Saif Ali – JewellENG1101fall2019tth

Legalization of Marijuana

Saif Ali

There has been numerous conflict regarding the legalization of marijuana, with an extraordinary amount of contradicting research presented on both sides. Although there are many perspectives to take into consideration, these matters always condense down to the personal motives of many individuals. Many of these reasoning may stem from a medical, political, economic or even religious point of view, but overall, the legalization of marijuana should not be an issue dictated and controlled by the government and should be a free act that is decided by the normal people.

Throughout history, the use of cannabis for purposes of healing was utilized in many ancient cultures. Although civilizations like the Ancient Egyptians and Japanese were known to cultivate cannabis, the first documentation of this plant being used as a medicinal drug was recorded in 2737 BC by the Chinese emperor Shen Nug, who recorded the effectiveness of marijuana in treating ailments such as Gout, and Rheumatism. Apparently, our body already produces marijuana-like chemicals that affect inflammation and pain; marijuana simply amplifies the effectiveness of these natural chemicals to work better. In modern times, doctors may prescribe medical marijuana to treat muscle spasms triggered by multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, nausea from cancer, symptoms that accompany chronic illnesses and Crohn’s disease. Despite there being mild side effects of using mirujuana such as dizziness, drowsiness or short term memory loss, the benefits of using this plant reasonably outweighs the consequences accompanying it (medicalnewstoday.com). Although many higher ups look down on the use of marijuana because many individuals abuse it as narcotics, the amount of abuse and damage is still relatively pretty low when compared to other pharmaceutical drugs such as oxycodone or synthetic drugs such as bath salts, which are way more detrimental to an individual than cannabis.

The act of legalizing marijuana could also help boost revenue and the overall economy. If the government applied new taxes on the legalized drug, it would be a great way to increase funding for things such as infrastructure and Medicaid. According to analysts, if the government were to legalize weed and regulate the amount of taxation placed on the drug, this method could potentially raise millions of dollars per year and help improve our ailing economy (washingtonpost.com). This method seems to work on the economy of Pueblo County, Colo. In a report done by the Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Institute of Cannabis Research, “researchers found that a taxed and regulated cannabis industry contributed more than $58 million to the local economy,”(Denver Post, forbes.com). This shows that imposing taxes on such a widely consumed popular product could vastly improve the economy. According to the report, compared to the other communities where weed is not allowed, Pueblo is doing relatively better. In addition, legalizing marijuana could also create many job opportunities in the pot industry. According to New Frontier’s report, they predict nationwide legalization of federally legal marijuana could generate 1.1 million jobs by 2025. Workers would be needed to farm, process, distribute, and sell marijuana-based products and even secondary industries such as software developers and financing services could provide assistance in the production and distribution of marijuana.

Legalization of marijuana could also allow the criminal justice and law enforcement to be more effective with their time and resources. Instead of wasting their time going after people who use marijuana, police officers could invest more of their money and time pursuing criminals committing worse and more violent crimes. Legalizing this plant would definitely change the way law enforcement operates and free up space in criminal facilities in order to house criminals with more serious causes. According to the Huffington Post, studies have failed to show a link between the use of marijuana and crime in general; “The findings on the relationship between violence and marijuana use are mixed and much of the evidence points toward reductions in violent behavior for those who smoke marijuana,” … “In fact, researchers have suggested that any increase in criminality resulting from marijuana use may be explained by its illegality, rather than from the substance itself,”(Morris, Huffington Post). In addition to that, researchers have also found that compared to other intoxication such as alcohol that makes the user more prone to aggressive behavior, cannabis provides a contrary effect on chronic users due to it possessing THC, which is an active ingredient in pot that has shown to cause a reduction in belligerent behavior. This shows that the correlation between crime and marijuana possess no legitimate connection and that the condemnation of marijuana in order to preserve public safety is needless method to counteract people from acquiring it.

Despite the host of benefits provided by this medicinal crop, many people still perceive marijuana as a dangerous substance that is a threat to the well being of the public. The opposition towards marijuana is due to many factors. A big contribution to this mindset is due to the way media portrays marijuana. False representations of this drug has led many people to believe that users of marijuana often align themselves with an uncivilized lifestyle. There is also a misconception that marijuana is the gateway drug to a variety of other potentially more harmful substances and may lead to overdosing on those substances. These stereotypes have made people disregard other potentially more harmful drugs like alcohol, which research has suggested “ is a much more significant factor than marijuana when it comes to violent crime.” A report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism also discovered that 25 percent to 30 percent of violent crimes are linked to alcohol use. A study from Addictive Behaviors stated that “alcohol is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication-violence relationship,” (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, huffpost.com). Clearly, the use of substances such as alcohol has a more detrimental effect on the body than marijuana.

Therefore, the legalization of marijuana should be passed as it has been statistically proven to be a benefit to the consumer’s health, helpful to the economy and would improve the efficiency of the law enforcement. Criminalization of marijuana has caused many people to be clouded with false beliefs and statistics of the drug being a dangerous substance to consumers. However, recreational use of this medicinal plant counters the negatives. The use of marijuana has been used throughout history with minimal consequences; it is ludicrous to deem it now as a crop that triggers violence because of its misrepresentation, and should be allowed for the user to use on their free will.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Railton, David. “What Are the Health Benefits and Risks of Cannabis?” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320984.php#2.
Zhang, Mona. “Legal Marijuana Is A Boon To The Economy, Finds Study.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 Mar. 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/monazhang/2018/03/13/legal-marijuana-is-a-boon-to-the-economy-finds-study/#a93b0f8ee9d9
Ferner, Matt. “Legalizing Medical Marijuana May Actually Reduce Crime.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 28 Mar. 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/medical-marijuana-crime-study_n_5044397.
“Why Americans Support or Oppose Legalizing Marijuana.” Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 24 Sept. 2018, https://www.people-press.org/2015/04/14/in-debate-over-legalizing-marijuana-disagreement-over-drugs-dangers/.

Glenn, Adrianne. “False Representations: Media Portrayal of Marijuana.” The Pitt News, 19 Apr. 2015, https://pittnews.com/article/1350/opinions/false-representations-media-portrayal-of-marijuana/.

Reflection on Annotated Bibliography

Saif Ali

Reading Reflection

11/17/19

There are numerous similarities that all the sources in the genre share, such as the use of tone, language and emotional appeal to the audience. The authors of the various sources utilized many tones and languages to appeal to the emotions of the audience. The intentions of the authors for using these methods were to persuade the audience to see their point of view for the argument or belief they were trying to uphold. The audience for the sources also varied; some authors were writing to appeal to an audience that liked adventurous tales, while others preferred reading about a romantic or tragic story. In order to appeal to the preferences of these audiences, the authors used tones and language that would correspond to the nature of the different stories they were writing about. There was a lot to learn from this topic. Poetry can be applied to a lot of methods of writing. The authors showed through their pieces that not a single word is wasted when it comes to writing poetic literature. These authors try to find the most effective words to deliver their emotions or thoughts to the audience they are trying to appeal to. In addition to that, poems stir the audience’s imagination through their use of words and creates powerful visuals for them, in order for them to truly understand the subject they are being immersed in. The values of words and emotions used in poems by the authors teach the audience how inspiring poetry can be and how well-crafted lines of poetry can lead to an outlet of the audience’s own ideas.

As a writer, I’m good at deciphering the author’s underlying messages of each of his lines and expanding it in order to understand the intentions of what the author is trying to say. In poems, the authors say a lot of things that aren’t as direct or straight-forward as normal literature. In that sense, it can be difficult for the audience to understand the real meanings behind each of the lines of the poems. However, I am good at pinpointing the claim the author is trying to make in his piece, and the evidence he provides throughout his poem by understanding the tone and language of the poetic literature. To continue to grow as a writer, I would like to work on my grammar and structure my writing in a better and more efficient way. In order to enact these changes, it would be wise for me to take small steps first, and continue to write consistently in order to grow and improve as a writer.

Climate Change

Climate change is undeniably one of the most prevalent threats to humans that has the potential to affect the economy, community and environment on a global scale. In an article called “Indigenous farming practices failing as climate change disrupts seasons,” published by Peter Schwartzstein on October 14, 2019, the author highlights the numeros unforeseen weather fluctuations triggered by the disturbances to our Earth’s climate. The author initiates the article by giving a condensed description of a typical workday of the Hopi Tribesmen of northern Arizona; these farmers deduce the success of their crops’ growth by assessing the environmental conditions of their arid, mesa environment. However, due to the spreading issue of rapid climate change, their methods have been rendered futile, and has made it difficult for these tribesmen to continue sustaining themselves.

Similar to the predicament of the farmers of the Hopi Tribesmen, Schwartzstien continues his article by explaining how the issue of climate change is worsening the living conditions of many peoples’ lives. However, he makes sure to prioritize the specific impact it has on the lives of farmers who heavily rely on their indegineous knowledge of seasonal weather and climate forecasting in order to maintain their crops. He reinforces their dilemma by providing the reader with a list of evidence highlighting a string of problems that mainly influences the forecasting methods of these indeginous farmers, such as bird migrations, wind direction, stars, and etc. The author also strengthens his reasoning by revealing that these farmers are oblivious to the concept of global warming, and explains how they are morally defeated as their indeginious wisdom that they and their ancestors have relied on for such a prolonged period are unfortunately becoming outdated.

Schwartzstien’s article tries to persuade the reader of the issue of climate change and the specific effect it has on farmers who rely on indigenous farming methods by addressing the moral and mental toll these changes have had on these farmers. He makes sure to focus in on the emotion and trauma that the farmers are psychologically enduring as the methods their people have utilized for centuries are failing. He also tries to convince the readers of the situation of these farmers by mentioning the circumstances of the farmers, explaining how they are not equipped with the contemporary knowledge of our world’s situation in order to know what’s happening to the weather patterns. Schwartzstien’s main use of pathos helps to convince the readers that the situation of farmers in these communities and the ever growing issue of climate change is a devastating and unfortunate problem that will most likely continue to put them at a disadvantage if nothing is done to slow down the process of this global obstacle.

Bibliography

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/climate-change-killing-thousands-of-years-indigenous-wisdom/

The Magic of “Magician”

Saif Ali

I live in New York City, and in the city when you don’t have a car, the subway system is your best friend. I also love being on my phone and just browse or play games. However, whenever I am on the train I can’t use my phone to the extent I want it to because I don’t get signal inside the train. So I can’t play most of my fun games, browse social media, or watch videos to pass the time. I just have the ability to listen to music. I use the train a lot and for long periods of time most times so I always have nothing to do. That was until I downloaded an app called Webtoons.

I was able to download and read manga from this app on the train which helped me pass time and emerge myself into different and crazy worlds. I told myself I will only use this app when I am on the train to pass time because I never really liked reading and to me it felt uncool and a waste of time. That was until I started reading this manga series Magician. This 400 chapter long story blew me off my seat and I found myself not only reading it on the crowded train while washing away all the unnecessary sounds and distractions and making an hour train ride feel like ten minutes, but also at home eating dinner or when I am about to go to sleep. I felt a whole new connection and feelings toward this series.

It took me two months to finish reading this series and once I finished reading it, my perspective on English literature has changed dramatically. I learned to appreciate the effort authors put into a piece in order to control the emotions we feel while reading a piece. I learned to understand different aspects of storytelling. For example, Magician does a really good job at making everything come back in a circle. All the events and characters in the beginning chapters would make the reader think that they are not important in the story but in fact towards the end play a big role which left me shocked. This experience also showed me how important character development actually is. The story starts off with the two main characters as little kids and ends with them being adults. This may not seem too important but it really set the tone on how this series would play out. In the first season the story seems joyful and fun with a lot of adventures and exploring but in the later seasons take a dark turn where almost every situation is a life or death scenario. Every single one of these life threatening events has shaped the protagonists into something much more serious and mature and us as readers have seen every single step of this happen which also connected us with the protagonists in a spiritual level.

After reading Magician I realized that there could actually be a lot more English literature where the plot can be exciting and the reader grows a connection with the characters’ hardships and fun moments they each face. Because of this typical manga piece I believe I can open my eyes and be more understanding about the deeper meaning in English literature.

Author: Saif Ali

Legalization of Marijuana

Reflection on Annotated Bibliography

Climate Change

The Magic of “Magician”

Saif Ali Personal Experience

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