you will focus your attention on topic development, writing your preamble, constructing a problem statement, developing research questions, defining your terms, and setting realistic limitations on your study.

you will examine, through the numerous avenues available to you, the published literature of research on your topic. Please remember to use only scholarly works, and preferably those that have been peer reviewed. Online sources are acceptable if they fall into this category, however, site such as wikipedia should never be cited as their accuracy is questionable.

describe the design of your study. It is here that you will define whether qualitative, quantitative or a combination of both methods will be utilized. You will determine your means of collecting data and describe the sample, research instrument, and procedures you plan on utilizing to achieve this.

You have by now successfully collected your data. You will now interpret it and determine whether or not the data supports your hypothesis. Once this process is complete you will need to report your findings and make recommendations for future study. Just as you have incorporated the work of others in your project, this paper may be used by other researchers in the future.

The topic of this research will be the examination of the historical prohibition of the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana in the United States. Explain the history of the prohibition of the drug as well as drawing on similarities between the treatments of marijuana to that of alcohol during prohibition during the early part of last century in the US. Discuss the economic impact of marijuana prohibition on the American tax payer in regard to the war on drugs, as well as the impact of lost tax revenue that would be raised if the drug were decriminalized, regulated, and taxed in the manner that cigarettes and alcohol are. Explore why the criminal justice system in the US enforces morality laws at the federal level on certain drugs, and how the war on drugs wastes resources that could be focused on other, more severe threats to the public. The 3 main questions I want explored are, 1) should the federal government enforce marijuana prohibition, in a similar manner to the failed prohibition of alcohol? 2) What are the socioeconomic impacts of the war on drugs, in regard to marijuana? 3) What would the effects of marijuana legalization be on the United States, both positive and negative?