For decades, the government has been deciding whether to legalize recreational marijuana, keep it a scheduled drug 1 or legalize it for medical purposes. Both sides of the argument have valid points that I agree with and others that I disagree with. When you start looking at the real facts about marijuana, it doesn't really make sense to list it as a Schedule 1 drug. A Schedule 1 drug is classified as having a high potential for abuse and the potential to create serious psychological and physical dependence. Drugs falling into this category would be methamphetamines, heroin, LSD and marijuana. It's kind of hard to understand why marijuana is on this list because people really have problems with meth or heroin. The drug can reduce thinking, memory and learning skills and affect the way the brain makes connections between areas corresponding to these skills. Inhaling any type of smoke, whether tobacco or marijuana, is not good for your lungs. We only have lungs to breathe air, nothing else. Marijuana smoke can irritate the lungs; Marijuana smokers can have the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers. These problems include coughing, more lung disease, and a higher risk of lung infections. Marijuana has the potential to be addictive. Research suggests that 9 percent of users may develop a problem that could lead to addiction. People who begin using marijuana before age 18 are 4 to 7 times more likely than adults to develop problematic use. Addiction becomes addiction when the person cannot stop using marijuana even though it affects their life. Research indicates that continued use builds tolerance and may lead users to use stronger drugs to achieve the same effect. Marijuana itself cannot lead the person to other drugs. If the person wants to use stronger drugs, they will; It has nothing to do with marijuana. It has more to do with whether you allow yourself to take other drugs. On the other hand, 90 percent of people who used a stronger drug started by using marijuana. The reason states legalize recreational marijuana use is because of the tax money they earn. If every state legalized full recreational use, the United States would gain $8.7 billion in tax revenue. Another question people ask is: has anyone ever overdosed? The answer is no: if you smoke more than 800 joints in a single session, you risk dying. Death would not be due to marijuana itself. This could be due to carbon monoxide poisoning. For marijuana to kill you from an overdose, you would have to smoke 40,000 times the average amount in a short period of time, which is roughly