Marijuana at Its “Finest”

Photo of Cannabis Plant shared via Herb.co for Cannabis Enthusiasts

In recent history, the use of marijuana has gone up considerably where people not only smoke it, but bake it, cook it, dab it, vape it. In contrast to our “adult” counterparts, we live in a generation where marijuana has become increasingly accessible among teens and young adults in specific. Many people have used or do use marijuana for recreational purposes to achieve the desired high that marijuana gives them, and while extensive research has been conducted and has proven the long-term and short-term negative effects of marijuana, there is often a societal bias that targets your typical “every-day” user. I will try to avoid as much personal bias as possible to avoid any controversy, however, I can’t help myself but give one personal statement if I may: just because a person has knowledge of, uses or has used marijuana does not mean they’re a “stoner” who lacks ambition for anything. Even if you are one, “Stoners are also entrepreneurs, mothers, CEO’s, celebrities, politicians—the list goes on”.

By taking the societal views of marijuana and breaking it down into various premises, the truth and/or accuracy of the following statements will allow us to dissect the validity and soundness of this argument.

Premise 1: Drugs that are widely accessible can be used in an abusive manner.

Premise 2: Drugs such as Marijuana are easily accessible in our society.

Premise 3: Using Marijuana makes you a “dead-weight” in society.

Conclusion: Therefore, the extensive accessibility of Marijuana prompts users to abuse of the drug, where they fall into the dregs of society.

• Premise 1: This statement is factually true and easily agreed upon as drugs that are widely accessible to us (illegally or legally) can be easier to use in an abusive manner, rather than drugs that are not widely accessible.
• Premise 2: This statement is also factually true and easily agreed upon in society, regardless of ones opinions with marijuana. Most people, if not everyone can agree that acquiring marijuana is very simple in our modern day society.
• Premise 3: Within the third premise, there is lots to be contested regarding the societal views of marijuana. As an example, considerable evidence suggests that students who consume marijuana have poorer educational and/or social success than their non-consuming peers, while this may be true, this premise does not address the other portion of individuals who consume marijuana without necessarily being educationally/socially troubled or ‘stupid’ for lack of a better term. Not to say that marijuana does not have negative implications to peoples health, but it is important to note the seemingly unjust notion that marijuana is often considered the drug of the “dead-weights”. For this reason, the premise could be argued, for or against using marijuana, but for the sake of factual correctness, this statement is not true, nor is it valid. It disregards those who may use marijuana for their own purposes, without excess use, while often being labeled as mere “stoners” who fail in our society.

Validity and Soundness

As one may notice, this argument is not valid nor is it sound, in which the third premise creates damage to the truth of the conclusion. Though the accessibility of marijuana does influence people’s frequency of use of marijuana to a certain extent, using marijuana does not necessarily mean you are a “dead-weight” in society. There is a good portion of users who may consume marijuana “responsibly” which are directly disregarded in the third premise, challenging the statements truth. Though the sequence of the argument is valid, it is flawed within the false truths presented in the third premise, challenging both the validity of the argument and the soundness of the conclusion.

Origin and Conclusive Statements

The origin of this argument can be directly linked to the societal bias most people withhold against marijuana. Although our generation may be a bit more “embracing” on the recreational and medical use of marijuana, many people still remain skeptical and look down upon those who consume the drug. This can be traced to the values held in the households of many, primarily in the families of “old-gen” people, like our parents. The conclusion that many “marijuana-opposers” draw essentially comes from the strong belief that all marijuana does is impair learning capacity and prevents people from reaching their maximum brain-power; when being someone who has used or uses marijuana is someone who is just throwing their life out the window, right? Not necessarily. Marijuana can definitely impair ones ability to process and execute complex tasks, but lower levels of intellectual capacity is usually a consequence of continuous use over long periods of time; where problems such as addiction or depression may arise. While drug abuse (in this case marijuana) may be a consequence of ease of accessibility, it all comes down to how the person chooses to use the drug while generally using marijuana doesn’t necessarily lead to the demise of an individual. Consequently, the negative societal bias regarding marijuana consumption is only reinforced through the origin of its legality issues, but that’s something we can save for later.