Why pot is bad news. (Illegal Drugs).(Brief Article)

It started out like any other summer day. Maggie spent the morning at the park's recreation program for teens. Afterward, she headed to the beach to hang out with three of her friends. But as it got later and the beach began to empty, Maggie's friend Stacy brought out a "surprise": two marijuana joints.

The girls giggled as they lit the first cigarette and began to pass it around. Maggie was nervous and curious at the same time. She knew she shouldn't smoke marijuana, but how could she say no when her friends were all smoking? She reached for the cigarette.

The cigarettes Stacy had brought to the beach were made from the dried leaves, seeds, and stems of the marijuana plant. They contain a chemical (THC) that makes the smoker feel spacey and silly. Marijuana can also cause hallucinations (imagining things that aren't real), a rapid heart rate, and confused thinking. Like tobacco smokers, marijuana smokers damage their lungs and increase their risk of cancer over the long term. And marijuana is against the law for everyone, regardless of age.

That afternoon was just the beginning. Maggie and Stacy met almost every afternoon that summer to smoke marijuana. One afternoon, Stacy and Maggie smoked until they were so dizzy they had trouble walking.

To Maggie's surprise, her mother confronted her that evening. "You ...