Medical Marijuana In California

De’Monte Smith
CRJC 450

Medical Marijuana in California
Introduction

Marijuana has been used for many centuries all over the world. It has been used for recreational, religious, and for medical purposes. Medical marijuana has been used quite often in California for decades now. California was one of the first to enact against marijuana. The principal activity came in the Poison Act of 1907, which added marijuana to a rundown of poisons that, albeit considered perilous and unsafe, could even now be obtained with no kind of medicinal remedy (Rettie 1978: 17). It was being seen as a less harmful compared to other drugs. Drugs like morphine, opiates, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin were being made as unlawful to use. According to Rettie …show more content…
If someone violated the law, they were punished for up to six years maximum for the first offense and six months to ten years for the second offense (Rettie 1978: 17). Many people didn’t realize that this also included planting and harvesting. This along with possession involved many arrest. It was not until the early 1960’s people were beginning to. The hippies are the one who exposed it worldwide, being that because of them it got more news coverage. This is when the usage really started to grow at a rapid rate leaving many problems among Americans. Because many people got arrested for having small amounts of marijuana, a bill was signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. This bill issued the beginning of decriminalization for the possession of marijuana. Those who had small amounts of marijuana were given leniency on their sentencing. It was a major turnaround for Californians. Before, they were being criminalized for marijuana and because of the moral panic of what marijuana could possibly do to people. People were receiving mandatory sentencing and probation know they given a citable offense. Felony charges were being lowered to misdemeanors for small …show more content…
In November 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which permits patients to develop and utilize cannabis for restorative purposes with the composed or oral suggestion of a specialist (Khatapoush & Hallfors 2004: 752 ). The requirement for the use of Medical marijuana was to be prescribed by a doctor. These act’s raised major concern among some. It was thought, that since medical marijuana was legal know that the youth would be more influenced to experiment with the drug. Such curiosity would possibly lead to the use of more illicit drugs. This policy was supposed to protect and serve those who had medical conditions but it also created a major issue. According to Rudski (2014: 309), “California undergraduates reported that a medical marijuana-using job applicant was perceived significantly less qualified than a Vicodin-using or control applicant even with medical marijuana being legal in California for almost two decades”. There was a stigma among marijuana even if it was medical. Some people looked at others who used marijuana for recreational use or medical as being deficient. Those who were opposed to the usage of marijuana were the ones being judgmental and discriminating against those who did use it. Even though the marijuana is medical there would still discretion on who would be denied a job based on skin

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