Many people's eyebrows raise when a discussion on marijuana comes up. It's
funny to me how most of those eyebrows belong to teenagers, like me, and the baby
boomer adults that grew up in the 1970's, a.k.a. the psychedelic funk/flower power/ heavy
drug usage age. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying everyone did drugs back then, but
the views were certainly different compared to our modern views today.
What was the change? The Vietnam War could be said as a primary reason as
many people wanted to escape(Hamric). It was a generation barrier, as all the younger
generations did not want to be called to serve in a senseless war. It was a way to escape
all of the realities of life at the time, even much like today. Though, scientists, probably
through natural interest, began to study all of the drugs in use and began to prove the
consequences of long term illicit drug use.
Drug Enforcement Administration special agents
English: DEA raid on a medical marijuana dispensar...
Logo of the DEA Aviation Division / Office of Avia...It can be easy to understand the viewpoints of all the different stands on
legalization of marijuana. Most people involved in trying to sway the American viewpoint
all have personal experiences within their respected views. Their jobs, personal
experiences (maybe including ones from the '70s), and/or family circumstances, give a
base to these arguments. How can you deny someone else's experience?
But then again these pathos arguments can often be too strong. The point of view
of them sometimes can skip over important facts that can throw the whole argument into
abstract.
In the 1980's, the Federal Supreme Court decided that marijuana was a dangerous
drug. Not just for possible society health risks, but economic and security issues as well.
Since then, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) along with a few non-profit
organizations like the Partnership For A Drug Free America, have...