Rhetoric & Writing

Roberts, Chris. “Bad Medicine: Why marijuana advocates oppose an initiative legalizing pot.” S.F. Weekly ,ProQuest 19 May. 2010. Web. 19 July. 2015

Chris Roberts is an investigative journalist and writer from San Francisco, California and the author of  Bad Medicine: Why marijuana advocates oppose an initiative legalizing pot. In the article, published by New Times Media LLC in May of 2010, Roberts reported that the cops and medical marijuana activists has met eye to eye about what the effects of legalizing marijuana would have on  tax. According to the medical pot advocates, he emphasizes how cops don’t favor the issue because it deals with dope and how it would create new criminal penalties for marijuana use.

Roberts claims that California has recently crafted a law that treats marijuana as a more or less equal to alcohol while increasing tax revenue  to 1 billion dollars. Roberts mentions how the Tax Cannabis 2010 would make it a crime to use medical marijuana in front of a minor by penalizing the user with fines and incarceration. The punishments are strict in order to encourage those to stray away from marijuana use. The fines are up to $1,000 with a 6-month county jail confinement in addition to the 3 to 7 years of state prison sentence.  This illustrates the debate of the legalization of marijuana among the cops and marijuana medical advocates.

Although Roberts mention the costly affect of marijuana legalization, he also mention how 700,000 individuals question the legalization of marijuana while signing  a petition that goes against the legalization of marijuana. He especially mentions Dennis Peron to give a point a view of a person who has prior experience with the laws involving marijuana. He coined the name “Kevin Reed of San Francisco’s Green Cross” to specify a individual who signed a petition, giving credibility upon the subject of matter that had the majority of the population questioning the topic of legalization of marijuana.

Roberts included a researcher named “Jeff Jones” and a “University called Oaksterdam University’s Richard Lee” to show what results they concluded from the over-reactor on the topic. They discovered from the cops and marijuana medical advocates, who are against the legalization of marijuana, that they believed the legalization is meant to remove the felonies instead creating more felons in the process. The people Roberts  included in his article believed that the mandatory minimums provided by the law now would help the law enforcement officers  shift focus away from the marijuana issue.

Conan, Neal. “Doctor Says Medical Marijuana Law Hurts Teens.” Alt-PressWatch. 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 20 July 2015. <http://search.proquest.com/altpresswatch/docview/190804988/7045D16F5AB54693PQ/1?accountid=7118>.

This article is an interview between Neal Conan, an American radio journalist who host the National Public Radio talk show Talk of the Nation, and Dr. Christian Thurstone who is a psychiatrist in Denver who specializes in adolescent substance abuse. He argues that the medical marijuana laws are a mess he also goes on about the effects it has on kids and how anyone can get their hands on medicinal marijuana.
  He states that he constantly hears how marijuana is not as bad as alcohol or not    as bad as tobacco, but he thinks that for adolescents, marijuana can be very harmful. “Adolescence have a developing brain…the brain is really developing quickly during adolescent years, and so, using a toxic substance during those years can be quite damaging and produce possibly permanent deficits in memory, as well as how the brain is – ends up being structured.” He mentions how kids show up and how easily they get marijuana from their relatives and from their friends. They then tell him how they could get medicinal marijuana, with increased potency, off the streets. His patients would inform him how marijuana was their preferred medicine, because it would help them with their anger and other problems such as stress and anxiety.

Dr. Thurstone patients have their medical marijuana license, and  they describe the process of getting the marijuana as going to the doctor, which they can easily look up in line or in the newspaper, and then visit for about 15-minute. They then pay about $300, and they complain, the doctor then asks them if it helps them feel better, and come out with a medical marijuana recommendation. The problem he sees is that the doctor who proscribed the medicinal marijuana is that one they did not call him or insist on a psychiatric consultation, and two being the doctors did not have an ongoing relationship with any of his patients. The problem for him is the proscription mill. He shares how in Denver “physicians can practice within a medical marijuana dispensary, so you can go directly to the dispensary. It’s really one-stop shopping. You go to the dispensary, you meet with the physician briefly, and then you can go over to the dispensary and get your medical marijuana, and then out you go.” He thinks that people do not take the drug as seriously as they should.

Dr. Thurstone argument is on how the laws on medicinal marijuana are very lose in terms of who should and should not be allowed to proscribe marijuana. He believes that only those who really need it should have licenses, due to marijuana ending up in the wrong hands. He does not like how adolescents can be affected by it and not being able to reach their full growth potential. This article would be beneficial to those who are looking for incite about how adolescents are affected with the legalization of marijuana.

Slodysko, Brian. “Law Enforcement Stance on Pot Starts to Shift in Louisiana.” ProQuest.com. The Louisiana Weekly, 18 May 2015. Web. 19 July 2015.

Brian Slodysko, a thirty-two-year-old who received his degree in journalism and contained experience in writing about crimes and courts, wrote the article titled “Law Enforcement Stance on Pot Starts to Shift in Louisiana,” on May 2015. Slodysko speaks on the strict marijuana policies in Louisiana and the effect these policies hold on citizens’ prison sentences and, ultimately, their lives. He pinpoints that despite the unchanging policies, citizens seem to hold a “change of heart” when it comes to lightning marijuana charges on small possession amounts.

Recently, the state of Louisiana agrees they should lighten “sentences for people with multiple marijuana possession convictions” because they enforce too harsh of sentences on everyday citizens (par. 6). Slodysko argues that common citizens go to prison for long amounts of time simply because they possess a small amount of marijuana, which is very drastic. One could serve “up to 20 years in prison on your third arrest” for possession of marijuana (par. 2). Slodysko points this out to reiterate the harshness of Louisiana’s marijuana laws and wishes that Louisiana reconsider these laws to create a fair sentencing system for all. He also points out how ineffective these strict policies are by quoting Sen. J.P. Morrell, the response from politicians used to be “We are really tough on marijuana – and it is working,” but currently it’s, “Now we are having conversations about marijuana that were not even possible five years ago,” Slodysko knows these strict policies will evolve into  more lenient ones, with due time, and used Senator J.P. Morrell’s quote to highlight the contrast between what politicians said then compared to what they say now and he also uses an example, “Bernard W. Noble, a New Orleans father of seven, who was sentenced to over 13 years after he was arrested on his way to work for having two joints. Noble’s court battle came to an end last year after losing his last appeal,” to display the effect of these strict marijuana policies in Louisiana (par. 7,8, and 9). Using the example above, Slodysko knows that these marijuana policies got to the point that people’s lives and freedom are threatened by the mere possession of this drug and things have gotten out of hand and further goes on to compare this man’s sentence with a criminal who used drugs with bad intentions’ sentencing, which shows his point even more so this way.

There are benefits to creating more lenient marijuana policies, argues Slodysko, “The cash-strapped state – where one in 14 arrests is for marijuana possession – could also benefit, saving an estimated $23 million a year by reducing felony marijuana possession to a misdemeanor, according to Louisianans for Responsible Reform,” he presents an economic standpoint to even further back his claim that Louisiana should lower their strict laws (par. 16). Although, the citizens of Louisiana seem to want change, Slodysko states that change will not come so soon, “Measures to decriminalize marijuana, or mimic California’s permissive medical marijuana law, appear to be nonstarters,” and the harsh enforcement of marijuana laws in this state continues on (par. 18). Louisiana will be one of the last states to catch up to the decriminalization of marijuana, if that occurs, and the way Louisiana enforces their marijuana laws will continue on for a long time, Slodysko predicts.

Overall Slodysko states marijuana laws in Louisiana should consider lightening their laws to reduce citizens’ sentences, lower state costs regarding this law, and reduce the fear of losing your freedom, if caught with marijuana, within the community. I found this article useful, because Slodysko emphasized key points that I just now became aware of, such as common day citizens getting theft-level charges and the economic benefits of lightning marijuana possession charges, that pushes my personal viewpoint. Americans should not fear that they will go to jail for the rest of their lives, even if the amount of marijuana they got caught with was small, on any marijuana possession charge. Other politicians, in states with strict marijuana possession policies, would benefit from this article, because they could realize the negative effect those laws place on everyday citizens in their state and how restricting these laws are in relation to citizens’ freedoms. Instilling fear in people to get the result you want is not the way to go and should not be an option that someone uses to get what they want, this is also known as manipulation and this should not be acceptable.

– RS2 written by Ashley Bedford

Healy, Jack, and Kirk Johnson. “Next gold rush: legal marijuana feeds entrepreneurs’ dreams.” nytimes.com, 19 July 2014 Web. 19 July 2015

Jack H, Is a news reporter for the New York Times, and has reported on a variety of topics. The other author in this article is Kirk Johnson. Kirk J, is the New York Times Seattle Bureau Chief, just like his partner in this article Kirk also has reported on multiple world wide topics. Just as the headline says, there is a boom in the marijuana legalization industry which is becoming a widely known investment opportunity.

With these writers working for the New York Times they have a more biased opinion towards the benefit of marijuana to the economy, because of their more business orientated view.To open the topic the authors talk about how marijuana is sweeping the nations “entrepreneurs and workers, investors and hucksters from across the country.” Leaving their secure jobs they have in their home towns to venture out in the states of Colorado and Washington to have a chance to get in to marijuana fast growing industry. Proving the fact that marijuana is the new gold rush of the 21 first century. Meaning there will be many opportunities for state and the nations economy to flourish.

They then state that ” Marijuana now legal for medical use in 23 states and Washington, D.C., and full legalization heading to the ballot in Alaska and Oregon, the size of the noncriminal marijuana industry is expected to grow to about $2.6 billion this year from about $1.5 billion last year.” So not only is pot helping in the economy aspect but also in the medical field . Most doctors tend to not believe in the use of weed because of their political stand point mostly from a conservative out look. Yet they can not look away from the facts. The use of medicinal marijuana does improve the well being of patients and have better effects than most prescribed drug medicines. With more and more states legalizing the medical use of marijuana we can only expect for the other states to follow suit.

The authors then say that ” The deck was stacked in the favor of richer corporate players. With banks still so leery of lending in the industry… financing choices for smaller entrepreneurs like him are few.” So also appealing to the smaller view point of first time business owners they show that they are getting over run by the big companies taking money from the smaller communities. which could be a bad thing for the economy as well having only the one percent gaining from marijuana and not all of us. Yes, bringing money to the economy, but is it to the right part?

This article and its information is very beneficial to my viewpoint because it provides a different aspect to the use of marijuana and its help to the economy. Showing that there are some benefits of the legalization of marijuana. Hopefully, this will show some insight to my peers and let them see the other side to legalization other than getting high and having fun. This article could also help in my peers arguments and debates over the drug.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=d9aa3d9a-7202-4174-ab93-8d2a83e43f70%40sessionmgr4001&vid=35&hid=4212&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=99339026

Jonsson, Patrik. “How legal Marijuana is reshaping state economies”. Academic search complete. EBSCO publishing, 11 November 2014. Web. 19 July 2015.

In my high school economics class I learned that the fundamental principle of the government is to maintain a low unemployment rate.  This concept is highly encouraged in the article written by Patrik Jonsson because he discusses how the legalization of Marijuana can have a significant impact on U.S’s economy. Generally, the success of a country’s economy is a measure of country’s superiority. Many Marijuana supporters believe that Marijuana is able to provide a plethora amount of jobs. As a result, Jonsson reiterates the notion of innovation in the job market and the creation of thousands of jobs.

Additionally, Marijuana is able to provide millions of dollars in revenue because the demand for it is high. Also, Marijuana and tobacco are similar in regards to financial benefits because both products can produce successful business industries.  In the article, “how legal Marijuana is reshaping state economies”, Jonsson states “Colorado now sports 18,000 state –certified, or badged, pot industry workers eligible for jobs”. Only in Colorado Marijuana has constructed thousands of jobs, if Marijuana is legalized throughout the U.S the number of jobs would exponentially increase. In fact Marijuana has a lot of monetary value because when people get jobs they spend money thus shifting the economy in a positive manner. Additionally, Jonsson says the “average weekly wage of a marijuana industry worker is $555”. The annual salary of a Marijuana industry worker would be about $29,000, which is significantly higher than the average salary of $26,000 in the U.S. The legalization of Marijuana would increase the average salary and restructure state’s economies. Another economic truth to take into consideration from legalizing Marijuana is that it will have a domino effect which will affect other companies.  In the article Jonsson quotes a spokesman for the Marijuana policy project in Washington D.C. The spokesman states how “packaging and labeling companies “ will be affected financially from the legalization of Marijuana because these companies will be a vital component in the distribution of the product.

Furthermore, there are also false economic assumptions made by people about legalizing Marijuana. If Marijuana becomes a dependent source for economic gain the U.S will be in major turmoil.  Jonsson discusses the stock aspect of Marijuana and emphasizes that “despite the hype with populace, Marijuana stocks remain risky and mostly something to avoid now”.  If the stock value for Marijuana is delicate, the value for Marijuana in the future can have a significant drop.  Also in the business world people will do anything to seek profit and Jonsson examines this issue. He argues, “corporatized Marijuana industry will, like tobacco and alcohol giants, target younger American’s for profits”. This employs the desperate methods that large companies are willing to do for profits. Towards the end of the article Jonsson quotes a Harvard economist about the GDP of Colorado in which he says, “neither Colorado’s GDP nor wages have so far risen notably because of legalization”. Many Marijuana activists tend to overrate the economic upside of the legalization of Marijuana.

Ultimately, Jonsson supports legalization of Marijuana because he repeatedly highlights the positive impact Marijuana can have on the economy.  Although he discusses the positives and negatives of Marijuana, he displays greater support towards how the people will benefit economically from Marijuana.

“Legal Marijuana: Should You be very Afraid?” ProQuest.com. Northwest Asian Weekly, 29 Mar 2014. Web. 19 July 2015.
An anonymous author of an Asian American newspaper called Northwest Asian Weekly, argues the question “Is legal marijuana a good thing or a bad thing?” The author’s stance is all for medical marijuana but he’s a bit iffy about marijuana being used for recreational purposes. His argument for why marijuana should be legalized for certain reasons seems to be promising.

The author begins the article, which is the main concern of the community, with the fear of “marijuana being addictive or becoming a gateway drug to harder and more damaging drugs, such as cocaine, meth, or heroin.” He continues to provide facts from his research from science journals that prove that “the addiction rate [for marijuana] is about 9 percent amongst those who’ve tried it.” Of course that is still a big number for those who oppose the legalization of marijuana but the article writer argues that the overall addiction potential for cannabis is less than that of caffeine, tobacco, cocaine, or heroin. The author also suggests pot will most likely be addictive not because it’s addictive, but because the people whom get addicted are “simply addictive people.”

The anonymous writer continues with the subject of marijuana being claimed as a gateway drug and points out that marijuana users whom moved on to harder drugs were assisted by their drug supplier. If marijuana were to become legal, it should be sold in a controlled environment to remove the criminal element involved with buying pot, says the author. He goes on with a scenario of how store clerks wouldn’t be trying to upgrade customers to drugs like cocaine if marijuana were to become legalized, and there’s no question that it will most definitely become legalized in the near future.

The author will agree that inhaling smoke on its own is harmful but so is eating junk food and consuming alcohol. What he’s aiming to inform the world is: it doesn’t make sense that marijuana is illegal but tobacco, alcohol, unprotected sex, potato chips, soda, driving, and a bunch of other stuff are legal and bad for you. At this point of the article, it is evident the author is accepting the idea that marijuana will eventually be legalized for recreational use and it will be in the hands of the user to use it responsibly the way they should with alcohol or any mind-altering substance.

Of course, the author has some concerns about marijuana being legalized for one reason mainly. “Like alcohol, [marijuana] (would be) very easy for adolescents to acquire.” He agrees with the idea that it legal marijuana wouldn’t be much different than alcohol, but he wants children to focus on school rather than have fun getting stoned; even then marijuana would be illegal for adolescents given their age. The author ends the article with the feel of a storm a brewing with the quote referring to the legalization of marijuana, “It’s coming.”

I have been concerned with whether or not marijuana was a gateway drug and have seen many articles that just said “it is” or “it isn’t” just in plain text, but this article actually went in debt with percentages which was helpful to understand and further my research. This article is also very helpful for those who are still indecisive on the subject of why marijuana legalization would be a good idea by telling people that they need to be more educated about marijuana because it is going to be legal and that they should quite fearing the inevitable truth.