Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Can I Get a Hit?: Cannabis and its Function in the US

Functional Analysis: An aspect of society serves a specific function. whether or not it is dysfunctional or not rests on the analysis of its manifest and latent functioning.

deviance: Any violation of societal norms

Everyone remembers the D.A.R.E. programs they sat through in school as a youth. The slogan "Just Say No" was the call to arms under the Reagan administration against drug use. However, has that campaign been effective? Many have said the "War on Drugs" has only amplified the drug problem within our nation, and it has been compared to the failure of the prohibition of alcohol that lasted from 1919 with the passing of the18th amendment til 1933 when the 21st amendment voided the 18th's stipulations. The failure to combat drug use in the US is illustrated with the growing movement to legalize cannabis in the United States. Many states have already legalized medicinal marijuana and the debate to legalize it on the federal level has begun to seriously heat up; both sides of the argument stubborn in their resolve.

Traditionally, drug use has been considered a deviance from American society. Possession, consumption, and sale of drugs has been punished severely by our government. In a documentary entitled "Marijuana in the USA: A Chronic History", it is stated that a person is arrested on a pot related charge every 37 seconds in the US. However, there has begun a shift on the view of marijuana and its use by the American people. Some states, most notably California and Colorado, have legalized the cultivation and distribution of cannabis for medicinal use.

Currently, there are 6 states that have decriminalized pot & legalized medicinal cannabis. 16 other states have legalized medicinal use of it, and 13 others have decriminalized it as well. Besides just smoking it, patients can purchase food that has been made with THC (the active chemical in pot) and there are plans to even build pot restaurants in the infamous Boulder area of Colorado. With pot becoming less of a deviance and more of a social norm, legalization has become a difficult issue to discuss.

Lets observe both sides, first the pro-legalization group. On the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Law (NORML) website, they state that about 1 million Americans already use marijuana and that the legal medicinal pot business racks in anywhere from $2.3 to $6.5 BILLION dollars annually. They also state that accidents behind the wheel & work-related are significantly lower in the states that are in the process of legalizing it (except Rhode Island). Marijuana has been shown to be beneficial for people suffering from glaucoma, chronic back pain, people going through chemotherapy, and those suffering from anxiety & sleep related illnesses. They further state that by legalizing the cultivation and use of pot in the US will take the power away from the cartels and criminal dealers, making it a legitimate industry. This all sounds grand, but lets not jump to any rash conclusions; first we must hear the opposition's point-of-view

Under the Federal controlled substances act, marijuana is still illegal in the US. The opposition against legalization of pot has logical arguments in its defense against legalizing cannabis. First, the argument is made that by legalizing it, we are giving the cartels an open-door to come into the US and set up operations here. With that, we would see a huge spike in violence and a rise in gang related behaviors. However, the problem of regulation of growing marijuana is the largest issue. Currently, unless you run your own lab, there is no telling what went into the cultivation of the pot. It could be laced with another narcotic or the grower may have used harmful chemicals in the process of growing the plant. Currently, there is only one legitimate laboratory (located in Oakland, California) that regulates the purity of the plant. Without strict regulation and production laws, people argue that we are letting our guard down against other possibly harmful substances.

Thus, the American people are stuck in a dilemma. States such as California and Colorado are on the front lines against the federal government. Almost over night it seems, hundreds of dispensaries have sprung up and medicinal use of pot is growing nationally. The issues surrounding marijuana have evolved from being taboo, to being a common topic discussed in everyday news. Should we legalize it out right or should we continue to fight this battle against drug use? Has marijuana ascended past a deviance and become a social norm? If legal, how can we regulate an industry so closely tied already with the criminal world?

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