A guiding principle driving the sociological understanding and
analysis of deviance is the recognition that behaviors
themselves are not inherently deviant; rather it is the social
perceptions and reactions to a behavior that makes a particular
behavior deviant. This explains why opinions and attitudes
towards different forms of supposedly deviant behaviors
regularly change. A notable change in one type of deviance,
using marijuana, is revealed in a report compiled by the Pew
Research Center. According to David F. Musto, a century ago
marijuana was an obscure drug used almost exclusively by
Hispanics in the Southwest. Its limited association with this
ethnic group is largely why marijuana initially became illegal.
With the onset of the Great Depression, both federal and state
governments sought ways to expel nonwhites from the country as
their cheap labor was no longer necessary. Making one of this
group’s pastimes illegal was a way to stigmatize Hispanics and
rally public support for a population transfer. W