legalization and laws. According to Corchando, “Modern people-trafficking is not a scar-faced man tending a cage of women. It’s a complex system of everyday lies and coercion that happens just behind our backs” (62). It means that legalization does not change the situation, but occasionally makes it even worse. However, the same data show that a number of adolescent drug users remained the same after the legalization. In any case, the legalization of marijuana leads to intensive production, which also increases the number of drug users.

Another reason for the prohibition of marijuana legalization is a decrease in the intellectual activity. Marijuana has a positive effect on people suffering from depression and mental disorders, but it also has opposite consequences. Indeed, many people feel much better after some life traumas because marijuana suspends stress and emotional disorders (Corchando 18). On the other hand, the negative effect is much greater because marijuana affects the operational memory and mental activity. After the use of cannabis, people lose the ability to perceive information, analyze it, and reproduce essential facts. Accordingly, it is difficult and even impossible to recover the memory processes. Trying to cure depression, people eventually find themselves in a different situation. They cannot remember the basic information because it takes much more time. The level of intelligence is also reduced, so the children do not qualify for serious work and normal life. As a result, they cannot remember basic things and they become marginalized in the society. It is especially important in the context of education where teenagers should use their brain as active as possible to form the basis for their personality. The active use of marijuana blocks such major intellectual processes as analysis and synthesis; therefore, many young people almost stop their studying at the initial phase. Teenagers spend more time to repeat the information instead of improving the process of learning because they always forget previous facts. As a result, the learning process becomes similar to circular information references without any productive results. In general, because of the use of cannabis, the process of learning loses its human focus. Moreover, it should be noted that the altered state of consciousness is not a basis for a normal functioning in the society. In addition, marijuana reduces motility, and it is difficult for those who use marijuana permanently to make systematic and complex operations. Some of the researchers believe that many marijuana users have a low IQ, but others do not audit this information. Anyway, the intelligence is significantly reduced, so people do not qualify for serious work and normal life after the active practice of marijuana.

The most important reason against the legalization of marijuana is that it can lead to the use of more serious drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or hashish. In fact, marijuana is not a soft drug as many users convince, but the same drug as many others because it has a negative influence on a person and leads to addiction. In fact, this dependence is much weaker than cocaine or heroin addiction, but it also has negative effects on a person. It is also important that, in most cases, marijuana leads to the desire to try some different drugs. One day, young people can be unsatisfied with the marijuana effect, so they can decide to try another method for pleasure. As a result, young people easily become addicted to hard drugs that cause much more serious problems. Following this logic, many states and countries do not sell beer to minors because after drinking a beer, a person always wants to try other alcohol products. These persons do not have self-discipline; thus, they need to have a normal mental and physical health but it is difficult because they use marijuana every day. Therefore, the government should not legalize marijuana to reduce the possibility of young people shifting from soft to hard drugs. It is better to promote a healthy lifestyle than to legalize a controversial lifestyle as marijuana.