Has Marijuana Become More Accepted in Today's Culture?

Essay by JimmyJohnCollege, UndergraduateA+, April 2009

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

If you were to walk onto most any college campus in America today and ask any student whether or not they have ever smoked marijuana chances are the answer will be yes. But how could this be? Marijuana is illegal. Despite the laws which attempt to prohibit the use of marijuana there seems to be a prevalent subculture composed of people who use the drug. The goal of this paper is to determine if people and government are more willing to accept marijuana use as a legitimate recreational activity such as smoking or drinking have been accepted in today's society. This paper will discuss the laws regarding the use and possession of marijuana as well as the social taboos that come along with the drug. It will attempt also to address whether or not the current laws pertaining to marijuana are being successfully enforced. Also covered, will be the possible outcome of the legalization of marijuana and the effects it will have on the economy, prison system and moral values in America.

In 1930, a new division in the Treasury Department was established the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Harry J. Anslinger was named director. This, if anything, marked the beginning of the all-out war against marijuana. This was the beginning of the prohibition of marijuana. The federal government seemed set on the prohibition of marijuana on a national level even though it was considered unconstitutional to ban any drug without an amendment to the constitution. The government has made attempts to amend the constitution in order to ban a substance before. Prohibition, called "the noble experiment" by Herbert Hoover, had come at last. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors. When the amendment came before the Senate in 1917, it was...