Marijuana as a Subculture Essay

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A subculture is a group of people who share a distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviors that differ in some significant way from that of larger society. Marijuana smokers can be considered a subculture for many reasons. Marijuana is used by millions of people around the world, either for recreational, spiritual, or therapeutic reasons. Some call themselves the cannabis connoisseurs; people who respect cannabis and use it responsibly. Few drugs have been so politicized recently as marijuana has. It is frequently praised by one side and condemned by the other, on the basis of emotional issues rather than an objective view of research.
It was 1920 when smoking began to catch on in the United States. Its recreational use was

Their subculture has a number of beliefs that differ from mainstream society as well. One belief is that marijuana use is increasing rapidly globally and The War on Drugs is a failure. This is one of their strongest beliefs. They are very correct about both points. The unsuccessful War on Drugs is very costly, and is continuing to keep the tax rate high. A second belief is marijuana must be respected and used responsibly. Many marijuana smokers feel that teenager abuse it because they act so irresponsibly. Another strong belief is that pot is relatively less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. This is true if the facts and statistics are looked at. The last main belief is that marijuana should be decriminalized and people should be free to grow and consume it in their own homes. Part of this is true in California, the only state in which marijuana is decriminalized. People are able to smoke marijuana without the legal penalties. Marijuana users have a certain etiquette they follow. I found a list of one hundred six of these, way too many to describe. The first five of these are: 1. Thou shall not turn down a smoke, never, 2. The person who rolls the joint (no matter whose weed it is) gets to spark it and take the first hits, 3. If someone rolls a nice joint, it's good to give the person a compliment on his or her rolling skills, 4. If someone starts hogging the bowl or joint because it is their pot that is definitely not cool, 5. If