Rockwell 1 Bailey Rockwell Professor Baird English 1010- Section #089 March 31, 2014 Legalizing Marijuana, Do or Dont?

In this paper I will be researching the legalization of marijuana in the United States. The idea of legalizing marijuana in the United States has been a pressing issue for many years. Not only is the legalization of marijuana a big debate, but also whether it should be for medical or recreational purposes. I am going to be researching whether it should or should not be legalized, and to what extent the legalization should be. Ferner, Matt. "Lawmaker Predicts Marijuana Will Be Legal Within 5 Years." The Huffington Post. 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. In the article by Matt Ferner he mentions how far we have come with the legalization of marijuana. Ferner re-informs his educated readers about how two states have already legalized marijuana for recreational use, and twenty other states have legalized it for medical use. Ferner mentions how a dozen more states are projected to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the next several years. The industry involving marijuana is projected to be extremely profitable; one study even claimed that it would be a 210 billion dollar industry. Ferner claims that over a dozen members of congress have already sponsored the legalization act. Matt Ferner writes this compelling article to show the significance of marijuana in the government. Ferner displays ethos by having quotes from various people who appear credible. These people include a representative and congress members. This was posted

Rockwell 2 in the Huffington Post, which to my knowledge is a credible source for news. Ferner makes a long shot with his appeal to pathos. The shared values within this article are controversial and some people may not agree with them. The facts Ferner quotes are credible and believable. The quotes are from government officials and do not sound fishy right away. If the reader does research they will find that they facts are correct and not far-fetched. The timing of this article is perfect. The government officials are making, passing, and vetoing laws right now; also later in this month on the twentieth of April, we have weed day, which is celebrated world wide by pot smokers. This article informed me of facts I was unaware of and educated me about the progression of marijuana in the United States. I was unaware of how many congress members were pro-pot and are aiding in the legalization of marijuana. The author did not try to persuade the reader to be either pro or against marijuana, therefore I enjoyed the article more. I was not being badgered to follow his beliefs the whole time, so I actually retained what I was reading. Armentano, Paul. "Marijuana Ballot Measures Likely To Increase Overall Voter Turnout." NORML Blog Marijuana Law Reform Poll Marijuana Ballot Measures Likely To Increase Overall Voter Turnout Comments. NORML, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Paul Armentano writes in his article about how people would be more likely to go to a voting poll if the legalization of marijuana was present on the ballot. The amount of participating Americans in this study was thirty percent. A state who has agreed to allow the action to be posted on a ballot is Alaska; for a purpose of retail, production and recreational use of those who are over the age of 21. Another state that is participating in

Rockwell 3 the ballot is Florida; they will decide whether it is legal or not for those people who are authorized by their physicians to use marijuana for medical use. Studies show that eighty two percent of the Florida voters will vote yes on the ballot. In Paul Armentanos article he relies mostly on ethos to convey his message. When looking at the article, the reader notices next to Armentanos name it mentions that he is the Deputy Director of NORML, which gives him the credibility needed to write the article. Armentanos argument falls apart on his organization, or logos. While reading the article it seems disorganized and messy. Armentano does not back up his writing with any quotes from credible people, so this also shows the disorganization of his logos. The pathos in this writing doesnt seem to be present also, other than the fact that the people who are reading this are most likely pro legalization of marijuana. Armentanos audience is plan and simple, people who are for legalization. The website it is published on is directly named, Working to Reform Marijuana Laws, which furthermore supports my idea of his audience. I do not believe that this article helps, or hurts the marijuana legalization fight. This article was plain facts about who is planning on putting the legalization of marijuana on their voting ballots. In my opinion, people are more curious about the status of the legalization, not the news of if its going to be on a ballot or not. This is especially true if you are not apart of the states that are putting it on the ballot for the voters to decide if it should be legal or not. Dockterman, Eliana. "Poll: Three in Four Say Legalized Pot Is Inevitable." Time. 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.

Rockwell 4 In Docktermans article she starts the paper off with a fact that I found shocking. A new poll has found that 75 percent of Americans believe that the sale of marijuana will eventually become legal across the nationwhether they supported legalization or not. Dockterman then proceeds to inform the reader that in a new poll, they noticed something very interesting. The support of marijuana is growing in American adults. Four years ago, 52 percent of Americans were against the legalization of marijuana. In the new research, they learned that percentage has flipped. 54 percent of Americans are for the legalization of marijuana, not against it Dockterman relies strongly on the rhetorical appeal of ethos and logos. She uses ethos in subtle ways. For instance, she is writing for the well-known magazine company Time. This gives Dockterman all the credibility she needs in order to write this article. I would not go as far as saying that Dockterman is an expert on the subject of legalizing marijuana, but she seems very knowledgeable and backs up her writing with facts. This leads to the next appeal she uses most, logos. Dockterman uses a lot of facts that other people have researched and posted. She throws many percentages and facts into the article to back up what she is saying in order to further convince the reader. While reading this article I was impressed with the quality of the authors writing. I enjoyed how the author included many facts to back up her argument and not just distract from the real information being pushed forward in the article. I fell victim to being biased towards the reader just because of her connection with Time magazine. From my knowledge, Time is very picky with their writers and chooses the top people who would be qualified, furthermore supporting my idea that the company is credible.

Rockwell 5 Hopkins, Kathleen. "It's High Time to Legalize Pot, N.J. Prosecutors Say." USA Today. Gannett. Asbury Park (N.J.) Press. 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. This article starts out with an interactive display that shows which states have legalized marijuana for medical use, and what states have legalized marijuana for recreation use accompanied with medical use. This allows the reader to have a visual on what states have actually legalized what, and where they prominently are. Kathleen Hopkins then begins her article talking about how New Jersey has received boost for the medical marijuana movement by unlikely people, and those are the people who throw avid pot smokers who are caught in jail. This article provides many reasons why America should legalize marijuana; a main point being the proven fact that marijuana is not as addictive as alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine. Immediately following the section about why it should be legal, Hopkins provides facts about why people believe it should not be legalized. Kathleen Hopkins uses all of the rhetorical appeals to her advantage. She uses the appeal of ethos strongly, as she writes for the news company USA Today. This provides Hopkins with the necessary credibility she needs to start the article. I enjoyed how she showed both sides of the argument to furthermore convince the reader on what he or she wants to believe; she does this all while subtlety mentioning her point of view of the topic. Hopkins uses pathos very well by showing the sides people stand on, and why they remain on those sides. This plays in Hopkins favor because she remains neutral on the surface level. I enjoyed this article because Hopkins acknowledges both sides of the argument and shows the reasons why they are both believable. Whether the reason is because kids

Rockwell 6 have easier access to marijuana because it is not regulated, or because it will remain in the hands of criminals, we can all relate and belong to a certain side. Baca, Ricardo. "Poll: 75 Percent of Americans Think National Legalization Inevitable." The Cannabist. 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. Ricardo Baca begins his article with the information about how many people believe that marijuana will inevitably be legalized. That percentage is an outstanding 75 percent. Ricardo Baca then continues on in his article to quote someone elses article on the polls. Which has nothing to do with the authors own, apparently unclear essay. So it comes off as confusing and extremely misleading. Ricardo Baca relies on his logos while writing his article. And what was a fact was one thing, and that was the percentage of Americans who believe legalization will happen no matter what. Other than that appeal, he doesnt use any others. His writing wasnt even properly constructed enough to convince the readers why that fact is true. He relies on his stoned audience to not catch on to the fact that he wrote not even a paragraph and quoted someone elses writing for the remainder. I would not even consider this writing a writing or even an article. Its more of a sentence that someone else pretty much wrote and that he is claiming as his own. I am disappointed in the credibility of The Cannabist where as I thought they would have credible information on the legalization of marijuana with current data. In conclusion, I have realized how many people are actually for the legalization of marijuana I the United States. I would assume that with all of the credible information and research that has showed the benefits of medical marijuana, more people would support the legalization of cannabis. Reading these articles helped further my stand on

Rockwell 7 supporting the fight to legalizing cannabis, for medical and recreational uses. The facts show the harm it has caused people who have participated in the act of cannabis, that number is zero. People have died while using many things, this includes marijuana, but it has been proven then the act of overdosing on marijuana is almost impossible. People die while doing ridiculous things everyday, just because someone dies with Advil in their system, this does not mean that Advil was the exact cause. Marijuana is something that is less addictive than caffeine and can be produced for many things including: paper, rope, clothes, lotion, etc. Why not legalize something that can help save the earth?