A brief look into today’s marijuana culture and legalization

According to the Green Party of Canada website, if we dedicated half of the resources spent on enforcing marijuana usage towards other crimes, we would have enough left to pay the tuition ($21,567.17) of 30,138 medicine students at McMaster University.

It is hard to argue with the fact that decriminalizing marijuana would be beneficial to the economy. On the other hand, our survey also shows that there are still many students who are concerned about the harmful effects of marijuana usage.

KNOWING YOUR MARIJUANA

The concerns expressed were mostly on an individual rather than social scale. A fair number of students commented that marijuana can be harmful to people who are using it for the wrong reasons, or people who become addicted to the lifestyle. The notion that marijuana is a gateway drug leading to harder substances also seemed to still worry some.

On this, our interviewees say that what it all comes down to is education.

“Personally, it was not a gateway drug for me even though I have had experiences with other drugs. The difference between me and somebody who goes into a life of addiction is that I decide when I want to smoke.”

“I don’t let it become something that I have to do when I get up in the morning. I don’t let it become something that’s going to control what I’m doing. You need to realize the negative effects of it so that you can have control over it.”

“All you need is to be properly educated about marijuana. If people were properly educated, the issue of it being a gateway drug would be way less apparent. When you classify marijuana in the same list of drugs as ecstasy and meth, you’re putting in people’s heads that it is the same, that it does have as much effect on your life as those drugs.”

“That’s the kind of mindset that makes marijuana something it isn’t. It’s a matter of education, it really is.”

They also suggested that the Reefer Madness — a 1936 American film on the melodramatic events following some high school students’ exposure to marijuana — marked the beginning of marijuana propaganda and a bias against cannabis.

But the situation appears to be changing. According to the survey, about four out of 10 students, both smokers and non-smokers alike, describe the decriminalization or marijuana as “social progress.” A much lower proportion, only one out of 10, believes it to be “social regress.”

[pullquote]Four out of 10 students, both smokers and non-smokers alike, describe the decriminalization or marijuana as “social progress.”[/pullquote]

If the general consensus of the youth population remains the same, it is very likely that marijuana will be decriminalized in the next decade, if not sooner. The impact that this will have on society as a whole remains to be seen, but a little insight can be gained by analyzing states such as Colorado and Washington, who have already fully legalized the substance.

As for our stoners, they speculate that habitually smoking marijuana will eventually lose its lustre. As they extend further into the responsibilities of adulthood, the amount that they smoke will gradually diminish. Fondly, they proclaim that, “These are the glory years, the golden days.” And for now, they are content to live out these glory years bathed in the soft glow of a Bob Marley lava lamp.

Meghan Tibbits is a first year University of Toronto Journalism student. She enjoys watching Jake and Amir Outtakes repeatedly and steadily working her way through the entire Netflix Library. She also relishes in giving you thought-provoking and hopefully humorous perspectives on current events and other various topics.