Free professional paper writing assistance from expert writers
Smoking and Marijuana Problems At College
College provides all learners with the opportunity to delve into new and exciting academic subjects and to enhance the world with their great creative thoughts. There are some other college activities that tend to grab all of the attention of people through stereotypes presented in the media. One is the abuse of alcohol which is a national problem on college campuses. That is the number one drug of choice on all campuses although it is not legal for most students to use. A close second is the use of marijuana. This illicit drug is increasing in popularity and bringing with it some of its own problems. Although, the effect of marijuana use is overblown by the mainstream media, it still causes problems on college campuses. One study stated of the one thousand people surveyed that at least 18% had used marijuana at least once over that past 30 days. Marijuana is much less a problem at college than alcohol.
Perception a Problem
Since the United States made marijuana an illegal drug in the early part of the 20 th Century, it has become an attractive activity for people to do. For college kids, its use signifies that they are not accepting the system as it is and fighting to make their own rules. Most students see clearly from experience that marijuana is nowhere near as harmful to them as the abuse of alcohol can be. Yet most college campuses turn a blind eye to that abuse and have a zero tolerance policy for the use of marijuana. The facts are that alcohol causes many more problems for the short and the long term than marijuana.
In the short term there are the physical effects of alcohol on decision making. Domestic violence results from using alcohol. People often make poor choices that can lead to being the victim of many violent crimes from robbery to rape. The long term problems of alcohol are well documented as alcoholism will destroy your health and shorten your life considerably. It can cause liver damage, heart disease and arterial problems that can all result in death. Yet this drug is perfectly legal.
Marijuana is a hallucinogenic drug that will cause people to relax and if it is abused will make them listless and affect their brain patterns and thought abilities. However in the short term, it does not make people want to act in a violent manner or harm anyone including themselves. The illegality of the drug is the major problem on college campuses and across our country. Marijuana has been proven to relieve pain and make some medical procedures easier to handle by its use. It has gone through a long slow process but eventually it will become legal and there will be a lot less hype about using it.
Conclusion
Marijuana is not as harmful to users in the short or long term as alcohol, but the mainstream media would have you believe that it was. There are going to be physical effects from any drug that you ingest into your body, but the fact remains that more crime, and poor decisions are related to the abuse of alcohol on college campuses than from the use of marijuana.
