Essay Example on Marijuana Use in Legalized States: 1979-2016 Review

Yu, B., Chen, X., Chen, X., & Yan, H. (2020). Marijuana legalization and historical trends in marijuana use among US residents aged 12–25: results from the 1979–2016 National Survey on drug use and health. BMC public health, 20(1), 156. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12889-020-8253-4

Reviewing past data on marijuana consumption in states that have legalized it is crucial to understanding how the legalization affects the level of drug use among the youths. This source boosts this understanding as it assesses chronological patterns in marijuana use among Americans aged between 12 and 25 based on a national survey. The period 1979-2016 when the survey was conducted coincides with the legislative reforms on marijuana use that started in the 1950s in the US. Moreover, the source derives period and cohort effects of marijuana legalization to give reliable and unbiased information about the consumption patterns of this drug, thereby reinforcing its relevance in this research aim of determining how the level of drug abuse is affected by legalization. The source’s worth is that its findings can be generalized to other populations, such as states that are deliberating decriminalizing marijuana, by informing them about the youth’s drug use behavior after implementing the reforms.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Farley, E. J., & Orchowsky, S. (2019). Measuring the criminal justice system impacts of marijuana legalization and decriminalization using state data. JRSA, Justice Research and Statistics Association. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/253137.pdf

Legalizing marijuana for only recreational and medical reasons implies that any other use is illegal. This article shows the correlation between legalizing marijuana and drug use among youths from a criminal justice system perspective. The article’s relevance in this research is that it examines data on the number and profile of people arrested due to possessing and trafficking drugs across 11 individual states in the US. This data, in addition to responses from interviews on law enforcement officers about their observations of marijuana consumption among the youths following its legalization by the respective state governments, provides more evidence-based information on the changes in the level of drug use. The article’s worth is that it also shows how the impact on the youth’s drug use concerns law enforcement officers, which, ultimately, also affects the justice system.

References

Farley, E. J., & Orchowsky, S. (2019). Measuring the criminal justice system impacts of marijuana legalization and decriminalization using state data. JRSA, Justice Research and Statistics Association. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/253137.pdf

Yu, B., Chen, X., Chen, X., & Yan, H. (2020). Marijuana legalization and historical trends in marijuana use among US residents aged 12–25: results from the 1979–2016 National Survey on drug use and health. BMC public health, 20(1), 156. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12889-020-8253-4