Joint Ventures

Joint Ventures

The legalization of marijuana, formally an illegal recreational drug, is very complicated and confusing. Should marijuana be legalized? On this issue our county is divided, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 49% of people polled are for the legalization and 48% apposed.

I grew up in an area of “this is your brain on drugs” (egg frying), I am confused. Is marijuana use harmful to our children? According to Dr. Paula Riggs of the University of Colorado, children’s brains between the ages of ten and mid to late twenties are still under construction. After a twenty year study, Dr. Riggs has concluded that the use of marijuana by children disrupts the development of circuits in the brain and regular marijuana use causes a 6 to 8 point decrease in IQ.

But is marijuana use any more harmful than alcohol or tobacco? According to a study published in Experimental & Clinical Psycho Pharmacology, 1994, 9% of marijuana users become addicted compared to 15% of alcohol users and 32% of tobacco users. And according to Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News Chief Health and Medical Editor, the use of marijuana is less likely to lead to car accidents, birth defects or domestic violence compared to alcohol use.

Today’s marijuana is not your father’s marijuana. Drugs sold on the black market today are three times more powerful than the marijuana of past generation, making this new marijuana more highly addictive and dangerous to our children’ overall well-being. Legalization is a new approach to an old issue. By legalizing marijuana the drug is being taken out the hands of criminals and placing control in the hands of our government to regulate and tax.