The desire for intoxication leads to destruction Over time, people around the world have sought ways to feel intoxicated and alter their consciousness for different reasons. One of the oldest ways people achieved this state of intoxication was through the popular marijuana plant. Today this plant has become so widely accepted that it has been legalized in some states and will most likely be legalized in other states, such as California and Maine, even though it is prohibited by federal law. Proponents argue that it has medicinal properties and that the drug can actually be beneficial to people's health. But although many people claim that feeling intoxicated relaxes and relieves pain, research and past incidents have shown that the desire to be intoxicated has more harmful effects than positive ones. In his book The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan examines four different desires: beauty, control, exhilaration, and sweetness, each represented by a plant. Every plant has evolved or been modified to satisfy a desire craved by humans. Pollan shows us how the desire for sweetness is represented by the apple, beauty by the tulip, control by the potato and the desire for inebriation by marijuana. In this book, Pollan explains how marijuana has changed over time to meet the different needs and expectations of consumers around the world. As Pollan put it, "cannabis had to do two things: it had to prove that it could satisfy a human desire so brilliantly that people would take extraordinary risks to grow it, and that it had to find the right combination of genes to adapt to a very particular and completely artificial new environment” ( 130). In question context. November 26, 2010. Pollan, Michael. Botany of Desire. New York: Random House Trade Paperback, 2002. Print. Works CitedHadly, Scott Ventura. December 21, 2007. Web. October 29, 2010Huff, Charlotte. "A Risky Decision: With Marijuana, Your Common Sense Could Be Going Down the drain."Current Health 2, a Weekly Reader publication, February 2010: 20+ Opposing points of view in context. Network. October 29, 2010. Political project on marijuana. “Medical marijuana should be legalized.” Legalize drugs. Ed.Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. In question. Gale Opposing views in context. Network. November 26, 2010. Pollan, Michael. The botany of desire. New York: Random House Trade Paperback, 2002.Print.