Conclusions

It has been a great semester researching the public's opinion on marijuana and how it has changed. I never truly knew how close we may be as a country to legalizing the drug. I have learned that marijuana has only recently come to the forefront of issues in the United States. 

Forty years ago marijuana was not a topic that was often spoke about in public forums, and the suggestion of possible legalization would have been absurd. In modern times, the drug is becoming increasingly popular and accepted throughout society. Proposition 19, which called for the legalization of marijuana in California on a personal basis, was at the front of issues being voted on in the November midterm elections. Even in defeat, Prop. 19 proved how the opinions of people are beginning to favor the potential legalization, and it may now just be a matter of time before marijuana is made legal in our country. The time I have spent researching opinions and polls throughout the semester has taught me that Americans are changing. Within the last 40 years or so, I found that Americans seem to be more accepting and willing be test new ideas. Before this semester, I had never been too interested on how others felt on controversial issues, but now I understand how many of my views often collaborate with those of others. Public opinion is always changing, and marijuana was an excellent topic to prove this.

All Aboard...

It seems that recently more-and-more major media outlets are beginning to speak out for the legalization of cannabis. Just this week MSNBC published an article that details why America's "experiment" on making cannabis illegal has failed and why it has to stop.  In California, many of the so-called medical cannabis dispensaries and their preferred cultivators forged an odd, and self-interested alliance with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, drug czar’s office, California Chiefs of Police Association, California Beverage Association, Scientologists, drug rehabilitation profiteers and pro-big government, prohibitionist liberals like Senator Diane Feinstein in opposing Proposition 19 (which sought to allow California cities and counties the ability to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis sales to adults for non-medical purposes).



California will not be the last state to attempt the "radical" idea of legalizing the drug while placing strict tax on it. This is something that I see happening very soon in the future all throughout the United States. It will only be a matter of time before the federal government comes to its senses on how to raise money in order to help out current financial crises.