Abbie Stillman
The Paw Print
Some states have had complaints about Colorado legalizing Marijuana. Sidney, Nebraska’s Officer Wilkinson has expressed his disapproval about the situation and believes that since the legalization, Marijuana has become a problem in his small-town America city. “I’m concerned what (Colorado’s legalization) will to in terms of a change in culture, a change in the way that we enjoy a certain quality, a certain type of life, in small-town America,” Wilkinson says. Wilkinson’s whole career as a law enforcement officer has been spent in small towns. The plant has existed for a long time and now it is legal in several states.
People still live in their old fashioned beliefs that Marijuana is a dangerous gateway drug. Most pot-heads would probably roll their eyes at that idea. Sure, Marijuana has mental addictive qualities but there is no physical harm. Most people’s argument would be that children have had to visit the ER due to marijuana but let’s face it that is their parents doing; if you are going to have marijuana in the house, be smart about it. Keep it out of reach of children, the labels even state that on the medical jars. That is not a joke, the plant still needs to be handled delicately. Do not smoke around your children, do not let them ‘see what is in the jar,’ be responsible with your medication. Just like any other prescription. Kids are just as likely to be sent to the hospital by finding your prescription pills that look like candy. Many still think that Medical Marijuana isn’t real. ‘It is an excuse to legalize the drug.’ These people are just fearful of change and the possibility that their personal beliefs may not be so real anymore.
My question is why are people so fearful of it? Several states have legalized the plant and it saves lives. Everyone reacts differently to marijuana just like alcohol and every other drug. Caffeine can be considered a drug, and most people drink caffeine on a daily basis and several times a day. Cigarettes and alcohol have been to blame for several million deaths. Yet no one is even remotely fearful of either of these drugs. There are warning signs on cigarette boxes that go ignored each and every purchase.
Marijuana has various, healthy uses. Depression, anxiety, pain, insomnia, loss of appetite, glaucoma, cancer, panic attacks, and the list goes on. Marijuana could rid the need for hundreds of pill prescriptions people need every day. I am not saying that every prescription is unnecessary, many of them indeed are needed for certain illnesses. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, life impacting diseases still do need medications.
I have had my own experience with a number of prescriptions which all had side effects of their own that weren’t good for me. Thousands of others have had similar experiences. Then we got our medical marijuana license and notice that we were now saving hundreds of dollars a month because prescriptions pills were no longer necessary.
What’s Been Said…