Many youths are addicted to Marijuana these days. The drug is viewed as cool and safe because it is natural, but it may be a very dangerous drug. Marijuana can make a pre-existing mental problem worse, it could create a new psychotic mental issue, or it may cause a drug-induced psychosis. Marijuana causes a dysfunction in the brain, which cause a person to feel intoxicated, or unstable. Marijuana can make a person feel a loss of inhibition, confusion, unable to concentrate, and it can also affect motor skills, which make it unsafe to drive or operate heavy machinery. Marijuana can also make one’s breath smell foul and cause one to extremely overeat, even when they are not hungry. It can basically put you in a trace, where you are unaware of what you are doing, and you may not even remember the next day. A lot of marijuana is laced with even more dangerous drugs like PCP, speed, cocaine and more. There have been cases of people ending up in the hospital from smoking a bad batch of marijuana. Some have never even regained their total cognitive function. Marijuana also causes people to hear things and see things that are not there. So, it can be very dangerous. People who smoke marijuana all the time are called burnouts. They do not notice it, but others can tell that their minds are gone because they cannot control the drug, and they are slow and lethargic. And marijuana is addictive. The more you smoke it, the more you will crave it. Also, if you are stopped while being high on marijuana, you can go to jail and lose your license. Marijuana can cause mental problems or make mental problems worse. Please be safe, and if you need to relax, talk to your doctor, they can help. Marijuana is the third most used drug, nearly 33 percent of Americans use marijuana, so it is very common. However, critics are saying that the war on drugs is hurting more people than it is helping because people are caught with small amounts of pot and sent to jail or prison because of that. In fact, about 750,000 are arrested for possession or distribution of marijuana each year and that is costing tax payers $10 Billion annually. That is more the number of people who are arrested for all violent crimes combined.  California’s Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom reports that he is willing to put his reputation on the line to legalize marijuana.

Legalizing marijuana will reduce arrest and potentially save the taxpayers money, but there are also some specific consequences. If marijuana becomes legal, then drug dealers will lose a major cash crop because users can just purchase pot at the local store. Therefore, dealers will have to sell more dangerous drugs like crystal meth, crack cocaine and cocaine. These drugs are far more addictive than pot, so young kids will probably get strung out on more treacherous drugs, as a result of marijuana becoming legal. Crack Cocaine is known as the humble man’s cocaine. It is a central nervous system stimulator. Crack Cocaine became popular in the 1980s mostly in urban areas because of marketing, availability, and affordability of the substance. Crack cocaine has been reported to have a powerful and fast intoxicating effect. The high from crack cocaine is descried as immediate, intense and euphoric, it is said to make one feel powerful, and it is extremely addictive. Crack cocaine is made from powder cocaine, water, ammonia or sodium, and bicarbonate also known as baking soda. The mixture is then boiled, filtered, clouded, dried, and cut into small rocks or pebbles.  These small rocks, crack cocaine, are typically white or tan. Crack cocaine is generally ingested by crushing the rocks into a fine powder and snorting, mixing with water and using an instrument to inject the solution in the bloodline, and it can also be smoked in a glass pipe. People who use needles to inject crack cocaine run the risk of getting diseases that can be deadly from sharing unclean instruments.

Crack cocaine is most often smoked. Crack cocaine got its name because of the crackling sounds it makes when it is being smoked in a glass pipe. It makes some feel energized, and they do not know the dangerous impact from the drug. Crack cocaine or rocks increase the body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate.  Use of rocks or crack can cause heart attacks, respiratory failure, stroke, seizures, abdominal pain and nausea.  Crack can also cause sudden death, upon first use, or shortly after. Crack rocks are between 75 up to 90 percent cocaine. Because of the low-cost crack cocaine, it is also of interest to young suburban kids and young adults. Crack cocaine has been used by 8.6 million people 12 and over and 6.9 percent of people between the ages of 18 -25 admitted to using this dangerous substance.  Crack cocaine is dangerous because it causes a short intense high, and shortly after is followed by a forceful downheartedness, which leaves the users with a robust and ceaseless thirst for more of the drug. Within four years, 25 percent of the people who use cocaine become addicted. Crack cocaine also has some very powerful side effects.  Smoking crack cocaine is dangerous because of the toxic fumes, the damages it can do to the lungs and body, and because the pipe can burn ones lip. There is no safe way to ingest crack. Crack can also cause long term damage to the heart, liver and kidneys.  It is also said to cause sleep deprivation, loss of appetite and malnutrition.  People who use crack cocaine are said to behave aggressively, violent, and bizarre.  It has been suggested that people will go as far as murdering someone just for another rock.  Crack cocaine also cause hallucinations, irritability, panic, and psychosis, shortness of breath, constricted blood vessels, and bleeding.

Furthermore, Crack cocaine has been illegal since the 1914 tax act because it can be destructive, highly addictive and extremely dangerous. 90 percent of cocaine that makes it to the United States comes from Columbia. There are about 567,000 known users of crack cocaine in the United States. It has been reported that yearly about 42,000 people are admitted to hospital emergency rooms because of injuries from crack cocaine. Crack cocaine is also associated with prostitution, violent crimes and gang related crimes. Another warning about using crack cocaine is it comes with other harsh punishments. Since the war on drugs went into effect, the sentences for those who abuse crack cocaine more stringent than it is for those who use pure cocaine. Cocaine users are generally more affluent, so they can afford pure cocaine, snow. It is called snow because it is so pure and white, as it does not have fillers in it like crack cocaine does.  In fact, if one is arrested with 28 grams of crack cocaine, they will serve a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence. However, if cocaine users are arrested to trigger the threshold for the mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence, that person must be caught with 500 grams of pure cocaine.  Some say the higher penalty is to teach a lesson, but others believe that this is economic discrimination. Critics say that the law goes easier on cocaine offenders because they are typically well-off, whereas users of crack cocaine are considered less important to society because they generally earn less, and may not contribute as much, financially, to the system. “Any man who has the brains to think and the nerve to act for the benefit of the people of the country is considered a radical by those who are content with stagnation and willing to endure disaster,” reports William Randolph Hearst.