“Legal Marijuana: Should You be very Afraid?” ProQuest.com. Northwest Asian Weekly, 29 Mar 2014. Web. 19 July 2015.
An anonymous author of an Asian American newspaper called Northwest Asian Weekly, argues the question “Is legal marijuana a good thing or a bad thing?” The author’s stance is all for medical marijuana but he’s a bit iffy about marijuana being used for recreational purposes. His argument for why marijuana should be legalized for certain reasons seems to be promising.
The author begins the article, which is the main concern of the community, with the fear of “marijuana being addictive or becoming a gateway drug to harder and more damaging drugs, such as cocaine, meth, or heroin.” He continues to provide facts from his research from science journals that prove that “the addiction rate [for marijuana] is about 9 percent amongst those who’ve tried it.” Of course that is still a big number for those who oppose the legalization of marijuana but the article writer argues that the overall addiction potential for cannabis is less than that of caffeine, tobacco, cocaine, or heroin. The author also suggests pot will most likely be addictive not because it’s addictive, but because the people whom get addicted are “simply addictive people.”
The anonymous writer continues with the subject of marijuana being claimed as a gateway drug and points out that marijuana users whom moved on to harder drugs were assisted by their drug supplier. If marijuana were to become legal, it should be sold in a controlled environment to remove the criminal element involved with buying pot, says the author. He goes on with a scenario of how store clerks wouldn’t be trying to upgrade customers to drugs like cocaine if marijuana were to become legalized, and there’s no question that it will most definitely become legalized in the near future.
The author will agree that inhaling smoke on its own is harmful but so is eating junk food and consuming alcohol. What he’s aiming to inform the world is: it doesn’t make sense that marijuana is illegal but tobacco, alcohol, unprotected sex, potato chips, soda, driving, and a bunch of other stuff are legal and bad for you. At this point of the article, it is evident the author is accepting the idea that marijuana will eventually be legalized for recreational use and it will be in the hands of the user to use it responsibly the way they should with alcohol or any mind-altering substance.
Of course, the author has some concerns about marijuana being legalized for one reason mainly. “Like alcohol, [marijuana] (would be) very easy for adolescents to acquire.” He agrees with the idea that it legal marijuana wouldn’t be much different than alcohol, but he wants children to focus on school rather than have fun getting stoned; even then marijuana would be illegal for adolescents given their age. The author ends the article with the feel of a storm a brewing with the quote referring to the legalization of marijuana, “It’s coming.”
I have been concerned with whether or not marijuana was a gateway drug and have seen many articles that just said “it is” or “it isn’t” just in plain text, but this article actually went in debt with percentages which was helpful to understand and further my research. This article is also very helpful for those who are still indecisive on the subject of why marijuana legalization would be a good idea by telling people that they need to be more educated about marijuana because it is going to be legal and that they should quite fearing the inevitable truth.
This research summary talks a lot about the same things that mine did. So after reading and writing about this, I can see where people would thin that, it’s more how people take it. For example when you put that marijuana isn’t addictive however the people that take it are addictive people. I don’t know what I think about that , but it’s totally interesting!
I agree, why not legalize marijuana when substances such as tobacco and alcohol are legal. This article is very informative however, I don’t necessarily think the legalization of marijuana is inevitable. Drugs such as cocaine and heroin are used a lot by many people but that doesn’t mean the government is going to legalize it because there is a high percentage of people using it.
I agree that marijuana should be legalized because tobacco is an equally harmful drug, yet it is legal. I think the reason marijuana is not legalized is due to the negative connotation that it is usually associated with. Many people consider it a “gateway” drug, meaning they think it leads to using even more dangerous drugs.
The view that marijuana legalization is inevitable may hold its own argument itself. Just because many people use it, it does not mean it is bound to become legal. Just as Jasmine states, like heroin and cocaine will not become legal just based off the fact that many people use it. The viewpoints about marijuana being a gateway drug are also interesting, in which the evidence given supports his claim.
I think the anonymous writer had it right, marijuana should be legalized, but for medicinal purposes only. No one is disputing the wonderful properties that marijuana possesses, but to what extent are we willing to let it be exploited. I don’t necessarily agree that “potato chips and driving” are as dangerous has recreational marijuana smoking, comparing them kind of takes away from his argument. It is good though to hear a regular citizen voicing their opinion. Often times its stuffy, scholarly people spewing about it, its nice to see a change.