Marijuana isn’t addictive. I remember my older brother explaining to me very carefully that marijuana definitely wasn’t addictive, using himself as an example; “Look at me, Bren, I smoke pot every day, sometimes even a couple of times a day, and I’m not addicted!” Kids get their ideas about marijuana from all kinds of sources, including potheads. Young people sometimes mistakenly believe that if someone uses a drug, they must be well 
informed and really know what they are talking about. Marijuana may not have the devastating withdrawal symptoms that more deviant drugs like heroin have, but it is plenty addictive and causes the same behavior/results as any other drug addiction. Marijuana addicts have dysfunction in their relationships and build their lives around using the drug, thus neglecting more positive activities. Similar to alcoholics, they often fail to reach their true potential in school, career and life.
Marijuana isn’t a real drug. This is also one of the more pernicious myths about marijuana. THC, the psychoactive agent in marijuana is a powerful hallucinogen and has especially potent effects on an adolescent brain, which is still very plastic and changeable. Research shows that young users of Marijuana are more likely to develop mood disorders and even psychosis than their non-using peers. It is clear that teens who use marijuana have less fear of other drugs – this lowered perception of harm puts them at increased risk of using other dangerous substances.
Pot is a plant, and something organic can’t be harmful. Some kids think that marijuana is herbal and kind of a vitamin or something…If you look at the world of nature, there are lots of elements you would not want to have contact with…snake venom, poisonous mushrooms and deadly hemlock are all natural, too. Many drugs originate from plants; they just go through a little more processing before arriving in a user’s hands. Marijuana may be a natural intoxicant, but the end result is impairment, which interferes with one’s ability to perform even the most basic of tasks. There are also many detrimental health effects, which have been extensively researched and widely published.
Marijuana is medicine and has healing properties. One of my more amusing classroom interactions about Marijuana: Two boys (who struck me as pot smokers) were insisting that pot cures glaucoma, so I asked them if they had glaucoma – they looked at each other and then back at me and said “no, but we are doing prevention for glaucoma!” Kids notice headlines about the link between marijuana and illnesses like cancer, AIDS and painful muscular disorders. Teens don’t necessarily read the whole newspaper article and sometimes jump to the conclusion that pot cures cancer or returns ill people to good health. Marijuana has some quirky medical properties, but doesn’t cure anything. It is quite effective as a nausea suppressant, so chemotherapy patients have found relief from those uncomfortable side effects. It can also increase hunger, thus addressing the wasting syndrome associated with the later stage of AIDS. Medicine has many superior pain relievers at its disposal, so marijuana may not be the best choice for pain – one recent study even showed that marijuana can increase the sensation of pain in some patients! Morphine, a member of the opiate family, enables people with painful illnesses to be comfortable. This does not suggest that heroin should be legal or available. The legitimate use of marijuana as medicine shouldn’t be used to discount the harmful effects of recreational use.
Marijuana isn’t as bad as alcohol, so should also be legal. It is true that alcohol causes many societal ills, but at the same time, many adults have a perfectly healthy relationship with alcohol with no harmful effects. It is important to look at intentions and results when we gauge someone’s alcohol use. If a drinker is looking to get bombed every time he or she drinks or often ends up drunk, we consider this problem drinking. People smoke pot to get stoned, there is no other reason to use the drug. Marijuana is not part of the food and beverage world, or something that goes well with cheese…I don’t believe there is a non-harmful way to use Marijuana (unless for medical purposes) – there is always intoxication and negative health effects. Legalization of marijuana would create more users and make the Goliath of addiction in America that much bigger…And, do we really want a bunch of stoned people walking around?