Olivia+M’s+2017+OpEd+Article

==It drives me insane when the individuals around me tell me that alcohol isn’t perilous, or it’s acceptable to get “drunk” on Friday nights when there is nothing going on the next day. These people are full of ignorance and chances are they haven’t been directly affected by addiction, so they don’t know any better. For the people who have been directly affected, watching their friends and loved ones being naive about alcohol and/or drugs is mind boggling and heartbreaking. I am one of those people that feels the gut wrenching twist when asked to drink or have a smoke. I have been directly affected, I know the power intoxicating substances can hold over one. Death. Abuse. Belligerent language. Extremely high highs and extremely low lows. But for those who haven’t been affected, it’s hard for them to imagine what it would be like. In schools today, we don’t receive enough education about the damage alcohol can cause, but there is an even greater lack on the subject of drugs; opioids (narcotics), performance enhancing, cannabinoids, etc. Currently, a brewing nationwide controversial topic is if marijuana (weed) should be legalized, and is it okay to use? I really don’t know the answer to this question. I feel uneducated. I feel stuck in the middle between my school mates and my relatives. I am continuously being told by my friends that “marijuana is okay, and it’s not shown to do any harm”. So let’s vote to legalize it right? But then on the other hand, I have my mom, a registered nurse, who is completely against the passing of marijuana even for medical uses because can you really trust every patient to use drugs only when prescribed? She’s seen the worst, she’s seen how attics are no longer capable of functioning in day to day society because they are constantly looking for their next fix.== ==I’m going into my research with an open mind and letting the statistics, the hard core facts tell nothing but the truth. Keep in mind that every addiction starts with one drink, one smoke, one pop of a pill. And after that one, it becomes two, then it jumps to five, then you realize you are watching your dad having one or two beers at breakfast, lunch, dinner, waking up in the middle of the night only to hear him sneak a drink. You watch your loved one drink himself to death, slowly but surely. Marijuana IS THE SAME, whether you are consuming through vaping, smoking, ingestible oils, tinctures, etc. One day you are at a party getting offered a smoke, an edible, a joint, and the next you find yourself buying it from the local school dealer, J#&*$ R*&^%$#, just so you can have your daily dose. Marijuana is not safer than alcohol or any other drug. It is JUST AS ADDICTIVE. Kids will be kids, they will go to parties, and I’m not against that at all, I’m not against having normal teenage experiences. But people need to stop being so goddamn naïve and acknowledge the facts. Weed DOES cause “distortions of time and space” and “can damage the cells in the bronchial passages which protect the body against inhaled microorganisms and decrease the ability of the immune cells in the lungs to fight off fungi, bacteria, and tumor cells.” (1) Additionally, what people aren’t aware of is the fact that there are different strains of marijuana, the more THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) and cannabinoids the more dangerous it is. “Cannabinoids are mind altering chemicals.” These chemicals are found in the marijuana plant and are usually marketed as “fake weed” or “synthetic marijuana” and promoted as a much safer alternative but “they may affect the brain much more powerfully than marijuana; their actual effects can be unpredictable and, in some cases, severe or even life-threatening.” (2) Drugs and alcohol put a veil on your brain shutting out all the information that your body needs to function, causing extremely dangerous activity. Anything that affects your thought process not only affects you, but the people around you.== ==Well what about medical marijuana? I’m no doctor but prescribing medical marijuana is a gamble. But doctors will give it anyways because most times they REALLY just want to please the patient, I mean do you know how easy it is to convince a doctor that you have anxiety so you need medical marijuana or a benzodiazepine (xanax)? Easy. I actually have chronic anxiety and as soon as I came in my doctor was like “Olivia!...What do you need?” She was ready to prescribe me any pharmaceutical drug right there and then without even going into a full detailed workup. The end game for doctors is to make their patients happy and if that means giving them what they want to keep them from coming back, you bet they will do that. Moreover, research has shown that“there really is no such thing as medical marijuana... The dangers and risks of marijuana use are well-known by the scientific community, even if they are downplayed by corporate interests wishing to get rich off of legalization. Apathy, lost productivity, addictive disease, deterioration in intellectual function, motor vehicle accidents, and psychosis are all among the negative outcomes.” (3) Every addiction has to start somewhere.== ==So next time you go around saying marijuana isn’t “that” harmful to the immune system, think twice. I think as teens we feel pressured to become that cool kid that smokes and drinks every so often, goes to parties, and gets laid. And maybe that’s a norm to society now. But become educated, think before you do, protect yourself. If you’re continuously getting high or drunk, if you are keeping in your dresser drawer or under your bed to make sure you can get your regular dose in then “que lastimá”.==

SOURCES:

 * 1) =="Hidden Dangers of Marijuana." Narconon International. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.==
 * 2) =="The Medical Dangers of Marijuana Use." The Medical Dangers of Marijuana Use. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.==
 * 3) =="Top 10 Pros & Cons - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org." Should Marijuana Be a Medical Option? N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.==