Marijuana is an illegal narcotic. Though the effects of Marijuana alone have little effect on the body, it is a gateway drug to more potent drugs. It caused the
hippie generation, and led to the millions of Cocaine and Heroin addictions during the 70's, 80's, and 90's. There were millions of "crack babies" born in the slums from mothers who had to sell sex to get drugs. Marijuana may have a very small impact directly on the body, however, it leads to using other drugs. If Marijuana is legalized there will be a deluge of people, who otherwise couldn't buy it, going to get high. History could repeat itself and we could go into a modern version of the 1980's. The worst problem with that is that now the drugs have become ten times more powerful. So legalizing pot could lead to massive societal problems with addiction and population explosion.

All studies of the exact effects of Marijuana have been basically inconclusive. Some studies have taken place over a two year period and there has been no change in the brainwaves or personalities of people who smoked four times a week. There also have been studies that have concluded that there is massive brain trauma. Marijuana is addictive if used in large quantities. There are people who wish they could quit but every time they try they end up in withdrawal and end up going back. Scientists know that theoretically it should affect brain activity, since one gets high because the brain is relaxed because of the Marijuana. This is true, brain activity slows down when one gets high, and it also seems to have effects on short term memory loss. Studies haven't been long enough to determine if there are any severe long term problems.

Marijuana has hundreds of Carcinogens. It can lead to lung, throat, and mouth cancer; also Emphysema; thus why it is illegal. However, this argument is
somewhat void because we allow 18 year olds to smoke cigarettes which have much worse effects than Marijuana. Personally, I think both should be illegal due to the harm they cause people that use them and people who are around them.

In the Eighties drug dealers would lace the pot they were selling with highly addictive drugs that would make people want to keep smoking. It was a business practice. More clients that came back meant more money, so dealers would lace with Cocaine and powered Heroin that would almost immediately get the person hooked. This caused the drug problems that we had in the seventies and eighties.

Pot needs to remain illegal. It is harmful to people, society, and the economy. It is addictive, has hundreds of carcinogens, and leads people to
more-worse-drugs. It contributed indirectly with the huge number of children born with birth defects that had to go into foster care system. Do we really want this to
happen to our kids? And the economy; addicts who have to spend all there money on drug are leeches to society. Our economy suffers as the poverty rate soars. There may be benefits to legalizing it, however, there are drawbacks and that should keep it illegal.