Social Psychology Living Lab

LIVING LAB 2

Matthew Franks

Week 3 Apply

Social Psychology

Professor Sparks

August 23, 2015

        Living in the south, a very controversial topic that people are extremely for or against is the legalization of marijuana.  Southerners are very quick to tell you their opinion and it seems the majority believe heavily towards one side or the other.  Between all of my encounters through this experiment I met only one person who was indifferent to the idea of the legalization of recreational use marijuana.

        During my experiment I opted to make a shirt that said legalize it with a pot leaf drawn below.  With very little time away from work the majority of people who saw this shirt were friends, family, and neighbors.  Though I am unable to take part in marijuana use, whether it is legal or not due to my job, I am absolutely for individuals choosing to smoke pot if they want to.  We allow people to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes; therefore, I feel with the economic state that our country is in there should be no reason not to have another taxable source for something people are going to do anyway.  According to Kristen Wyatt (2015) “Colorado’s total haul from marijuana for 2014 was about $76 million.”  In Washington according to Rachel La Corte (2014) “about $237 million is expected for the next two-year budget that ends mid-2017, and $415 million more is expected for the 2017-19 budget biennium.”  This increase in tax revenue if multiplied amongst all 50 states could completely change our national debt, as well as fund ground breaking experiments.  If we can make more money selling it than we do prosecuting for it, I think it is a winning situation.

        The first person who noticed my shirt outside of my family was my neighbor.  We are only a year apart in age and he, as I expected from previous conversations, accepted the idea.   This actually led to about an hour long conversation about positive things that could come from the legalization of marijuana.  With the same political beliefs, he and I had the same financial agenda for wanting to legalize the use of recreational marijuana.  

        The most intriguing person who noticed my shirt was another one of my neighbors.  He, being a very social and intrigued slightly elderly man, had far more questions for me.  Given that I work with him, the first question he asked me was why I was wearing such a shirt.  I explained to him that I felt expressing my feelings could help get the word out.  Without being rude, he was adamantly against the idea of recreational marijuana.  He explained to me that as a retired high school principle he saw many kids that got caught up in drugs.  My counter argument to him was the legalization should be age verified, just as tobacco and alcohol are, and I believe the minimum age should be 21.  The only thing we could come to an agreement on is the taxable revenue.  He was open ears when we discussed the financial pros of marijuana legalization.  Unwaveringly enough, he was very firm in his decision that marijuana was a gateway drug that ruins the lives of people every day.