Marijuana and Alcohol

Like adults, teenagers become addicted to marijuana after a few tries. Some people start smoking because their parents, siblings, or friends are smoking it. Peer pressure can play a major role in teens and smoking marijuana. Other teens start because they see their favorite movie stars smoke it or their favorite bands sing songs about it. Teens can get easy access to such drugs from other kids in school or on the streets. Ages 12 to age 13, they can buy more marijuana if they wanted to go from 14 to 50 percent. Teens who say they know a student at their school who sells drugs from 8 percent to 22 percent. Some teens smoke marijuana to get away from their life style or their real life's problems. Long-term affects include breathing problems, such as chronic coughing and wheezing. The chemicals in marijuana are same cancer causing chemicals in tobacco. People who use marijuana often lose a lot of brain cells; this could cause distorted perceptions, bad coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and difficulty in learning or memory. These consequences don't do more in preventing teens to smoke because they are uneducated; they don't know the consequences. When they realize the consequences, it's too late and they're addicted. They say marijuana should stay illegal. Well I think it should become legalized and should be taxed by the government like cigarettes. You may think I'm crazy, but I think this would decrease the usage. Some people smoke marijuana because it's illegal and they want to rebel. If marijuana is legal, there would be less crimes on the streets, less people would smoke it, and there would be less problems with it relating to crimes.
Teens drink alcohol for the same reasons they do marijuana: they're depressed, they want to fit in, they want to party, peer pressure. Since alcohol is legal, it's much easier to come by, but there are still rules. The legal drinking age is 21. This is because the person's brain has stopped growing and developing and the body has stopped growing. If people drink before they're 21, they could develop brain disfunctions or the brain will not develop all the way. Long-term consequences are liver damage, pancreatitis, certain cancers, and literal shrinkage of the brain. Alcohol use is the second leading cause of dementia; a person ages a quicker than usual (Physically). Like I said before, people don't know about the consequences or they don't care. If we make alcohol illegal again, there will be another Prohibition. People we start smuggling alcohol and the crime rate will go up higher than it is now.