Pitch

Nick Mechling
6-14-14









Marijuana use
In the early 1960s marijuana was very rarely used. Less than one percent of American
youth and less five percent of adults had ever tried marijuana. By 1967 theses figures had nearly
quadrupled(Miller and Cisin,pp.13-16) During the 1980s Marijuana use declined
significantly. There were many commentators who believed that it would diminish to the point
that it would cease to be a social problem. Unfortunately, in the 1990s the use of marijuana
would be very high with about a third of young adults using the drug. (Johnson, et al.2009)
Many people believe that marijuana was made illegal because of racism against Mexican
Americans. (Musto,1987,pp219,245,1999) It is thought to have gained a more deviant status by
high school students thinking its use should be made illegal. Then, in the early 90s to 2008 we
saw a drop in the disapproval of smoking marijuana. Activities can become more or less
deviant over time. Marijuana is a good example of this.
Routine Activities Theory
This is the most cited and discussed of all the contemporary free-will or rationality
theories.(Cohen and Felson, 1979; Clarke and Felson, 1993) For routine activities theory there
has to be three components for criminal behavior to take place: the motivated offender, a suitable
target, and the absence of a capable guardian. This theory explains marijuana use quite well.
We know that any drug use often comes from a lack of guidance or education on the issue, or the
presence of peer pressure. A motivated offender would be the user of marijuana. They may be
motivated by peer pressure, or the rush of being high. The suitable target is themselves. They
are committing the crime against themselves. They are the victim and the perpetrator. This
theory focuses mainly on the opportunity to commit crime. Another way of putting that would be
that this theory argues that it is likely that people will commit crime if given the opportunity to
do so.
Pitch
In this story Ill be telling the story of Alice. Alice regularly uses marijuana. She lived in
foster care her entire teenage life after her parents were killed in a car accident. She never
created any strong bonds with her foster families. She resented their ideas that were pushed on
her by the families. She started using marijuana her senior year of high school after dating a boy
at her school that sold weed. After the breakup she continued using to deal with the stress of her
college course load.

References
Miller, Judith Droicour, Cisin Ira H. 1980. Highlights from the National Survey on Drug Abuse:
1979, Rockille, MD:National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Johnson, Anne, et al. 1994. Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Scientific
Publications
Musto, David F. 1987, 1999. The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control (expanded ed;
3
rd
ed.)
Cohen, Lawrence I. Felson Marcus. 1979. Social Change and Crime Rate Ternds: A Routine
Activity Approach, American Sociological Review. 44 (August):588-608
Clarke, Ronald V. Melson Marcus 1993. Routine Activities Theory and Rational Choice. New
Goode, Erich. 2011. Deviant Behavior. 9th ed. (27-29), (179-181)