Marijuana Problem in Colorado

Marijuana has been legalized in the state of Colorado where the authorities allow residents to grow and use small amounts of marijuana in their homes. This has created a lot of marijuana related problems in Colorado especially to children and teenagers. Most officials have expressed their concern that legalizing marijuana in Colorado was a big mistake by law makers since they did not look at the cons and pros of the legalization.

The following article will be looking at the problems which are brought about by the use of marijuana both historical and the current ones.

Marijuana became known to the new world as early as 1545 and was mainly used by people in the entertainment industry and in making medical patents. It was known to be a good anti depressant but people started abusing it and authorities banned it.

This is because it soon became evident that using marijuana in medical conditions soon addicted the users and after some time they became full time users. College students began using marijuana as a sign or rebellion against authorities and parents. That's why after sometime it was banned since its demerits had surpassed the merits.

An official from the Colorado child protection office recently challenged law makers for their move arguing that since marijuana is a dangerous mind altering substance, it will be easily abused by children. Making it legal will mean that it will be easily accessible to these children and that is a big problem.

Another problem with the use of marijuana in homes is that parents who use the substance have a lot of difficulty raising their children as compared to parents who don't use it. Most parents who are known to abuse or neglect their children have been found to be abusing either marijuana or other substances.

Another marijuana problem in Colorado is that parents have a hard time advising their teenagers on the dangers of marijuana. This is so because they wonder how marijuana can be a bad substance yet it is legal. The open use of this substance has led to a lot of indiscipline in schools since most young people are abusing it.

Other states which border Colorado have also complained about the use of marijuana after the open approach was legalized there. Almost 90 percent of the marijuana intercepted at police checks is found to be originating from Colorado and this means that authorities of these states have a reason to be highly alert.

Authorities have also raised the concern that supervising and controlling the use of marijuana in Colorado is almost impossible. This is because unlike alcohol which does not stay for long in your system, a puff of marijuana can stay in ones system for up to fourteen years. This makes it even harder to rehabilitate users who are addicted to the use of marijuana.

Growing and smoking marijuana in homes has an adverse effect on other inhabitants of the house even though they may not be smoking themselves. This is because they will automatically inhale the smoke hence there won't be any difference with the one who is smoking in terms of the effects. Health experts have raised this concern and are urging parents to ensure that they don't smoke when there are children in the house.

Lastly, smoking marijuana has long and short effects which are either medical or psychological and they include red eyes, lack of concentration, slow reaction rate and increase of one's appetite to food. The medical effects of marijuana include the risk of heart attack, memory loss and lung cancer after a prolonged use. That's why it was a big mistake for law makers to legalize marijuana in Colorado without looking at its demerits first.