1.

Purpose of your paper

2. Thesis
3. Personal Stories (A large percentage of addicted babies have mothers from a
low economic class and are younger. This paragraph looks at why this might
the case and what can be done specifically in order to target this group.)
a. Why do people start smoking?
i.
Bullying- victims end up with issue issues and health problems;
students (grades 7-12) are 1.5 x more likely to smoke if they were
bullied (Bullied Teens)
ii.
Feelings of inferiority- smoking helps people enter their own world,
they feel in control when they use it; it helps calm people with
anxiety; they try to isolate themselves from the world (Prasad)
iii.
Parents/siblings/friends do it (Why People Start Smoking)
b. What gets them hooked?
i.
Need to stay popular- want to fit in with the crowd; also want to
rebel from authority and do something bad (Choate)
ii.
Highly addictive; hard to quit- the younger you are when you begin
to smoke, the more likely you are to become addicted to nicotine
(Why People Start Smoking)
c. Why is it so difficult to stop?
i.
THC is highly addictive in the sense that people become dependentcigarettes and marijuana are usually used together thus it is
difficult to study one without the other; those who stop marijuana
use after about 3-4 days usually experience an increased desire to
rest with no motivation to do anything and experience rapid eye
movement (Kuczkowsli)
4. Facts (To combat the argument that marijuana is harmless, this paragraph
serves to provide specific examples of negative effects. Although my paper
mainly focuses on the effects on babies, this paragraphs intent is to extend
my topic to all)
a. Brain effects (nucleus accumbens and amygdala)
i.
Area that processes pleasure and reinforcing stimulus- determine
whether something is rewarding or bad, whether they experience
pain or pleasure; this area allows people to explore new interests
(Hoder)
ii.
New studies found that dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens
rise when it is exposed to both pain and pleasure; marijuana does
not stop the feelings of these, it makes it harder and sometimes
impossible to differentiate between the two; this area also deals
with environmental stimuli, smokers can smell smoke and want it
(Volman)
b. Physical effects (stunted growth)
i.
Brain of smokers has differences in density, volume, and shape-a
persons chance for a heart attack increases by 5% during the first
hour; raises blood pressure and limits the bloods ability to carry
oxygen; can lead to permanent cough; associated with large airway
inflammation, increased airway resistance, lung hyperinflation,

chronic bronchitis, and reduces ability of immune system (What are

Marijuanas Effects)
5. Unborn babies (This paragraph is the most important piece of my paper and
deals specifically with the effects of marijuana on babies)
a. How it specifically effects them
i.
THC easily crosses the placental barrier- leads to insufficient blood
flow to the baby and reduces the size of the baby; can lead to
bronchitis, squamous metaplasia (a change of lining cells that is
connected to lesions, chronic irritation, and cancer) and
emphysema (long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that leads
them to collapse) (Kuczkowsli)
ii.
NICU has to fix tremors, irritability, sleep problems, high-pitched
crying, tight muscle tone, hyperactive reflexes, seizures, yawning,
stuffy nose, sneezing, poor ability to eat, vomiting, diarrhea,
dehydration, sweating, fever or unstable temperature (Substance
Exposure and Babies)
b. NICU treatments used
i.
May need methadone or benzodiazepines
c. Death percentages
6. Differences between other studies
a. Age (worse in kids than the adults that are regularly studied)
i.
Babies from smokers are smaller upon birth
b. Tobacco, alcohol (felt effects, brain effects, long-term results)
7. Legalization
a. We live in a different society now
i.
E-cigarettes and vaping- often viewed as harmless, and they are
easier to obtain than other products; easier to learn on and are
usually a gateway to other drugs (Why People Start Smoking)
b. Colorado- how things have changed
c. Medias impact
i.
Tobacco industry spends lots of money making smoking look cool