as 65 percent of hashish users wished to rid themselves of the habit, it is, on the other hand, asserted by S. Allentuck and K.M. Bowman that habituation to cannabis is not as strong as to tobacco and alcohol” (234). Grinspoon also quotes W.D.M. Paton who says, “Life is in fact built up of such dependencies…[he is referring to his habit of eating Kellogg’s cornflakes each morning]” (234) In conclusion; marijuana is not an addicting drug. It will not cause the user to become totally dependent upon it. However, it may cause the user to form a bad psychological habit. Marijuana’s habituating could be considered one of its serious flaws, or it could be thought of as a bad habit comparable to fingernail biting. Another problem with marijuana, like tobacco, is it can cause emphysema, lung cancer, and heart disease. Marijuana’s smoke is equivalent to tobacco smoke, if not more harmful. Arnold S. Trebach states in his book The Great Drug War, “In one study on humans, it was found that smoking five joints a week over time is more irritating to the air passages and impairs the lungs’ ability to exhale air [more] than smoking almost six packs of cigarettes a week” (Trebach, 79). Even though this physical consequence is something that can prevent marijuana from becoming legalized, commonsense should inform one’s self that inhalation of any smoke will be damaging to the body. With as much study today on cigarettes as there is, one can take these conclusion and base marijuana smoke in the same category. Other effects produced by marijuana are loss of short-term memory, testosterone deficiency in men, and infertility in women in recent studies by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. However all these effects are reversed once the user stops the use of marijuana. Even though marijuana gets a lot of bad publicity for these effects, being a gateway drug causes marijuana the most...
