research potject.pdf

Brendan Margolies Dr. Tadlock How the HELL is Marijuana Still Illegal at the Federal Level? When searching for the ideal research inquiry, I looked for an issue area where a significant change would bring significant benefits. Additionally, I probed for an issue where our population had some general agreement or consensus. Enter, U.S. marijuana legalization, a pressing matter in our current political climate, and an area that offers wide-ranging benefits to our society. From medicinal uses, tax income for the government, and an alternative form of inebriation for the general population, legalizing marijuana offers a little something for everyone. This generalized “everyone” will be displayed by the overwhelming approval ratings for the

legalization of marijuana and medical marijuana. Few policy areas in the U.S. have such high levels of agreement. Despite these positive aspects, marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug, on the same level as heroin, cocaine, and crack. My project aims to suggest that the reason for this is that the demographics of our Congress (legislators) are largely elderly white males, as it has been for the

entire history of the U.S. This generation is one of the last that still demonizes marijuana, as they are the descendants of the Reefer Madness era where pot was thrown into the same general category of “dope”. To them, smoking crack and smoking marijuana are both just “smoking dope”. These legislators are hindering the growth of the U.S. economy, medical field, and more importantly, our ability to sing kumbaya as a nation.

CBS POLL

Legal % 53

Not legal % 43

Unsure/ No answer % 5

5/14-18/14 Men Women 18 to 29 years 30 to 44 45 to 64 65 & older

48 54 43 60 57 41 37

47 41 53 37 39 54 58

5 5 4 3 4 5 5

2/19-23/14 Republicans Democrats Independents

51 34 60 55

46 64 37 42

3 2 3 3

1/17-21/14 Republicans Democrats Independents

51 35 59 54

44 61 36 40

5 3 5 6

4/13

45

45

11

4/8-12/15

These stats display two key tendencies. First, as the population age increases, their approval ratings for marijuana decrease in each group. For example, 60% of 18 to 29-year-olds believe marijuana should be legal with that number steadily decreasing until 37% for those 65 and older. The other key tendency identified by this survey is the tendency of Republicans to be against marijuana. The Presidents that did the most in terms of criminalizing marijuana (save for Bill Clinton) were all Republican--- the two Bush’s and Reagan. Age and ideology are two key factors in my argument as I believe they have a heavy influence on our legislators’ views towards marijuana. These two links display just how

homogenous our legislating bodies are. We have, and have always had, a predominantly white and religiously conservative governmental body. Religious forces have longed demonized pot (the devil’s lettuce). More importantly, I believe long-term racial tensions lead some white people to demonize pot because of its misconstrued/overrepresented connection to minorities.

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by Hart Research Associates (D) and Public Opinion Strategies (R). March 5-9, 2014. N=1,000 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.1.

"Which of the following substances would you say is the MOST harmful to a person's overall health: tobacco, alcohol, sugar, or marijuana?" If all: "Now, if you had to choose just one, which substance would you say is the MOST harmful?" Options rotated

Tobacco Alcohol Sugar Marijuana All (vol.) Unsure

% 49 24 15 8 3 1

These statistics speak for themselves. The American public believes three perfectly legal substances—tobacco, alcohol, and sugar—are all worse for your overall health than marijuana. Need I say more?

Pew Research Center. Feb. 14-23, 2014. N=1,821 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 2.6. "In dealing with drug policy, should government focus more on prosecuting people who use illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine, or do you think it should focus more on providing treatment for people who use these types of drugs?" Options rotated

2/14-23/14

Prosecuting % 26

Providing treatment % 67

Unsure/ Refused % 7

"Some states have moved AWAY from the idea of mandatory prison sentences for non-violent drug offenders. Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?"

2/14-23/14

A good thing % 63

A bad thing % 32

Unsure/ Refused % 5

"Which comes closer to your view about the use of marijuana by adults? It should be legal for personal use. It should be legal only for medicinal use. OR, It should not be legal."

2/14-23/14

Legal for personal use % 39

Legal for medicinal use % 44

It should not be legal % 16

Unsure/ Refused % 2

"If marijuana use is not legalized, do you think people convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana should serve time in jail, or not?"

2/14-23/14

Should % 22

Should not % 76

Unsure/ Refused % 2

"In your view, would legalizing marijuana lead to more underage people trying it, or not?"

2/14-23/14

Would lead to more % 54

Would not % 44

Unsure/ Refused % 2

"Which do you think is more harmful to a person's health: alcohol or marijuana?" Options rotated

2/14-23/14

Alcohol % 69

Marijuana % 15

Neither/ Both (vol.) % 14

Unsure/ Refused % 3

"If marijuana were as widely available as alcohol, which do you think would be more harmful to society: alcohol or marijuana?" Options rotated

2/14-23/14

Alcohol % 63

Marijuana % 23

Neither/ Both (vol.) % 11

Unsure/ Refused % 2

"Regardless of your opinion about marijuana, do you think that the sale and use of marijuana eventually will be legal nationwide, or not?"

2/14-23/14

Will be legal % 75

Will not be legal % 22

Unsure/ Refused % 2

To synthesize these charts, most of those surveyed believed that marijuana should be generally decriminalized, that alcohol was more harmful for your health, and that regardless, marijuana will ultimately be fully legalized someday. The only statistic that negatively impacts my arguments is that people believe the legalization of marijuana will lead more young people to try it. I would counter by saying that learning at a younger age in the right environment aids your experience with the drug rather than trying it in an isolated environment at an older age. Additionally, the fact that people believe more young people would be trying it doesn’t necessarily mean that they believe that is a negative aspect.

These charts show American’s views towards legalized and medical marijuana. One thing few people understand is just how rare approval ratings this high are for the American public. I task one to go online and find an issue with similar consensus. One might find research inquiries such as: Do you like pizza? Was this past election the worst? Did Heath Ledger do a fantastic job as the Joker? Other than these hilarious questions, I would guess it is rare to find a policy area with approval ratings quite as high as marijuana.

These final two charts are the most effective tools of my logical argument because regardless of all other factors, money talks and bullshit walks. If one looks at 2015, the combined tax income for tobacco and alcohol revenue was over $21 billion. I would expect marijuana tax revenue to align more with the income over alcohol, seeing as the decreasing popularity of tobacco. Additionally, I would suggest that the government could reap even more tax benefits from legalized marijuana because its de-criminalization would add to its already huge customer base. I believe there are still a number of people who would like to smoke but still can’t because of fear of punishment (governmental or employment related), and because it remains demonized by the federal government. On a side note, it seems that analysts expect taxes on alcohol to increase exponentially in 2017, seeing as they expect margins to nearly double from 2016 to 2017 (bad news for us college students).

Conclusion: These charts and analyses display that our legislators are ignoring their constituent attitudes towards marijuana, and more importantly the tremendous potential benefits of legalizing the drug. Their reluctance is the epitome of their inability to make sound, logical decisions. The tendency for leaders of Congress to be the most polarized, i.e. the most conservative in a Republican majority, provides additional impediments to marijuana legalization. One of the longest held pseudo-stereotypes, marijuana as a “gateway” drug, has been proven wrong by numerous articles from a variety of disciplines. A simple cost/benefit analysis of the act of legalizing marijuana reveals an extremely one-sided and powerful argument. The medical, economic, and societal benefits of legalizing the drug could be potentially profound, and the act of de-criminalizing/legalizing it would be relatively simple. The only reason that marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug is because our legislative body is a backwards, homogeneous, conservative glacier. Yet much like how the Earth is warming and glaciers are melting, this final glacier will soon melt and we will all be free to safely burn ;).

Sources http://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/uu5e1ycj_kqf1dim_mv mew.png

https://www.statista.com/statistics/585463/medical-marijuana-public-approval-in-us/ http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid=%260BL*RLC2%0A https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/01/05/the-new-congress-is-80-percentwhite-80-percent-male-and-92-percent-christian/ http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-CONGRESS_AGES_1009.html https://www.dea.gov/druginfo/ds.shtml http://www.pollingreport.com/drugs.htm http://norml.org/ http://www.gallup.com/poll/196550/support-legal-marijuana.aspx http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/etc/cron.html http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/10/12/support-for-marijuana-legalization-continues-torise/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/248952/revenues-from-alcohol-tax-and-forecast-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/248964/revenues-from-tobacco-tax-and-forecast-in-the-us/