The Source of Misconception

Some states have begun drafting or have already proposed bills for the legalization, or socialization, of marijuana. The benefits of such a drastic change in drug policy, especially during a recession, are evident, but little movement has yet been made. This is mainly due to the abhorrent connotation behind marijuana, which stems primarily from faulty drug education programs.

The most widely known anti-drug campaigns are D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and Above the Influence. The misconceptions behind marijuana can be directly attributed to the fact that these sources and others like it have not been evaluated for accuracy. They teach about the worst case scenario, which is important, but not enough to neglect the more common results.

According to the Above the Influence campaign, “Those who smoke marijuana regularly are more likely to drop out of high school and also have alcohol-related problems.” This is inaccurate; a poll taken by more than 300 incoming freshman at Hofstra University in 2006 showed that more than 70% of participants claimed to have tried marijuana once, and 36% admitted to using the drug habitually. The same campaign also informs its readers that marijuana is a psychoactive drug, and that it makes users more susceptible to psychological problems later in life; however, according to The HIV Drug Book, which includes a published list of these particular drugs and their effects, psychoactive drugs are in fact used to treat those very same problems.

While the D.A.R.E. program makes little differentiation between the severity of marijuana and heroin (the latter is proven to be deadly, but there are no reported deaths directly related to marijuana use), it does take the time to clarify the effects of psychoactive drugs: that they affects one’s brain while under the influence. Both campaigns fail to explain that brain cells are repairable given enough time without abuse. Therefore the only marijuana users with an increased risk of developing these problems are those who are naturally prone to those disorders in some way; in these cases, marijuana was positively affecting the body by acting as benzodiazepines (used to treat insomnia and anxiety) or an antidepressant; however, marijuana is no substitute for prescription drugs for a diagnosed psychological disorder.

These potential misunderstandings are the main reason that drug education is of the utmost importance, and needs to be properly regulated. While society should discourage youths from submitting to peer-pressure and the overall use of drugs, using propaganda and fear campaigns is the worst approach because it is misleading. If a child or teen has been educated about drugs through the D.A.R.E. program in grade school and/or by the ironically influential Above the Influence campaign, and then experiments with marijuana only to react normally (where nothing eventful happened except that they’ve consumed a box of donuts in 15 minutes), that child or teen now has a reason to doubt that other drugs are truly harmful, and experiment further. The only way to prevent drug-related tragedies is to teach the truth about all drugs, especially marijuana: one of the least harmful and most available.