Concerns of Pediatricians about Teens and Marijuana Consumption

Marijuana can create memory lapses, and concentration problems, in users. Teens who use marijuana may start to fail in their studies. The drug is known to impair motor skills of users. When teens use marijuana and have impaired motor skills, they are more apt to be involved in an accident.
The teen that are often using marijuana are at a greater risk of falling and injuring themselves because the drug interferes with mobility and coordination. The more often that a teen uses this drug the larger risk they take of injury or death from the side effects.

Granting Permission

When marijuana is legalized the teens will see this as a green light to use the drug. They will deem the drug safe to use because it will be legally obtainable from stores in their towns.
The increased usage of marijuana will decrease the productive output of the teens in any given town. When teens use marijuana, they are often lethargic and lacking in energy.

Complications with the Lungs

Marijuana can cause lung disorders. There has not been enough data gathered to prove that marijuana smoke is not as harmful to the lungs as tobacco smoke. It took a lot of years, a lot of hard work, and billions of dollars, not to mention thousands of deaths, before people started to realize that inhaling tobacco products was detrimental to their health.
Whenever you breathe in something other than air, you are potentially damaging your lungs. Pediatricians against the legalization of marijuana believe that teens smoking the drug will do as much damage as teens smoking cigarettes, and that it will take countless deaths before people realize the harm they are doing to their bodies.

Accurate Data

Pediatricians against the legalization of marijuana feel that more data must be compiled from the states that have already legalized the drug before the true problems surface. There have been injuries to children in Washington and Colorado from accidental ingestion of marijuana, deaths from poor judgment after marijuana consumption, and other complications.
There has not been enough data compiled to show the real cause and effect that the use of marijuana has on growth and development. It will take a long time before enough data is compiled, and the pediatricians against the legalization of marijuana feel that it would be more prudent to gather the data, before allowing people to begin to use marijuana.
If the legalization were postponed until the exact ramifications of the different methods of ingestion were made public, then people would be able to make a factual based decision on the dangers of promoting the use of a drug that can cause hallucinations, unsteady gait, lack of consciousness, impaired speech, and impaired reaction times.