Log 2

• Between weeks 8 and 12, each student should provide a weekly reflection (500 words) on the data you have collected to date.
  • What data did you collect?
  • What is your initial impression of the data?
  • How have the data you have collected this week changed/progressed your thinking about your research project?
  • What challenges did you encounter while collecting the data?
  • What are your next steps?

This week was not as productive as I would have liked for it to be. While I had a lot of stuff going on this week, I still expected to make some really good strides. It did not go as expected, but I still feel like some good has come out of this week. I’ve been interested in using films/documentaries as sources and I found some really cool films. I have worked my way through most of the first one. It is called “The Union: The Business Behind Getting High” (2007). The thing that I am most excited about from watching this film is how much I have learned. It gives a brief, but super saturated history of Marijuana in the US. (Although it is a Canadian Documentary, so that is something to consider). I need to figure out which pieces are going to be the most useful within that history, especially in connection with the book that I’ve been reading called Home Grown: Marijuana and the Origins of Mexico’s War on Drugs. So, I feel like it has been productive because I now have a lot of information, and this documentary has been an incredible source for new sources. By that I mean, those featured on camera have brought up a number of studies and instances in history that I think will provide really important framework. This film has, so far, led me to two in particular. First, a 1974 study which I have written in my notes as “Ronald Reagan announces you can get brain damage from weed based on Dr.Heath/Tulane study.” This, I assume, will be an important addition to understanding the historical context of weed in general but also, as I mentioned in my Data and Methods section – this study will be important in making sense of what Stigmas/Stereotypes arise based on what myths. As it turns out, the study was falsely advertised which means the results were not what they said they were. But again, Reagan made an announcement on national television. So, falsely advertised or not, this is an important instance to consider. The second of the two, is a more recent study (2012) by Dr. Donald Tashkin called “The Effects of Marijuana Smoking on the Lung,” which exams how “habitual use of marijuana alone does not appear to lead to significant abnormalities in lung function.” Obviously the content of this study along is interesting, but if I can, going forward, I would be interested in seeing how this is received by different people. Especially a comparison of marijuana advocates and those in opposition.

Lastly, sort of unrelated to what I was just writing about above, this documentary really has me thinking a bit more about what prohibition means for people and how legalization of marijuana in theory is not nearly a problematic as it is in practice. What happens to what people when/as weed becomes legal? This is really underdeveloped thought (also one that I have had before) but once I explore it more, I think there is going to be a lot to unpack.

As I was talking to my friend on the phone the other day, this project came up briefly and I was spitballing some ideas with him. He said something like, “Well I know where my grandmother stands on this – she is afraid of what is going to happen to the neighborhood kids and their business.” The legalization of marijuana obviously has some serious consequences, but they exist on a spectrum… with multiple axes.