What Really Shapes People's Opinions on the Legalization of Marijuana?

My original idea for this article was pretty simple: what do normal, average people think about the legalization of marijuana? So I sent out a bunch of emails, asked a few questions, and realized that it really isn't that simple a question. True, most people seem to have a pretty strong opinion on the legalization issue-I only had, I think, one person say they didn't really care whether it was legal or not. But there's a lot going on behind those opinions, and that's what really captured my interest.

At first, I planned to see how the line between for and against broke down along geographical and generational lines. It goes way, way deeper than that, though. Age and location didn't seem to have any bearing on a person's stance on legalization. I didn't ask any questions pertinent to religion, but since I know most of the people who answered my questions, I can pretty safely say that being religious in itself doesn't make much difference either, although people who are members of certain religious groups tend to be more anti-marijuana than other people are. The deciding factor-and this really, really doesn't surprise me-is education. I was especially disturbed by the responses I got from some high school-aged kids. They reminded me of an essay my niece wrote years ago, while she was in the D.A.R.E. program at school. She was supposed to write about what she learned in the program, and the gist of her report was that marijuana was an extremely dangerous drug, and that 'if someone does drugs, they aren't really your friend'. That part really stuck in my head. Now maybe that's not what they were trying to teach her, but she got an A on the report. Marijuana seemed to be the only drug (and I use that term very loosely, here) that the kids were taught about; and I think they did a bit about alcohol as well. That's all my niece got out of it anyway. The kids who answered my survey seem to be getting the same bad information.

I own this shirt...

Credit: a.fox

Copyright: a.fox