Among the goals of community psychology is to examine critically social change and to guide social action in the direction of resolving particular social problems (Schneider et al., 2012). A community social problem that garnishes a lot of attention politically, in psychology and socially is the issue of drugs, drug use, addiction, and legalization. One particular drug that receives a lot of attention and controversy is marijuana (also known as cannabis. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug. A psychoactive drug such as cannabis can affects the central nervous system. When the brain is effected by psychoactive drugs it will cause a person to hallucinate, have a change of mood (stimulant or depressant), perception and over all behavior. Psychoactive drugs can be addictive. Other examples include nicotine (cigarettes) and caffeine. Questions about marijuana’s medicinal and recreational use are typically at the heart of the cannabis legalization argument. The long term consequences (side effects) of marijuana use are equally debated. Questions about biological manifestations of marijuana, the effects to the developing brain and addictive nature of the drug are also argued. Social questions about marijuana’s link to crime and debate over whether marijuana is good or bad for society are among the hot topics in the discussion. Legalization is a present hot-button in the debate. States are managing marijuana independently while the Federal government maintains its policy that marijuana is illegal. Questions remain to be answered by society, social philologist, politicians, and policy makers if marijuana is legalized. Questions regarding how cannabis will affect people’s behavior and long term health must be answered. Furthermore, questions about how cannabis will be taxed and what how/what the tax revenue would be used for. Another important question to answer would be setting the “appropriate” age limit given the research conducted on the effects of adolescents and marijuana. According to Evins, Green, Kane, and Murray (2012), recent research has demonstrated a link between cannabis use and schizophrenia later in life, particularly in adolescent cannabis users. In essence, the more frequent someone takes marijuana, the more vulnerable they are to schizophrenia and the younger the person is when they start, the higher the risk for schizophrenia. In addition, other research has suggested that compared to controlled groups, those that took marijuana lost more brain mass.
Drugs (including marijuana) may have a better chance of swaying governments and people towards legalization particularly in a downturn economic climate Cerdá, Wall, Keyes, Galea, & Hasin (2012) Furthermore, (Cerdá et al., 2012) believe that there is a link between states that have legalized marijuana and the increase in use when. In my opinion, in terms of policy, legalization of marijuana will be another means for government to collect taxes and make it part of national economic growth at the cost of its young citizens (bad social policy). The legalization will also produce a society of people who will have health effects and become a financial health care burden on society akin to alcohol and cigarette abuse trough the popularization of use. I do not believe cannabis should be used for recreational purposes because of the potential harm it can have on individual people and society as a whole. My hope is that there will be social action against policies that pursue the legalization of recreational marijuana. I do believe that cannabis should be used for medical purpose only (in the form of a pill). However, I believe the system that regulates “true” patients is questionable. I’m all for drugs that can help alleviate a person’s pain. However, I am not in favor of legalization of marijuana due to its biological, economic and social consequences.
References
Cerdá, M., Wall, M., Keyes, K. M., Galea, S., & Hasin, D. (2012). Medical marijuana laws in 50 states: Investigating the relationship between state legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use, abuse and dependence. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 120(1-3), 22-27. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.06.011
http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/905212848?accountid=13158
Evins, A. E., Green, A. I., Kane, J. M., & Murray, R. M. (2012). The effect of marijuana use on the risk of schizophrenia. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 73(11), 1463-1468. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1433275702?accountid=13158
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications