Before getting into why marijuana should not be legalized, it would make sense to tell you about my relationship with that delicious bud. I smoke weed just about every day. I smoke when I wake up, when I go to class; basically I try to stay as high as possible all the time. I have a 3.5 GPA.

I understand that for most people, this lifestyle is basically impossible.

If I had a superpower, it would be the ability to function while being absolutely blitzed. It’s gotten to the point where only a stoner can tell that I’m actually high.

As great as that good kush is, I firmly believe that marijuana should not be legalized. It should be decriminalized, but not be made as readily available as it is becoming.  Marijuana is a drug, people. There are adverse effects and repercussions to taking it.

One study from the Netherlands, a long-time patron of legalized marijuana, showed that there have been increasing diagnoses of psychosis for marijuana users — up to 50 percent of diagnoses could be attributed to marijuana.  Another studied showed people with a genetic history of mental illnesses were up to 4.5 times more likely to develop severe psychosis.

Now some of you are probably thinking, “wait a second, some illnesses are treated with medicinal marijuana and have showed great improvements in their health.” That is true to an extent. The hailed chemical in marijuana is CBD, or Cannabinol.

This great green goddess, if legalized, will not be grown in a hipster’s backyard and harvested before the dispensary opens. Because it is expected to be a bazillion-dollar industry, it’s going to be farmed in the Midwest, by farmers who grow their crops to be as genetically modified as possible to make as much money as possible. I can definitely see Monsanto selling seeds and suing for ownership of future crops.

One group of ganja farmers, The Stanley Brothers, examined a particular strain of medically-effective CBD-rich marijuana. When they started growing this relatively lower potent THC weed, one of the brothers stated in the documentary ”Weed,” “People said [to me], ‘You’re crazy! Who’s gonna smoke that?’” Case in point.

Marijuana is a still a drug with potentially serious side-effects, just like every other prescription medication, but that’s not what people are interested in smoking, is it?
Now, I personally want the herb to be decriminalized. People going to jail for it is simply ridiculous. But I also don’t want it readily available for everyone. This includes the loud-mouth dumbasses that drive me to smoke all the time just to contain myself from bashing their heads in. I just saw a picture of the Biebs smoking a joint. Awesome. Now every goddamn Belieber is going to fake a hit and run around saying, “OMG! I’m like, SO high right now!”