1. I used ethos very well in this essay I would say.
2. yes I cite everything the way that it should have been. I introduce the authors before hand.
3. All my sources are credible because most of them are from medical journals like one of them is from harvard.
4. No I do not because I personally do not smoke any weed.
5. Yes I’ve done quite a bit of research so I feel very comfortable talking about the topic.
6. Yes I address the topic of what laws would marijuana have and I proposed giving it the same laws as alcohol.
7. I am very empathetic to the community that it affects.
8. My solution is very ethical were I think everyone can at least come to terms with it.
9. Yes I wrote it all in MLA
10. I wrote a lot of facts and what I personally think of the subject.
11. I think I used ethos a little better than logos but I did use logos for reason and logic.
12. Yes I backed everything with evidence.
13. In my solution I came up with something that I know many people also want but for some reason it is still not passed.
14. Yes my claims build upon each other until I give the solution of legalizing marijuana.
15. I think I used some fallacies but I tried not to.
16. I used it pretty well by making the audience feel like they are informed on the subject then telling them about how many people get arrested and try and make them feel bad and understand.
17. Yes I have shared values like wanting weed legalized.
18. I would say that I did avoid that type of language.
19. I do not include personal stuff because I don’t smoke.
20. I do show empathy and respect towards them.
21. Yes I try and encourage them to accept this so we can get it legalized.
22. I am carrying about the issue because I personally think it’s dumb it’s not legal when worse things are legal and this could benefit the country as a whole.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XNXVDGHIIadPDAkHA4ovtg0XkI1pXeQBirN6Vu7j2Z0/edit#slide=id.g7ab8f79b4c_0_11

Francisco Anaya

Janel Spencer

WRT 101S

10 December 2019

The Legalization Of Marijuana

The great debate of legalizing marijuana has been going on for a long time; the 1980’s was the time people started to want it legalized. But society can never seem to come to an agreement on it. People need to be informed of all the benefits that it has and how cruel society and the law treats people who use it. Legalizing marijuana could really change how full our prisons are and make it so they are full of actual bad people with violent crimes. 

To begin, marijuana is one of the biggest reasons why our prisons are so filled. Our prisons, according to John A Boehner, are filled with people “there for possession of small amounts of cannabis …We have literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent and frankly do not belong there” (“We have literally”). Citizens of this nation are being stripped away from their lives! If the law was to actually go into affect the people that are in jail for possession of marijuana should be released and have their records expunged. These people have jobs and families and it’s being taken away from them for a marijuana charge and this is not right. With marijuana being legalized in a few states like Washington and Colorado, it’s crazy to think that if these people that are currently in jail for possession of marijuana charges would have been in Washington or Colorado, then nothing would have happened to them and they would have gone back to living their ordinary lives. Sure you might think to yourself that these people broke the law knowing it was illegal, but everybody makes mistakes and these people should not be punished for outdated laws that are not working anymore. The people being sent to jail for possession of marijuna are not the only ones suffering; the families are suffering because their loved ones are being striped of their freedom for something that should be legalized nationwide! 

Next, marijuana brings medical benefits to people and according to researchers are finding more research on it. For example Grinspoon talks about something very interesting and something that can help people: “In particular, marijuana appears to ease the pain of multiple sclerosis, and nerve pain in general” (Grinspoon). Millions of Americans deal with pain every day and legalizing marijuana would make it much easier to deal with this pain without having Americans getting addicted to opioids. Doctors need to do more research on marijuana before they start recommending it instead of opioids but first it has to be legalized so that they can find out more research on it before they make a decision on if it should be recommended instead of opioids. Harvard medical “Grinspoon” also found that marijuana helps lesson tremors in Parkinson’s Disease. If you have ever seen someone who has Parkinson’s Disease you will see that they suffer from uncontrollable tremors and they do not live a comfortable life, but with marijuana being legalized, they can have a better quality of life without really bad tremors. Retired NFL players say they smoked marijuana because it would help with the pain their bodies would go through everyday (Perez). They say they preferred marijuana over opioids because opioids are very addictive and people can go down a bad road with those.(Perez)

It is important to note, however, that, Samuel T. Wilkinson, MD says that 10 percent of people who use marijuana are addicted to it. There is a small percentage of people who do get addicted. But it is not a good argument against marijuana because as Dana tims says in this article “research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse showing that about 9 percent of those who use marijuana become addicted. (Estimates from research suggest that 32 percent of tobacco users and 15 percent of alcohol users become addicted, according to the NIDA)”(Tims). This shows that marijuana is actually less addictive than something that is legal and that is tobacco and alcohol. The argument that people will get addicted to marijuana if it is legalized is scaring people into not wanting to legalize marijuana and that is not fair to all the people that could benefit from it being legalized.

Next, Tom Head from thoughtco.com tells us that “in 2005, Milton Friedman and a group of over 500 other economists advocated for marijuana legalization on the basis that prohibition directly costs more than $7.7 billion per year.” (Head) Enforcing the prohibition of marijuana is very expensive and that money could be going somewhere else that is more of a priority for our society, like schools that are underpaid. The government could save those 7.7 billion dollars and if they legalize marijuana they can benefit from it by taxing it, like they tax alcohol and tobacco products. The government makes nearly 25 billion off of taxing alcohol and tobacco according to (“Major Federal Excise Taxes”) .  With all of this money that the government would be saving and making they could really put it to good use. For all this to happen all we need to do is legalize marijuana nationwide and take part in the movement that other states are already doing.

Furthermore, one of the biggest arguments that people always bring up is that marijuana, in fact, is much safer and less addictive than tobacco and alcohol products. For example, it is actually proven that you can not overdose on marijuana: “It is impossible to overdose on marijuana since a pot smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times the amount of THC in a single joint to produce a lethal dose” (Head). The amount of THC that one singular person would have to intake is literally impossible to do. On the other hand, tobacco “kills more than 8 million people each year,” according to the World Health Organization (“Tobacco”); this clearly shows how harmful one product is that is currently legal for people 18 years and older to buy. But something that does not kill a single person a year from ingesting and it can also benefit people’s health is illegal; that just does not make sense to me. Alcohol is also very bad in terms of  the amount of people it kills each year. According to the World Health Organization, “Alcohol consumption contributes to 3 million deaths each year globally” (“Alcohol”). Alcohol is advertised all over the internet and television and it leads to 3 million people dying every year. Alcohol is advertised as something fun and marijuana has a bad image around it and I have proven that it is beneficial for people and safe because you can not die from consuming it. I am not saying they should start to ban alcohol because it would just not work as they tried in the past. I am just suggesting they legalize a plant that could bring our nation great success.

To conclude, The harmless plant that many people think is very bad for you is not dangerous and can help with pain. People will realize that it is a good thing and not a bad thing because it will benefit the people that want it to be legalized and the government positively. Our nation needs to take the next step into the future and forget old standards that were imprinted into our brains that marijuana is bad for you. The day the nation takes that next step people will be very happy and our jails will not be filled up with people who are nonviolent and should not be there. It will be a day when people can stop being discriminated for doing something that is currently illegal. Every argument that people have brought up about this beneficial plant has been shot down by facts about the plant and the good that it actually causes people. Marijuana is such a good thing that could benefit us and could create a lot of jobs in this country and that could really help the people who can not find a job because there will be so many new jobs opening up. The benefits that I listed are just a few that this plant can create for us if we legalize it, who knows what other positive things this simple plant can bring us!

Works Cited

“Alcohol.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/health-topics/alcohol#tab=tab_1.

Grinspoon, Peter. “Medical Marijuana.” Harvard Health Blog, 25 June 2019, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/medical-marijuana-2018011513085.

Hamblen, Katie. “Federal Laws for Marijuana Possession and Distribution.” LegalMatch Law Library, Katie Hamblen, 30 May 2019, https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/federal-marijuana-laws.html.

Head, Tom. “Compelling Reasons Why Weed Should Be Legalized.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 6 Oct. 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/reasons-why-marijuana-should-be-legalized-721154.

Kessler, Glenn. “Analysis | John Boehner’s Claim That ‘We Have Literally Filled up Our Jails’ with People for Minor Marijuana Possession.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/04/16/john-boehners-claim-that-we-have-literally-filled-up-our-jails-with-people-for-minor-marijuana-possession/.

Perez, A.J. “Martellus Bennett: ‘About 89%’ of NFL Players Use Marijuana.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 11 Apr. 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/04/11/martellus-bennett-89-percent-nfl-players-smoke-pot/508746002/.

Tims, dana. “Is Marijuana Less Addictive than Both Alcohol and Tobacco?” @Politifact, https://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2014/jun/04/earl-blumenauer/marijuana-less-addictive-both-alcohol-and-tobacco/.

“Tobacco.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 26 July 2019, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco.

Wilkinson, Samuel T. “Medical and Recreational Marijuana: Commentary and Review of the Literature.” Missouri Medicine, Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, Dec. 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179811/.“What Are the Major Federal Excise Taxes, and How Much Money Do They Raise?” Tax Policy Center, https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-major-federal-excise-taxes-and-how-much-money-do-they-raise.

Next, marijuana brings medical benefits to people that really helps and researchers are finding more research on it. For example:, “In particular, marijuana appears to ease the pain of multiple sclerosis, and nerve pain in general.” (Grinspoon).

Where I go wrong here is that I do not build up my ethos to make it sound more credible I just cite the source. If I would of made it so that I introduced him in the beginning people would be more likely to trust me and what I am saying. I did that multiple times in my essay and I need to go back and fix it and my essay should be much better.

Francisco Anaya

Janel Spencer

WRT 101S

19 November 2019

The Legalization Of Marijuana

The great debate of legalizing marijuana has been going on for a long time the 1980’s was the time people started to want it legalized. But society can never seem to come to an agreement on it. People need to be informed of all the benefits that it has and how cruel society and the law treats people who use it. Here is how long you can go to jail for a first time offense of possessing marijuana. “For a first offense: misdemeanor, up to a year of jail time and up to $1,000 in fines.”(Hamblen). This does not seem fair does it? The facts of this plant will be shown in the next few paragraphs. 

To begin, marijuana is one of the biggest reasons why our prisons are so filled. Our prisons according to John A Boehner “There for possession of small amounts of cannabis, you begin to really scratch your head. We have literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent and frankly do not belong there.” (“We have literally”). Citizens of this nation are being stripped away from their lives!  If the law was to actually go into affect the people that are in jail for possession of marijuana should be released and have their records expunged. These people have jobs and families and it’s being taken away from them for a marijuana charge and this is not right. With marijuana being legalized in a few states like Washington and Colorado it’s crazy to think that if these people that are currently in jail for possession of marijuana charges would have been in Washington or Colorado then nothing would have happened to them and they would have gone back to living their ordinary lives. The people being sent to jail for possession of marijuna are not the only ones suffering; the families are suffering because their loved ones are being striped of their freedom for something that should be legalized nationwide! 

Next, marijuana brings medical benefits to people that really helps and researchers are finding more research on it. For example, “In particular, marijuana appears to ease the pain of multiple sclerosis, and nerve pain in general.” (Grinspoon) millions of Americans deal with pain every day and legalizing marijuana would make it much easier to deal with this pain without having Americans getting addicted to opioids which is very bad because they are very addictive. Harvard medical also found that marijuana helps lesson tremors in Parkinson’s Disease. If you have ever seen someone who has parkinson’s disease you will see that they suffer from uncontrollable tremors and they do not live a comfortable life with this but with marijuana being legalized they can have a better quality of life without really bad tremors. Retired NFL players say they smoked marijuana because it would help with the pain their bodies would go through everyday. They say they preferred marijuana over opioids because opioids are very addictive and people can go down a bad road with those.(perez)

In addition, Samuel T. Wilkinson, MD says that 10 percent of people are addicted to marijuana who use it. This means that the People out there who say everyone will get addicted to weed is wrong, there is a small percentage of people who do get addicted. But anyone can get addicted to anything that you can think of therefore it is not a good argument against marijuana because people can go out and be addicted to something as simple as food or even going to the gym, those are real addictions! The argument that people will just get addicted to marijuana if it is legalized is actually scaring people into not wanting to legalize marijuana and that is not fair to all the people that could benefit from it being legalized for recreational use and the amount of money it could save the government from fighting it. Also it will save people millions each year for going to jail for having it on them.

Next, !!!!! Tom Head tells us that “In 2005, Milton Friedman and a group of over 500 other economists advocated for marijuana legalization on the basis that prohibition directly costs more than $7.7 billion per year.” (Head) Enforcing the prohibition of marijuana is very expensive 7.7 billion dollars is a lot of money that can be going somewhere else like schools that are underpaid. The government could save those 7.7 billion dollars and if they legalize marijuana they can benefit from it by taxing it, like they tax alcohol and tobacco products. With all of this money that the government would be saving and making they could really put it to good use. For all this to happen all we need to do is legalize marijuana nationwide and take part in the movement that other states are already doing.

SOMETHING, one of the biggest arguments that people always bring up is that marijuana is much safer than any tobacco or alcohol product and this is true because it is actually proven that you can not overdose on marijuana! “Further, it is impossible to overdose on marijuana since a pot smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times the amount of THC in a single joint to produce a lethal dose.” (Head) The amount of THC that one singular person would have to intake is literally impossible to do. On the other hand tobacco “Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year.”(Tobacco) this clearly shows how harmful one product that is currently legal for people 18 years and older to buy. But something that does not kill a single person a year and it benefits people’s health is illegal that just does not make sense to me. Alcohol is also very bad on the amount of people it kills each year. “Alcohol consumption contributes to 3 million deaths each year globally”(Alcohol) Alcohol is advertised all over the internet and television and it leads to 3 million people dying every year. Alcohol is advertised as something fun and marijuana has a bad image around it and I have proven that it is beneficial for people and safe in the means that you can not die from consuming it. I am not saying they should start to ban Alcohol because it would just not work as they tried in the past. I am just suggesting they legalize a plant that could bring our nation great success.

To conclude, The harmless plant that most people think is very bad for you is just as I stated not bad for you it can improve your way of life and help with multiple things like pain. People will realize that it is a good thing and not a bad thing because it will benefit the people that want it to be legalized and the government positively. Our nation needs to take the next step into the future and forget old standards that were imprinted into our brains that marijuana is bad for you. The day the nation takes that next step people will be very happy and our jails will not be filled up with people who are non violent and should not be there. It will be a day when people can stop being discriminated for doing something that is currently illegal. Every argument that people have brought up about this beneficial plant has been shot down by facts about the plant and the good that it actually causes people. Marijuana should also be legalized because it will allow the enforcement fund to be used in other ways and that could increase revenue. Also marijuana could create a lot of jobs in this country and that could really help the people who can not find a job because there will be so many new jobs opening up. The benefits that I listed are just a few that this plant can create for us if we legalize it, who knows what other positive things this simple plant can bring us!

Works Cited

“Alcohol.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/health-topics/alcohol#tab=tab_1.

Grinspoon, Peter. “Medical Marijuana.” Harvard Health Blog, 25 June 2019, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/medical-marijuana-2018011513085.

Hamblen, Katie. “Federal Laws for Marijuana Possession and Distribution.” LegalMatch Law Library, Katie Hamblen, 30 May 2019, https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/federal-marijuana-laws.html.

Head, Tom. “Compelling Reasons Why Weed Should Be Legalized.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 6 Oct. 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/reasons-why-marijuana-should-be-legalized-721154.

Kessler, Glenn. “Analysis | John Boehner’s Claim That ‘We Have Literally Filled up Our Jails’ with People for Minor Marijuana Possession.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/04/16/john-boehners-claim-that-we-have-literally-filled-up-our-jails-with-people-for-minor-marijuana-possession/.

Perez, A.J. “Martellus Bennett: ‘About 89%’ of NFL Players Use Marijuana.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 11 Apr. 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/04/11/martellus-bennett-89-percent-nfl-players-smoke-pot/508746002/.

“Tobacco.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 26 July 2019, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco.

Wilkinson, Samuel T. “Medical and Recreational Marijuana: Commentary and Review of the Literature.” Missouri Medicine, Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, Dec. 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179811/.

In essay 2 I wrote this “at kaiser Francisco still installs doors and does service calls when he gets out of work with Kaiser at about 2:00 PM he starts his second job after getting food at subway.” What I was clearly missing was some commas because its all just flowing along and that is not correct. It should look like this ” At Kaiser, Francisco still installs doors and does service calls. When he gets out of work with kaiser at about 2:00 PM, he starts his second job after getting food at subway.

Francisco Anaya

Janel Spencer

WRT 101S

19 November 2019

The legalization of marijuana

The great debate of legalizing marijuana has been going on for a very long time and people can never seem to come to an agreement on it. People need to be informed of all the benefits that it has and how cruel society and the law treats people who use it. People can go to jail for years and years for a weed charge but other people who did horrible crimes will be out in a way shorter time than a person with a marijuana charge. This does not seem fair does it? The facts of this plant will be shown in the next few paragraphs. 

To begin, Marijuana is one of the biggest reasons why our prisons are so filled. Our prisons according to John A Boehner “there for possession of small amounts of cannabis, you begin to really scratch your head. We have literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent and frankly do not belong there.” (Washington post). Citizens of this nation are being stripped away from their lives! These people have jobs and families and it’s being taken away from them for a marijuana charge and this is not right. With marijuana being legalized in a few states like Washington and Colorado it’s crazy to think that if these people that are currently in jail for possession of marijuana charges would have been in Washington or Colorado then nothing would have happened to them and they would have gone back to living their ordinary lives. The people being sent to jail for possession of marijuna are not the only ones suffering the families are suffering because their loved ones are being striped of their freedom for something that should be legalized nationwide! 

Next, the medical benefits marijuana brings to people is insane and researchers are still finding more and more each day. For example “In particular, marijuana appears to ease the pain of multiple sclerosis, and nerve pain in general.” (Peter grinspoon, MD) millions of Americans deal with pain everyday and legalizing marijuana would make it much easier to deal with this pain without having Americans getting addicted to opioids which is very bad because they are very addictive. Harvard medical also found that marijuana helps lesson tremors in parkinson’s disease. If you have ever seen someone who has parkinson’s disease you will see that they suffer from uncontrollable tremors and they do not live a comfortable life with this but with marijuana being legalized they can have a better quality of life without really bad tremors. I know for a fact that retired NFL players say they smoked marijuana because it would help with the pain their bodies would go through everyday. They say they preferred marijuana over opioids because opioids are very addictive and people can go down a bad road with those.

In addition, Samuel T. Wilkinson, MD says that 10 percent of people are addicted to marijuana who use it. But this is 100 percent true because people who are “addicted” are just addicted to the high not the actual cannabis or the product. This means that the People out their who say everyone will get addicted to weed is wrong, the small percentage of people who do get addicted are just addicted to the high. Anyone can get addicted to anything possible therefore it is not a good argument against marijuana because people can go out and be addicted to something as simple as food or even going to the gym, those are real addictions!

Work Cited

Grinspoon, Peter. “Medical Marijuana.” Harvard Health Blog, 25 June 2019, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/medical-marijuana-2018011513085.

Kessler, Glenn. “Analysis | John Boehner’s Claim That ‘We Have Literally Filled up Our Jails’ with People for Minor Marijuana Possession.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/04/16/john-boehners-claim-that-we-have-literally-filled-up-our-jails-with-people-for-minor-marijuana-possession/.

Wilkinson, Samuel T. “Medical and Recreational Marijuana: Commentary and Review of the Literature.” Missouri Medicine, Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, Dec. 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179811/.

Samuel T. Wilkinson, MD says that 10 percent of people are addicted to marijuana who use it. But this is 100 percent true because people who are “addicted” are just addicted to the high not the actual cannabis or the in the product.

I learned that some people think there is bad things that go on with it. Because of course people could get addicted and abuse it and that is a problem that goes with it.

The debate of legalizing marijuana has been going on for a very long time and people can never seem to come to an agreement on it. People need to understand all the befits that it has and how cruel society and the law treats people who use it. People can go to jail for years and years for a weed charge but other people who did horrible things will be out in a way shorter time than the person with a marijuana charge. Society has a big problem with it and legalizing it nation wide would make a huge impact on everyone positively.