Marijuana and Alchohol

Description: A picture of the marijuana leaf.

Sociological Imagination:

Marijuana has been around for hundreds of years, although only highly popular since the 70's where huge numbers of people that smoke it, some people think of it as God's herb, some people see it as just another harmful drug. When people smoke marijuana is it too rebel against society, or is it for personal reasons that are unkown? The are are thousands of people in jail in the United States for possesion or trafiking marijuana. When thousands and thousands of people are in jail for marijuana it is no longer just a personal issue, but a societal issue , a global issue.

Social changes make marijuana a social drug, where at one point in time or another, you will be pressured to try it. Some people do it for an activity, for something to do, others for beliefs, instituions or simply a way of life. Does this make them in the rebellious stage of deviance, to rebel against society and do drugs, it is one of the biggest contributors to the rebelism of teens. To go outside the social norms and become a "stoner", wear baggy clothes, sporting tye dye bandanas, shirts, etc. Alchohol is way worse for your body, your brain , pretty much in every aspect, but alchohol has been accepted in society for hundreds of years, a social norm. At even the fanciest of parties, there is always alchohol present. Alchoholism has been in my family for a couple generations, ruining lives, being a nuisance to society, and alchoholism is of course not just a personal problem, but a problem in society. The people with these problems must look inside themselves and connect the problems they face in your biography to social institutions and locate yourself in history as said by Mills.

Is marijuana used only for coping with feelings and reality or is it part of a bigger social structure, a way of life, considered a social norm in some social structures, whether it be a group of friends, or something larger than that like the city of Amsterdam where it is "illegal, but not punishable" to buy marijuana in shops and smoke it there, while drawing over 5 million tourists a year solely for that reason.