Legalization of Marijuana

             The task of assessing and converting expert knowledge into social action is a particularly crucial one in democratic systems. We live in a society that relies heavily on the knowledge of specialists. Political leaders generally have access to experts. They may, in turn, only release to the public that knowledge deemed best suited to the agendas of those political leaders in the Government. The Government, nonetheless, is free to educate people as much as, or as little as, it wishes on the effects of using marijuana. It should be recognized, however, that the original motivation for marijuana prohibition was based on a lack of knowledge. This lack of knowledge has often led to misconceptions and myths about marijuana and its effects. Citzens" attitudes toward the legal status of marijuana are more than likely shaped by their knowledge, or, again, lack thereof, of its personal and social consequences. .
             Leon Festinger developed the Cognitive Dissonance Theory, which is concerned with the relationships among cognitions. A single cognition may be conceived as a slice of knowledge. That slice of knowledge may pertain to but is not limited to an attitude, an emotion, a behavior, and a value. Simultaneously, people possess a multitude of cognitions. These cognitions form among and between themselves irrelevant, consonant or dissonant relationships. When an inconsistency exists between an attitude or behavior, something must change to eliminate the dissonance that is created from this inconsistency. Two factors affect the strength of the dissonance: (1) the number of dissonant beliefs, and (2) the importance attached to each belief. .
             This theory may be applied to the debate on the legalization of marijuana. Because marijuana is irrelevant to the lives of many people, these same people tend to ignore the problems associated with the prohibition on marijuana. Under this theory, people will make themselves aware only of certain issues that affect their lives personally while ignoring important issues that affect the society in which they live.