DISCUSS ANYTHING & EVERYTHING: Money, Dating, Health, Internet, Legal, Jobs, People, Places and more

Before glibly taking to a drug like cannabis, we need to be aware of certain facts concerning how our brains develop.  After the age of 8, and all the way up to about the age of 24, our pre-frontal lobes - the very portion of our brains that we use to do our reasoning and deep thinking - undergo a renewal process to prepare us for full adulthood (incidentally, this explains the 'crazy mixed-up kid' phenomenon).  Most of us appreciate the fact that we only really feel grown-up when we arrive at the age of 25, and this explains why that is.

Clearly this is a very delicate time of our lives, when we ought not to be doing anything that might distort the process.  Therefore this is a powerful argument for resisting the temptation - if such exists - to take cannabis, for it has been shown that a young regular user can forfeit as many as 6 points on their I.Q. measurement as a result of their habit.  That is a life-changing detrimental change, and non-reversible.

If you happen to know a cannabis user, you might feel as I do that you can actually observe the effect it is having on them - the way they talk, and the opinions they express.  It is very sad that the State of Connecticut is on the verge of legalising the drug, and the State of Washington is also thinking of doing so.

Of course, similar criticisms can be levelled against alcohol abuse, but cannabis's ability to alter brain wiring does seem to deserve special singling out for condemnation.