Legalizing Marijuana and its Effects on Teens

List is Pertinent Issues

Merits

1. Treatment of Medical conditions that relate to loss of appetite, vomiting and nausea in Teens.
2. Induce sleep in teenagers with insomnia and reduce restlessness among teens.
3.  Marijuana plants that are low in THC but high in active elements such as Cannabidiol can be used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia disorders with little or no side-effects.

Demerits

1. Arrest of normal brain development in Teens causing learning and thinking impairments.
2. Predisposes teenagers to adverse side effects such as cancer and a possible future resistance to fertility treatments.
3. Reduction of psychological interaction abilities and development of intelligence amongst teenagers.

Legalizing Marijuana and its Effects on Teens

The current debate topic in legalizing marijuana as an effort towards better regulations of this widely utilized drug may have profound effects when used by teenagers. Researchers argue that its psychoactive ingredient, Tetrahydrocannbinol (THC), has the potential to arrest brain development in Teenagers that may affect factors such as memory, ability to be productive and adverse psychological behavior (Bergland 2014; Barton 2014). Currently, Marijuana is a highly regulated drug substance throughout the world. However, this drug has the potential to treat ailments such as lack of appetite, reduce headaches and even reverse insomnia. It has been legalized in some states of USA and its effects upon legalization are yet to be determined. There are various effects of smoking Marijuana on growing teens and how legalizing this substance may increase Teenage exposure and consequent harm.

The legalization of Marijuana can improve the availability of this drug to be used in the treatment of some medical conditions. For instance, young adults who are often restless and continuously suffer from insomnia may be positively affected by Marijuana smoking as it has the potential to induce sleep and increased appetite. Furthermore, this drug is also rumored to reduce nausea and vomiting (Sahelian 2014). However, these affects are usually temporally and require perpetual utilization to maintain treatment on ailments such as lack of appetite, a fete that may introduce adverse negative side effects on the teen.

Furthermore, Israeli researchers have developed a Marijuana plant that is low on THC and high on another active element referred to as Cannabidiol (CBD). This novel plant has little hallucinatory effects when smoked and can be used to treat memory diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia can also be treated with this drug with the benefit of inducing little or no side-effects such as the arrest of normal brain growth in teens (Szalavitz 2012).

Since a teen’s mind is on the developmental stages, it has been argued by researchers that THC has the potential to arrest proper brain development amongst teenagers who frequently smoke this drug. Marijuana restructures the proper development of a teenage brain to the tune of poor working memories and unconditioned perception (Bergland 2014). Short memory spans are not positive indicators of a better learning ability since this is necessary for any school-attending teenager in the 21^st century. Such short memory has the effect of directly affecting a teenager’s ability to think clearly and may further serve to impair learning abilities. Furthermore, this induced brain restructuring has been rumored to make teenager ‘work-harder’ in engaging the brain and its resources as they respond to thinking fetes or brain activities in sports such as chess. Thus, marijuana can be taught to render a stunning blow on intelligence and IQ levels (Barton 2014; Bergland 2014).

Finally, legalization of this drug will increase its street availability of young adults, thus, increasing their frequency in using this drug. Frequent ingestion and smoking of the drug by teenagers by reducing their psychological interaction abilities and predisposes them to secondary side-effects such as cancer, damage to the nervous system and their future responses to fertility treatments (Sahelian 2014).

Conclusions

To sum up on the foregoing discussions, legalization of Marijuana has potential ramifications on medical and teenage use. Some are positive while most are negative. These negative effects have a profound effect on the teenager as compared to the positive effects. The positive effects only last for a few minutes and include the treatment of insomnia, increasing appetite for sickly teens and reducing nausea or vomiting. The adverse effects border on the ability of the child to indulge in brain activity such as memorizing, thinking (as is required in learning) and longer brain perception abilities. Teen’s brains are always developing and Marijuana smoking has the ability to restructure the brain and arrest intelligence development fetes. This may result in poor learning abilities by the teenager. Other side effects include an increased potential to develop cancer, poor psychological interactions abilities and a future reduced response to fertility treatments once the teenager grows into adulthood.

References

Barton, A. (2014, October 16). Your kid’s brain on pot: The real effects of marijuana on teens: The Globe and Mail. Retrieved on April 22, 2015 from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/your-kids-brain-on-pot-the-real-effects-of-marijuana-on-teens/article21127612/

Bergland, C. (2014, March 30). Heavy Marijuana Use Alters Teenage Brain Structure. Retrieved on April 22, 2015 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201403/heavy-marijuana-use-alters-teenage-brain-structure

Sahelian, M.D., R. (2014, November 16). Marijuana side effects and benefits, risk. Retrieved on April 22, 2015 from http://www.raysahelian.com/marijuana.html

Szalavitz, M. (2012, June 4). A New Marijuana Plant without the High? It Could Be Good Medicine. Retrieved on May 8, 2015 from http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/04/a-new-marijuana-plant-without-the-high-it-could-be-good-medicine/

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