November 3, 2016

Dear Future President,

Hello, my name is Walker Wright and I am a student at Keller High School. Lately, there has been a lot of controversy around the topic of legalizing marijuana leading to more misuse of it. There is an argument for legalizing marijuana that it can’t hurt you and that there are many medical benefits. But the people who believe this are just making excuses to make it legal and don’t want to know or believe the truth about it. The truth is that marijuana can harm you in short and long term ways that are very alarming, and the solution is marijuana needs to be illegal everywhere in the United States of America and there needs to be more education about marijuana to the people of the United States.

There are hundreds of ways marijuana can hurt you, and here are just few short term effects of using marijuana: paranoia, panic hallucinations, increased heart rate (which can be lead to higher risk of a heart attack), and increased risk of stroke. The long term effects are even scarier: there’s decline in IQ, higher chance of dropping out of school, financial difficulties, greater chances of being unemployed or not getting good jobs, and addiction. That’s right, it is a myth that marijuana is not addictive. Now, I am not immersed in marijuana culture, but I am very aware that kids are not informed enough about marijuana and its effects. It is scary that when I was doing the research for this paper, I was surprised at how many myths about marijuana are false.

Many people make the argument that marijuana should be legalized because of its health benefits. While many studies are beginning to show this is true, there is only a fraction of people who it helps in those studies. That is, it is a very inconsistent medical tool. Also, this is no reason to legalize marijuana everywhere-- it is only a valid argument to legalize marijuana for medical use. If marijuana was legal everywhere in the United States, most people would think,’’Well if it is legal now, I guess I’ll try it out.” Do you know how many young people would make this mistake and ruin their lives? If your heart is in the right place for everyone in the U.S., I believe you would make the right choice and make it illegal everywhere in this country.

Marijuana is a dangerous substance that is hanging in the balance ready to destroy the U.S. and its pride. Marijuana needs to be unlawful all over the United States and there needs to be a large national push to educate everyone about the effects of marijuana.

Respectfully,

Walker Wright

Student, KHS

http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/short-and-long-term-effects.html

This is my source and it includes an excellent video about the effects of marijuana with real people.