But yet they still smoked marijuana. So does it make each of them less of a person for using pot? Does it make the other half dumber for still smoking it? I could not decide then and I still can not decide now. Yes, I do think that the lower half was affected some sort of way. But is it because they were destined to be like that before they started smoking pot or was it the effects of marijuana? So this brings me to the big question should we legalize pot? As part of my research I wanted to know the history of marijuana use.
I consulted my source Culture, Society, and Drugs and found that marijuana started to appear around the 1930's and started to gain popularity through the 60's and the 70's. This book discussed more about the drugs changing society as groups such as the hippie culture. The hippie culture starting in the 60's, grasped pot with open arms. They used it to open and expand their minds. To them it was a drug that they could use to be different. They were labeled as a counterculture, breaking away from the restraints of the normal society and a way to rebel against the government. This was the start of the social beginnings of marijuana. Also a new form of religion was beginning; Rastafarianism used pot as a religious sacrament. Smoking the holy herb was "to help one understand God's nature."(Knipe 165.) Today pot has become even more socially accepted, you can see it displayed on TV, in the news, on the radio, and all over the internet. With all this publicizing of marijuana, is it because we now realize that it is not as harmful as we thought it once was or is it the freedom of speech playing for the pro-pot fight? Trying to discover the answer I looked at the health issues that have been brought up about pot. For this question I referred to my source "Is Pot Good for you?" an article in Time magazine. Time's articles were based on the new initiative in Nevada that is trying to fully legalize the marijuana.
