The social norms around marijuana
have changed in the past couple years. In the year 2000 many law enforcement
agencies considered marijuana to be a high priority drug that if someone was
found in possession of the substance than they would be charged with drug
possession and be forced to appear in front of a court to plead their case. In
a study done over the decade of 2000 to 2010 the American Civil Liberties Union
of Washington State found that Marijuana Enforcement costs in the state of
Washington over the years 2000-2010 was $211,451,996 taxpayer dollars and
federal funds. The reason all these dollars were spent to fight the war on
marijuana was because at that time society ranked marijuana as a dangerous drug
and throughout the past couple years the social norms towards cannabis has
slowly shifted more positive as medical dispensaries have opened and many
people acknowledge that there are medical uses for the plant like treating
Glaucoma. In an internet article by a Dr. named Ben Kim he has an article
labeled Ten Most Dangerous Drugs. In the article he has psychiatrists who
specialize in treating addictive behavior and legal or police officials with
some type of scientific or medical expertise to rank a list of drugs under 3
criteria, 1. Physical harm to the user 2. Addictive potential of the drug 3.
The drugs overall impact on society. From this study the top 3 as the worst
drugs were Heroin, Cocaine, and Barbiturates, a couple other ones on the list
were alcohol amphetamines and tobacco. Cannabis didn’t even make the list so
this goes to show that people are starting to worry less about cannabis use and
worry more about heroin addicts and cocaine users. The war on drugs has cost
millions of dollars in the U.S and researchers and law enforcement as well as
the public is starting to move towards legalizing marijuana as a recreational
drug and has already been legalized in two states Washington and Colorado and
depending on how that goes could domino effect in legalization in other states.
All this change comes from the idea of Social Norms changing and the public
viewing it as less harmful and more acceptable than other Drugs.
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