Introduction

In March of 2021, the use of weed was legalized in New York by Governor Andrew Cuomo. But this did not only bring good outcomes but also brought up a lot of cons and questions about the legalization. Most people were upset because they were concerned about their community and how good or bad it is for society as a whole. I have concerns not only for myself but my community and other people around me. The reason marijuana can be a danger in our community is that it’s a mixture of a lot of things. It may affect parents and youth in the world, as well as the poverty and drug abuses in our communities. There are negative effects to it, but how is society going to fix it?

Pros of marijuana in our community?

Let’s look at an example of a pro for why the legalization of marijuana is “important” to people and the whole society in New York. Well, in cases shown, it increases the amount of job growth because of its whole selling process. Obviously, the making and the selling of the drug needs a lot of people and other companies to help sell out. Investopedia’s “The Economic Benefits of Legalizing Weed” states, “jobs would likely come from the quickly growing industry which would spring up across the nation. Workers would be needed to farm, process, distribute, and sell marijuana-based products.’’ As described, companies hire people to help grow the industry of marijuana but also the advertisement and the sales of it, which does require a lot of workers. As the company works, the whole sales increase, but also the number of people who get hired to join in the making/sales of marijuana. For example, software makers and workers to man computers and machines are needed to join the process of cleaning and selling marijuana. This brings a lot of jobs all together because it does require a lot to sell a product! Many people look for jobs and the legalization of it can only give opportunities to those in need!

Cons of marijuana in our community?

Now let’s switch to the cons; so what negative effects does marijuana have on our community? There’s a lot of controversy on this topic because most adults liked the idea of legalizing marijuana. But how about the younger people in society? Well, one of the many reasons why it does bad to our community is because of the bad things it does to someone’s life, social life and work/school! This brings attention to a lot of health workers because of the amount of danger it causes. According to National Institute On Drug Abuse, ”Someone who uses marijuana daily may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level most or all of the time”. Marijuana can ruin many things and opportunities for a person that smokes it. The source also states that it has adverse consequences in the workplace, such as increased risk for injury or accidents. This is not only upsetting, but it can only cause a lot of harm to themselves and family members. This is not good for society because it does really affect workplaces and companies, which will fall, which is like the domino effect: one person lacks, then the whole company can lose things like customers. We have to be careful for not only the older adults but also the youth because not only do they not know the consequences of marijuana, but their parents are not aware of them. Which leads to parenting and the youth.

Parenting

Our community protects the youth, who are important for parents to take care of and teach the dangers of not just marijuana but other drugs. If the young adults use it, then they may lack information on their education process and their memory and also their actions. According to NIDA, young adults with parents that use marijuana start to fade away from education and start having drugs at a young age, which isn’t really normal and only causes bad injuries and other consequences. From my perspective, I’ve seen people on drugs walking around my city and it does have a bad influence on kids because the kids get scared, including myself. Also, some parents or adults use the drug in front of their kids, which can lead them to think that it is safe to use, so they start to use it in the future and get used to it, which is bad parenting and leads them to make bad choices in the future. The Addiction Education Society has some solutions and advice for parents to talk to their kids because the kids are the future and can make a change in society and themselves!

How can this affect the poverty rate?

The New York Post states, “the poor, who already have a hard time holding down jobs and taking care of their families, are more frequently using a drug that makes it harder for them to focus, to remember things and to behave responsibly.” I feel like legalizing marijuana will have one of the biggest effects on the poverty rate; there will still have to be intense rules that would be in place, so low income communities won’t be affected. Coming from a low income community myself, I’ve seen how bad it can get with abusers and that’s why I don’t want to see the availability of marijuana. And some people might say, “oh, but it’s not that serious of a drug”, and I agree; I believe there’s a lot worse out there, but what happens if you let one drug be available? Then the next one will be, and the next, and the next, and I don’t want to see that happen in my community.

Possible solutions

What are possible solutions to the legalization of marijuana? There are a lot of measures to this and a lot of patience because of how harmful it is not only to the people who use it but also to the community! One way that the use of marijuana can be solved or somewhat helped is counseling. DrugFree.org’s Partnership to End Addiction is a website to guide you into talking to your child or any family in general. This is only a step to help your family member become better and stay away from drugs. Yes, some people may not take it or not take it seriously, but people can start seeing a counselor and even decrease the use of drugs. This can help the person deal with coexisting addictions or psychiatric problems. Additionally, adults can start teaching their younger children that the use of drugs can be harmful and create or join programs that support the end of marijuana use and help promote the decreasing of the drugs. This United States Drug Enforcement Administration pamphlet can help the younger youth with knowledge of the effects of marijuana! To sum up, there are a lot of reasons why the legalization of marijuana can cause many downhills to our community, especially for the children that are out there witnessing it as they walk along the streets of New York! This is important to everyone and everything and especially to me since it causes problems with our community such as health, social/economy, education and work problems!