Attitudes Toward Marijuana Legalization: Temporal and Thematic Trends
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UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 5-1-2019 Attitudes toward Marijuana Legalization: Temporal and Thematic Trends Daniel James Krystosek Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Criminology Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, and the Law Commons Repository Citation Krystosek, Daniel James, "Attitudes toward Marijuana Legalization: Temporal and Thematic Trends" (2019). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 3634. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/15778488 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ATTITUDES TOWARD MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: TEMPORAL AND THEMATIC TRENDS By Daniel J. Krystosek Bachelor of Arts – Sociology California State University, Sacramento 2010 Master of Arts – Sociology University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2012 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy – Sociology Department of Sociology College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2019 Dissertation Approval The Graduate College The University of Nevada, Las Vegas April 15, 2019 This dissertation prepared by Daniel J. Krystosek entitled Attitudes toward Marijuana Legalization: Temporal and Thematic Trends is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy – Sociology Department of Sociology Andrew Spivak, Ph.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Dean David Dickens, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Tirth Bhatta, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member William Sousa, Ph.D. Graduate College Faculty Representative ii Abstract This dissertation examines historical changes in marijuana legalization attitudes between 1974 – 2018, using a qualitative study of pro-legalization social movements in marijuana culture and quantitative analyses of measures from the General Social Survey (GSS). The main research question asks what themes have been prevalent in pro-legalization social movements (e.g., libertarianism, anti-establishment and anti-drug-war, medical/cancer patient advocacy, market incentives), how these themes have changed over the past several decades, and whether they connect to trends in legalization attitudes in the (GSS). The first part of this study is qualitative, employing thematic content analysis of the most prominent national pro-marijuana publication. The subsequent quantitative component of the study is similar to Neilsen (2010), who conducted the only extant research in the past two decades examining temporal trends in attitudes toward marijuana legalization, focusing on favorable/unfavorable attitudes in relation to age (period and cohort effects). The present study expands on this work by considering other demographics, political orientation, and political and social attitudes related to the themes revealed in the content analysis. The qualitative analysis revealed numerous themes corresponding to the historical evolution of marijuana attitudes and policies, and confirmed several expectations about these themes’ relative timing in prominence between the marijuana popular culture periodical and legal- historical events. Quantitative results show variations in attitudes toward marijuana legalization over time and by cohort that support previous research, as well as several hypotheses developed from themes in the qualitative study, including gun ownership and confidence in the president. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. vii List of Images ............................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of Study ....................................................................................................................... 1 Brief History of Marijuana Laws in the United States ......................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................ 7 Social Construction of Deviance ............................................................................................. 7 Moral Panics ........................................................................................................................... 11 Three Theories of Moral Panics ............................................................................................ 13 Collective Action Framing Perspective ................................................................................ 17 Master Frames ........................................................................................................................ 19 Master Frame Alignment ...................................................................................................... 20 Collective Action to Legalize Marijuana and Frame Change Over Time ........................ 20 Chapter 3: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 21 Drug Moral Panics ................................................................................................................. 21 Opium ................................................................................................................................... 22 Alcohol ................................................................................................................................. 24 Marijuana (Reefer Madness) ............................................................................................... 27 Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) ...................................................................................... 30 Crack Cocaine and Marijuana (War on Drugs) .................................................................. 31 Social Movement to Legalize Marijuana .............................................................................. 33 Collective Action to Decriminalize Marijuana of the 1970s ............................................... 34 Medicinal Marijuana Collective Action............................................................................... 36 Legalization for Recreational Use Collective Action .......................................................... 38 Framing Marijuana in the Media ........................................................................................ 39 General Shifts in Attitudes ................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4: Methodology............................................................................................................. 43 iv Scholarly Contribution .......................................................................................................... 43 Hypotheses .............................................................................................................................. 44 Limitations ........................................................................................................................... 45 Analytical Strategy ................................................................................................................. 46 Qualitative............................................................................................................................ 47 Quantitative.......................................................................................................................... 50 Variables .............................................................................................................................. 51 Analytical Plan..................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 6: Results....................................................................................................................... 54 Qualitative ............................................................................................................................... 54 1970s Decriminalization Frame (Proactive) ......................................................................