Stigma And Stigma Of Marijuana Essay

The legalization of the drug marijuana is a hot topic nowadays. Many people want this substance to be legalized and regularly available like cigarettes. But what some people do not know are the serious health risks involved when using marijuana. There is a lot more to marijuana than just smoking it.

Marijuana is a misunderstood drug. Many assume that the usage of marijuana, or cannabis, is dangerous, but it can be the exact opposite. So why is the legalization of marijuana in the United States such a problem for many people today? Considered to be a gateway drug and the reason for the downfall of our youth nowadays, marijuana has developed a negative reputation. Lester Grinspoon, a professor at Harvard University, states, “Few drugs in the United States have produced as much affective heat as marijuana, particularly during the last decade. The controversy essentially revolves around the question of how dangerous or safe the drug is." However, many people are persistent users and believe that this drug is no more harmful than

The social problem of legalizing marijuana has been an issue for many years. I argue that marijuana should be legalized in all the United States. Through research it has been proven that marijuana can bring benefits to society if it were to be legalized. Benefits include, assistance to those who have health issues, reducing crimes related to drugs, as well as uplifting the economy. Marijuana has caused various issues within the minority communities, those who live within a minority community are more likely to receive jail time if caught with the drug, if Marijuana were to be legalized this would prevent minorities from becoming incarcerated. This leads to the conflict theory. The conflict theory states, that “society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for limited resources. It holds that social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity.” This is a social conflict because through the resource marijuana those outside of the government are making a profit, but also risking their lives because of not conforming to society. In order for this social problem to be fixed, as a citizens we need to educate those who are unaware of the benefits verses the dangers of marijuana.

The role of how marijuana is used in the United States is being reexamined, rethought, and recalibrated, Barcott emphasize throughout his book. The new adjustment in America's relationship with cannabis cannot be measured in just monetary or social terms, “there are more profound movements going ahead here; social realignments, social alterations, and budgetary modifications” Barcott believes. Barcott show marijuana came to be one of the most vilified drugs in the market ever since the war on drugs was announced in the 1980s. However, the author shows how those who were against that movement are now cheerful that the way of that line of thinking is finally coming to a close. “Weed the

For decades America has associated marijuana with many things, and none of them ever any good. From the ‘60s with the hippie revolution, to today with criminals of all kinds, there have been numerous associations that are arguably unwarranted in this day and age. Why is it that we have such negative feelings about marijuana? In America today, the government considers it a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use.” The problem with this classification clearly lies in the second half of its classification. Marijuana certainly has medicinal purposes, and humans have been using it for centuries to primarily treat chronic pain and a lack of appetite. It is hard to construct a

For many years in the past, marijuana has been made to look like a dangerous drug, linked to crime and addiction. In the early 1920s and ‘30s most people still did not know what marijuana was or had even heard of it yet. Those who had heard of it were largely uninformed. The drug rarely appeared in the media, but when it did it was linked to crime and even thought to be murder-inducing. A 1929 article in the Denver Post reported a Mexican-American man who murdered his stepdaughter was a marijuana addict (Baird 2011). Articles such as this began to form a long-standing link between marijuana and crime in the public’s mind. Soon, laws against marijuana began coming into place. In 1970, Congress classified

Marijuana, how one plant spread through the world it has evolved to become a hot topic both socially and politically, towards the better and for the worst. Marijuana has its benefits, states around the country almost more than 23 plus The District of Columbia in total have now legalized medical marijuana. Such as to be use for muscle spasms to relax the muscle from cramping, helps to decrease anxiety to relieve pain and suppress nausea and many more benefits. Now is marijuana use dangerous to your health? Actually, you can have a dry mouth, increase of appetite, fast heart rate, and a few more but nothing major. Which is all temporary meaning that it’s all over the next day. There are

Cannabis otherwise known as marihuana is a plant that has been on the earth for millions of years. History examines its use in many old traditional practices of medicine. However, over the last century society has placed a stigma on those who use marihuana for recreational use. This stigma is associated with criminal and deviant behaviour. As marihuana becomes further researched, the normalcy of the drug has become more popular within the medical community. Although marihuana is being used for medicinal purposes the stigma still exists due to the legal status of this drug. To understand the current state of marihuana, this paper will examine an understanding of what cannabis (marihuana) is, the history behind it, the usage and societal attitudes towards

Drug addiction is stigmatized throughout society. Stigma is seen in all types of situations; race, religion, disease, mental health, addiction, what a person’s social and economic standing is. All those examples can be stigmatized, and we, ourselves, do this every day and may not know we are. Because society and especially the media has engrained these moral judgments in our minds about what is right or what is normal. But we should take a second to think about these things a little more in depth before defaulting to what we think we know about these problems. In the case of drug addiction, we see stigma in all types of shapes and sizes. Whether in the media or walking to class with a group of friends, we see it more often than not. That feeling you get when you see a person on the street walking through the rows of cars at a stoplight. Some people (myself included) roll up their windows and avoid eye contact hoping they will just walk by. Chances are that person is in that situation because of a serious addiction and really needs help, but isn’t afforded that chance because we the normal people avoid them at all cost. Maybe we can change that. Maybe we can break through these common stigmas and begin to make a change in the way addiction is viewed in society.

Marijuana or Cannabis is one of the bused drugs in America and the rest of the world. Interesting accumulating evidence show that the significant negative impact of this drug outweighs the positive effects. However, the medical benefits of the drug seem on the process of chemical compounds as compared to the drug itself. Medical debates show that chemical compound in marijuana are the problem as compared to the plant. The said chemical compound affects the mental and physical health of the persons abusing this drug. There have been traditional efforts to control the use of marijuana through legislation laws, (Crick, Haase, & Bewley-Taylor, 2013). However, in the recent past the efforts and the laws are being lifted to relax the implementation of the same legislations and the population is responding fast in accepting the legalization of the use of marijuana. The aim of this paper is to discuss how lifting on the laws of the said drug indicate adverse tolerance of Cannabis among populations. The paper will also discuss impact of legalization marijuana on the safety, security and overall quality of human life. Also, the paper will analyses the effect of relaxation of the laws controlling this drug to other hard core drugs such as cocaine, heroin and meth-amphetamines among others.

As time goes on, social attitudes adapt and change. 70-80 years ago, marijuana was demonized in films such as reefer madness and demonized as the drug of choice of the minorities. An example of a lie from this point in time was that marijuana was used by blacks and Mexicans to rape white women. The time has come for America and the world to change its philosophy on drug use. The drug war is a lost cause because it’s built on racism and prejudice, the effects of drugs are exaggerated, it creates prison overcrowding, it allows violent cartels to become incredibly powerful and because it is a hypocritical philosophy.

"Marijuana is the second most popular drug after alcohol in the country today. So many people smoke marijuana that the numbers alone seem to legitimize and condone its presence in people's lives. Yet, even in moderation marijuana is not 'safe.' Somehow this information had not filtered down to people who think they are smoking a fairly innocuous drug. Our society perpetuates the myths about pot being a fun, harmless, recreational drug. These myths feed into people's denial of marijuana's problems" (Baum 6). However, the abuse of marijuana is a problem. It is not only a personal problem, but also more importantly a social problem. Throughout history marijuana has been used to serve various purposes in many

Living in the 21st Century, a majority of the laws and regulations that guide our daily lives have already been legitimized and written decades ago. Although a large portion of these laws still exist today, there is always need to revise and rewrite laws. In this article I will talk about the myths and beliefs of marijuana and compare them to reliable sources to form an opinion on whether or not marijuana is a relatively safe drug for medical and recreational use along with the physical and social effects to the user and their environment. Regard, this paper will not focus on any other associated topics such as the price of prisons, annual marijuana dispensary revenue, drug trafficking or law policy’s. However many of the used articles compare and contrast the use of alcohol to cannabis.

A number of movements to legalize marijuana have been gaining attention lately. Currently there are 14 states where marijuana is legal for medical use (medicalmarijuana). 41% of U.S. citizens believe marijuana should be legalized (drugpolicy) but others are still concerned about health damage. American society has lost the war against marijuana, and that's okay. We should stop wasting time and money trying to reverse history and instead legalize both medical and recreational use of this mild narcotic widely seen as no more harmful than alcohol.

Within today’s society, Cannabis is seen as a harmful substance of such negative controversy. Marijuana is a very prominent and controversial issue in society today. Despite many malicious allegations have been made regarding marijuana today, the truth of what marijuana’s real dangers are are beginning to come about again. Sadly, these facts have been held under considerable judgement because of what people stereotype a pot smoker as. This has been brought under heavy criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people view as the typical “pot smoker.” This image society has of a lazy and unambitious America has all been the result of almost one hundred years of false propaganda and stereotypes gossiped by certain private individuals trying to keep weed illegal for their own personal benefit.