WHY MARIJUANA SHOULD NOT BE LEGALIZED?
NOTES
Keyes, K. M. et al. (2016).
How does state marijuana policy
affect US youth? Medical
marijuana laws, marijuana use
and perceived harmfulness:
1991-2014.
US National Library of
MedicineNational Institutes of
Health. Addiction. 2016
Dec;111(12):2187-2195. doi:
10.1111/add.13523. Epub 2016
Aug 26.
National Institute on Drug
Abuse (2013). Marijuana Facts
for Teens. National Institutes of
Health; U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services;
NIH Pub No. 13-4037
Wilkinson, S. (2013). More
Reasons States Should Not
Legalize Marijuana: Medical
and Recreational Marijuana;
Commentary Review of the
Literature. Missouri State
Medical Association: Mo Med.
2013 Nov-Dec; 110 (6): 524-
528. Retrieved
from:www.ncbi.nih.gov
While perceived harmfulness of
marijuana use appears to be
decreasing nationally among
adolescents in the United States,
the passage of medical marijuana SUMMARY
laws (MML) is associated with
increases in perceived
harmfulness among young
adolescents and marijuana use
has decreased among those who
perceive marijuana to be harmful
after passage of MML.
“Some believe marijuana cannot
be harmful because it is
“natural”. But not all natural
plants are good for you---take
tobacco, for example. One
serious risk is addiction. In DIRECT QUOTATION
2011, nearly 4.2 million people
12 and older had marijuana
abuse or addiction problem
because marijuana is nor
harmless as you may think.” –
Nora D. Volkow, M.D.
Recent years have seen
substantial shifts in cultural
attitudes towards marijuana for
medical and recreational use.
Potential problems with the
approval, production, SUMMARY
dispensation, route of
administration, and negative
health effects of medical and
recreational marijuana are
reviewed. Medical marijuana
should be subject to the same
rigorous approval process as
other medications prescribed by
physicians. Legalizing
recreational marijuana may have
negative public health effects.