Medical Marijuana In The United States

Medical marijuana and marijuana have had a long, lengthy history of repeated use in the United States. First, from 1900 to 1940, marijuana, including opium and cocaine were considered part of everyday drugs. As time went on, the U.S. cracked down on crack and opium, eventually outlawing them but continued to be very “loose” with the use of marijuana. Eventually, as time continued to roll on, the use of marijuana became “frowned upon.” Marijuana was illegal and the U.S. government became strict with the cannabis laws. This began around the 1980s and then started to become increasingly worse. Then, around the late 1990s and early 2000s, scientific studies started to produce jaw-dropping results. Scientists started to discover that marijuana can…show more content…
The government already feels they are bending backwards by allowing medical marijuana, but they still disagree with everything about it. The government even created the movie called Reefer Madness, which is a 1936 movie that wanted to make people believe that when people smoke marijuana than they would become crazy, starting from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, and descent into madness. At the tail end of the eighties, the use of marijuana and other drugs started to reach a new height. At first, lots of people started using the drug because the party scene started to grow increasingly. But by the end of the eighties, society started to abuse cannabis. Along with the abuse of marijuana, drug gangs started selling marijuana along with other drugs, creating more crime throughout the United States. Thus this creates the negative impact on the view of marijuana. The government labeled the use of “marijuana” as being part of a gang or being a criminal. Then soon after, research in the early eighties showed some negative effects of smoking marijuana. The view of marijuana would retain the title of a “bad drug” until the recent 2000’s. These are multiple reasons why marijuana got the “bad image” by the U.S.…show more content…
Drug Policy Alliance, 2014. Web. 05 May 2014.
Booth, Martin. Cannabis: A History. 1st ed. New York: Thomas Dunne /St. Martin's, 2004. Print.
Green, Brian E., and Christian Ritter. "Marijuana Use and Depression." JSTOR. JSTOR, Mar. 2000. Web. 05 May 2014.
Gupta, Dr. Sanjay. "Why I Changed My Mind on Weed." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 05 May 2014.
Pope, Harrison. "The Residual Cognitive Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use in College Students." JAMA Network. JAMA, 1996. Web. 05 May 2014.
Smith, Phillip. "Feature: Marijuana Is America's Number One Cash Crop, Study Finds." Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Prohibition. Stopthedrugwar.org, 21 Dec. 2006. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
T, Buddy. "The Numerous Negative Health Effects of Marijuana." About.com Alcoholism. About.com, 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
Wilson, Todd. "Medical Marijuana Could Become Legal in Illinois." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 May 2014.
Zeese, KB. History of Medical Marijuana Policy in U.S. 4th ed. Vol. 10. N.p.: International Journal of Drug Policy, 1999.