Research Practice

"While it is true that the United States is not The Netherlands, the example of the Dutch system provides at least an indication that marijuana legalization would not be the disaster that opponents say it would be" (Inciardi, 1991).


Inciardi, J. (1991). The drug legalization debate. Sage Publications. 


This source contains a lot of information about they effects that legalizing marijuana would have on our country. I like how the source addresses many different issues such a crime, tax revenue, and the impact on our society. It also provides information about what the opposing view may think and why it is wrong. I believe that I could use this part of the source to show the the effects of legalizing marijuana would not be as dramatic as everyone thinks. The source talks about how the Netherlands is much more accepting of cannabis use, and how their user rates are actually much lower than the United States. The author believes that legalizing marijuana would have positive effects, and that if we don't we will be stuck at a dead end with this issue. 







"Second, marijuana use has great costs and consequences to all of us in society -- not just to users. Young marijuana users are more likely than nonusers to use other illicit drugs, to have automobile crashes, and to be arrested" (Shalala, 1995).


Shalala, D. (1995, August 18). Say 'no' to legalization of marijuana. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from    
     http://www.michelepolak.com/200fall11/Weekly_Schedule_files/Shalala,_1.pdf
 

This article was on pro quest and was published in the wall street journal, so that leads me to believe that it is fairly credible. I believe that this source could be used a a counter argument against the previous source that I found. It talks about the negative effects the marijuana has on young users. They said that if marijuana was legalized, more young people would use it, and it would have very negative effects on their lives. The article also talks about how we would loose money in the long run if it was legalized because there would be more hospital visits, crashes, and arrests. I think there is also a lot of information in this source that I could easily refute because it has been shown that marijuana is not actually much of a "gate-way" drug, which has been a very common myth.