Category Archives: RS 3

“President Obama On Marijuana Legalization And Criminalization: The VICE News Interview.” YouTube. Trans. Shane Smith. YouTube, 23 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 July 2015

Shame Smith interviews the President Barack Obama on the issue of criminalization and marijuana legalization on VICE media on March 23, 2015. Shane Smith is a Canadian Emmy Award-winning journalist and web entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and CEO of the International media company VICE Media. Shame graduated from Carleton University with a degree in political science. In this interview Smith questions the President with public questions on the internet that are addressed to President Obama, the questions include topics such as climate change, Iran’s nuclear deal, and Marijuana. I will be focusing specifically on the last part of the interview that addresses the topic of marijuana.

Smith begins his interview by stating that marijuana legalization will be the biggest part of our (young peoples) legacy, President Obama responds with saying that Marijuana shouldn’t be the young people’s biggest priority, young people should be thinking about the economy, climate change, and war peace instead of legalizing marijuana. President Obama begins his interview on marijuana by addressing the issue of pot criminalization, he clearly suggest that he supports decriminalizing pot. The President addresses the corruption of the Criminal Justice System, pointing out that the system is skewed towards cracking down nonviolent drug offenders, that now affect communities specifically of color and individuals in that community.

The president recognizes that due to criminalization individuals have been affected by a felony record that has left them unemployed, prisons have been disproportioned, and this has cost money to many states. The Presidents adds that even Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats have realized that this doesn’t make sense. He includes that they might be able to make some progress on decriminalizing, and that if enough states end up decriminalizing then Congress might reschedule marijuana. President Obama then clarifies that the legalization of marijuana and decriminalization is not a panacea, a remedy for all. There is an overall effect this has in society, abusing substance whether legal or illegal is also a problem. Lastly the President adds that locking up somebody for 20 years is probably not the best strategy to fix this problem, and that is something we have to think of as a society.

Overall the President does not state his position on supporting or not supporting marijuana legalization, however he does state that marijuana is not a panacea, and that if enough states decriminalize then maybe Congress could approach a marijuana. From his interview we can conclude that he does not agree with the marijuana policies of incarceration, and with the discrimination of arrests. We can also conclude that legalizing marijuana is not a major priority to the President, he is not in a hurry to approach a deal on marijuana.

Shayla Myers RS3

Anna Crozes. “Recreational marijuana from a teacher’s perspective (OPINION).” The Oregonian: Oregonlive. Oregonlive.com. 28 Jul. 2015. Web. 28 Jul. 2015.

In Anna Crozes’ article “Recreational marijuana from a teacher’s perspective (OPINION),” Anna personally addresses her complaint on the controversy of marijuana. Through OregonLive, the official Oregonian Newspaper, this former High School teacher speaks up as the voice of teachers who oppose recreational marijuana. To Anna, the word “public space” has now become inconsistent with what she believes is personal freedom. Therefore, she argues recreational marijuana should be abolished.

Anna’s Croze is a former High School teacher, and a current elementary school teacher in the city of Northeast Portland, Oregon. Ever since marijuana was recreationally legalized in her state for ages 21 and over, marijuana has become more relevant to her life. “The word ‘public’ is defined in Webster’s as ‘relating to or affecting all the people or the whole area of a nation or state.’” Stating the definition of the word “public” immediately calls out the audience of marijuana users. This intended sarcasm was to bring attention to the public smokers  indefinite impact on those who surround them.

It is implied that Anna herself does not take lightly how often marijuana interferes with her, outside of teaching. “I have been exposed to marijuana smoke coming out of a Mariners game… a concert at the Sleep Country Amphitheater… and, on a few occasions, in the parks near my home.” All of the areas Anna has stated was throughout public spaces, not only meant for her, but for everyone’s enjoyment. However, with Anna walking her dog daily in the park, running into marijuana smoke is inevitable. To Anna, these instances conflict with her “rights to have a drug-free public setting.” Instead of smoking in the private confinement of a home, its when uses smoke outside with the “public” that collides with her routines that spark Anna. To be able to go out and enjoy a public setting as a park, or a concert without breathing in marijuana smoke is what Anna feels she has the rights to.

Although marijuana was legalized to adults 21 years and older, it’s ease of access plays factor on teens. Midway through Anna’s article she goes over marijuana’s impact during the time she taught at a High School. “…There are times the kids come to class so high you can’t even have a conversation with them.” Anna’s argument implies that part of being a teacher is by communicating with a student. If she can’t carry out a conversation, she then questions, how can she teach?

After explaining marijuana’s impact amongst students, she then goes on to comparing the school setting to a public place. “ Aren’t our schools a ‘public’ place?…Doesn’t the teacher have the right to teach and the students the right to learn in an environment created for learning?” This set of rhetorical questions was inserted to help persuade her audience of teenage smokers. In Anna’s view, it seems as if teens smoking marijuana don’t have the sympathy or respect of a learning environment and take advantage of marijuana’s legalization. “This is in part why I now teach elementary school, where a teacher can experience enthusiasm and love for learning from the students…” For Anna, switching to elementary school was a way to get back to students that still enjoyed to learn and didn’t have marijuana in their systems to block their learning capability.

In Anna’s close, she ends with a plea. “ The public needs to voice their opinion and stand up for their rights to have a drug-free public setting.” Anna knows she is not the only one who values the same opinion and feels like she needs support of others that want to put marijuana to an end. Public space to Anna is her freedom, and she is not ready to give up.

Shaniece Denson

Casarett, David. “What I Learned at the Weed Dispensary.” New York Times. New York Times,  28 July 2015. Web. 28 July 2015.

This online article deliberates on the controversy of whether or not the medical marijuana industry is taking the right approach in treating their patients. The author David Casarett sheds light on various methods used by marijuana clinics to provide assistance to individuals that seek relief from pain in marijuana. Casarett performs research and conducts interviews to obtain information that will give direction to the impact that the medical marijuana industry is having and determine whether or not our country’s healthcare system should follow suit. The author attends medical marijuana clinics and a weed dispensary to gain knowledge of the actual procedures that are being followed in such places. He also takes notice of the information that is shared between patients and the office staff members, as well as the knowledge that the patients share among themselves. Casarett considers the benefits within these communities and argue that the healthcare system must welcome the practices within the medical marijuana business.

David Casarett seems to be credible because he is a palliative care physician that lives to distribute aid to patients that suffer from serious illnesses, much like the patients that visit medical marijuana clinics to receive alleviation from unbearing symptoms. Though his position as a palliative care physician allows him to relate with his colleagues and understand their reasons for not giving medical marijuana patients extensive care, at the same time the research Casarett completes gives him the opportunity to identify counterclaims. This demonstrates that Casarett is willing to challenge the traditional approaches within his practice in order to make medical marijuana patients feel more secure. The author also provides quotes and the perspective of an individual that has rheumatoid arthritis and visits medical marijuana clinics and dispensaries in order to receive treatment and advice that will help ease her sufferings. Lastly, Casarett is considered a credible source because his article appears on the online site of New York Times. This venue is a distinguished newspaper that has won over 100 Pulitzer Prizes and that targets a broad audience. The fact that Casarett declares his argument in a responsible and insightful manner, and succeeds in having it published in New York Times shows his credibility.

Casarett announces that the medical marijuana industry is treating their patients in such an effective way that our “mainstream healthcare system needs to catch up”. He offers three “lessons” that can be learned from the medical marijuana system and how these lessons will benefit both physicians and patients. Casarett notes that physicians fail to treat medical marijuana patient with thorough care because of the claim that they do not have time to do so, in face Casarett agrees with his colleagues. Casarett also quotes a medical marijuana patient to show the desire that patients want to be “in control” of their own treatment.  Therefore, he suggests that physicians like himself distribute responsibility to the patients and office staff members in order for medical marijuana patients to receive the type of care that they deserve, one of which that admits them to be in charge of their medical care. The first resolution that Casarett promotes is to let the patients learn from each other. He implies that such communities that offer advice and support are effective in disbursing information among patients. Next, he encourages the idea that office staff members should spend more time with patients to give “detailed answers”, this would minimize the time required with a physician. Finally, Casarett states that “we should give patients more ability to manage their treatments”. These three suggestions are behavior that Casarett witnessed in the medical marijuana industry and believe are necessary take up by the mainstream healthcare system in order to make patients feel secure.

Schneider, Dan. “Pot Economics: What’s the Future of the American Marijuana Market“.  Dollarsandsense.org. Dollars & Sense, Mar./Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Jul. 2015.

“Pot Economics: What’s the Future of the American Marijuana Market.” by Dan Schneider is an article that discusses the controversy of the economic benefits of marijuana legalization.  This source is important to the controversy as it explores the various points and options that could be taken from legalizing marijuana. In the article Schneider highlights certain aspects such as the illegal market, how it would be grown and the legal commercialization of marijuana.

Schneider seems to be a credible source as the article is full of different points all backed up by reliable sources. He includes a source such as the trade journal Medical Marijuana Business Daily to bring up the potential of what the market could look like. Schneider, although a freelance writer, is part of the Dollar and Sense Collective. Moreover, Schneider is not passionately involved with the whole marijuana scene but seems to argue for many aspects of the legalization, such as the failure of the Drug War and the giant stimulation of marijuana to the economy. One citation that Schneider uses is the article “The War on Marijuana in Black and White: Billions of Dollars wasted on Racially Biased Arrests” sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union. Furthermore, I believe that Schneider is a credible source as he never presents a one sided argument. He is able argue while acknowledging some questions to the controversy such as noting that while a source says that the marijuana industry can become a “46 billion dollar industry” that other’s say it could anywhere between “10 billion to 40 billion.” The text is also found in an appropriate place, an economic website. The website would most likely be respected for it’s economic analysis instead of having a natural bias towards something.

In his article, Schneider questions the possibility of Colorado’s and Washington’s legalization opening the door for other states to legalize it. One concern that Schneider describes is the importation of marijuana in which he notes that Uruguay who legalize the use of marijuana and selling it for 1$ a gram as opposed to the United States in which it is closer to 15$ a gram. Moreover, Schneider brings up the point made when he cited Steve DeAngelo, co-founder of Oaklands’ Harborside Health Center, that it will come to a point where where marijuana would just be sold by “indifferent cashiers” instead of specialized dispensers. The main take away that Schneider makes is what will happen when marijuana becomes more legalized in other places not if. He encourages independent sellers, non-profits and oriented organizations to jump on the cannabis bandwagon.

Schneider is able to build up credibility for argument through various ways. He first appeals to his audience, he alludes to a possibility of legalizing marijuana but doesn’t deviate from the main reason of the website, economics. He also covers question the audience would be wondering such how would the money part work by citing that percentages that both Colorado and Washington are using for their selling. Furthermore, Schneider backs up his argument by dropping big names such as Jamen Shively and Vicente Fox who opened their own weed shop; weed magazine High Times also started its own privately own equity fund. Schneider also adds credibility by bring up Brian Laoraungroch who was trying to use the incoming “green rush” to collect funds in 2013 to which it is conceded that many people will want to jump on board for the money. Although arguing the economic benefits of marijuana legalization, Schneider is able to put a level field of information from many credible sources, historical analysis and statistics. The sources being organizations like the ACLU, the historical analysis is the effects of prohibition from 1919-1933 and statistics about the money around marijuana.

Bever, Lindsey, and Abby Ohlheiser. “Baltimore Police: Freddie Gray Died from a ‘tragic Injury to His Spinal Cord’.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Jul 2015.

Dur, Jessica, and O. Network. “Donald Trump Slams ‘African American President’ on Baltimore Riots.” USA Today. Gannett, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Jul 2015.

Hilton, Perez. (@PerezHilton). “@realDonaldTrump That’s not even subtly #racist of you. It’s overtly racist and disgusting!” 28 Apr 2015, 3:15 p.m. Tweet.

“Policing Baltimore’s Police.” Baltimoresun.com. The Baltimore Sun, 4 May 2015. Web. 29 Jul 2015.

Somanader, Tanya. “President Obama on Freddie Gray’s Death: “This Is Not New, and We Shouldn’t Pretend That It’s New.”” The White House. The White House, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Jul 2015.

Trump, Donald (@realDonaldTrump). “Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!” 27 Apr 2015, 9:38 p.m. Tweet.

Trump, Donald J. “Donald J. Trump: Biography.” Trump: The Trump Organization. The Trump Organization, 2015. Web. 29 Jul 2015.

As a 2016 presidential candidate, international business owner, and joint title owner of The Miss Universe Organization, Donald Trump successfully created a name for himself economically in society (Trump 1). Recently, the media set its attention on the presidential race. One specific thing that has caught the media’s eye are the twitter posts made by Donald Trump over controversial topics and personal attacks towards others.

During the month of April, a young man by the name of Freddie Gray was pronounced dead a week after he was brutally acted upon by local police officers. In response to that incident, riots occurred that caused the city of Baltimore to undergo a strict set of temporary rules, like setting a city-wide curfew and having police in the streets to manage the riots (Bever 1). President Barack Obama, former law student at Harvard University and member of Illinois State Senate, also responded to this incident with how he planned to go about changing the police brutality issue in America (Somanader 1). After all of this occurred, Donald Trump resorted to Twitter sharing his views on Obama’s actions, regarding this issue.

Trump’s response to President Obama’s actions, regarding the police brutality issue and rioting in Baltimore, is not credible, because he addressed the president in a disrespectful way. He tweeted, “Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!” (Trump). Trump could not possibly understand or relate to the “thugs’” lives and the environment that they live in everyday (Trump). As a multi-billionaire, Trump came from an affluent family of five and his parents could afford to send him to boarding school. Throughout his whole life, he has always been affluent and never had to worry about the problems that “thugs” in Baltimore face everyday (Trump).

The sarcasm in “our great African American President” is very apparent and comes off as a racist notion from Trump (Trump). With his twitter post, he means to say, “If the president is so great, why did he not end the rioting and positively tried to impact that city, as opposed to allowing policemen to guard the area? Why did he allow the citizens, specifically people of color to ruin the city with riots?” Our President, Barack Obama, is indeed African American. Race should not have been a factor to bring up if one was to speak about this issue. Race has nothing to do with leadership effectiveness. One could be white, black, green, or blue and still be a great or even bad leader. Condoleezza Rice is an African American woman who was deemed one of “America’s Most Influential People” by Forbes because of her political and military related contributions to society promoting peace between many different nations. Sonia Sotomayor is the first Latina to be promoted to the Supreme Court. She impacted society through her votes on major issues in defining major laws in the Constitution. Her being a Puerto Rican and American has not affected her ability to serve as a Supreme Court Justice in our country. Our president has served two presidential terms, unlike Trump. Which shows that he knows exactly what he is doing and what he can and cannot do, regarding this issue. He also has so many issues that pull on him daily, so for Trump to call him out on this one issue when clearly Trump hasn’t done anything to reduce his issue, makes him look like a joke to others.

Blogger and Television star, Perez Hilton, responded to Trump’s post, “@realDonaldTrump “That’s not even subtly #racist of you. It’s overtly racist and disgusting!” (Hilton). Hilton also is Caucasian, has been affluent all of his life, and can relate to Trump’s life, but his views on this tweet are different. Perez Hilton discrediting this post highlights the pure ignorance of Donald Trump’s tweet and discredits it, even more than it has discredited itself. Also, writing a tweet about a very sensitive issue, such as Baltimore riots and police brutality comes off as an immature move for a politician. Twitter generally has a younger, “hip” and “up-to-date” demographic compared to Facebook. This would be viewed as an amateur move, because typically young people use Twitter as an outlet for their problems. Donald Trump tweeting this would make society think that he is a young boy ranting ignorantly about an issue that doesn’t even relate to him. Donald Trump’s content and the place that he shared this content, regarding this Baltimore issue, is very inappropriate for a sixty nine year old politician who should be American’s role model.

Trump argues that “our African American President” did not do his job effectively (Trump). He should have contained these “thugs” rioting in Baltimore and “positively” impacted the citizens, also known as “thugs”, in this community (Trump). Through other tweets, From a Republican standpoint, Trump argues that the highest taxpayers, high class citizens, are expected to rebuild the city destroyed by these “thugs” (Trump). He blames the law enforcement officials for allowing Baltimore riots to happen. He bashes the Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, because she also allowed this rioting to happen as a retaliative cry for help.Trump also gives advice to President Obama to bring “both sides together” in Baltimore, basically calling for peace, in which he attempts to redirect the president of the United States on this issue (Trump). Donald Trump speaks for the affluent, potentially Caucasian, American who feels that Obama has not done enough on this issue and wishes that he would have contained the city better so that the wealthy elites don’t have to go out of their way to pay for the damage that is done.

-RS3 written by Ashley Bedford

***Just for laughs.***

Kreps, Daniel. “See 2 Chainz School Nancy Grace on Weed Legalization.”Rolling Stone. HLN, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 29 July 2015.

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/videos/2-chainz-debate-weed-legalization-nancy-grace-20150114

The controversies of marijuana are overwhelming and there are so many instances where marijuana appears to be a brutal drug. Thus people cannot control their actions after being hypnotized by marijuana. Recently a viral video displayed a mother allowing her young daughter to smoke marijuana. It was embarrassing to see this mother because she is putting her child’s life in danger. As a result of this absurd video the debate between Nancy Grace and 2Chainz triggered. The debate was over why 2Chainz supports the legalization of marijuana. Grace also argued that many people looked up to 2chainz and his stance on marijuana was a negative influence on the youth of our society.

Further 2Chainz is an intellectual person and he graduated from Alabama State University with a 4.0 GPA. His credentials are essential because Grace argues that he should have an alternative stance on marijuana based on his intellect. Grace also says, “why are you an advocate for marijuana? When you hear stories of what I’m talking about”. Grace is disgusted as well as confused because she believes someone as intelligent as 2Chainz should understand what pot can do to people. 2Chainz response to Grace is that “alcohol was involved” in the video where the mother allowed her daughter to smoke. He is trying to convey that alcohol played a significant factor in the mother’s ridiculous actions toward her daughter. 2Chainz further adds “you cannot put an umbrella on the whole community on the instances you gave”. 2Chainz thinks people are stereotyping the community of marijuana and that these absurd events are only triggered by marijuana. However Grace explains that she is not “defining” the community. She is only trying to prove that marijuana ends up in senseless stories like in the mother daughter situation. Besides marijuana being in these senseless stories, she states marijuana can have a bad influence on the future of our world.

Although Grace had portrayed a great argument concerning the effects on marijuana toward people, 2Chainz had some points as well. 2Chainz highlights that he has two kids and how much he cares for them. He also states “It’s about governing your own household. It’s about taking care of your own property. It’s about having some kind of structure in anything, any drug.” He is employing that people need to set regulations and people need to be more responsible. Moreover 2Chainz comments that the legalization of marijuana would lead to the cut of “overcrowding of prisons, as far as putting it on our criminal record to prevent us from getting loans, to prevent us from getting homes”. It is not fair for people who have been charged with marijuana because they are hindered financially. 2Chainz asserts that he used to sell pot in high school to provide for his family and he sacrificed everything for them. He understands what these people had to go through and he thinks people who are in jail for marijuana deserve a second chance. Additionally he believes that several states would be able to improve their infrastructure by legalizing pot because there will be extra funds from marijuana.

All in all this debate broadened my aspect on marijuana in terms of why people would sell marijuana. People will do anything to have food on their tables for their families. Grace and 2Chaniz discuss both sides of marijuana. It is impossible to come to a conclusion concerning marijuana because there are abundant amount of controversies that surround it.