SHORT-TERM EFFECTS

Short-term memory problems

Severe anxiety, including fear that one is being watched or followed

(paranoia)

Very strange behavior, seeing, hearing or smelling things that arent there,
not being able to tell imagination from reality (psychosis)

Panic

Hallucinations

Loss of sense of personal identity

Lowered reaction time

Increased heart rate (risk of heart attack)

Increased risk of stroke

Problems with coordination (impairing safe driving or playing sports)

Sexual problems (for males)

Up to seven times more likely to contract sexually transmitted infections

than non-users (for females) (22,32 & 33)

LONG-TERM EFFECTS

Decline in IQ (up to 8 points if prolonged use started in adolescent age)

Poor school performance and higher chance of dropping out

Impaired thinking and ability to learn and perform complex tasks

Lower life satisfaction

Addiction (about 9% of adults and 17% of people who started smoking as

teens)

Potential development of opiate abuse

Relationship problems, intimate partner violence

Antisocial behavior including stealing money or lying

Financial difficulties

Increased welfare dependence

Greater chances of being unemployed or not getting good jobs.

MARIJUANA AFFECTS DRIVING

Marijuana users are 3 to 7 times more likely to have a car crash.
Driving under the influence of cannabis is associated with a 92% increased
risk of vehicular crashes. Important is the fact that such driving was
associated with a 110% increase in fatal crashes.

AAA reported that in the U.S. cannabis-involved fatalities increased

from 8% in 2013
to 17% in 2014.

In Colorado, marijuana use increased significantly starting in 2009,

and a study found that the proportion of drivers in fatal car crashes in
Colorado testing positive for marijuana had risen from 5.9% in 2009 to
10% in 2011.

In the state of Washington, fatal driving accidents have risen 122%

between 2010 and 2014.

In California, the percentage of drivers testing positive for marijuana

that were involved in fatal car crashes rose from 9% in 2005 to 16.5%
in 2014.

Effects While Driving

Smoking or eating marijuana slows down your responses to sights
and sounds, making you a dangerous driver. Marijuana makes you
sleepy, distorts your sense of time and space, and hurts your ability to
adapt to light and dark. It also lowers your ability to handle a quick series
of tasks while driving. So a marijuana users biggest driving problem is
unexpected events, such as a car approaching from a side street or a
child running into the street. This poor reaction time is worse when
youre driving at night because marijuana also causes a severe loss of
night vision.

Short-Term Effects
In low doses, marijuana produces:

Poor memory and ability to learn

Difficulty in thinking and solving problems
Poor muscle coordination and judgment
Short attention span
Dangerous driving behavior
Altered sense of time and space
Food cravings

In larger doses, marijuana produces:

Hallucinations
Delusions
Poor memory
Not knowing where one is
Anxiety attacks or feelings of paranoia
Depression

Long-Term Effects

Cancer. Marijuana contains the same cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke.
Breathing problems. It creates the same kinds of breathing problems that cigarettes do: coughing and
wheezing.
Immune system. The THC in marijuana can damage the cells and tissues in the body that help protect
against disease.
Memory, learning, and energy are impaired.

Fertility. Reproductive hormones are decreased. In men, there is less testosterone, causing decreased
sperm counts and possible erectile dysfunction. In women, there may be irregular periods. Both problems would
result in a decreased ability to conceive but not lead to complete infertility.
Birth defects in unborn children.

Other effects, according to the NIH, include:

Feelings of panic, anxiety and fear (paranoia)

Hallucinations

Increased heart rate

Trouble concentrating

Decreased ability to perform tasks that require coordination

Decreased interest in completing tasks

MARIJUANA SHOULD NOT BE LEGALIZED

1)It's extremely addictive for some people
-It would be malpractice to say that cannabis isn't addictive. Anybody who's
experienced it, actually been addicted to it, knows how profound that addiction is....
The difficult thing about marijuana addiction is some people, even though they're
addicted can do fine with it for many many years before they start to have
difficultly, but eventually the high starts wearing off, people start smoking a lot
more to try to get that high back and that's when they descend into difficulties.

2) This experiment hasn't worked out so well for

Amsterdam
-Amsterdam today became the first city in the Netherlands to ban students from
smoking marijuana at school.
The city's mayor Eberhard van der Laan introduced the law after school chiefs
complained about pupils turning up to classes high after rolling up outside the
grounds.
Marijuana is widely available in Holland as, although it is technically illegal,
police can't prosecute people for possession of small amounts.
But it has also had the unwanted side effect that Dutch children are frequently
exposed to the drug in public areas.

3) Marijuana is terrible for your mental

health: Marijuana may even be WORSE than cigarettes. At
least cigarettes don't peel points off of your IQ.
4) Marijuana is terrible for your physical
health: How bad is marijuana for you? It'seven more toxic
than cigarette smoke. Regular users are hit with
devastating lung problems as much as 20 years earlier than
smokers. Even small amounts of marijuana can
cause temporary sterility and it has a terrible impact on the
babies of women who smoke including "birth defects, mental
abnormalities and increased risk of leukemia in children." If your
standard is, "Well, it's better for you than Meth or Crack," that's
true, but you're deluding yourself if you think pot is anything other
than absolutely horrible for your health.
5) The drug decimates many people's lives: Movies
portray potheads as harmless, fun-loving people who spend their
time giggling and munching Cheetos, but they don't show these
people when they're flunking out of school, losing their jobs,
frustrated because they can't concentrate or losing the love of
their lives because they just don't want to be with a pot smoking
loser anymore. Even in the limited number of studies
that are out there, the numbers are stark.
Researchers in Canada report that marijuana smoke contains significantly
higher levels of several toxic compounds -- including ammonia and hydrogen
cyanide -- than tobacco smoke and may therefore pose similar health risks.

Amsterdam forced to ban smoking marijuana in

schools because of number of students turning up
stoned

Netherlands' relaxed drug laws exposing children to the drug

Mayor passes law as some schools have problem with pupils high in class
Move comes after Holland allows tourists to continue using the drug

References:
http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/short-and-long-term-effects.html
http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/medicine.html

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/doesmarijuana-use-affect-driving
http://www2.courtinfo.ca.gov/stopteendui/teens/resources/substances/marijuana/sh
ort-and-long-term-effects.cfm
http://www.livescience.com/24558-marijuana-effects.html
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2014/01/21/5-reasons-marijuanashould-remain-illegal-n1782086
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071217110328.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246977/Amsterdam-pot-ban-Smokingmarijuana-illegal-schools.html