Powerful music bursts from your speakers as “The # 1 ADDICTION for 60% of TEENS in Drug rehab” (Anti-Legalization Prop 19 Campaign) hits the smoke filled screen, which is just the beginning of SaveCalifornia’s Stop proposition 19 insightful campaign ads. This commercial went out months before the vote for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in California. It was made to sway the viewers, voters of California, away from making marijuana legal in this state. This SaveCalifornia commercial persuades the viewers to vote no for Proposition 19 by using rhetoric. The recent Proposition 19 in California that was defeated in November 2010 would have allowed marijuana to become legal for people over the age of 21, to be used for personal use. California had already had medical marijuana legalized in 1996 with Prop 215. 14 other states that now have a similar policy when it comes to marijuana use for medical reasons, but no state has yet to have recreational marijuana legalized. California now wants marijuana to be legal for recreational uses as well as medical, this creating a new lingering debate involving the legalization of marijuana. It was a close call for California, there was only a 7% difference between yes and no when the ballet was voted on. To the people representing SaveCalifornia the legalization of marijuana would mess up many lives, and cause much danger. Save California is a “pro-family organization standing strong for moral virtues for the common good” (SaveCalifonia.com) On their site it goes on to describe the values and the principles that they have, and indicates that they “Boldly speak and fight for the truth, no matter the outcome” (SaveCaliforia.com) These principles that they have go against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. When one first watches the commercial, who has provided this information is not known, but in the end the viewers will be able to go to their site, which is given, and see if they are a credible source. Without going to this their site and reading about their values and principles, identification will not be able to be formed as well as it could have been. In STOPprop19.com, a site created by SaveCalifornia.com to directly responds to the new issue in California, where the facts and issues of marijuana legalization are recognized. By mixing facts, ethics, and morals this ad is able to create the viewers with a sense of how serious this issue is.
Legalization of Marijuana has quickly become a controversial issue in America. In the United States, legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes is spreading to the state level. For example, in November 1996, the people of California and Arizona voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal reasons. As a result of Proposition 215 in California, patients now smoke marijuana provided their physician recommends its usage. A prescription is not required, and marijuana continues to be illegal to prescribe. The Clinton administration responded that it “would not recognize these decisions, and would prosecute physicians who recommend or provide marijuana to their patients.” Although California and Arizona are the only two states to have already passed laws regulating marijuana usage, twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have laws and resolutions regarding marijuana usage. These laws and resolutions range from establishing therapeutic research programs, to allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, to asking the federal government to lift the ban. Despite the states’ desires to have marijuana legalized for medicinal purposes, the US National Institutes of Health examined all existing clinical evidence about smoked marijuana and concluded that, “There is no scientifically sound evidence that smoked marijuana is medically superior to currently available therapies.”
The series “High Profits” demonstrates the works and restrictions of the United States government regarding the issue of legalizing recreational marijuana. Breckenridge Cannabis Club business owners, Caitlin Mcguire and Brian Rogers, demonstrate both the struggles and profits of this up and coming industry. This series portrays virtually every viewpoint possible by including opinions from an array of political actors who discuss the influence of the government on this topic and the impact this topic has on the general public.
In the 2015 article “What will Federal Marijuana Reform Look Like?”, Alex Kreit states how the current stance towards marijuana has changed. For this reason, a need for a new policy is necessary, as the present strategy of implementing laws on federal marijuana prohibition is no longer sustainable. This shift of mindset towards legalization of marijuana leads Kreit to say that legalization is inevitable. As an illustration, in 1996, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Congress opposed California’s approval of medical marijuana. In contrast, the year 2013 was when the Department of Justice announced new guidance to deprioritize enforcement of marijuana laws. Because of this shift, Kreit propose that efforts should go to crafting marijuana
Texas Junior Senator Ted Cruz Russell Senate Office Bldg 404 Washington, DC 20510. Dear Senator Cruz, As a resident of the state of Texas, I’d like to raise awareness of an issue that affects our entire country, yet can be resolved by changing many of the regulations in our own state. This issue is the legalization of marijuana; specifically, the legalization of recreational use. In the past, you’ve openly supported the rights of the states to control their own laws in regards to things like marijuana use, but opposed the idea of ever voting for it should it appear on Texas ballots.
The controversy of legalizing marijuana has been raging for quite a while in America. From some people pushing it for medical purposes to potheads just wanting to get high legally. Marijuana has been used for years as a popular drug for people who want to get a high. All this time it has been illegal and now it looks as if the drug may become legal. There has been heated debate by many sides giving there opinion in the issue. These people are not only left wing liberals either. Richard Brookhiser, a National Review Senior editor is openly supportive of medical marijuana yet extremely conservative in his writing for National Review (Brookhiser 27). He is for medical marijuana since he used it in his battle with testicular cancer. He says "I turned to [marijuana] when I got cancer because marijuana gives healthy people an appetite, and prevents people who are nauseated from throwing up. "(Brookhiser 27) Cancer patients are not the only benefactors from the appetite enhancer in marijuana, but so are any other nauseous people. Arizona and California have already passed a law allowing marijuana to be used as a medicinal drug. Fifty Six percent of the California voters voted for this law. "We've sent a message to Washington," says Dennis Peron. "They've had 25 years of this drug was, and they've only made things worse." (Simmons 111) The Arizona proposition garnished an even wider margin of separation between the fore's an against in a sixty five percent support tally. Ethan Nadelmann insists that " these propositions are not about legalization or decriminalization. They're about initiating some non radical, commonsense approaches to drug policy." General Barry McCaffery disagrees saying, "I...
There are organizations that think that the legalization of marijuana would help both the economy and the welfare of society. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a group of current and former law enforcement personnel who oppose the war on drugs and advocate the legalization and regulation of all drugs including marijuana(Barbour).The positive impact to the local, state, and federal governments should be one of the main concerns to any state that is considering passing the law to legalize marijuana. When it comes to our state, all citizens need to be aware of the positive financial and legal affect for the justice system, cost for our local, state, and federal government. The impact of the legalization of marijuana would have on our society is unknown(Barbour).... ...
The purpose of the speech is to inform the audience about the pro’s and con’s of marijuana as well as the medical uses of marijuana .
Of course, the status quo of vote seeking politicians and conservative policy makers has put up a strong resistance to this "new" reform lobby. The reasons for the resistance to the changes in drug policies are multiple and complex. The issues of marijuana’s possible negative effects, its use as a medical remedy, the criminality of its distribution and usage, and the disparity in the enforcement of current drug laws have all been brought to a head and must be addressed in the near future. It is apparent that it would be irresponsible and wrong for the government to not evaluate it’s current general drug policies and perhaps most importantly, their marijuana policy. With the facts of racial disparity in punishment, detrimental effects, fiscal strain and most importantly, the history of the drug, the government most certainly must come to the conclusion that they must, at the very least, decriminalize marijuana use and quite probably fully legalize it.
California was the first to consider medical marijuana legislation. The trend of marijuana legislation does exist, but society must find ways to regulate the use of this illicit drug. Congress responds by acting as what we call a “doctor” figure. When Congress Plays Doctor, “In the majority’s view, marijuana use, abortion, and suicide are so evil that they must be prohibited at any costs to individuals”(Kaminer, 2000). Congress is playing doctor by stating the actions as evil. Marijuana being categorized as evil is a method used steer people away from abuse. Medical marijuana has side effects and prohibiting this drug from society benefits versus putting health at risk in hopes of having solutions to
For nearly one hundred and fifty years marijuana has been illegal in the United States of America. Though marijuana naturally grew in all of our fifty states, it was outlawed due the superior strength and durability of hemp rope. This threatened to replace cotton rope, which would cost wealthy cotton owners a lot of money. To this day marijuana is still outlawed in the U.S., however rope has nothing to do with it. Once slavery and the “cotton boom” were over hemp made a little bit of a comeback in a smoking form. Then, in the early 1940’s the government began releasing anti-marijuana propaganda. In the 1960’s when marijuana became popular amongst pop-culture, a movie by the name of “Reefer Madness” was released depicting marijuana users as fiends and criminals who’s normal everyday lives fell apart, and spun out of control due to the addiction to the drug. Even in the present day organizations, as well as the government, continue to try and sway people from using the substance by portraying users as irresponsible idiots. Some examples of behaviors portrayed in the commercials are: accidental shootings, running over a little girl on a bike, molesting a passed out girl, supporting terror, and impregnating/becoming impregnated. I feel that these advertisements are ridiculously tasteless and misleading. Through personal experience, surveys, an interview, and a case study I intend to prove that marijuana users do not behave in the fashion that the anti-marijuana campaign ads would suggest, and furthermore, I expect to find that the ads so grossly misrepresent the common user, even those who do not use disagree with the negative portrayals. I also challenge you to think about the suggested situations and behaviors from the commercials, I feel that you’ll see every situation and behavior in the advertisements is much more feasible to a person under the influence of alcohol than under the influence of marijuana.
Smith, F. A. (n.d.). Marijuana Policy Project. Op-ed: A Neglected Revenue Source for California. Retrieved January 9, 2014, from http://www.mpp.org/media/op-eds/op-ed-a-neglected-revenue.html
First, the ad tells the story of an accident which was caused by a person who smoked weed. It says, “You smoked weed. You got behind the wheel. And you hit a six-year-old girl on her bike. Weed can make you do stupid things like that.” Like this, the sentences help us to understand and to imagine about this picture. In this quotation, marijuana is described as informal word “weed.” Sometimes, to use a casual word is more persuasive than a formal word. The affinity for “weed” expresses that everyone could be involved in the accidents because of marijuana addicts. As a result, the readers keep away from marijuana. This story and the close-up wheel appeal to the reader’s emotion how about terrible marijuana is. In these sentences, not only pathos but also ethos which appeals to a person’s character or personality is embedded. By using second person discourse, the ad persuades especially current smokers to quit right away and at the same time discourages readers from smoking weed and reads directly toward each viewer.
Millions of people are suffering needlessly because of the prohibition against using medical marijuana, Rosenthal and Kubby assert. They conclude that marijuana should be decriminalized. ”(Rosenthal, Kubby) Today, I am going to help you understand the real benefits of marijuana. By the time that we are through, you will be agreeing with me and will want to be a part of the effort needed by citizens to legalize such a beneficial drug.
To the AIDS or cancer patient, marijuana is the plant that fights nausea and appetite loss. To the nutritionist, its seed is second only to the soybean in nutritional value and is a source of cooking oil and vitamins. To the paper or cloth manufacturer, it is the plant that provided much of our paper and clothing for hundreds of years and produces four times more fiber per acre than trees. To the environmentalist, it is the plant that could greatly slow deforestation, restore robbed nutrients by other crops, and help prevent erosion. Preliminary findings show the drug may prove effective against glaucoma and asthma, and control such side nausea in cancer treatment. I concretely believe that marijuana should be legalized in the United States, primarily for the use of medicinal purposes. In technical or for the average American, marijuana, it is used only for recreational purposes. I think marijuana is a plant that could save many lives if it was made legal. My goal is to reverse prejudices, relieve ignorance, and inform people of the known and potential therapeutic uses of this remarkable plant.
Anti-legalization of Drugs Drugs have been around for many centuries and proceeds to be a major issue for the last few decades. Marijuana was first federally prohibited in 1937. Today, nearly 70 million Americans admit to having tried it ( Inciardi 19 ). Whether people stop using drugs, there will always be more and more people reaching out to use drugs. For the past few decades, many people have tried to legalize drug use as well as stopping the use of drugs.