Should Marijuana Be Legalized - 1124 Words

Shortly after President Obama was elected in 2009, Bernadine Healy, who is the editor and columnist for U.S. News World Report published an article titled â€Å"legalize marijuana? Obama was right to say no,† signaling her disapproval of reforming the marijuana laws. In recent years, states have experimented with recreational and medical cannabis use. Healy highlighted that legalizing cannabis would go against what President Obama campaigned on in terms of nurturing our nation’s children. Earlimart, Healy discussed how marijuana has potential health effects, and is harmful for teens who use the drug. Although Healy pointed out several hurdles when it comes to cannabis legalization, she failed to mention several important elements which impact†¦show more content†¦As far as Devinski’s concerns regarding how the chemicals impact various brain functions such as thinking, memory, and concentration, each one of those could also be affected by consuming alcoh ol. After Healy examined chemicals within the cannabis plant, she then moved on to discuss how the cannabis plant was addictive by describing a specific situation on the continent of Australia. She is right in her assertion that marijuana is potentially addictive. However, Healy forgot to mention the other serious addiction problems which affect many Americans all across our nation. Bardhi et al,. (2014) published a case study on prescription pill use in marijuana smoking among young women. Toward the end of the study, the authors discussed the story of a young woman named Julia. She suffered from anxiety attacks during certain situations. After seeing a doctor, she was prescribed the medication Xanax. Julia was told to only take the medication during an emergency, or when she felt an attack coming on. After a while, Julia began taking the pills every day. This example demonstrates how pharmaceutical prescription medications which are prescribed by doctors can become highly addictive. Another example of an individual who was affected by prescription medication is my uncle.