A recent Brown University poll revealed that 55 percent of Rhode Islanders are in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. The Rhode Island General Assembly is giving serious consideration to a bill that would legalize recreational use of the drug for people over 21 years of age. While marijuana has been known to have some beneficial medicinal effects for those who are seriously ill, we question the wisdom of legalizing it for the general public.
Marijuana is a drug that has serious side effects and is detrimental to normal and healthy human development. Like all cigarettes, smoking marijuana is harmful to the lungs. It also increases the heart rate and has been known to cause heart attacks. Marijuana is harmful to normal brain development and reduces the brain’s ability to learn and retain information. What is more, marijuana is a gateway drug, meaning that many who have become drug addicts claim that they began with casual marijuana use.
In an April 2014 Op-Ed in the Providence Journal, Col. Steven O’Donnell, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, stated that legalization of marijuana would send a clear signal to young people that use of marijuana is acceptable. With drug use being a major problem among young people today, do we, as a state, want to send a message to our youth that casual use of a potentially destructive drug is permissible?
As the discussion of the legalization of marijuana continues on the state level, please make it known to your representatives that laws should discourage Rhode Island residents, young and old, from engaging in destructive habits.
