TO SMOKE OR NOT TO SMOKE...MARIJUANA

The last thing I want to do is write another article on why the
legalization of marijuana would be fair. So, I'll try not to let this turn
into that article.

I've never smoked pot. Hard to believe, I know. There's still someone out
there who has never gotten high, but here's why: In high school I had a
fascist dictator for a father...just kidding, but he was strict, and it was
scary. So, while I may have had the opportunity to smoke up if I really
wanted to, I was too afraid that he'd find out and I'd be grounded until
graduation, so I didn't touch the stuff. In college it was more a matter of
not really caring. I could have smoked if I wanted to, but I had enough fun
without it (I confess, I was drunk).

All that background information, in case you were wondering, is just to let
you know that I am pretty impartial (if that's possible) on the
legalization-of-marijuana issue. I know there are reasons for it and quite
a few against it. I just have a problem because people are so negative
about marijuana, but not so passionate about other legal substances that
cause just as much, if not more, damage.

I have a bit of an issue with cigarettes. These I have tried on numerous
occasions; I guess that I thought I was missing what was so great about
them the first 10 times I tried them and hated them. I just don't get what
the allure is. I hate the taste and the smell and for the love of God, they
do not make you look cooler, so just stop trying. They are highly
addictive, highly toxic and highly annoying. They have to be one of the
unhealthiest things out there, but we still have the choice as to whether
or not we smoke them.

I did some research and found that most of the side effects of marijuana
are very similar to those of drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes, two
things that are legal in this country. Why does our government feel that
it's all right to allow us to harm ourselves with tobacco and nicotine as
we see fit, but it won't let us make the same decision regarding marijuana?
Why is it OK in our society to turn ourselves into drunken fools, consuming
insane amounts of alcohol, but we can't get high and act the same way?

Marijuana can affect one's sense of time and their ability to do things
that require coordination, such as driving, just like alcohol. Yet, we are
allowed to go to bars when we are of age and drink ourselves silly and
people trust that we still know enough not to get into our cars and drive
home. Don't drink and drive, don't smoke and drive, it's as simple as that.
Marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol in that respect.

The next thing, which I'm sure everyone's heard, is that a marijuana joint
has as much cancer causing tar as one filtered cigarette. Honestly, I've
never heard of one person smoking an entire joint. You're with four friends
at a party, you pass around a joint, you all take a few hits, and you've
smoked what's about equal to one cigarette. So marijuana is the same, not
worse, than tobacco.

It's been shown that marijuana creates precancerous changes in lungs of
smokers in their 20s. Don't cigarettes cause precancerous changes in lungs
of smokers of all ages? Here are a few facts about the cancer-causing
effects of cigarettes. Cigarettes can cause lung cancer and mouth cancer.
We all know that.

Did you know, however, that they also cause cancer of the esophagus and throat?

Cigarettes are also associated with higher rates of deadly pancreatic
cancer. The carcinogens in cigarettes are excreted in urine, so they also
have a connection with bladder cancer.

Marijuana can cause frequent chest colds as well as irritation to lung and
nasal passages. Cigarettes can give people a nasty smoker's cough, as well
as bronchial infections and poor circulation due to cholesterol deposits on
the heart's artery walls. They cause stomach ulcers and high blood
pressure, which damages the kidneys. Smoking affects women's unborn
children and can lead to an increased risk of cervical cancer. And they're
legal. Doesn't this make anyone else angry?

Maybe I wouldn't feel so negative toward smoking if people had better
manners as well. People smoke cigarettes walking through tunnels, sitting
right next to you in bars and behind you in restaurants. They blow smoke in
your face while you're trying to enjoy a cocktail, a quiet Italian dinner
or a conversation with a good friend. Yet, people are allowed to smoke
these cancer sticks whenever and pretty much wherever they like, and we all
know what second-hand smoke can do.

There have been some recent studies that show long-term, even daily
marijuana use doesn't seem to cause permanent brain damage to the brain.
However, we know for a fact that cigarettes have detrimental effects.

If we're given a choice when it comes to cigarettes, we should give serious
thought to whether or not we should be given a choice when it comes to
something seemingly less harmful. However, my main concern here is not that
marijuana is illegal, but that a substance that is obviously so much more
harmful is legal.

This country is all about giving its citizens the right to choose and I
love that, but we're killing ourselves slowly, day by day, and no one
really seems to care.