Author Archives: Robert

About Robert

Hi! The name's Roberto usually go by Robert. I love listening to music and playing video games. I am majoring in physics. I also love to learn about anything and everything. I don't read often except for textbooks really but I'm trying so if there's anything you recommend, feel free to tell me
by | July 16, 2015 · 9:24 AM

Glenn, Adrianne. “False Representations: Media Portrayal of Marijuana.” The Pitt News. University of Pittsburgh, 19 Apr. 2015. Web. 16 July 2015. .

Adrienne Glenn is not pleased with how marijuana has been portrayed on television or in films. She usually writes about other social topics in The Pitt News. She finds the way that television has portrayed marijuana is unfair and misleading to the truth about marijuana. She also discusses how there are little to no films or shows that display the reality of marijuana use for medical purposes and how it isn’t as harmful as people believe it to be.

Now in recent years there have been many shows that depict the use and selling of marijuana. However, these depictions are flat and end up the same way. The user is someone that appears less intelligent and the sellers end up going to prison for their deeds. This display doesn’t represent how marijuana can be good and have a positive effect on people especially those that need it medicinally. It also fails to represent why some people resort to selling the drug illegally, Glenn mentions. The media has fed these images to the public and have created a notion that marijuana is wrong in every light. Glenn, goes on to discuss the medicinal benefits of marijuana and how it’s main chemicals help against things like pain and inflammation. Although, as Glenn states, marijuana is the most popular drug among adults, these reports have not made it to the media. Glenn argues that the misrepresentation of marijuana is what is perpetuating the fear associated with it.

Glenn then moves to shortly discuss the positive portrayals of marijuana in a recent documentary. The documentary records the long-term effects on someone who smoked daily after a month of cleansing. There appeared to be no effects on the person. Glenn comments, that this is exactly the type of thing the media needs to do when it comes to representing marijuana in order for there to be progress on the subject. Which is true if we are going to want reasonable debates on whether or not marijuana is something that should be legal or banned altogether.

This research is valuable because it addresses how marijuana is portrayed and the way people see it. It is true that it is seen in a more negative light because of such portrayals but in order to truly asses whether or not pot should be legalized we need to be informed on both sides of the subject. This research may be valuable to others because maybe they have only seen the negative side that is portrayed in media and refuse to think twice about having a ration discussion on the subject.

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by | July 15, 2015 · 8:28 AM

Growing Up

Growing up in Brownsville meant exposure to all sorts of discussion about drugs. I remember in elementary, fourth and fifth grade, kids like myself and others would say we’ve smoked before. Of course it was all to look cool when I hadn’t really even touched any form of drugs myself, the same couldn’t have been said for a few others.

However, drugs were present in the household. Especially when I was in middle school and my older brother was in high school. He smoked marijuana pretty much everyday really. I don’t remember when it began exactly but he did it and he eventually ended up dropping out of high school because of it.

Now I never expected someone who I looked up to, to do such a thing. I can’t blame him though. He did always hang around with the wrong crowd and my parents were often at work, and when they were home they were usually drinking and fighting, usually just arguments unless my mom had too much to drink.

Of course, most will assume that growing up in this environment must make the decision of either being for or against marijuana an easy decision. It hasn’t. How can that be you might ask? Sure it wasn’t the best thing around for me growing up but I can’t simply make a wise decision without having all the proper information.

That’s not the end though, because at times I do feel like going against the legalization or use of marijuana. The reason for that is because I saw first hand how my brother got into a few other drugs after marijuana and how it has affected him. Then hearing that my best friend used to smoke made me worry that she might end up like him.

With the two people closest to me being users in the past and hearing information about marijuana other than the negatives that our schools are required to tell us as a form of the war on drugs, picking a side hasn’t been easy. My position has become one of being smart about it. Don’t just do it because everyone else is. Really think about whether or not it’s something you need. Use it when necessary if you have to. Being in control because it is possible to slip into other drugs and from there it can get worse.

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