Controversial Essay Sample on Marijuana Legalization

Introduction

Marijuana legalization is one of the most controversial issues not just in America but also all over the world. As of December 2018, there were at least 21 countries and territories that have legalized or have some form of legalization for the drug. However, based on recent trends, the number of countries using Marijuana is set to rise soon. Researchers such as Medina et al. (2018) have conducted studies on the medical use of marijuana to control pain for the orthopedic patients. Other studies from Gruia (2017) have delved into the possible social benefits of marijuana in matters such as regulation of crime and increasing government incomes. Despite these studies, there is considerable evidence to indicate that recreational marijuana has some downsides that justify its illegalization. As a result, marijuana should not be legalized because of risk it poses to workplace safety, cognitive skills, intelligence quotient, and workplace perception.

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The use of marijuana increases safety risks by causing dizziness, accelerated heart rate, and the alteration of perceptual-motor speed and coordination which increases the likelihood of workplace injury. Motor skills refer to the physical movements of body limbs such as hands, fingers or feet. According to Sherratt, Welfare, Hallowell, & Tania (2018), these effects resulting from the recreational use of marijuana increases the chances of injury among construction workers. Manual laborers depend on their motor skills for productivity and safety at the workplace. Any induced substance that compromises on their motor skills is likely to affect worker productivity as well as their safety. Furthermore, side effects such as dizziness could make it impossible machine operators to operate their machines. An ironworker at the top of a building is a serious risk to himself and the workforce if he is unable to watch his steps or where his or her work colleagues are located.

Marijuana causes safety risks by causing cognitive impairment. Cognitition is the brain process that determines an individuals ability to acquire knowledge and process it. Impaired cognition reduces employee productivity. It also increases the money companies spend on employee training due to the reduced ability to gain experience and understanding among the employees. To the students, impaired cognitive skills make it difficult to learn. Teachers have to spend more time teaching while students have to spend more time reading. The result is a workforce and society that struggles to accomplish the tasks that they previously did. It is also important to note that the users are likely to abuse the drug because they are using for recreational use. Therefore, recreational use of marijuana should not be legalized because of the risk it poses to the cognitive abilities of its users.

Sherratt, Welfare, Hallowell, & Tania (2018) have indicated that marijuana legalization causes a decrease in intelligence quotient(IQ) of the users. The research on this front is yet to be established, but the little research that is done associates the decrease of IQ with longterm use of marijuana. An average person will start using the drug in their late teens. That exposes them to serious difficulties in future as they seek to pursue higher education in either graduate or post-graduate level. On the other hand, a low IQ has serious implications for a person's reasoning ability due to recreational use of marijuana. As a country, the development and inventions are dependent upon the IQ of its population. People with high IQ founded revolutionary companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon. Moreover, these companies also need high IQ employees for their continued operation. Marijuana legalization is likely to affect those companies' labor force creating a labor shortage in the country.

Marijuana use is likely to change workplace perception in regards to workplace accidents and consequent employee compensation. However, legalization of marijuana will create simple blame on the workers' condition and neglect the complex issues such as managerial problems. Companies typically drug test their employees to discount their workers' compensation insurance. The use of marijuana will compromise an employee's insurance claim because of their previous history with marijuana unless they can prove it was for medical use. What is even worse is that marijuana stays in the body for up to seven years CITATION She18 \l 1033 (Sherratt, Welfare, Hallowell, & Tania, 2018). That means that a test result is likely to come up positive even if an employee was not under the influence at the moment the accident occurred. They will likely take the blame for the accident and shift the responsibility away from the company. Sherratt, Welfare, Hallowell, & Tania (2018) have indicated that marijuana stays in the body between 3 to 5 hrs which means companies don't have the right to deny compensation because of marijuana presence after a drug test.

Counterargument

The proponents of marijuana legalization do so on the basis that it has the potential to increase government revenue. According to Gruia (2017), countries in the European Union could learn from some states in the United States and legalize marijuana to deal with the cash crunch that faces the region. However, the main weakness of such an argument is that it fails to factor in the expenses that will go to treating the damages caused by the medical use of marijuana among its citizens - the amount of money that the respective governments will spend on managing site accidents among its workers due to cognitive and motor skills impairment. The amount of money the government will lose on the reduced productivity of its citizens is likely to exceed whatever revenue of taxes that they will collect from the drug sale. Therefore, a collection of tax revenue isn't a substantial reason to legalize marijuana.

References

Gruia, G. (2017). Regulation of the Cultivation, Manufacture, and Sale of Marijuana as a Solution to Decrease Violent Crimes and Increase Governmental Incomes. Contemporary Reading in Law and Social Justice, 9(2), 366-372.

Medina, S., Nadarajah, V., Jauregui, J., Smuda, M., Foster, M., Meredith, S., . . . Henn III, R. (2018, August 8). Orthopedic surgery patients who use recreational marijuana have less pre-operative pain. International Orthopaedics, 1-10. doi:10.1007/s00264-018-4101-x

Sherratt, F., Welfare, K., Hallowell, M., & Tania, M. H. (2018, September 12). Legalized Recreational Marijuana: Safety, Ethical, and Legal Perceptions of the Workforce. Journal of Construction and Engineering Management, 144(6), 1-10. doi:10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001502