Research Project Rough Draft

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Pennsylvania State University *

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250W

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Medicine

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Dec 6, 2023

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1 Dallas Sanchez CRIMJ250W Prof. Don Hummer

2 Over half of Americans in the United States, have experimented with marijuana at some point even though it is illegal under federal law and almost 600,000 Americans are arrested for marijuana yearly. The growing popularity of marijuana has increased by over 50% since 1969, the growing support primarily was sparked when recreational use was legalized in Colorado and Washington in 2012 ( Recreational Marijuana - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org , 2022) and nearly 70 million have used it at some point and 17 million use it monthly (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). Marijuana has been prohibited since the Marijuana Stamp Act was passed in 1937 (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). “One of the largest published surveys discovered that in 2015 in JAMA Psychiatry, found that the prevalence of marijuana usage in the United States doubled over the last decade. After interviewing approximately 36,000 people, ages 18 and older, the researchers found that the percentage of adults who reported using marijuana in the past year jumped from 4.1 percent in 2001–2002 to 9.5 percent in 2012-2013" (Nierenberg, 2017). Some common arguments about the benefits of marijuana include, economic benefits, create of jobs, freeing up police resources for more serious crimes, stopping racial disparities regarding the enforcement of marijuana, lower street crime, take business away from cartels and the black market and many other positive impacts in society. The legalization of marijuana would also improve the safety and quality of users making it less risky and dangerous for people who smoke. Legalization would also promote standardized testing for marijuana markets ( Marijuana Legalization and Regulation , n.d.). The ACLU argues that another reason we should be concerned about the legalization of marijuana because of the thought that the government should not be allowed to govern what we do with our bodies or what we put into them, they also discuss how the current prohibition of marijuana in most states' steps on the feet of our other civil liberties, including our right to freedom of speech and protection from illegal search and seizures

3 (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). The economic value of the marijuana industry is estimated to be around $30-$40 billion dollars and something we could agree on is that this money would be better used for the American economy rather than drug gangs and cartels, this industry would also be handled more efficiently and safely, rather than the violence that stems from it from gangs and the black market. Colorado reported the legal marijuana industry has brought in over 1 billion dollars in tax revenue since it was legalized (Review, 2022). All these benefits go along with the most common argument for marijuana and that is its medical benefits. Studies have shown that medicinal marijuana is able to treat chronic non- cancer pain, alleviate nausea and vomiting from pregnancy, illness, and chemotherapy, AIDS symptoms, muscle spasms from multiple sclerosis, and many other ailments and symptoms. Medicinal marijuana has even been used to treat mental conditions and alcohol use disorders (Dunn & Litt, 2019). Politicians and health leaders also view marijuana to help the current opioid crisis in the United States, considering 68,630 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2020 ( Death Rate Maps & Graphs | Drug Overdose | CDC Injury Center , n.d.). Another beneficial use of marijuana is to treat addiction to cocaine, opioids, and other drugs, called “Harm reduction therapy” (Scutti, 2017). “Some say it’s hypocritical because, you know, you’re supposed to go to rehab to get off drugs,” said Schrank, who recently celebrated 20 years of sobriety from alcohol and all drugs. “And the cessation of drug use can be a goal for some people, but the pacing is also important.” Some patients want to gradually move into abstinence, weaning themselves off drugs over time. Others want to maintain sobriety from a drug by using a less harsh drug, such as cannabis (Scutti, 2017). Other studies have found that marijuana has been especially effective in treating anxiety and depression and decreasing the need for pharmaceutical prescriptions, which is considered a good thing and a benefit to patients, considering the price of prescription drug

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4 costs, this also is beneficial to Medicaid costs (Jaeger, 2022). To quote information found in a study done by Medicaid reporting “On average, recreational cannabis legalization seems to be associated with reductions in prescription drug utilization for depression (-11 percent), anxiety (- 12 percent), pain (-8 percent), seizures (-10 percent), psychosis (-11 percent) and sleep (-11 percent). The paper did not identify “measurable changes” in prescribing for nausea, spasticity or glaucoma post-legalization for adult use in the Medicaid population.” (Jaeger, 2022). Not too long ago, marijuana was legalized for medicinal purposes, but the issue is still that many federal jobs and employers refuse to employ anyone who has had treatment and has a history of marijuana use, even medicinally, which affects many people’s lives financially, however, many states are beginning to outlaw conditions being attached to those who use medicinally once that state legalizes it. The overall benefit of this would be to get Americans off pharmaceutical drugs and lessen the potential of developing an addiction to painkillers or worse, and even possibly a cheaper option. Throughout our history as a country, there have been different commissions and evaluations of the dangers of marijuana, and all have been unsubstantiated. In 1972, Presidents Nixon’s National Commission of Marijuana and Drug Abuse proved that there is little to no danger of physical or psychological harm from the use of marijuana (United States. Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse., 2022). There have been many efforts in the United States to outlaw Marijuana completely but never prevails. In 1982, another institute discovered that over the last forty years marijuana has been accused of causing an array of anti-social effects including crime, violence, addiction, etc. However, there is no scientific evidence to prove any of these (United States. Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse., 2022).” Over the last couple of years, there has been a notable rise in public support for marijuana legalization, as measured

5 by a separate Gallup survey question that asks whether the use of marijuana should be made legal, without specifying whether it would be legalized for recreational or medical use. This year, 68% of adults say marijuana should be legal, matching the record-high support for legalization Gallup found in 2021.” (Green, 2022) However, there are also arguments against the legalization of marijuana. People say that it will increase marijuana use amongst teens, but this is untrue as according to recent federal surveys, 85% of high school seniors say it would be easy to obtain marijuana, simply because it is the country’s third most popular choice of drug (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). Another point discussed is that it would lead to more car accidents and cause an increased need for medical services because of the possibility of driving high. Many people say that the revenue from legalization would also be less than the cost of hospital visits, addiction treatments, etc. It is argued that legalization would also increase taxes for everyday citizens. Another “what-if” would be that it would cause dependency issues for some people and could affect the unemployment rate and the economy ( Recreational Marijuana - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org , 2022). Marijuana is also a hot topic in the political field of things. Republicans seem to be more wary than Democrats about legalizing it, with 45% of Republicans and right-leaning independents are okay with legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use, while only 39% agree it should be legal for medical use only. In comparison to 73% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning politicians say it should be legal for medical and recreational use (Green, 2022). Something that divides the parties are the age restrictions for use, Republicans believe in usage for 18-29 for medical purposes and Democratic believe in 75 and older should be allowed for medicinal usage. Furthermore, the primary divide in the type of support is Republicans support only medicinal and Democrats support medicinal and recreational (Green, 2022). There

6 are also racial and ethnic differences in views pertaining to the legalization of marijuana, approximately 68% of African American adults and six in ten white adults say marijuana should be legal for medicinal purposes, while 49% of Hispanics and 48% of Asians say it should be legal for recreational use (Green, 2022). One of the peer-reviewed articles, I used in my research explained that their research Marijuana is one of the most frequently used drugs in the U.S., and in their own testing discovered that states with legalization laws, both medicinal and recreational had higher rates of marijuana use but this was probably due to the lessened likeliness of getting in trouble for and or being arrested (Cerdá et al., 2012). Furthermore, this brings up the question of marijuana use reform in our criminal justice system. The current policies overcrowd American prisons over capacity with non-violent, otherwise normal citizens (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). The FBI’s UCR says “there were 695,201 marijuana arrests in 1997, more than ever before. Approximately 87.2% of these were for possession. Only 12.8% were for sale/manufacture, which includes manufacture for personal use and possession of sufficient amounts of marijuana, which is about over an ounce and includes the intent to sell, even though the drugs may be for personal use only” (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). The saddest part of this is that all of the arrests made for rape, murder, robbery, and assault, combined were not much higher, reaching in the 700,000’s. The legalization of marijuana has long been a subject of advocacy within the United States, and organizations such as The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) are strong advocates for legalization and the benefit of the substance for adult use, social justice, and economic benefits. Many states around the country have already legalized the drug and show ways that we could legalize it at a federal level. Such as putting an age limit on purchasing like in New York and

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7 Michigan. New York also has licensing systems that favor small businesses, protect young people by reducing access to marijuana, and promote educational, real, drug information. New Mexico has rules that protect against denial of benefits because of marijuana use and medical cannabis patients, allow personal grow, and decriminalize and eliminate all fees for minors who commit violations against the act ( Marijuana Legalization and Regulation , n.d.). These are all great ways to decriminalize marijuana and regulate it in a fashion that is modern, safe, and beneficial to society. My proposal for why this subject needs to be further investigated and researched is to prove its benefit and possibly change society's opinions about it. Marijuana has such a tarnished reputation because of the war on drugs and anti-war activists during the Vietnam war, started by Nixon and capitalism as a way to target hippies and the African American community. We see this disparity still today in our justice system, where black people are more likely to be arrested and targeted for marijuana use than other races. Something often discussed is the idea that marijuana is illegal and looked down upon to protect the pharmaceutical company and the American healthcare system prescribing medicine is an ongoing cash cow for big pharma. Personally, one could even say that is the reason why doctors always use medicine and western medicine ideas, and marijuana and alternative medicine is always the last resort for treatment. Secondly, I want to point out that the economic benefit would be more beneficial than bad. Marijuana is only continuing to grow in popularity across America and with the newer generations, it only continues to become more normalized and common in our country. According to NIH the number of young adults who use marijuana recreationally reached 43% in 2021, which is a large increase from the previous five years when it was only 34% as of 2016, and only 29% as of 2011 ( Marijuana and Hallucinogen Use Among Young Adults Reached All-

8 time , 2022). I believe as a country in order to move towards a progressive future and put our racial profiling and incorrect assumptions regarding the drug behind us.

9 References American Civil Liberties Union. (n.d.). Marijuana Arrests & Punishments . https://www.aclu.org/other/marijuana-arrests-punishments 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.06.011 Death Rate Maps & Graphs | Drug Overdose | CDC Injury Center . (n.d.). https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/deaths/index.html Dunn, H. K., & Litt, M. D. (2019). Decreased drinking in adults with co-occurring cannabis and alcohol use disorders in a treatment trial for marijuana dependence: Evidence of a secondary benefit? Addictive Behaviors , 99 , 106051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106051 Green, T. van. (2022, November 22). Americans overwhelmingly say marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use . Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact- tank/2022/11/22/americans-overwhelmingly-say-marijuana-should-be-legal-for-medical- or-recreational-use/ Jaeger, K. (2022, April 19). Marijuana Legalization Tied To ‘Significant Reductions’ In Prescription Drug Use, Researchers Find . Marijuana Moment.

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10 https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-legalization-tied-to-significant-reductions- in-prescription-drug-use-researchers-find/ Marijuana and hallucinogen use among young adults reached all-time . (2022, August 22). National Institutes of Health (NIH). https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news- releases/marijuana-hallucinogen-use-among-young-adults-reached-all-time-high-2021 Marijuana Legalization and Regulation . (n.d.). Drug Policy Alliance. https://drugpolicy.org/issues/marijuana-legalization-and-regulation Nierenberg, C. (2017, August 10). Marijuana’s Popularity Among US Adults Continues to Grow. Here’s Why . livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/60094-marijuana- popularity.html Recreational Marijuana - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org . (2022, January 26). Recreational Marijuana. https://marijuana.procon.org/ Review, T. B. (2022, November 14). How marijuana legalization would benefit the criminal justice system . The Blue Review. https://www.boisestate.edu/bluereview/how-marijuana- legalization-would-benefit-the-criminal-justice-system/ Scutti, S. (2017, May 18). New potential for marijuana: Treating drug addiction . CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/17/health/addiction-cannabis-harm-reduction/index.html United States. Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. (2022). Marihuana : a signal of misunderstanding : Appendix : the technical papers of the first report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. Volume 1-2 1972 [Leather Bound] . Generic.

Research Project Rough Draft

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