Shifting Cannabis Paradigms: Impact on Medical, Political, and Social Domains

In this project I explored how marijuana’s medical, social, and political interpretations have converged to define the current American understanding of cannabis. More specifically, I examined the following questions:
• How are the positive and negative points of marijuana’s physiological effects currently understood, in relation to the effects produced by individual cannabinoids?
• How has marijuana legalization fostered new perceptions of marijuana?
• How is the medicinal value of marijuana used to separate it from other recreational drugs? How does this affect the medical vs. recreational ideology?
The research done in this project holds essential value to the intellectual conversation on marijuana. First, my research project has filled in gaps left by past studies on marijuana. One of the most significant gaps in the past research is a lack of focus on the specific components of cannabis (cannabinoids), which has sufficiently compromised the current medical analysis of cannabis and created misunderstanding in marijuana’s medicinal properties. Another gap that has been created by past studies is a lack of communication between marijuana’s social and cultural understanding, and political understanding. Past research has also left a barrier between the terminology behind medical marijuana and recreational marijuana. These terms have become instrumental to defining how the United States in particular views and accepts the use of cannabis. My project has deepened the academic awareness of the connotations of the two different terms, as well as how the terms determine society's view of marijuana in a medical, cultural and political context.
Primary findings included:
• Private interests (alcohol, private prisons, pharmaceutical corporations) play a role in keeping cannabis illegal and have an incentive to reduce public knowledge of benefits from cannabis.
• Future private interests (cannabis corporations) will have an incentive to reduce public knowledge of harms caused by cannabis.
• The attention on marijuana’s medicinal value in recent years has begun to overshadow attention given to marijuana’s harms. This threatens the success of legalization.
• Harm is most often understood when compared to other drugs, especially alcohol and tobacco.
• America has poor understanding of marijuana’s harms, and many believe the harms of the drug to not be real.
• Possible damage to cardiovascular system, more severe than cigarette smoke.
• Structural changes to brain & potential damage to the cardiovascular system. Few cannabis users are aware of these effects on the body. Also, these harms are still under some medical debate.
• Marijuana is often championed for its medical value even when it has not been scientifically tested or proven,
• Existing medical knowledge relies upon anecdotal evidence.
• A balance of THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids is most therapeutic.
• There are issues with dosing, and the lack of predictability in known effects and side effects limits the ability to use cannabis as a medicine.
• FDA approval and clinical trials are necessary to know dosing and bodily effects.
• The federal government has long known of the potential for medicinal use of cannabis but has failed to inform the public of this knowledge.
• Medicinal value offers support for use and legalization, and can create confusion about harms in recreational use and medical use.
Limitations included a lack of depth to the sub-topics of privatized interests and their impact on marijuana legalization, and assessment of marijuana in a racial and criminal justice context. The potential for biased data and results was present, and I attempted to mitigate this risk by utilizing diverse sources while gathering data. Additionally, because of time constraints, my survey sample size was less impactful than had been hoped.
Future research could expand upon my work in the area of private interests and their role in marijuana legality or illegality, and marijuana’s racial context. Additionally, research on the impacts of marijuana legalization on organized crime is needed.

Keywords:  Program in Science
Cannabis
Cannabinoids
Politics
Medicine
STS
Thesis
Advisor: Proctor Robert