Should alcohol be illegal or marijuana be legal?

“One common way to alter human conscsiousness is to administer a psychoactive drug, a substance capable of altering attention, emotion, judgment, memory, time sense, self-control, or perception. In fact, In fact, most Americans regularly use consciousness-altering drugs (don’t forget that caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine are mildly psychoactive) Many psychoactive drugs can be placed on a scale ranging from stimulation to depression” (Coon & Mitterer, 2016, p. 180). During the early part of the twentieth century, alcohol was illegal to make, sell, and consume in the United States. This was clearly a policy decision. It seems that making alcohol consumption illegal did little to stop its consumption.

Coon, D. & Mitterer, J.O. (2016). Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior, 14th ed. Belmont, California: Cengage.

answer the following questions. Be sure to include factual, properly cited information in your post.

What has been the outcome for the states that have passed a law making marijuana legal for recreational purposes (AK, CO, OR, WA, and the District of Columbia)? What do you think the consequences would be for our society as a whole if marijuana become legal nationwide? Why are alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine legal drugs and marijuana an illegal drug in the majority of our country? If people use these legal forms of drugs and say they do not use drugs, are they hypocritical?

Minimum of 225 words

Answer  preview

Marijuana is a psychoactive drug that has effects such as impaired memory, decreased concentration, coordination judgment, and sensory perceptions. Cannabis is an illegal high drug since it has high stimulation and dependence. Coon & Mitterer, 2016, note that psychoactive drugs are placed on a scale ranging from its stimulation to depression effect.

Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana implying that no monetary or criminal penalties can be imposed on a person dealing in Cannabis.  In these states, one outcome for marijuana legalization is increased traffic fatalities due to impaired concentration and coordination on roads. For example, in Colorado, traffic fatalities in 2013 were 55 and increased to 125 in 2016 (Evans, 2019). The states cited that legalizing marijuana would decrease crime rates, which resulted in increased murder and aggravated assaults since 2014 in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Alaska (Berenson, 2019). The other outcome is increased consumption in the general school population in Colorado.

 

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