Marijuana is Not As Harmless As You Think By Breda Williams

If you pull aside any person in their 50s, and ask them about the 1960s and 1970s, they will often remark about how different things were. Upon further questioning, you'll often find that many people who grew up in the 1970s as teenagers and people in their 20s will seldom hide the fact that they used to smoke Marijuana. Back then, especially during the hippie days of the 60s, drugs were a huge deal in the fact that they really weren't. What do I mean by this? You could smoke cigarettes pretty much anywhere you wanted. There were no non-smoking sections in restaurants. In fact, at one point, smoking was seen as good for your health! Regarding Marijuana use, it almost seemed unusual to find someone in the 1970s who hadn't yet smoked or tried Marijuana. Oh, how times have changed.

Not that long ago, when I was a police officer, I remember charging a young couple for smoking Marijuana in a hotel room. I was with several other police officers and we had been spending the majority of the night looking for a robber suspect when we received a tip that he might be staying in a specific hotel room at a specific hotel room. When I went up to the door and knocked, I immediately smelled what I identified as Marijuana. Sure enough, when the door to the room opened up, it opened up with a cloud of smoke that was rich with the smell of Marijuana. Inside, I was surprised to find a young couple who looked no older than 16 and 17 years old. They had unsuccessfully tried to hide the evidence but had very obviously failed to do so. According to the law, as police officers, if we smelled Marijuana, that was probable cause to search the premises. Additionally, within plain sight, I immediately saw a bong and Marijuana in baggies.

The couple, at this point seemed extremely out of sorts, a sure effect of the drug. Their thinking and motor skills were very obviously impaired. We wound up citing them with a misdemeanor possession of Marijuana and gave them a mandatory court date in which to appear. I couldn't help but think of why someone so young would want to use drugs like that. Then again, why would anyone at any age feel the need to use drugs? Given how impaired they were, I also couldn't help but think of how incredibly dangerous it would have been if either one of them were behind the wheel of a car, driving down a busy roadway. I shudder to think.

Marijuana may ease pain (from a medicinal point of view), but like any other drug, it is both dangerous and illegal. Not only can the effects of Marijuana impair your judgment and motor skills, but this can lead to possibly hurting or killing someone else. If you find yourself in situations where Marijuana is present, you really need to question who you are hanging out with as well as what direction you want your life to go in

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