Legalization of Marijuana

Looking for the Canary in the Coal Mine

I don't care if you smoke pot. It is your decision and your life. I don't believe it warrants a jail sentence or any punitive punishment. But legalizing marijuana may open up a Pandora's Box for society, which may have grave consequences for many individuals decades later. I only write this not to expound my argument but to stimulate debate. Please prove me wrong; I welcome it.

Many states have ratified the legalization of marijuana. Many people deem weed to be on par with alcohol. Lawmakers rationalize their efforts to legalize marijuana to raise tax revenue. They also intend to ensure that under state regulations, marijuana will be safer than street-sold marijuana.

Unfortunately, preliminary data shows that many users of marijuana are now buying more weed off the street than state-approved marijuana to avoid state sales taxes.

What I fear is that people may get addicted to marijuana. The general public may accept marijuana as benign now as more states are legalizing the drug's recreational use. Even though several states have legalized marijuana, on a federal level, marijuana is illegal. Is marijuana worse than tobacco in causing cancer, heart disease, or strokes? Does it have long-term cognitive effects? Is there a higher risk of Alzheimer’s dementia with long-term use? Early evidence suggests that marijuana use before surgery may increase your risk for heart attacks during your surgical procedure. No clinical trials can be ethically conducted to investigate whether or not there is any harm in casual use. We can only wait for clinical trials that can be done in countries that have legalized recreational marijuana use, like Canada.

I fear that many high school and college students will take up marijuana use at a critical and formative time in their lives. Marijuana is on the rise among high school and college students. Weekend college parties are going over the top. College students yell as a battle cry, "work hard, and party harder." In addition, the THC or tetrahydrocannabinol content in cannabis is higher today than it was twenty or thirty years ago due to selective crossbreeding. In short, today's weed gets you higher, quicker than what your parents toked in college.

I first encountered the effects of marijuana on a close friend in college. We were both in our third year of college and had aspirations for medical school. My friend, Neal (obviously not his real name), was brilliant and studious. But at the beginning of the fall quarter, he started to 'party' more frequently and enthusiastically than usual. In addition, he began to smoke weed. First, he took a few joints occasionally, and later, he often smoked up with a water pipe. Neal and I were lab partners. We agreed to collaborate on our Chemistry Lab experiment every Thursday afternoon before submitting it the following Monday morning.

I knocked on his door, and the door flew open. Neal greeted me in a long raspy, 'WEEEEE!" I later learned he was trying to say 'weed' but didn't have the energy to finish the word with the letter D. Behind him stood a smoking glass pipe in the Middle of a rug. He looks at me with his glazed eyes and sputters again in his false raspy voice, "Do you want to get HiiiiGHHHH ?"

I stood there, shocked for a moment. "Is that a Hookah?”. The thing was primarily made of glass and stood eighteen inches tall. So here I was, expecting him to be at the kitchen table with his lab book thrown open.

Barefoot in his sweats, he quickly sat down crossed-legged and took a hit. Neal puckered his lips over the glass mouthpiece and sucked the white vapors. Holding his breath, he squinted his eyes shut and had a goofy smile. His jet-black hair stood frozen as he tilted his head as far back as possible. Neal was oblivious to the world and existing in an alternate dimension. Neal was at the center of his Ganja universe. He exhaled and tried to make smoke rings appear. He took another hit and held his breath for a couple of moments. As he exhaled, he said, "It's a water bong."

Neal stared at me and said, "Don't be a buzz kill; get hiiiigggghhh with me."

I smirked and nodded my head from side to side. I knew he was not able to work on the lab results. I wasn't phased, though. The lab write-up was easy; I could do it in one or two hours. But Neal was my best friend in college. I just wanted an excuse to hang out with him. He was so quirky and unpredictable; I couldn’t help laughing.

"C'mon, I don't want to get high by myself." Neal took his eyes off me and stared at the yellow canary in his cage. The cage was on a five-foot stand and stood in the corner of his apartment. The canary chirped whenever a car passed by the front window. Neal suddenly stood up and walked over to the bird cage.

Neal lifted his face against the cage's bars, inches from his little pet. He tilted his head and asked the canary, "Hey, little buddy, does Coco want to get high with me?" The canary chirped and stepped away from him.

Within an instant, Neal grabbed the yellow bird and quickly sat on the rug. Neal feverishly started to take in rapid succession. As soon as the dense white vapors filled the glass chimney, Neal stuffed the canary's head and upper torso into the mouth of the chimney. Next, the canary's legs started to frantically spin and sputter as if the bird was pedaling a bicycle upside down. The canary's legs would turn, then stop, then spin again. I couldn't believe my eyes; he would suffocate the bird. Finally, I shouted, "Let the bird go; get it out of there."

Neal looked at me and said, "You're right. I will set him free." He grabbed the canary from the mouthpiece and tossed him into the air. The canary started flying sideways, with one wing straight up and the other pointing straight down. I saw the bird flying sideways in circles, round and round in the living room, until the bird flew straight into the wall. Neal rushed to pick up the canary. The poor thing was still alive. Neal placed the canary inside the cage and set him on the perch within the cage. The canary seemed alright until he leaned back and found himself hanging upside down from his perch.

I had seen enough, and I needed to leave. Neal wanted to get high, and I had two exams to prepare for next week. So I let myself out and left Neal alone on his rug with his water pipe.

Neal changed his college track from premed to predental. He entered dental school but didn't change his ways. After six months, he left dental school because he couldn't keep his grades up. After that, we lost track of each other. I hope he is well. Sometimes the stress of college life, exams, and maintaining a certain GPA is overwhelming. Some find ways to deal with it; others don't. Many people have tried marijuana and have done well; for Neal, marijuana did not serve him well during his college days. If he hadn't started doing cannabis, he probably would have been pursuing his dream of becoming a dentist. Is he happy? I don't know. But he had potential. Somehow that potential disintegrated when he started to do pot.

As more states legalize recreational marijuana, will more kids succumb like Neal? I don't know. Is cannabis stronger and more addictive today than twenty years ago? My guess is yes. Will more kids get hooked and not achieve their full potential? I fear the answer is yes. College curriculum is more challenging and more competitive than ever before. I'm afraid that legalizing marijuana will distract many from focusing on their education and careers. Marijuana will numb you, slow your thought process, and make you lackadaisical. If high school students take up pot smoking, I'm afraid many will drop out of high school and will forgo pursuing a college education.

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