Legalization of #marijuana has been in discussion for a long time. Some believe marijuana should be legalized because it is considered a "soft" drug that can bring in tax revenue. However, considering the adverse impact on society, the reality is making it legal is an extremely poor choice. 

The popular perception that marijuana is "not dangerous" is incorrect, as stated by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Marijuana can potentially impact the development of brain centers that control attention, memory and decision-making and lead to use of other substances. According to the AAP policy released, The Impact of Marijuana Policies on Youth: Clinical, Research, and Legal Update, the consequences of recreational use of marijuana are: impaired short-term memory and decreased concentration, attention span, and problem-solving, which interfere with learning, alterations in motor control, coordination, judgment, reaction time, and tracking ability. Moreover, marijuana has 50-70% higher carcinogens than tobacco smoke; this makes the lungs more exposed to deadly cancer-causing stuff.

A specific AAP study showed about 9.2 million youths aged 12-25 years old used marijuana in 2017, and fewer youths are viewing the drug as harmful, according to the report. Even more concerning, 1 in 12 high school students have used it at least 20 times in the past month; moreover 1 in 16 uses it daily. AAP further believes young people that use marijuana regularly are much less likely to finish high school or get a college degree. Suicide is also more common among the student and overall people who use marijuana regularly. 

Around 50% of U.S adults have used marijuana in their life, despite it being an illegal drug. Intuition would tend to believe that this marijuana usage number would be 70-80% if it is legalized federally. Among this 70-80%, it widely believed that the increased marijuana usage would lead to increased usage of hardcore drugs (heroin, cocaine, etc). With a higher amount of Americans dragged into drug addiction, the result would be devastating for the entire American society. 

One of the preposterous arguments that proponents of legalizing marijuana put forward is that weed is less dangerous than other drugs, and legalization will help boost tax revenue. Does being the less dangerous make anything harmless? Of course not! Also, considering the likely increase in hardcore drug addicts that migrate from weed, which we have already seen with the heroin epidemic the last few years, the arguments for possible tax benefits cannot stand on its legs.

There are dangers with marijuana that the media doesn't talk about today, including its many side effects. Marijuana is also the gateway to hardcore drugs, there is no getting around that, and we must avoid filling America streets with more drug addicts.