Educational talks about the impact of marijuana on developing brains need to be implemented as a result of legalizing recreational marijuana. Like sex education and domestic violence, teaching minors about the consequences of marijuana can have a profound effect. Relating sex education in schools and marijuana prohibition, a study conducted by Kathrin F. StangerHall and David W. Hall found states with abstinence- only programs in public schools have drastically more teenage pregnancy and birth rates than schools with more comprehensive sex education programs. Like marijuana prohibition, minors are more likely to engage in risky behavior the less they are educated about said behavior. The power of education can show middle and high-schoolers the repercussions of marijuana consumption at an early age which can deter the behavior. Another concern expressed by anti-marijuana groups is the notion that crime will increase. This a very reasonable concern, especially with the Mexican drug cartels committing horrible acts as a result of the drug war. However, a recent study conducted by Morris, TenEyck, Barnes, and Kovandzic found crime was not exacerbated by the passing of medical marijuana laws in Part I offenses such as rape, homicide, robbery, burglary, assault, auto theft, and larceny. Morris et. al. did find the laws may be correlated with reductions in assault and homicide rates. Additionally, Smith, Homish, Collins, Giovino, White, and Leonard at University of Buffalo sampled 634 couples in their first nine years of marriage who consumed marijuana. They found of the 634 couples tested, the more the couple smoked marijuana, the less likely they were to commit domestic violence acts . The researchers also found the study supports the notion that marijuana does not increase aggressive conflict and it may actually decrease the instances . Marijuana commonly “mellows out” its users where violent acts are not carried out; this would indicate the main source of crime is a direct result of drug trafficking, not consumption. However, the crimes come from acquiring the drug and its suppliers.

A main source of marijuana comes from Mexico as a result of the plant’s ban and criminalization in the early 1900’s; the Mexican drug cartels used existing trade routes for cocaine and heroin throughout the United States to start smuggling marijuana . RAND, a nonprofit organization for research and analysis for US armed forces,indoor vertical growing systems calculated national estimates of illegal market sizes for four illicit drugs , methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin) between 2000 and 2010. Of the $100 billion total drug estimate, $40.6 billion is from marijuana and those who consume it daily/near daily make up 80% of total expenditures This illegal market can be reduced by 41% due to marijuana legalization, and we can decrease the amount of nonviolent drug charges by 46% . With recreational marijuana legalized in just four states, evidence of this change is already appearing . The U.S. Border Patrol has been noticing a steady decline in marijuana seizures, from 2.5 million pounds in 2011 to 1.9 million pounds in 2014. Mexico’s army has seen a drastic decline in marijuana confiscation, dropping 34% compared to the previous year . Some may attribute to law enforcement, but evidence is showing it is due to the five U.S. states that legalized recreational marijuana. The industry grew 74% in 2014 to $2.7 with projections of reaching $4 billion by 2016, which means less income for the Mexican cartel to acquire guns, assassins, and bribe the police. Along with legalization, Mexico is seeing a decrease in crime, specifically homicides; homicides were at a high in 2011 with 23,000 murders reported, last year, there were 15,649 reported murders . Even though this is the tip of the iceberg, marijuana reform is already affecting the black market and Mexico just after three years of recreational legalization. If marijuana is federally legalized, not only will crime rates decrease, but the amount of money spent and generated on its illegal demand with be reduced drastically. The last argument for keeping marijuana illegal is its health risks and concerns. Most of the experiments concern minors who will not be able to buy recreational marijuana until they are twenty-one. These findings are also inconsistent because of other third variables unaccounted for such as socioeconomic status, mental health, and parental relationships; but it should not be ignored that there is serious health effects for consumption in youth. When directed to individuals who are twenty-one and older, although limited, the findings point to possible benefits of marijuana consumption in some diseases. Haj-Dahmane and Shen of University of Buffalo found there may be actual medical marijuana use for treating depression.

They explained chronic stress reduces the production of endocannabinoids in the brain which is not only a chemical produced by the brain naturally, but an active ingredient in marijuana . However, the use was only studied in animal models and the next step is to see if it restores normal behaviors in animal models without leading to drug dependence. Another way to explore the treatment of depression and marijuana use is to conduct a longitudinal study focusing on age of use onset, consumption rates, duration of use, and level of depression. A longitudinal study could give a wider scope on long-term effects of marijuana and depression. Marijuana also shows potential in treating autoimmune diseases and anxiety reduction in several studies, however, a couple studies found that it may not be as effective in treating some neurological diseases . An interesting study conducted by Jouanjus, LapeyreMestre and Micallef identified 35 cases of vascular and cardiovascular conditions related to brain, heart, and limbs. They found marijuana use resulted in heart-related complications, and even death, where the sample was an average of 34.3 year old males and had marijuana-related cardiovascular complications . However, this study has some limitations to it; cannabis exposure ranged from actual , recent , and regular/daily use — a total of 30 cases— and the duration of use was only available in five cases that ranged from two to more than 25 years. Toxicology reports were conducted in thirteen cases with ten cases of THC positive; however, marijuana can stay in the system for up to two months, depending on duration of use, because THC is fat soluble. As a result of the limited sample of cannabis use, it is proper to not correlate marijuana use as a direct cause of cardiovascular complications, and even death . However, current research that explores possible solutions in the treatment of neurological diseases and cardiovascular conditions in relation to marijuana use are non- existent. The inconsistencies of these research findings makes it hard to ignore some of the possible risks in marijuana use, however, all of the studies are looking at the consumption of marijuana via smoking and a major active ingredient delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol . Little to no research has been done on other ways of consuming marijuana, such as ingestion or transdermal, and another active ingredients such as cannabidol , which makes up 40% of the plant’s extract . In order to fully understand the potential hazards of marijuana, research is needed exploring the different strains, active ingredients, and ways of administration because technology for marijuana growing methods and consumption are growing rapidly. Marijuana’s actual benefits and possible risks will come to light once more in-depth research about all active ingredients and administration methods are thoroughly conducted. There are anti-marijuana groups advocating for continued criminalization of marijuana, but an increasing amount of current research studies have findings that implicate otherwise.

For instance, based on previous experiments, minor consumption has not significantly increased or differed from the consumption rates before the legalization of marijuana, but awareness should be brought to light about its health risks. Studies are showing minors are consuming marijuana because it is perceived as a safe drug, but research is pointing towards chronic adverse health effects. To deter underaged use,vertical cannabis growing education about marijuana effects in the developing brain need to be utilized. Another concern was an increase in crime rates. Not only may crime rates decrease, the illegal drug market for marijuana will be reduced by 41% and nonviolent drug charges will be cut by 46% with changes already occurring with just . Lastly, there are numerous adverse health effects when consuming marijuana. While neurological diseases and heart complications seem to have no medicinal benefit to marijuana consumption, there are consistent findings in other studies such as depression and anxiety. In order to fully understand the limits of what marijuana can help treat and maintain, further research needs to be conducted exploring all administration methods and major active ingredients due to changing method technologies of marijuana growing and consumption. The consistent findings about the benefits of marijuana consumption is gaining popularity and public favors rapidly, and demands for marijuana legalization has been higher than before. This alone is proving the need to reevaluate marijuana prohibition laws and showing there are possible solutions to solve this complex issue of legalization.Parents hold influential roles in preventing youth tobacco use. Children of nonsmoking parents are less likely to initiate tobacco smoking themselves,and interventions that actively engage parents have revealed promise in reducing youth tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substance use.Creating tobacco-free home environments is one approach parents may take to set norms and expectations about tobacco use.9 Children and/or young adults who live in households with strict rules against smoking are less likely to try or regularly smoke cigarettes.Setting household rules for all family members and visitors may be more effective than invoking tobacco use rules applicable only to children, which are not necessarily associated with less youth smoking.Talking explicitly to children about not using tobacco represents another possible approach to discourage tobacco use. Parent-child anti-tobacco communication has been associated cross-sectionally with greater quit intentions among youth already using tobacco but has been inconsistently associated with cigarette smoking among youth overall.For both household rules and talking about tobacco, existing studies are predominantly cross-sectional and focused only on cigarette smoking. Although youth cigarette smoking is declining, use of non-cigarette products, notably electronic cigarettes , is sharply increasing.

Often small, sweet smelling, and unfamiliar to parents in appearance, e-cigarettes may be easier than cigarettes for children to conceal, possibly contributing to less parental awareness about youth use.Even for cigarettes, previous findings suggest parental awareness lapses. In one study, among adolescents who smoked 1 to 5 cigarettes a day, only 39% of parents were aware of their use.In another, 43% of parents correctly identified that their child had smoked a cigarette within the last 6 months.In the current study, we consider parental knowledge or suspicion, household rules, and talking with youth about tobacco in a nationally representative longitudinal study of youth. Specifically, using data from the youth component of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, we addressed 2 main research questions using 2 different analytical approaches. First, we conducted a time-series analysis using 4 waves of PATH Study youth data to assess parent or guardian knowledge or suspicion that their child uses tobacco. Next, we estimated longitudinal associations of household rules and talking to children about tobacco with youth tobacco initiation over 1, 2, and 3 years. We aim to characterize lapses in parental awareness and to evaluate potential parental strategies to prevent youth tobacco initiation.The PATH Study is an ongoing household cohort study of tobacco use and health among US youth and adults.An areaprobability, 4-stage stratified sampling design was implemented at wave 1 to represent the US non-institutionalized civilian population. Parents were asked about their participating children separately from questionnaires administered to youth directly. The weighted wave 1 response rate for the youth survey was 78.4% among households screened for participation.Respondents were followed annually in waves . Respondents who reached age 18 before follow-up were invited to join the adult component. “Shadow youth,” aged 9 to 11 at wave 1, were invited to join the study at the wave at which they reached age 12. An additional “replenishment” youth sample was enrolled at wave 4.Each wave, youth responded separately about lifetime use and past 30-day use of multiple tobacco products. For this analysis, tobacco use was categorized as never use, former use , and past 30-day use of only cigarettes, only e-cigarettes, only non-cigarette combustible products , only smokeless tobacco , and poly tobacco .