- New marijuana users gain a euphoric ‘high’ from using marijuana, but as their bodies adjust the effects of the drug they gradually lose their effect and can sometimes lead to paranoia and anxiety rather than euphoria.
- As we learned in class, giving someone a small, non-threatening commitment is a good way to then ask for a larger commitment.
- When marijuana was decriminalized in Great Britain, the number of deaths caused by drug overdose rose 15% in a single year.
I am not proposing a conspiracy by those who sell drugs, but the simple effects of human nature. People start taking marijuana in order to feel better, and if marijuana no longer gives them that effect, they will look for something stronger, but also deadlier. The empirical proof of this concept is shown by the increase in the number of deaths that Great Britain experienced after decriminalizing marijuana.
(I also want to point out that I am not advocating for the “most hard drug users have also used marijuana, therefore it must be the cause” argument. Post hoc fallacy at work!)
Cohen, P. D., Ph.D., & Kaal, H. L., Ph.D. (2001). Irrelevance Of Drug Policy: Patterns and careers of experienced cannabis use in populations of Amsterdam, San Francisco, and Bremen. Retrieved from Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport website: http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/cohen.3cities.pdf
Slack, J. (2006, August 30). Cannabis downgrade coincides with drug deaths rise. Daily Mail.
Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-402939/Cannabis-downgrade-coincides-drug-deaths-rise.html
Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-402939/Cannabis-downgrade-coincides-drug-deaths-rise.html
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