| Popis: |
Over the course of two decades, in the 1970s and 1980s, a new outgrowth of the “cannabis culture wars” was waged in the United States. These were battles over the role and accessibility of marijuana in America, fought not by state actors but by common citizens—concerned parents, magazine writers, and lawyers—who used elements of public discourse, like publications, conferences and lobbying groups, to convince lawmakers and voters of the safety, or danger, of cannabis use. Focusing explicitly on the threat increased access to cannabis posed to adolescents, the cannabis culture wars of late twentieth century brought debates over marijuana’s safety and hazards back to the public stage for the first time since the “Reefer Madness” era of the 1930s. As the two sides wavered between earnest activism and mockery, the movement toward legalization we see today was paved by these important discussions, which ultimately framed legalization as a protective measure for the public health and safety of some of the country’s most innocent and dispossessed populations. |
