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Marijuana
Those who advocate the legalization of marijuana argue that its dangers have been exaggerated, while supporters of marijuana's continued prohibition contend that the drug is easily abused and can lead to numerous physical and psychological harms. Contributors debate whether marijuana use is harmful or benign and whether the drug should be legalized for medicinal purposes.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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July 20, 2015
Though quite dated (2003) for this topic of marijuana, this was a good book to engage some critical thinking on the debate about cannabis. It showed different perspectives on the plant and enticed to you further think about its impact and role in society as a drug. There seems to be a threading consensus (even 12 years later) that there is not enough scientific research on marijuana and it needs to be further explored.
Some favourite topics of interest:
"Marijuana use is often associated with sexual assault victims. A May 2000 study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine found a strong relationship between substance abuse and sexual assault. Urine samples taken from victims of sexual assault found alcohol in 63% of the samples and marijuana in 30%." I feel like the blame is wholly being dumped on drugs here without exploring other underlying issues.
The consistent mischaracterization of marijuana may be the Achilles heel of current approaches to prevention, because such information is inconsistent with students' own observations and experience. As a result, teenagers lose confidence in what we, as parents and teachers, tell them. In turn, they are less likely to consider us credible sources of information.
A common belief among many educators, policy makers, and parents is that if teens simply believe that drug experimentation is dangerous, they will abstain. As a result, many prevention programs include exaggerated risk and danger messages. (...) Marijuana, the most popular illegal drug among teems, is routinely demonized in abstinence-only messages. Many sites include misinformation about marijuana.
While parents and teachers should work to prevent serious drug abuse among teens, they should avoid educational programs that rely on scare tactics and misinformation about the effects of marijuana. Because teenagers know from their own experience that marijuana is relatively harmless, exaggerating the harms of marijuana makes it more likely that they will ignore messages about the dangers of harder drugs.
In the article by Joseph Califano Jr., "Marijuana Is a Dangerous Drug for Teens," he argues that we don’t need a third drug to be legalized so that teens will have easier access to it, and that the best prevention to the effects of weed is to just not smoke it, which is like saying the best way to prevent teen pregnancy is to commit to abstinence... Good luck enforcing that.
Two researches in 1991 studied the addictiveness of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Both ranked caffeine and marijuana as the least addictive. One gave the two drugs identical scores and another ranked marijuana as slightly less addicting than caffeine.
Drug warriors cite figures that say that roughly 100,000 people enter drug-treatment programs every year primarily for marijuana use. But often, the punishment for getting busted for marijuana possession is treatment. According to one government study, in 1998 54% of people in state-run treatment programs for marijuana were sent there by the criminal-justice system. So, there is a circularity here: The drug war mandates marijuana treatment, then its advocates point to the fact of that treatment to justify the drug war.
In recent years, a growing number of commentators of various political persuasions have questioned why it is legal for adults to become intoxicated with alcohol but not with marijuana. Some see this inconsistency as an unacknowledged hypocrisy rooted in historical cultural bias.
Whether marijuana's potential harms outweigh its benefits remains a central question in current debates about this controversial drug. The authors in At Issue: Marijuana present various opinions on the effects of marijuana and discuss some of the public policy measures concerning its status as a Schedule I drug.
Some favourite topics of interest:
"Marijuana use is often associated with sexual assault victims. A May 2000 study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine found a strong relationship between substance abuse and sexual assault. Urine samples taken from victims of sexual assault found alcohol in 63% of the samples and marijuana in 30%." I feel like the blame is wholly being dumped on drugs here without exploring other underlying issues.
The consistent mischaracterization of marijuana may be the Achilles heel of current approaches to prevention, because such information is inconsistent with students' own observations and experience. As a result, teenagers lose confidence in what we, as parents and teachers, tell them. In turn, they are less likely to consider us credible sources of information.
A common belief among many educators, policy makers, and parents is that if teens simply believe that drug experimentation is dangerous, they will abstain. As a result, many prevention programs include exaggerated risk and danger messages. (...) Marijuana, the most popular illegal drug among teems, is routinely demonized in abstinence-only messages. Many sites include misinformation about marijuana.
While parents and teachers should work to prevent serious drug abuse among teens, they should avoid educational programs that rely on scare tactics and misinformation about the effects of marijuana. Because teenagers know from their own experience that marijuana is relatively harmless, exaggerating the harms of marijuana makes it more likely that they will ignore messages about the dangers of harder drugs.
In the article by Joseph Califano Jr., "Marijuana Is a Dangerous Drug for Teens," he argues that we don’t need a third drug to be legalized so that teens will have easier access to it, and that the best prevention to the effects of weed is to just not smoke it, which is like saying the best way to prevent teen pregnancy is to commit to abstinence... Good luck enforcing that.
Two researches in 1991 studied the addictiveness of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Both ranked caffeine and marijuana as the least addictive. One gave the two drugs identical scores and another ranked marijuana as slightly less addicting than caffeine.
Drug warriors cite figures that say that roughly 100,000 people enter drug-treatment programs every year primarily for marijuana use. But often, the punishment for getting busted for marijuana possession is treatment. According to one government study, in 1998 54% of people in state-run treatment programs for marijuana were sent there by the criminal-justice system. So, there is a circularity here: The drug war mandates marijuana treatment, then its advocates point to the fact of that treatment to justify the drug war.
In recent years, a growing number of commentators of various political persuasions have questioned why it is legal for adults to become intoxicated with alcohol but not with marijuana. Some see this inconsistency as an unacknowledged hypocrisy rooted in historical cultural bias.
Whether marijuana's potential harms outweigh its benefits remains a central question in current debates about this controversial drug. The authors in At Issue: Marijuana present various opinions on the effects of marijuana and discuss some of the public policy measures concerning its status as a Schedule I drug.
Displaying 1 of 1 review