No matter your age, location, or extra curricular activity of choice, the issue of legalizing marijuana is hard to avoid. With recreational use, be it legal or not, a common sight in high schools, college campus, and communities in general, the topic of the legalization of this drug affects many individuals. With political, sports, and community figures taking their stances on the matter of recreational or extended medical use of marijuana, it is important to obtain a more well-rounded education on this topic.
This article will cover:
Marijuana In the News Today
This History of Marijuana In the United States
“But Drugs are Bad!”
and On Campus Resources.
In the News Today
In November of 2012, Colorado passed Amendment 64 and Washingon passed Initiative 502, legalizing marijuana possession, personal use, and home growing of cannabis in amounts up to one ounce. The legal age is 21 and the drug is taxed similarly to alcohol. So far, the states have seen no increase in crime and have been able to profit markedly from the tax intake from sales of the drug.
January 19th, 2014, President Obama stated, “As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life…I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol…in terms of its impact on the individual consumer…It’s not something I encourage, and I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy.” It remains to be seen the impact that this statement will have on the legalization of marijuana.
January 23rd, 2014, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says that marijuana may be considered for medical use for the league’s players. “I don’t know what’s going to develop as far as the next opportunity for medicine to evolve and to help either deal with pain or help deal with injuries,” Goodell said, “but we will continue to support the evolution of medicine.”
In January 2014, Colorado Department of Transportation replaces mile marker 420 with 419.999 in hopes of preventing the sign from being stolen again.
The History of Marijuana In the United States
Although marijuana use has been illegal for the duration of my lifetime, there was a time, not so long ago, when the public opinions about cannabis was quite different.
In the founding days of colonial America, cannabis was not only legal, but an essential part of everyday life for citizens. Hemp fiber would be made from the cannabis plant to produce essential items such as rope and clothing. In fact, cannabis was so essential to early life in America that it was mandated that all farmer in Virginia grew cannabis in 1619 and was usable as legal tender in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The plant held this position in society until stronger material was found in post-civil war decades. By this point, cannabis had been found to have medicinal properties and was often sold in drug stores and road-side markets as such. In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act required that products containing marijuana include it in their ingredients that were to be clearly labeled on the product.
Marijuana experienced its first period of opposition in the 1910’s with the ending of the Mexican Revolution and the influx of immigrants into the United States. The immigrants would regularly smoke marijuana for recreational use, and thus the drug became associated with immigrants. Unfortunately, this was not a time when immigration held a positive light, especially when jobs were limited. The situation would only worsen as more and more people lost their employment due to the Great Depression. By 1937, marijuana possession had been limited to those who held a license for medicinal use and paid an extra tax of the product. All other uses were considered criminal at this point, but public opinion and legal action taken were still lenient until 1986 when the Anti-Drug Abuse Act was signed issuing mandatory sentencing for any type of marijuana possession.
The first state to legalize medicinal marijuana was California in 1996. Over the next few decades, many states would follow California’s example by legalizing marijuana for medicinal use only. These states included Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, Michigan, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
(PBS, Timeline of Marijuana in the United States)
“But drugs are bad!”
From our early days of elementary school, we are taught that drugs are bad; end of story. Alcohol causes family disruptions and thousands of deaths per year from alcohol poisoning, car accidents, etc. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use accounts for 22% of all cases of cancer, the leading cause of death world wide, and 71% of all cases of lung cancer. Any other drugs, including marijuana, are too dangerous to even talk about in detail. All of this and more, not to mention that your parents will be very disappointed with you, are reasons to not do drugs that we have all heard at some point during our grade school education.
As we get older, the general statement that “drugs are bad” changes based on the legality of the drugs in question. Alcohol, cigarettes and other forms of nicotine become acceptable once you reach a certain age, and anything that your doctor prescribes is assumed to be good for you. The new enemies are those illegal drugs that were too dangerous to talk about before, most commonly marijuana.
Why does this shift occur? All of those facts that we learn about alcohol and various types of tobacco use are still true, and many legal prescription pills that our doctors give us to make us healthier cause dangerous addictions and extreme side effects that can directly lead to other health problems as well as dangerous addictions to street drugs such as heroin and cocaine once their prescription runs out.
There are countless studies that show the dangers of these commonly used, entirely legal, drugs, yet they remain legal. Marijuana on the other hand has not been reported to cause any deaths, and, according to Brown University’s Health Services information on marijuana, the effects of short-term marijuana use are as follows:
- Impaired short-term memory
- Difficulty thinking and problem solving
- Anxiety attacks or feelings of paranoia
- Impaired muscle coordination and judgment
- Increased susceptibility to infections
- Dangerous impairment of driving skills.
- Cardiac problems for people with heart disease or high blood pressure, because marijuana increases the heart rate
- It is virtually impossible to overdose from marijuana, which sets it apart from most drugs.
The risks only slightly go up with excessive marijuana use to decreased sperm counts, irregular menstrual cycles, and problems in short term memory, most likely due to impairment on short term memory processes while under the influence of the drug.
(Brown University Health Services)
Does this mean that marijuana should be legalized? Not necessarily, but we as a society must consider not only the dangers that this drug possesses, but also the dangers of currently legal drugs when creating regulations and policies for the public health. If we are to reform our current drug policies, let us make changes that will take away what is found to be most dangerous, and not keep dangerous products on the market under the guise of legal is safe.
On Campus Resources
If you feel that you or one of your friends may be wandering into a dangerous realm of drug use, you are encouraged to talk to counselors, enter support groups, or obtain information on how to regain control over your life or possibly help a friend in need.
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Program at IUPCenter for Health and Well-BeingSuites on Maple East, Suite G59901 Maple StreetIndiana, PA 15705
Office HoursMonday through Friday8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Phone: 724-357-1265  Fax: 724-357-4457atod-oasis@iup.edu  pa-swat@iup.edu