Pursuing happiness through marijuana smoking, American style!
It may be difficult to believe at first glance, but legalization of marijuana has doubled the consumption. While 7% of American adults said that they smoked it three years ago, a new survey indicates that the tally now stands at 13%. Is that really a good thing? Prohibitionists would find fault with the laws, of course. Let us cool headedly examine the causes and consequences. Admitting it is easier now that the stuff is legally accessible with little dangers of arrest and incarceration, unlike before. The police will not bother you either. Constantly on guard earlier to hide the stuff besides feeling guilty about breaking the law, users can now ride free with the wind.
Should we be getting worried, especially about teenage use? Not really, when you consider all the health advantages that resulted in legalization. Even for those who do not suffer a sickness presently, cannabis becomes a preventative tonic to ward off potential disability and feel happy. After all, euphoria is a positive impact of imbibing cannabis and that is what every human wishes for, even birds and animals wanting to be content, though in different circumstances.
Benefits of marijuana? Good for the brain and the result would be goodbye to aging problems like Alzheimer’s. Cannabis treats PTSD too. Opioid painkillers do a lot of damage by causing constipation while acetaminophen affects the liver. Cannabis use results in fewer diabetes cases and in lower BMI. Besides, cancer cases in the head, neck and lung are fewer too.
Among medical marijuana users, prescription drug use like opioid painkillers has declined and the overdose deaths regularly reported earlier. Among teenagers too, pot parties may be a better substitute for heavy drinking sessions and drunken driving. If so many advantages really exist and we are satisfied that it is all true besides the happiness syndrome, why should the authorities not recommend its increased use? Pharmaceutical companies must be bothered that they derive no profits from the mass culture.
Meanwhile, it is disheartening that the Federal authorities wish to continue seeing cannabis as a Controlled Substance though all the evidence points to change. The American Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it will not take up the matter of reclassification of marijuana. If Federal laws loosened up, the states would be free to frame their own laws. Oregon’s first marijuana fair with 80 exhibitors opened up, leading to the Oregon state fair. Competitions like the best pot plants would be held. The state allows recreational marijuana too, among four such states and DC. Marijuana has come a long way indeed since the illicit era!
