UNITED STATES—Its an ongoing debate that people have been discussing for years. Should marijuana be legalized in America? If you are asking my honest opinion, the answer is no.  There is a reason by my decision. We have so many states that have legalized the use of marijuana with a  medical purpose to say the least; all the buzz recently has been about the State of Colorado and how people are fleeing there because of the new laws.

Multiple states across the U.S. have adopted similar laws, but my issue with marijuana is its still a drug. Like I’ve told so many people time and time again, just because a state makes it legal, it does not make the drug legal on a federal level.  There is no constitutional amendment indicating that marijuana is ok to possess.  There is likely a reason for this.

Most may be surprised that the 18th Amendment prohibited the use of alcohol in the states. That law created so much outrage that people begin making alcohol in their homes and before you know it the government repealed that amendment. This is not to say that things will turn out this way for marijuana, but I’m arguing there was a reason for the government taking a stance on consumption of alcohol to begin with; it’s dangerous. People have died from alcohol poisoning, people have driven drunk and killed people while behind the wheel.

Is this to say we should open up a discussion on which drug is worse alcohol or marijuana, perhaps, but at the moment the focus is on why marijuana continues to get a preconceived notion of not being a dangerous drug.  The fact of the matter is it’s a DRUG and people can get hooked on any drug they take. For starters, like alcohol, if you consume it enough you can become dependent and addicted on it, the same applies for marijuana. I know people who are addicted to this drug, not for once have I never been interested in marijuana, but so many people talk about how it places them in a mellow mood and calms the nerves, but have they discussed the urge and addiction to have more of it when its all gone.

Nope, no one wants to address that issue, but it’s a factor. People will spend their last on purchasing marijuana before making sure that they buy groceries for the house, put gas in the car, pay the rent, pay the light bill, go to the doctor, take care of their children, etc, etc.  When you become addicted to anything it causes you to place that thing above everything else, and then we become complacent with our current predicament.

We have yet to even discuss the fact of having someone who is impaired driving a vehicle, caring after their children, operating machinery, etc. It’s like someone said, would you like to have a doctor conducting an open heart surgery on a patient while being high on marijuana? Absolutely not! That’s the thing that we have to acknowledge, there are chemical imbalances and dangers to any drug, the more you do something the more it becomes a part of you.

I was not a happy camper to hear President Barack Obama come out saying that marijuana is not as dangerous as alcohol, yet he backtracked and stated that he is in no way endorsing the drug. That statement he made is almost endorsing the drug to children and teens, which is the scary thing. We could end up in an epidemic if we’re not taking the necessary steps to prevent such incidents before they get out of hand. The more we say someone can’t have something the more that they want it, the more we lessen the side effects of something the more a person is likely to engage in that activity.