The Problems of the Daily Dope

The Problems of the Daily Dope

by Anthony Pace

There are many advocates for the legalization of marijuana; however, perhaps, he or she has had too much to smoke. While short term use has been proven therapeutic for pain relief in cancer and glaucoma patients, daily use has been proven to only have a harmful impact. It is due to the negative affects of long term use that marijuana should remain a controlled substance in Canada. Long term use can greatly impair "..critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning..."(w1). The study of marijuana's impact on the brain has proven that "...young people (that use) below college age... ... have lower achievement than the non-users"(w2). Adding to regular teenage angst, marijuana, can make getting through your teens a near impossible task; especially, for those that are willing to resort to violence and theft to support their habit. Extended use can lead the user to a desire for a better buzz, that can, in turn, lead them to more addictive substances. Impacts during pregnancy extend to birth defects, child dependency through breast milk, and eventual motor skill and cognitive deficiencies. Once the impact on society is recognized, taxpayers are going to pay millions more to generate additional rehabilitation programs; these, designed of course, to combat the eventual overloading of treatment programs already in place. There are many additional reasons to support how and why marijuana impacts the private lives, personal health, and the taxpayer at large; yet, with just a few, it should be absolutely apparent to Canadians that we would be dopes to make pot an uncontrolled substance.

Works Consulted

web articles

w1. About.com http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/pot/l/blnida07.htm?terms=marijuana

(www.about.com is an information distribution web entity.)

w2. NIDA http://www.drugabuse.gov/Infofax/marijuana.html

(NIDA is the National Institute On Drug Abuse, and the sites goal is to distribute information regarding drugs and hopefully prevent there use)