Marijuana Should Not Be Legalized Essay -- pot should not be legal

My best friend used to smoke marijuana on a regular basis. Over time, he developed many obvious bad habits and changed his life style tremendously. He started getting lazy with schoolwork, and did not show much interest in anything at all. His parents noticed all these side effects that had been occurring but were unaware that their son smoked marijuana. After the grades fell so much, they decided to take him to get checked out because they were afraid he had developed some sort of ADD. They come to find out that because of him smoking so much marijuana it had led to brain problems, memory problems and affected his thinking skills. He was unable to stay concentrated on something and constantly was out of breath when any physical activity took place. My friend finally quit smoking marijuana because he saw what it was doing to his life. Many teens try marijuana not knowing all the side effects that come with this drug. This drug has many misconceptions from when it is really legal to w hat marijuana will actually do to your body. People think that marijuana is the most harmless drug because one never hears of people dying from it or getting deathly ill. This is false because marijuana does things to the body that can not be seen from the outside. The majority of the damage is in the brain and lungs which can get extremely dangerous. All the bad side effects from this drug will really harm people’s bodies and ruin their futures and lives. Marijuana has many bad side effects that harm the body. According to Szara Braude, marijuana slows down reactions causing problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking, and loss of coordination (Marijuana as a medicine 53). Many people use this drug not knowing wh... ...s look up to their peers and do whatever they do because they think it is the cool thing to do. Many times it is out of peer pressure that people try this drug to begin with. This can all be avoided if everyone is aware of the bad side effects that can occur in their bodies and what is in marijuana that will mess up their lives. Works Cited Berger, Gilda. Addiction. Chicago: Franklin Watts, 1992. Earlywine, Mitchell. Understanding Marijuana: A new look at the scientific evidence. New York Oxford University Press. 2002. Glazer, Sarah. â€Å"Preventing Teen Drug Use.† CO Researcher. 28 July 1995: 659-662. Mack, Alison. Marijuana as a medicine? Washington, D.C. National Academy Press. 2001. Ravage, Barbara. â€Å"Marijuana Update.† Current Health. Oct. 1994: 6-12. Robert, Michael. â€Å"Social Awakening: As Adolescent Adulthood Begins.† Health 15 (2001): 53-56.