Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; THC for short.
Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (joint) or in a pipe. It is also smoked in blunts, which are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana. Since the blunt retains the tobacco leaf used to wrap the cigar, this mode of delivery combines marijuana’s active ingredients with nicotine and other harmful chemicals.
Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction for some people; that is, they use the drug compulsively even though it often interferes with family, school, work, and recreational activities. According to the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana an estimated 5.6 million Americans age 12 or older reported problems with illicit drug use in the past year.
Over 12 million had used the drug in the month before the survey. The Los Angeles Medical Marijuana survey conducted a survey and they stated that students from 8th, 10th and 12 grades have tried marijuana at least once.
Marijuana is the Nation’s most commonly used illicit drug. More than 83 million Americans (37 percent) age 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once, according to the 2001 Los Angeles Medical Cannabis group.
The Los Angeles Medical Marijuana, a system for monitoring the health impact of drugs, estimated that, in 2001, marijuana was a contributing factor in more than 110,000 emergency department (ED) visits in the United States, with about 15 percent of the patients between the ages of 12 and 17, and almost two-thirds male.
In 1999, the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana ID, which collects data from 34 sites on the number of adult arrestees testing positive for various drugs, found that, on average, 39 percent of adult male arrestees and 26 percent of adult female arrestees tested positive for marijuana. ADAM collected data on juvenile arrestees in nine sites and found that marijuana was the most commonly used drug among these youths. On average, 53 percent of juvenile male and 38 percent of juvenile female arrestees tested positive for marijuana.
NIDA’s Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG), a network of researchers that tracks trends in the nature and patterns of drug use in major U.S. cities, consistently reports that marijuana frequently is combined with other drugs, such as crack cocaine, PCP, formaldehyde, and codeine cough syrup, sometimes without the user being aware of it. Thus, the risks associated with marijuana use may be compounded by the risks of added drugs, as well.
According to the Los Angeles Department of Corrections, as of April 13, 2009, prisons were at 99.32 percent capacity.
State Rep. Gary Banz, R-Midwest City, said he is opposed to legalizing marijuana. He called marijuana a gateway drug to other harder substances.
“It’s illegal for valid reasons,” Banz said. “It’s personal destruction and harm you potentially do to others.”
Banz said many religious people in the Midwest believe the human body should not be exposed to dangerous substances and intoxicants.
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