In order to be better informed and surer of my argument I turned to the internet. What I discovered there was startling in the extreme. I found such contrasting information that I was more confused than before I started. According to New Scientist there has never been a major test into the long term effects of smoking marijuana. But it does say that small tests have shown that it contains more cancer causing toxins than tobacco and that five joints a week contains as many carcinogens as smoking a packet of cigarettes every day.
Another danger of smoking marijuana is that there are serious physical and physiological dependence on the drug. It is how dealers make their money and how users get drawn into a vicious addiction that if they do not satisfy will have serious effects on their bodies. An example of this is serious depression and violent mood swings.
A recent report published in New Zealand claimed that cannabis was to blame for a 150% increase in levels of psychosis in the country. It said “The risk of psychosis affects some 10% of people who use cannabis.” This is due to an uncontrollable release of the chemical dopamine from the brain. The main disorder being caused by this is schizophrenia
The current drug culture in Northern Ireland is beginning to spiral out of control with younger people joining the thousands of users every day. After the reclassification of cannabis to a class C drug certain genres of people see it as a harmless bit of fun. They are obviously forgetting that it is still illegal and that if you are found supplying the drug you will face a prison sentence. For possession of the drug you will be formally cautioned and have the substance confiscated by the police. Again in Northern Ireland the substances used to bulk out the pure cannabis is highly toxic. To make the form of the drug known as “blow” the manufacturers (mainly paramilitaries) melt down bins, plastic bags, plastic bottles and alarmingly pour in oil. This is all to create a hard block that when heated can easily be softened and crumbled into what ever type of drug taking equipment you happen to be using.
Legitimate shops in this country legally sell paraphernalia used in the illegal abuse of drugs. They know that the smoking of cannabis causes serious harm to the body but yet they sell items such as bongs, firing tubes and pipes which they know will be used in the abuse of an illegal substance. Is this not absurd? It shows even the law is willing to turn a blind eye to the serious drug abuse here. Is this not a dereliction of duty? A failure to protect the young people of our society? Should this b allowed to continue
In my opinion the reclassification of cannabis to a class B drug is necessary now to curb the spiralling problem here or soon we will be facing an overwhelming number of psychoses in the population especially in young to mid teens. Something needs to be done now or we will soon see more cases of families devastated like the one I have mentioned.
I found another example of marijuana’s destructiveness on a website set up to campaign about the reclassification of marijuana. It explained how a BMW travelling at over 100mph had been tailgating several cars weaving from lane to lane on an English motorway. As it swerved past a car the driver lost control. The BMW smashed into jeep killing a newly married couple and their two year old son. It then ploughed into a Volkswagen but only caused minor injury to its occupants. Sadly though the five people in the BMW all died at the scene. But what links this into my argument is that the man driving the BMW had huge amounts of cannabis residue in his system. Surely we do not need more reason than this to introduce more stringent laws surrounding the consumption of or possession of cannabis or we may have more horrific accidents like this to write about. It is my contention that it is time the dangers of marijuana must be subject to the same type of campaign as drink driving. There is also no doubt that when a user of marijuana does not get the same euphoric feeling as they used to they will move onto harder drugs and entering a downward cycle of destruction.
By reclassifying marijuana to a Class B drug it would go some way to exercising much needed control over this dangerous and insidious drug.
Bibliography
Google.com
New scientist.com
UKCIA.org
Marijuanaprocon.com
Medicalmarijuana.com
Prohibitionmarijuana.com
By Stephen Lynn