Lucky's Dream Sociocultural Perspective

Marijuana is perceived by some teens to be the only available alternative when experiencing difficult health problems when medical treatments have failed or when they lack access to appropriate health care. Teens claim Marijuana use can build their happiness during a depressive episode, calm their anxiety, restore their appetite after years of anorexia and even help them get some rest after fighting nights full tossing and turning. For some, medical options were not available in part because "nobody wanted to listen" to them. As a last resort, these teens had opted to try smoking marijuana. In a relatively short time, marijuana helped them to feel better about themselves, happier and more like the person they "wanted to be".“ It has and always will be the only thing that has helped me

In order to spread lies about marijuana use, various agencies released propaganda films, most notable of these films is “Reefer Madness”. In this film, high school students are lured into using marijuana, which leads the students to commit murder, rape, suicide, and an overall decent into madness. Despite the strong use of propaganda, marijuana use saw an upward trend between the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Use of marijuana had spread to the white upper and middle classes by the 1960’s, partially changing the negative connotations attached to marijuana use. The drug was used by these middle and upper class whites to rebel against the older generation’s way of thinking. Many teens were introduced to marijuana use in college, where various other counter-culture ideas were being expounded. While the use of marijuana experienced a rise since the 1800’s to the middle of the 20th century, use of the drug saw a strong downward trend in the 1970’s through the early 1990’s, in part due to the strongest

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 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

About thirty years into the nearer future, Americans rediscovered marijuana as a result of the notorious alcohol prohibition of the 1920s when “people looking for oblivion from their own troubles turned to a new way of getting high.” Consequently and realistically, America can only blame itself for marijuana’s recreational popularity, seeing as “from 1850 to 1945, the … plant was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia.” Almost a decade after the alcohol prohibition ended is when marijuana was first perceived “as a dangerous, addictive, ‘gateway drug’” by the United States Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Then, “in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act was passed … [which] classified marijuana, [alongside Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)] and heroin, as a Schedule I drug, meaning that [the drug] had a high risk of abuse [with] no acceptable medicinal use.” Within the following decade, “marijuana use in the United States declined,” then once again escalating among youth in the nineties. Meanwhile in modern-day India, people are still practicing marijuana medicinally, and exploring what advantages the “dangerous” drug has to offer (Chapter 2: The History of Marijuana 18-31).

While an undereducated, youth fostered movement towards the legalization of marijuana is rapidly spreading across America, Father Gerald Coleman, in Is America Going to Pot, steps back from the frenzy to examine the gross amount of physical evidence that opposes the rash movement. Approaching legalization of marijuana from numerous avenues, Coleman systematically degrades many of the popular pro-marijuana arguments circulating today. In addition his article is able to simultaneously provide a number of well-founded arguments ranging from the various health troubles, the gateway drug potential, and the resounding positive effects on the black market drug trade that legalization of marijuana would and is currently promoting, to support his anti-legalization

Flyers and posters were placed everywhere reading “Marijuana a puff- a party- a tragedy! Assassin of Youth(marijuana).” All sharing one common goal: convincing the public of the abominable drug that marijuana was being presumed to be. Then came the grand slam, the Reefer Madness film. The film’s main focus was how badly the teenage marijuana users were affected by the drug. These adolescents became unexplainably violent and deranged. The film even showed an extremely irrational behaviors, like suicide, because of how “potent” the high was. The movie was successfully advertised and pushed to be seen. Quickly after, this falsified idea of marijuana spread across the US like wildfire and its information was absorbed. Generation after generation carried on these false interpretations on cannabis. All medical miracles and its obvious economical benefits were lost due to blind ignorance and lack of knowledge.

1), it can also diminish their quantity of life (Friese and Grube 33). For instance, research argues that cannabis use can increase the risk of cancer and it can cause greater effects the greater the persistence of use (Calobra et al. 321, 325) Friese and Grube state marijuana use has been associated with negative consequences such as poorer education, more violence, and a high risk of drug dependence (33). Also, marijuana is addictive (Lusk, Paul and Wilson 6). In “Revolution” by Russell Brand, he states that his “life, identity, and ability to cope…were all dependent on substance use” (27). He also states even after years of being drug free, his feelings that led him to his drug and alcohol addiction are still present (Brand 27). Although Brand’s addiction was to cannabis and other harmful drugs, he still states that drug addiction is an illness (Brand 17). Therefore, drug use, including marijuana, can affect peoples’ lives in numerous

After this Marijuana would then take another rise in society and then another dip during the 1920’s jazz age. The Jazz age at the time was influenced partially by the drug but no more than it was already influencing other parts of society. Sadly, the new music was considered extremely edgy like rock and roll was when it was first being developed. Another key fact about this time was that the Jazz was being created by African Americans like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and more. It was Harry Anslinger who hated this music, marijuana, and African Americans so much that he started the war on marijuana. Anslinger fully believed in hardcore racism when it came to demonizing weed. Unfortunately, Harry Anslinger became the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which was a predecessor to the DEA. Anslinger started this war on marijuana with alternative facts such as, “Marijuana makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him” and, “Marijuana is the most violence causing drug in the history of mankind. Most marijuana smokers are negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers.” And that “Marijuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”. The miraculous thing is that these quotes are some of Anslinger’s most truthful quotes. Some of his more inaccurate and racist quotes include, “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers, their satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” And, “The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on degenerate races. Marijuana influences negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on

This is how the propaganda film Reefer Madness begins. As the screen slowly fades from black to a scene portraying what looks more like a scene from a horror movie than a group of teenagers hanging out. Even from the first scene the film aims to put a sense of fear into the audience 's mind. These “hallucinations” that the film speaks of were a huge part of turning people against marijuana use. Harry J. Angling used many different tactics including hallucinations to demonize pot. He was notorious for saying radical, very racist, quotes. He once said, “ There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with

In this research paper, we will be discussing one specific herb, Marijuana, as there are many misconceptions around it rendering it illegal, and we will attempt to argue with its unfounded illegality. What is Marijuana? Where, how and why is it consumed? What are recurrent misconceptions? First, we will be talking about the origins of the plant and where it is mainly found and grown, then we’ll be discussing the various uses for it and its effects on consumers, to finish off with its legality and position in today’s

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a plant used to produce hemp fiber and as a psychotropic drug. There are many ways to consume the plant, but most often, it is consumed through a cigarette. Over many years, marijuana has been looked at as a gateway drug and something attached to violence and addiction. Users of marijuana have been stereotyped to abuse the drug to get high rather than to medicate their bodies. The hip-hop and hippie communities shed a light on marijuana that gave society a good excuse to view it negatively. Many have overlooked the benefits of marijuana by being blinded by the stereotypes society has created. Despite the negative outlooks, there are an abundance of benefits that using

Marijuana is the familiar name for a raw drug made from the plant cannabis sativa. One of the active chemical in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinal (THC); a stimulant it give users the pleasure effect of relaxation, known as a “high” or hallucinating when consumed too much either through oral or smoking. It is the mainstream drug and a blistering topic to our nation in this day and age. Legalizing marijuana is an ever-growing political and social battle making its way to the top of American controversial issues list. Marijuana is one of the prime adversaries on the outlook of America’s war on drugs. Numerous people crave this drug to be permissible and readily available similar to tobacco and alcohol. While it is mind-boggling that

“ A particular drug—for example, marijuana (also called hashish and bhang)—may be accepted as an appropriate adjunct to sociability in one society, used as an invaluable ingredient in religious contemplation in another, and banned by law as dangerous in a third”(Sills,1968).

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.