Legalize It
Society in the United States of America is pushing for the legalization of marijuana. People are being put in jail for a drug that proves to be no more harmful to someone than tobacco or alcohol. The NCAA has been talking about decreasing, or even getting rid of the penalty for using marijuana. They say that it is because marijuana does not seem to be harmful like other substances such as cocaine, or methamphetamine. Marijuana also has no effect on the athlete when it comes to competing, so it seems senseless to people to penalize a student athlete for something that lot of students do. Marijuana ought to be controlled in Universities, or shown to be frowned upon like alcohol or cigarettes. I bring this discussion, because a University is in sense a stepping stone to students towards a community, and if this college community decides that marijuana is not very harmful, then people should not be thrown in jail for distributing the substance. Furthermore, Marijuana ought to always be kept just as regulated as alcohol, because cannabis is something that alters a person's state of mind, and there are certain things that a person should not do while under the influence of this drug.
When asked whether or not making smoking marijuana illegal to smoke on a poll in the campus, the majority of the students replied that it did not really stop them from smoking (Wiley Periodicals, 6). This shows that the majority of the students want to push for the legalization of marijuana, because they like the idea of using the drug for recreational purposes. Having the same penalty for smoking marijuana, and taking growth hormones does not make any sense. Steroids can be very harmful to the human body system when a person stops taking steroids. It can cause a deficiencies with organs, the cardiovascular system, and can lead to an early death. Marijuana may have some negative effects as well, but the point is that it does not make the player any stronger or faster. Losing a player because he was smoking marijuana is unfair to a team and to that player. It has been shown that when a player is punished for recreational drug use, the student's chances of dropping out dramatically increases. To stop these athletes from dropping out of school, the NCAA ought to consider dropping the penalty for using drugs that do not give the student athlete an edge on the competition (Wiley, 6).
According to Diana Keith, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in America (499). Student athletes should not be punished harshly for something that a lot of Americans do on a regular basis. Stress along with anxiety was the reason that came up when people were asked why they smoke marijuana (Keith, 500). The student athlete is expected to do everything that a regular college student does, and then he or she is expected to win games for their universities, which means that the athlete has to undergo hours of practice in their sport in order to do so. The thought of having to do all of this just sounds very stressful, not to mention being punished for using marijuana. When it comes to punishing a student because of smoking marijuana, the student ought to never be punished any harsher than that of a person that is penalized for the use of alcohol. The age for both smoking marijuana, and drinking alcohol is 21 in Colorado, and so it would seem as as good starting point when figuring out how severe the penalties for cannabis ought to be.
Completely eliminating a penalty for smoking cannabis should not happen, because marijuana is something that has to be kept under control. Marijuana is still something that should not be found in primary schools all the way up to high school, because it may cause a student to lose focus in class, or it may affect the learning of peers in the classroom. Using a high amount of marijuana should be something that is done in private just like drinking an unnecessary amount of liquor. It has to be understood that not everybody likes the smell of marijuana, and a good restriction would be to restrict the use of cannabis when a person is in a school zone. This would give the people that are against the use of marijuana because of children some assurance that the children would not be exposed to it while they are in school. Marijuana is also something that should not take up the time of a police officer on duty, because there may be more serious matters to attend to, but they have to stop and waste their time on a person who is using the drug. The police could be out in the field looking for people that are selling a dangerous drug like cocaine, or patrolling the streets for thieves which would be something that is commendable to society.
Marijuana is already a recreational drug in four states, and is also available in others for medicinal purposes (Keith, 499). This shows that the United States may be moving in a direction that allows the use of this drug in a controlled manner.
Works Cited
Seitz, Christopher M., et al. "The Association Between Coach And Teammate Injunctive Norm Reference Groups And College Student-Athlete Substance Use." Journal Of Alcohol & Drug Education 58.2 (2014): 7-26.Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
'NCAA to eliminate testing for marijuana', 2015, Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 5-6. Available from: 10.1002/adaw.20458. [27 October 2016].
keith, Diana R., et al. "Frequent Marijuana Use, Binge Drinking And Mental Health Problems Among Undergraduates." American Journal On Addictions 24.6 (2015): 499-506. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Nov. 2016.
Joseph, Andrew. "The DEA is looking for candidates to grow marijuana for
research — but will it find any takers?" Statnews, John Henry, 31 Aug.
2016, www.statnews.com/2016/08/31/marijuana-research-dea-growers-permits/.
Accessed 4 Nov. 2016
