Medical Marijuana and Social Control: Escaping Criminalization

Medical Marijuana and Social Control: Escaping Criminalization and Embracing Medicalization

Marijuana, also known as cannabis is derived from the cannabis plant (cannabis sativa). The ingredients of the plant, trahydro-cannabinol, widely known as HTC are part of the plant that gives the 'high' effect. The use of marijuana as a drug has been illegal in many states of America and the nations of the world. In the article 'medical marijuana and social control', assistant professor Patrick K. O'Brien explores the current trend in the medicalization of marijuana across the United States of America.

O'Brien starts by giving an overview of past researches about marijuana, its social effect and the various means used by the federal government to curb it. Many research and perceptions of people link to the effects of the drug on individual users and the society. The government and state agencies researching on the topic associate the use of marijuana as the cause of crime and other social evils. Researchers and authors' opinions about the use of the drug vary greatly, with others pointing to its medicinal use while others indicating strict measures and severe punishments for offenders. Policy makers and medical practitioners redirect the views of authors from criminalization to the decriminalization of the drug as a method of crime control. The government has now shifted its attention from punitive control measures to a new "culture of crime control" which involves redefining deviance. The government adopts a participative crime control strategy where the society should be responsible for its welfare.

Although the authors disregard this move, they do not consider that the criminal activities do not respond to severe punishments and prison sentences. Government policy makers also point to the decriminalization of marijuana as a way of cutting down the cost of drug prohibition. O'Brien's article tackles the decriminalization of marijuana as a great step to reduction of crime and social control. He addresses the issue through a research he carried from university students within the age of 18-25. He explores how undergraduate cardholders embrace and accept the move by the government to legalize the use of marijuana. He carries the research through interviews with undergraduate marijuana users and through participation in the campus parties where the use of this substance is high.

O'Brien discusses the reasons many students are obtaining a medical marijuana license. His case study is in Rocky city Campus University where the marijuana industry has exploded due to the campus partying nature. Informants to his research are student cardholders, growers, caretakers or employees in dispensaries. Students responded to the interviews by pointing out the dangers they were facing before the legalization of marijuana. The risks and drawbacks they were facing in the unregulated and illegal marijuana transaction made them acquire legal cards for use of marijuana. From the dispensaries, student cardholders realized the importance and significance of a legal medicalized system. The dispensary system offers security and insulation from the law. It also offers a variety of the product according to one's desires and prescriptions. Student cardholders explain the inconveniences they faced in the illegal world of marijuana transactions such as total control by the dealers. The illegal world was exploitative in terms of prices, time of delivery, quantity and quality of the transactions.

The buyers did not applaud certain unwritten rules in the illegal transactions such as smoking out the leader as a sign of appreciation. The location or meeting points for the illegal transaction was also not appropriate and strategic to buyers. Dispensaries provide a quality environment for patients and reduce the harm created by the unregulated transactions. The dispensing system has created many employment opportunities to both users and non-users of marijuana. Dispensaries need employees in the growing warehouses as caretakers and in the dispensaries as budtenders. Participants in the unregulated world have also obtained legitimate employment through licensing of dispensaries. Students report that the legalization and medicalization of marijuana has helped them avoid the risks of arrest and fines once you have a legal card.

Medicalization of marijuana has also prevented discontinuation or suspension from the university. It prevents a user to be perceived as a criminal in the society and helps to maintain a clear file record for employers, parents, and criminal justice system or university officials. Legalization has changed perceptions towards marijuana. O'Brien article point to the change of language as participants obtained new terminologies from dispensaries. Budtenders in dispensaries provide useful information to users about the available varieties and news to talk and even think about marijuana. Medicalization of marijuana according to O'Brien helps students justify the use of marijuana and support the social change through the legal cards. Dispensary system has proved that the use of marijuana was not only restricted to young people and students, but also all sorts of people in the society use marijuana. It normalized the use of medicalized marijuana to everyone in the community.

Use of marijuana no longer leads to loss of social status or denial of certain privileges from the government or in other social activities. It is no longer an entrance to immorality but rather for medical use. It is an important drug if used under medical instruction and purpose intended.