Kelly Stewart

Staff Writer

No matter how harmless it seems, marijuana is an illegal drug for a reason. Most people who pressure others to use marijuana conveniently overlook the fact that it has very real, very harmful effects.

The reason I bring this up is because one of my friends was caught smoking it, and I believe that one of the reasons he did it was because he didn’t consider marijuana to be a very harmful drug. But it is a drug, and just like any drug, it has side effects.

Marijuana causes similar changes in the brain caused by cocaine, heroin and alcohol. Smoking it causes you to lose your memory of what you did, a condition not unlike getting drunk at a party and then blacking out. In this state, you aren’t in control of your actions, and you have no memory of the event afterward. It also reduces the ability to do things that require a swift reaction time, such as driving a car.

Marijuana is especially dangerous to teenagers. The younger the age that the people start smoking it, the more likely they are to start experimenting with other, more dangerous, drugs.

In addition, smoking marijuana regularly can cause a significant loss in motivation for doing important things, such as school work. This may sound like a dumb reason to some of you but not doing well in school means that you won’t get a good job and that’s a lot more serious than some people realize.

No matter what anyone else says, marijuana isn’t ‘cool’. Smoking it is just as bad a smoking a cigarette or drinking. No matter how anyone else tries to downplay them, the effects are just as real as any other drug.