LibGuides: Research Topic Starters: Marijuana

Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
This multi-disciplinary database provides full text articles to many journals and magazines, including peer-reviewed or scholarly titles. Academic Search Complete includes nearly every area of academic study such as the social sciences, natural science and more.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
Designed for students who are researching controversial topics, Opposing Viewpoints includes thousands of articles examining all sides of today's hottest social issues.

Newspapers

Boston Globe This link opens in a new window
Full text of articles from the Boston Globe newspaper from 1980 forward.
Newsbank 1992 to Current This link opens in a new window
Search current and archived newspaper and newswire coverage of issues, events, people, government, sports and more with the largest collection of full-text U.S. newspapers. NewsBank also offers access to 10 local newspapers throughout the 4 Western Massachusetts counties.
New York Times This link opens in a new window
Use this link to search the full text of The New York Times (starting in 1995).

Resources

Legalization of Marijuana: An Overview
From Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018.
Introduction to The Legalization of Marijuana
Opposing Viewpoints 2016

Some search terms to try when searching databases for this topic:

Cannabis

Drug Abuse Statistics

Harm Reduction

Marijuana

Marijuana Addiction

Marijuana Legality United States

Marijuana Taxation

Mass Incarceration

Medical Marijuana

Legalization of Marijuana

Public Health

Addiction: A chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive (or difficult to control) drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences, as well as long-lasting changes in the brain. In the past, people who used drugs were called “addicts.” Current appropriate terms are people who use drugs and drug users.

Decriminalization: the process of ceasing to treat something as illegal or as a criminal offense.

Harm Reduction: a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal.

LD50 / Median Lethal Dose: In toxicology, the median lethal dose is a measure of the lethal dose of a toxin, radiation, or pathogen.

Legalization: the process of removing a legal prohibition against something currently illegal.

Medical Marijuana: Cannabis that is prescribed by a physician for a patient.

Physical dependence: Adaptation to a drug that produces symptoms of withdrawal when the drug is stopped.

Public Health: the health of the population as a whole, especially as the subject of government regulation and support.

Tolerance: A reduced response to a drug, requiring more of the drug to experience the same effect.

There Would Be Many Negative Effects from Marijuana Legalization
Opposing Viewpoints 2016.
Marijuana Prohibition Is Ineffective and Unpopular
Gale Opposing Viewpoints 2016
Retroactive Legality: Marijuana Convictions and Restorative Justice in an Era of Criminal Justice Reform
Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology. Summer2020, Vol. 110 Issue 3
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 Vol. 20 Issue 1. 2020

Drug Policy Alliance
"The Drug Policy Alliance envisions a just society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more."
Law Enforcement Action Partnership
"The Law Enforcement Action Partnership’s mission is to unite and mobilize the voice of law enforcement in support of drug policy and criminal justice reforms that will make communities safer by focusing law enforcement resources on the greatest threats to public safety, promoting alternatives to arrest and incarceration, addressing the root causes of crime, and working toward healing police-community relations."
Map of Marijuana Legality By State
"Marijuana laws are changing at a rapid pace across all 50 states, making things a bit confusing at times. In order to keep up with the ever-changing laws, DISA has provided this interactive map for information on legalization, medical use, recreational use, and anything in between."