Essay on Marijuana: Nicotine and Long Term Effects

Submitted By lusciousleo83
Words: 664
Pages: 3

Marijuana or weed, as some may call it has many long and short term side effects. Tobacco has many of the same negative side effects. The government seems to be torn in deciding whether to ban tobacco and marijuana use. Many laws have been passed down to crack down on tobacco use, while legalizing marijuana use has been a hot topic for nearly forty years. In fact Jimmy Carter flirted with this idea in his 1976 campaign, which was clearly washed down the drain... In a world where tobacco use is on the verge of being banned, how can the government be undecided in banning the use of marijuana? Marijuana should be banned along with tobacco. Marijuana is after all the gateway drug.
Some short term effects of marijuana use are “paranoia, anxiety, and memory loss” (Effects of Marijuana, 2013). Long term effects of marijuana use is “resistance to illness, suppression of immune system, and destruction of lung fiber” (Effects of Marijuana, 2013). Many of these effects occur with people who smoke tobacco as well, but yet the government wants to ban tobacco. Both substances are very addictive, but marijuana is a mind altering substance. Have you ever heard of a person who lost their memory from smoking cigarettes? Can smoking a cigarette make you have hallucinations? There is not enough being done to show the negative side effects of marijuana use.
The government spends millions of dollars to ban tobacco, a non-mind altering substance but is willing to legalize a mind altering one. Commercials are being made to show the negative effects of smoking tobacco, while on the other hand it’s very rare to see the negative effects of weed. More money should be spent on showing the negative side effects marijuana has. For a substance to be illegal right now “in 47 states the drug is available everywhere at a modest cost” (Frum, 2012) in many urban areas marijuana is being sold illegally for a minimum of five dollars. In fact Colorado and Washington already passed a law to legalize the use of marijuana. Maryland and California are more than likely next to follow suit. Where are the ads that show people dying from smoking weed?
Every day you turn on your television screen there is a commercial showing how you can die from smoking cigarettes. Ok everyone gets it. You see what cigarettes are made of and how their components can kill you. What if you turned on your television and saw what weed was made of. You probably think it’s just made from the plant Cannabis. It is made from cannabis plant