The legalization of marijuana in united states Essay

The legalization of marijuana in united states - Essay Example Marijuana has devastating health effects on the user. Marijuana smoke has carcinogenic properties. Consequently, its use has deleterious impacts on heart rate, IQ (Intelligent Quotient), learning, psychosis, respiratory system, memory, coordination, mood and problem-solving abilities. Additionally, the neurocognitive performance is persistently impaired and may later reduce an individual to a zombie. What is scaring is the sheer fact that people who heavily use marijuana before reaching the age of 25 have a 75% chance of experiencing brain failure. Will legalization of such a substance not cause the population to be incapacitated health wise? Certainly it will and its legalization can only be equated to predicting disaster for the American society (Doug & peter 121). Statistics further indicate that approximately 9% of marijuana users become addicted and can hardly engage in any meaningful activity without using the substance. Legalizing marijuana will only increase the over 4.5 mill ion Americans who currently meet the clinical criteria for marijuana dependence, a fact that portends doom. What’s more, legalization of marijuana will lead to public safety being compromised. Use of the substance causes impairment which will in turn jeopardize the safety of users and other Americans at large, in the form of workplace injuries, traffic crashes, child neglect, and other such upsetting events. Evidently, not any of us would like to have an accountant, doctor, engineer or pharmacist who has to smoke marijuana before serving you. This is a clear indication that the about 50% of Americans who are against legalization of marijuana certainly understand the impacts that legalization of the substance will have and hence it should not be legalized. Additionally, legalizing marijuana for the mere reason that it has medicinal value is a mere rhetoric since scientific exploration does not uphold