For decades now, the government has been deciding whether to legalize the use of recreational marijuana, keep it as a scheduled drug, or legalize it for medical use. Both sides of the issue have some valid points that I agree with and some that I disagree with. When you start to look at the real facts about marijuana, it doesn't make much sense to consider it a scheduled drug. A scheduled drug is classified as having a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and physical dependence. Drugs that fall into this category would be methamphetamine, heroin, LSD, and marijuana. It's hard to understand why marijuana is on this list because if anything people really do have problems with methamphetamine or heroin. The drug can reduce thinking, memory and learning abilities and affect how the brain builds connections between the areas responsible for these skills. Inhaling any type of smoke, be it 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 may have the same breathing 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% of users may develop some problem, which can lead to addiction. People who start using marijuana before age 18 are 4 to 7 times more likely than adults to develop problematic marijuana use. Addiction becomes addiction when the person cannot stop using marijuana even if it affects their health. Research states that continued use increases tolerance and can lead users to use stronger drugs to achieve the same effect. Marijuana itself cannot lead a person to take other drugs. If the person wants to use stronger drugs, he 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% of people who used a stronger drug started with marijuana. The reason states are legalizing the recreational use of marijuana 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: Have you ever caused someone to overdose? The answer is no, if you smoke more than 800 joints at one time, you could die. The death was not due to marijuana itself. It could result from 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 practically