Marijuana Problem in California

In California, Marijuana or pot might be medicine, but a disturbing number of marijuana "patients" have ended up getting hooked up to the drug. California is one the states in United States with high levels of marijuana use and over the past five years, seizures of marijuana plants have increased by over 300%. Currently, marijuana farms are on the rise especially in the Northern California where scientists estimate that there are at least 286 greenhouses and 281 outdoor marijuana farms containing about 20,000 plants in a single 37 square mile patch of forest.

These circumstances have triggered the debate about the marijuana regulation and taxation so as to address marijuana problem in California. This has triggered numerous arrests of marijuana users with the number of arrest continuously increasing since the 80s, but despite these high arrest rates, the prevalence of marijuana use in the state has not changed. Between 2003 and 2007, the number of Marijuana arrests in California increased from 61,375 to 74,024 with the arrest rate in 2007 being 203 per 100,000 while in 2003 was 173. Nationally, the average annual increase in marijuana arrests is at 2.93% while in California it is at 3.82% per year. During the same period, the number of annual pot users in increased from 3,222,000 to 3,342,000 while the number of monthly users increased from 1,850,000 to 1,949,000.

Marijuana is likely to lead to addiction because, in the early stages of use, it gives one a sense of well-being and euphoria that people enjoy so much to an extent that they become gripped by the drug. A report recently released by the Department of Health and Human Services indicate that, the number of people seeking treatment for addiction to marijuana in California has more than doubled within the past decade; from 52 addicts per 100,000 people in 1998 to 113 addicts per 100,000 people in 2008. This rise can be attributed to the availability of medical marijuana in California. Thousands of others people try to cope or fight addiction on their own, but often get caught up in the vicious cycle of quitting and relapsing because, the urge to obtain and use marijuana overcome them.

In California, minors are not allowed to use marijuana, alcohol, or tobacco. Despite this regulation, a recent report indicates that 424,000 or 13.00% of minors aged between 12 to 17 years in California have used pot in the past year and 222,000 or 6.80% of these minors have used pot in the past month. Pot's illegal status has not deterred these youths from having easy access to marijuana. In fact, the illegal status to some extent makes it easier for youths to access it due to the profit enticement created by the illegal market. Thus, teenagers can easily make money by selling pot to their fellow teenagers, which makes marijuana easily available among teens. Thus, pot's illegality to some extent makes it more readily and widely available to teenagers.

Supporters of Proposition 19 who advocate for legalization of marijuana in the state of California falsely claim that, marijuana is not addictive and is generally harmless. These claims have been proven wrong by scientist around the world and it's up to the California voters to decide whether to legalize marijuana or not, keeping in mind that, marijuana has a great addictive potential and has negative effects especially to adolescents and children.