By Justine Kate Balinbin
The use of marijuana as medicine brings negative impacts to physiological, psychological and sociological being of a person. In our society nowadays, marijuana is one of the commonly abused illegal drugs. If marijuana is legalize as medicine, then people will think smoking marijuana is something we can do every day at anytime, without getting arrested which increases drug use. As humans are getting more intelligent, although there are processes before availing medical marijuana, many people are able to think of a way in order to have an easy access. It is through the use of internet on how to grow and create marijuana without any doctor’s prescription which is an alarming thing. According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), “Approximately 4.0 million people aged 12 or older in 2016 had a marijuana use disorder in the past year, which represents 1.5 percent of people aged 12 or older.”
The increased usage of marijuana corresponds to negative health effects. The users might experience various diseases such as mouth, throat and lung cancer. “Marijuana smoke irritates the lungs, contributing to issues like daily cough and phlegm, as well as lung illness including pneumonia and bronchitis.”(Pyramid Health Care, 2017).
Marijuana can also increase the heart rate of a person wherein chance of heart attack could occur especially to those people who already have heart disease. Marijuana can badly affect fertility as well. Men who smoke marijuana displays lower sperm count, which can lead to difficulty in bearing a child. Smoking marijuana during pregnancy can also linked to low birth weight.
It has also psychological effects. This includes decreased mental performance. “Regular use of marijuana diminishes a user’s concentration, memory and the ability to learn.”(ABC Health & Wellbeing, 2014).
The chemical responsible for these changes is the THC or tetrahydrocannabinol which is present in the marijuana plant. When somebody is high with the use of marijuana, they may experience hallucinations that may seem real but in reality they do probably not exist. Marijuana can also lead to more dangerous effects such as anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts especially amongst teenagers.
There are also sociological impacts. “Marijuana use can also cause delinquent behavior, aggression, rebellion and poor relationships with family, especially parents.”(Rehabs.com, 2019). People who are involved in smoking marijuana become dependent towards this drug. This causes changes on the attitude and behavior they show. Like for example, they may change from sociable and jolly person to someone who is introvert. Other social effects include loss of friends an peers, lack of consideration towards other people and sometimes may lead to deviant behaviour such as crime.
So far, it is not yet totally proven that Medical Marijuana can cure diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancers. But as what we can observe in the society, it has lots of negative impacts to physiological, psychological and sociological being of many individuals who have been involved into it. So think about it, do you want anybody to be suffering from this kind of situation? Well definitely no. Hence, we should prohibit marijuana as medicine because it only put lives of many people to risk.
ABC Health and Wellbeing. (2014, June 13). Cannabis. Retrieved from
https://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2002/08/22/1829503.htm
Condron, P. (n.d). Facts about marijuana use and abuse. Retrieved from
https://luxury.rehabs.com/marijuana-rehab/social-impact-and-effects-of-marijuana/
Pyramid Healthcare. (2017, June 5). Health effects of recreational and medical
marijuana use. Retrieved from https://www.pyramidhealthcarepa.com/health-effects-marijuana/
Talbott Recovery. (n.d.). Marijuana statistics. Retrieved from
https://talbottcampus.com/marijuana-statistics/
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