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T H E C L A C K A M A S P R IN T
| F E B . 18, 2 0 1 5
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V O L . 48 IS S U E 13
Where do you stand on the legalization of marijuana?
Students don’t fear the reefer
by Brandon Minnis
Grass, ganja, bud, cheeba, chronic, pot, reefer; no legalized, and the answer in generally is “No.” The
m atter what name you give it, m arijuana is coming biggest change we saw was in favor o f marijuana.
to Oregon in a higher way this July. Thanks to the W ith 36 percent of students polled saying they felt
passing of Measure 91 back in November, recreational positively about marijuana use, up 7 percent from
marijuana use will be legal for Oregon residents over before the passing o f Measure 91.
A ndrew Weaver said, “Growing up in Oregon,
the age of 21. With this paradigm shift on the horizon,
we here at The Clackamas P rint were curious to see marijuana was just like alcohol. W hen we celebrated
how the student body felt about the subject.
we didn’t pop open a bottle of champagne, we decided
In a poll conducted at Clackamas C om m unity to smoke up. It’s celebrated in Oregon. I didn’t expect
College we found some interesting trends. O f the 225 it so suddenly, but still happy about it. I am a strong
students polled, we found the majority of people were marijuana supporter regardless.”
mostly indifferent about recreational marijuana use.
Meanwhile, 48 percent of students say they are
Roughly 29 percent of the students polled say they indifferent and 16 percent rem ain staunch in their
had positive attitudes toward marijuana before the bias against pot, down roughly 2 percent and 5 per
measure passed, and 21 percent felt negatively, with cent respectively.
Now here is where things get interesting. Regard
the remaining 49 percent feeling mostly ambivalent
less o f their personal feelings on m arijuana use, a
on the matter pre Measure 91.
The next question on our m inds was if students’ startling 61 percent think that the passing of Measure
opinions had changed now that its been voted to be 91 will be good for the state of Oregon as a whole.
These students often cited factors such as increases
in tax revenue, increased tourism , wider availability
of marijuana for medicinal uses, as well as others.
Meanwhile 16 percent feel its passing will nega
tively im pact Oregon, giving reasons like increases
in social costs and more intoxicated drivers on the
road. One such student, Samuel Donily said, “I’m
not necessarily against pot, but I’m a big supporter
o f small town’ Oregon and I don’t want more peo
ple moving here, cutting down our forests to make
more room.” The remaining 29 percent thought that
the pros and cons would even each other out in the
long run. Many students are w orried that the tax
money coming in won’t be going toward the schools
and other causes as outlined in the bill. For instance
Andrew Taylor said, “If the money goes where it is
supposed to go it’ll be a good thing, but look at the
lottery. That m oney was supposed to be going to
schools, but it didn’t.”