Framing the User: Social Constructions of Marijuana Users

Framing the User: Social Constructions of Marijuana Users and the Medical Marijuana Movement

Nelson A. Pichardo Almanzar Dept. of Sociology Central Washington University Ellensburg, WA 98926 [e-mail]

Thanks to Laura Appleton and Ericka Stange for comments on an earlier draft. Thanks also to Kirk Johnson for his assistance in locating criminal data sets.

Framing the User: Social Constructions of Marijuana Users and the Medical Marijuana Movement

ABSTRACT Social movements are continuously engaged in the act of framing. Whether it is to present their message in a positive light or to cast their opponent’s arguments in a negative light, SMs find it necessary to engage in a public contest over how they are perceived. Although the SM literature has been focusing on questions related to framing it has not given much attention to a particular class of framing “objects”: that is, users. This is not surprising considering that the social constructions of users are only pertinent to a narrow range of movements having to deal with drug use. Only a few significant movements pertain among them the Prohibition, Tobacco Control, Marijuana Reform, and Medical Marijuana movements. This paper explores social constructions of marijuana users over the years and how the medical marijuana issue has altered these constructions as a means to understand the framing processes involved and the changing public conceptions of marijuana reform with an eye toward explaining movement outcomes.

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There are many elements of social movements that are subject to the act of framing. Framing is simply the social meaning given to various social movement elements among which include global perceptions of the movement and its legitimacy, perceptions of activists, attributions of cause and responsibility, proposed solutions, reasons for taking action, and the degree of resonance with the larger culture (Benford and Snow 2000). As noted by Benford and Snow (2000), there has been a

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