As more and more states legalize the recreational use of marijuana, communities like Ludlow need to decide if they will allow "pot shops" to open and sell the drug.
Many people — such as
parents, doctors, teachers, and some teenagers — say that marijuana can
have a negative impact on your life.
But is marijuana, or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), really as bad as people say it is?
Not if you compare it to
other drugs. Each year about 88,000 people die abusing alcohol and
480,000 die from smoking cigarettes. However, there has never been a
death caused by using marijuana. You can’t overdose on pot.
According to an article by
Business Insider, alcohol is more detrimental to one’s health than
smoking weed. In fact, not only do more people die from alcohol, it’s
also far more addictive than marijuana.
Some people say that
marijuana is a “gateway drug.” And, while it has been linked to the use
of other substances such as alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamine, that
is not the case for everybody.
Not everyone who smokes goes on to do
harder drugs. If a person has an addictive personality and lives that
type of lifestyle, then it may lead to additional experimentation.
Marijuana is a Schedule I drug. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, “Schedule
I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no
currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” This
definition exists despite the fact that some states have legalized THC
for medical or recreational use.
Although Heroin and LSD
have the same designation, marijuana has become way more accepted than
those other drugs will probably ever be.
There are 21 states where
marijuana is not legal, 21 states where medical use is legal, and eight
states where recreational use is legal. In Massachusetts both medical
and recreational marijuana use is legal.
However, many communities have
banned its sale and it’s still unclear how it will be regulated.
Possession laws
state a person can have 10 ounces inside a primary residence and one
ounce outside the primary residence. You can also only “gift” up to one
ounce to another person. Lastly, a household can grow 12 marijuana
plants inside their home.
If you are 21 or older
and caught with more than an ounce you will be charged with a fine of up
to $100, and subject to confiscation of the amount more than an ounce.
In Massachusetts, it is also still illegal to smoke in public. You have to be in your home or on your property.
Other laws
state people under 21 will be charged with a civil offense if they have
under two ounces inside or outside a residence and over two ounces
remains a crime. The penalty is a civil ticket but also a required drug education program.
Recently, in Ludlow, the selectmen banned the opening of recreational marijuana shops in town.
“Sure kids can get
marijuana anyway, but putting up dispensaries would make it worse.” said
freshman Ariel Vital. “I know middle schoolers who smoke.”
However, some disagree
and believe since the drug is now legal it should be sold in a
supervised setting. “I don’t think [banning marijuana stores] was a
good idea. Opening up shops would give people a way to get marijuana
that wouldn’t be laced with anything harmful,” said junior Abbey
Casagrande.
One fear of opening a
dispensary is that individuals who have a medical prescription for the
drug would abuse the privilege and provide it to those who don’t.
“[The dispensaries] are a
nuisance and in the area we are it’s the last thing we need, let alone
the people already growing their own and selling it, this is just
something they’ll find a way to take advantage of and use for their
benefit rather than for medical uses as intended,” said junior Jerry
Smith.
Although many people smoke for recreational use, others use this plant as medicine.
Dating back to around
500 BC. the ancient cultures did not use cannabis to get high, but as
herbal medicine. This is even happening today as people use medical
marijuana to help treat a range of illnesses and symptoms.
It has been known to
treat, Alzheimer’s, Appetite loss, Cancer, Crohn’s disease, Glaucoma,
Schizophrenia, Multiple Sclerosis, and much more. Cannabinoids, the
active chemicals in medical marijuana, has components that can reduce
anxiety, relieve pain, and control nausea and vomiting caused by cancer
chemotherapy.
And while not necessarily a “medical condition,” some people smoke because it alleviates stress and depression.
I asked an anonymous
source why he smokes and he said, “Cuz, why not?” He also told me he
“smokes two to three times a day…. I’m generally pretty happy normally,
but when I’ve had a crappy day or something yes it [helps].”
I interviewed another
anonymous source and he had different reasoning. He told me “I smoke to
ease my anxiety most of the time. I rarely do it for fun.” I got the
same response from two others saying the reason they started smoking was
to help with anxiety as well as depression.
To some, the drug may not be as horrible as some people think. It has many effects that help people with a lot of problems.
I talked to someone who
told me she was having bad abdominal cramps and pain killers weren’t
helping her. After smoking she “noticed the pain fully going away.”
You definitely want to see a doctor, however, before treating your symptoms with marijuana.
Although marijuana does help a lot of things, we cannot ignore the negative effects.
Some short term effects can
be memory loss, red dry eyes and mouth, increased heart rate, and
changes in mood as well as coordination and balance. The long term
effects can be poor school performance as well as impaired thinking.
One thing many people do not know is there is no correlation between smoking cannabis and lung cancer.
There is also not enough research to say marijuana has a negative effect on the heart.
Although some websites report that marijuana can cause you to hallucinate,
this is not necessarily true. In all cases where someone has smoked
just weed they do not experience hallucinations. For the people that
have, it makes the most sense to say their weed was laced.
Weed can be laced with
PCP, LSD, cocaine, heroin, and even methamphetamine. This is one thing
people should be vigilant about when buying marijuana from people other
than from a dispensary. With laced weed there can be many worse effects
like hallucinations as well as more negative effects on the body.
Lately, at Ludlow High
School, vaping has replaced smoking pot. However, there are still people
who get caught with some during the drug searches though.
Coming to school high
isn’t a good idea. One student who smoked before school reported that he
“couldn’t concentrate well enough…and had to skip some classes” so he
wouldn’t get caught.
It’s hard for
administrators to control what students do before they come to school,
but they can still see the signs if a student is high. These symptoms
can include, red watery eyes, as well as seeming “out of it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment