Results
In order to assess whether the percent of a state identifying as liberal has an influence on the passage of marijuana legalization referenda, statistical analysis was conducted. The results are presented below. First, the results of a univariate analysis are presented. Then, the results of a bivariate Pearson’s correlation coefficient are given.
The mean percent vote for medical marijuana is 59.70% with a standard deviation of 6.84. The range for medical marijuana is 21 with at least one state with a high of 71% voting for medical marijuana and one state with a low of 59% voting for medical marijuana. The mean percent vote for recreational marijuana is lower at 53.61% with a standard deviation of 3.28. The range for recreational
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While the number of states that vote to legalize marijuana is increasing, many states are still against legalizing marijuana. The research conducted was aimed at identifying the connection between the dominating political ideology of a state and the likelihood of that state voting to legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use.
The results reveal that states with a greater number of voters that vote liberal are more likely to vote to legalize recreational marijuana. However, the results also show that this is not the case for medical marijuana. Additionally, in regards to the research hypothesis, while the results provide some indication that states with more residents that identify as politically liberal are more likely to legalize marijuana for recreational use than are more conservative states, that suggestion must remain just a suggestion since the results failed to be statistically significant. A likely reason as to why the results of this study were not significant is due to the relatively small sample size. Not all of the fifty states in the United States have yet to address the legalization of marijuana. Many of the states with the smallest liberal populations have not voted on the future of this issues in their state. In addition, many of the states with large numbers of conservatives in the sample used in this study are Western states. This is significant
The two major political parties, Republicans and Democrats, took opposing stances surrounding the use of medical marijuana at the time. To demonstrate, the Clinton Administration’s (a Democratic president) stance about its use was that the Controlled Substances Act, the act that was integral to Raich and Monson’s court case, did not apply to states that allowed medical marijuana, such as California (Rosenbaum, 2005). In contrast, the Bush Administration (a Republican president) took a position stating that any possession of marijuana was illegal under the CSA (Rosenbaum, 2005). This shows that the two major parties differed greatly on this issue at the time.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted a survey in March of 2013 concerning the public perspective on marijuana. It was seen that the majority of people support its legalization (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2013). In addition, since the 1990’s, there has been a steady decline in the percentage of people who believe marijuana should be illegal (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2013). Half of respondents reported that marijuana use is not a moral issue (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2013). Although there were differences between political parties as far as the legalization and enforcement of marijuana laws are concerned, despite political affiliation, the majority of those who responded agreed that “government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth” (Pew Research Center for the People &
"Have recent marijuana reform laws, specifically medical marijuana and legislation, increased or decreased crime rates?" and, "Do police officers attitudes and behaviors reflect the laws surrounding marijuana reform?" are some key topics of discussion. The independent variables in the first question relating to crime rates are marijuana and legislation, and the dependent variable is crime rate. The independent variables in the second question involving police officers were attitudes and behavior. The dependent variable is marijuana reform. The question that will be posed through the peer reviewed article is the recent marijuana reform laws in correlation to
Five states have implemented way to minimize the amount of crime while people are still able to use. Even though the states have made this determination though a vote. The Federal government still sees it as a felony crime. Within the reform strict policies have been set in place. Should marijuana be decriminalized or legalized? Should there be restrictions based on age. There was an analysis done that compared five states that implemented major marijuana reforms. Evaluating their effectiveness in reducing marijuana arrests and their impact on various health and safety outcomes. The two types of reforms that were evaluated: all-ages decriminalization in the states of California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The other reform was 21-and – older legalization in Colorado and Washington. From the analysis out of the five states all five state experienced substantial declines in marijuana possession arrests. There were four states with available data that also showed unexpected drops in marijuana felony arrests. All- ages decriminalization more effectively reduced marijuana arrest and associated harms for people of all ages, particularly young people. The decriminalization in California has not resulted in harmful consequences for teenagers, such as increased crime, drug overdose, driving under the influence, or school drop outs. California teenagers showed improvement in all
Imagine a world where marijuana became legalized.Most believe that legalizing marijuana would would be a be dangerous thing to do and should stay illegal , while others see it as a use of good reliable sources.From a philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. Marijuana has been tested and proven to provide a very positive impact on the American society for many reasons. Some of these reasons are for America’s economy, health and even crime. The debate to legalize marijuana in the United States of America has been fought over nonstop since the existence of the drug and its effects. Marijuana should become legal in the state of New Jersey.
About 30 million Americans use marijuana every year. Marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States, and in California. The legalization of recreational marijuana has affected many as that they’ve sought out to decriminalize its use. In Jesse Wegman’s article, “The Injustice of Marijuana Arrests," he indicates that the criminalization of marijuana has been one of the major causes to why there are so many people in prisons or with a criminal record. He states that, “More than 8.2 million people have been arrested for marijuana.” He argues that so many resources and time are spent on charging people with marijuana offenses. In Alex Padilla’s voter guide, “Official Voter Information
In 2000, the citizens of Colorado voted in an amendment to the Colorado constitution allowing for the legalization of medical marijuana. However, the amount of licensed medical marijuana card holders was small until 2009, when the U.S Attorney General gave the prosecution and legalization of marijuana over to the states. After this, the number of medical marijuana licenses increased greatly in Colorado. Then, in 2012, the sale of recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado, to all those over the age of 21, and retail stores began selling marijuana in 2014 (Monte). Public opinion on Marijuana is generally divided fifty-fifty across the United States. Some are strictly against its legalization, even for medical use, and want to see it harshly punished, while others would like to see it as readily available to the public as alcohol and cigarettes. However, in Colorado, one is able to see how the public opinion changes after marijuana’s legalization, as well as the changes in public health and usage of marijuana. Due to intergovernmental relations between the state and federal governments, governmental competition, and the cannabis laws passed by Colorado, the actions of the government have a great impact on the public’s approval of marijuana use, and the amount the public uses it.
The legalization of Cannabis in the United States is an extremely hot topic in the current media. Currently, 23 states and D.C. have laws to legalize use of Cannabis (NORML). Cannabis is also known as marijuana, dope, pot, grass, weed, head, Maryjane, doobie, bud, ganja, hashish, hash, bhang (Cannabis). Cannabis is now the third most popular recreational drug in America, this is behind alcohol and tobacco. It has been used by 100 million Americans (Cannabis). Since the legalization of Cannabis is such a hot topic in the United States, this issue is highly debated. Both sides of the argument work towards making educated decisions for their stances. By collecting both sets of data, we can progress towards
The results on question legalize recreational marijuana use I found to be true. I was a little surprised with the outcome. There were more groups that opposed this question. Many of the groups that did oppose where law enforcement and mental health agencies. I found that local medical marijuana growers and patients thought that voting yes would “Put marijuana in the hands of big business”. They also said that it would easier for youths to access this drug, and also bring out of state business to Maine. Before voting on this question I found that these are valid points
California is one of very few states that allows for the use of medicinal marijuana, therefore the external validity is hard to state as being well generalizable to the country as a whole. Selection bias was avoided by using a specific group with similar characteristics. The group was medical cannabis patients and the participants were asked questions about if they used cannabis as a substitute for opioid or non opioids to create a subset. The internal validity is protected by using only patients who use cannabis. There is only one independent variable in the study, , which minimizes the risk for confounding variable. The construct validity minimized biases by asking questions on whether they favor cannabis over opioids or vice versa. The answers to the questions range from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” which allows for the study to have more accurate
Political – External – marijuana’s political and economic landscape is a major unknown. Five states Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Washington D.C. allow marijuana to be used for recreation yet the drug remains illegal on the federal level. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing marijuana to be used medicinally (Fool, M.
In Bill Steigerwald's words, "the drug war is the 36-year-old, $40 billion-a-year rogue elephant in the game room everyone running for president pretends not to see." (Steigerwald) The present work's aim is to analyze the concerns which revolve around the marijuana state and federal legalization debate, with special emphasis on its positive outcomes.
Support for legitimizing Marijuana is not new. In any case, demographic changes may support improving marijuana laws. With it’s across the board use among undergrads starting in the 1960's, cannabis is no more a medication connected with edges of society. Today, the National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the most noticeable association campaigning for its authorization, asserts that about 100 million Americans have utilized marijuana. A World Health Organization study reports that more than 40 percent of Americans have attempted it. Defenders of authorizing marijuana can indicate the present lip service among legislators: potentially three Presidents, a Supreme Court Justice, California's Governor, and various conspicuous
In 2014, Florida joined the growing ranks of states that have found themselves engaged in the legislative and moral debates regarding whether the time has arrived to legalize the possession, distribution, and use of marijuana for medicinal and/or recreational use. While hotly debated on both sides, one of the more ironic factors regarding the issue of legalization is that it was found to be perhaps the most logically and fairly debated topics of the state’s recent mid-term elections. The facts of legalization are becoming more black and white and less about morality, which may be a testament to why 24 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws legalizing medicinal marijuana. Of those states, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado have also legalized marijuana for recreational use. Although the idea of legalizing marijuana for open recreational use may further incense opponents of its government sanctioning, it can also be contended that doing so only gives state and federal entities a better ability to monitor how marijuana is being distributed and removes a great deal of the temptation or necessity for users and distributors to use subvert the process of medicinal dispensing to obtain cannabis for recreational consumption.
The world has been involved in a long debate over the legalization of marijuana. Although this would be a great choice, I have found that there is one more option that makes the most plausible and logical pathway in the future. After you hear the compelling arguments for the decriminalization of marijuana, you will agree that this will work for the public good. This essay will utilize information from scholarly journals, statistical data, and newspaper articles to prove decriminalization is the best choice for our nation.