In the United States, 2012, 4.3 million people suffered from marijuana dependence or abuse. Imagine being an amazing child, having good grades, being a good athlete. But, one day your friends ask you to smoke, you know you’re not supposed to but they keep calling you lame since you won’t. You want to prove them wrong so you try it…now 3 months later your grades are dropping, you can’t compete at a high level anymore and you have a ridiculous temper. Then, you sit down and ask yourself, where did it all go wrong? This is what is happening to teenagers and young adults all over the country right now and then people are saying that marijuana should be legalized? I believe that marijuana should not be legalized and by the end of this essay you will believe so too.
My first reason for why marijuana should not be legalized is that if marijuana is legalized younger people will think it is okay to smoke it just because it is legal. Studies show that, “In states where marijuana is legalized marijuana use increases by 37%.” Also, “willingness to legalize marijuana could be a reason for the uptick in the percentage of Americans who say they smoke marijuana, regardless of whether it is legal in their particular state.” This is not good due to the fact that marijuana affects people more greatly when they have a developing brain and it can have permanent effects.

The second reason I believe marijuana should not be legalized is many people are unaware of the real dangers that comes from marijuana. I interviewed 20 random students and only 8 students knew that it was addictive and only 9 thought it was dangerous. Over 50% of students didn’t think that marijuana was dangerous! That is staggering, but what surprises me the most is the number of people who have stated that they have willingly smoked marijuana at least once in the past 5 years, “43% of adults in the U.S. reported having tried the substance, compared with 44% reported last year, 38% reported in 2013, and 4% in 1969.” This supports my claim because if we legalize marijuana people will not take the time to do research on the dangers of it therefore it will cause more harm.

My third and final reason for why I believe marijuana should not be legalized is how addicting the drug is. Many people suffer marijuana dependence in which a person feels withdrawal symptoms when not taking the drug. Some of these symptoms are, “irritability, mood and sleep difficulties, decreased appetite, cravings, restlessness, and/or various forms of physical discomfort that peak within the first week after quitting.” This supports my claim because people do not want to deal with this, so instead of facing the withdrawal symptoms head to head they go back to marijuana and this is how marijuana is addicting.

Some might say that marijuana isn’t dangerous due to the fact that there has been 0 deaths directly related to marijuana. This is true and I will not deny it. But, they do not bring up the fact that people who take marijuana suffer brain damage and their physical ability decreases greatly. Studies show that, “68% of teens that smoked marijuana had a decrease in grades.” Also, there has been no deaths due to a marijuana overdose but their has been deaths due to people smoking marijuana and then getting into car accidents. The chances of you dying after smoking marijuana are 2 times higher.

In conclusion, Marijuana is a very dangerous drug and should not be legalized due to the fact that it is an addictive drug. The number of young adults smoking marijuana is increasing as well as the number of people who have a dependence for it. Young people aren’t educated enough on the dangers of marijuana. These 3 reasons are why I think Marijuana should not be legalized. Now, what will you do about the Marijuana legalization issue?