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Jovany Arroyo
English 115
Professor Lawson
28 November 2016
Rough Draft Research Paper
Word Count: 2019
Medicine or Poison
The media portrays marijuana to be a harmless drug through various movies and
T.V. shows worldwide. Throughout the years many people have been fighting to keep marijuana
illegal; however, as of November 8, 2016 proposition 64 was passed allowing the recreational
use of Marijuana to be legal for those over the age of 21. This drug has been given the title of a
gateway drug because once you start using it your body gets accustomed to the amount you
intake making you want to increase your intake amount to get a greater high. There are many
stereotypes that come when one hears the word marijuana. Some being that marijuana is harmful,
it makes you do unintelligent acts and that if you smoke one time you will become addicted.
Most of these stereotypes are true there might be a few exceptions but that is only a few.
When we start accepting marijuana into our culture and start promoting it for people to
buy that is when we know something went wrong. There is now a magazine called leafly and is
the world's largest information resource about cannabis"(Wolff) showing that the media
accepted marijuana already and is going to influence other people into doing the same thing.
There is already a culture called Pot, or pot style, could become part of what is now called
content marketing -- using your content to create a symbiotic marketing environment (Wolff)
this comes to show that anyone can participate in making this culture bigger because people can

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now create what they want related to marijuana and market it. Marijuana shouldnt be glorified
as a drug, that isnt addicting or harmless in the media. The media should let people know what
they are about to do and let them choose for themselves.
Marijuana is harmful to your body and your brain especially since the brain and the body
are still developing. In the short film Keep Off the Grass a mother is vacuuming her sons
room and she comes upon a joint. She later confronts her son about it but he denies it, so him
being curious he decides to go where all the weed heads hang out and try it for himself. The
son says to his father, Theres not a shred of evidence that marijuana is any worse than nicotine
or alcohol (Son) when he is confronted by him. This shows how the media they influence you
on how marijuana is not as harmful as people say it is. The son is making it seem like smoking
marijuana is as harmless as drinking a beer or smoking a cigarette when it is not. Marijuana is
highly more addicting than the cigarettes and alcohol. In a study done by the National Institute
on Drug Abuse there was proof that Contrary to common belief, marijuana is addictive.
Estimates from research suggest that about 9 percent of users become addicted to marijuana; this
number increases among those who start young. (NIODA) The son will most likely become
addicted to it because he started smoking marijuana while he was young, making it harder for
him to quit as he gets older.
In a study done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it shows how marijuana is
harmful to your body and mind. Marijuana damages the brain since it over activates the
endocannabinoid system, causing the high (NIODA) this causes problems for the one doing
the drug while and after they finish using the drug. Tobacco is legal everywhere but the harmful
effects that accumulate from this substance, in which most of the people are not okay with.
Marijuana being seen a cool harmless drug thanks to the media is just as bad as tobacco because

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Marijuana smoke is an irritant to the lungs, and frequent marijuana smokers can have many of
the same respiratory problems experienced by tobacco smokers as stated by the National
Institute of Drug Abuse. This is a very controversial topic because there are a lot of people who
now that partake in smoking marijuana, they dont want to believe that what they are doing is
harmful to them so they just choose to believe what other people tell them.
It is also illegal to sell, a single gram of marijuana found on you without a medical card
will most likely get you jail time just for possessing it. If they find out, you are a dealing
marijuana you will most likely add to the years that one would already get for possessing it. In
the T.V. show Weeds Nancy Botwin is a marijuana dealer, she is upper class but has to resort to
selling marijuana due to her husbands recent death. Nancy describes herself by saying Im not
a dealer, Im a mother who happens to distribute illegal products through a sham bakery set up
by my ethically questionable CPA and his crooked lawyer friend (Botwin) showing how easy
they make it seem to sell this drug. She seems like a harmless person and says what many people
might say, that it is just weed there is nothing bad about it so it is okay to sell it. It is not which is
why it is illegal, except for medical marijuana that can be obtained at the marijuana shops but
only with a green card.
What a great job since it never goes out of business right? Marijuana will always find a
way to be sold illegally because now it is legal for those over twenty-one. So how will the kids
that are under twenty-one get their drugs now? They must resort to a person like Nancy Botwin.
As said by Charles Stimson it would most likely result is that the drug will not be sold in
legitimate stores at all, because while the federal government is currently tolerating medical
marijuana dispensaries, it will not tolerate wide-scale sales under general legalization statutes.
(Stimson) So he is basically saying that it is legal to buy in the medical marijuana shops but for

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the people that cant access the drug it must be sold to them illegally. This will always exist
maybe until they make marijuana legal for everyone, this means that there will always be a
market for marijuana, legal or illegal.
Marijuana is already a problem because cartels exist and there is trafficking present
across the borders. Even if marijuana was legal it wouldnt weaken the cartels according to
Sylvia Longmire from the New York Times If marijuana were legalized, the cartels would still
make huge profits from the sale of these other drugs so even if this malignant drug is legalized
the violence and trafficking wont stop so it doesnt make a difference.
These claims might be problematic though due to the reason that some people might say
that there is research showing that the media portrays marijuana as a bad thing. There might be a
couple of films or T.V shows that do that, but for the most part, it is all pro-marijuana and how it
is harmful. Teenagers or even adults from whichever age range will watch these movies or T.V
shows and think to themselves that it is not that bad so they will partake in the drug. The media
might be a reason why a kid would use marijuana as a recreational drug since they saw a cool
person do it in a movie so if they do it, it will make them cool as well. As much as one would
like that it is typically not the case. Melissa Fyfe conducted a study and found that many
students are smoking simply to promote an image. Matt Handcock, 17, started when he was a
street kid because of "nerves" but said teenage smoking was mainly about looking and
feeling cool. (Fyfe) This shows how people just do it to look cool but after they do it they cant
stop and they want to keep on doing it until they do other worse drugs.
The audience should be aware that marijuana is a drug that only leads to other worse
drugs. It is an addicting substance and while it may be used to treat medical problems it does not

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negate the fact that it is harmful to your body. The media portrays this as a harmless drug which

is not addicting, and everyone does it so it is okay; it is not. It is the complete opposite as
research shows. Sandra Alters provides studies on the many age levels using marijuana. This is a
table showing how marijuana use has been increasing from the different generations that have
been using marijuana. As you can see as one gets older they start drifting away from the 30-day
mark and the bar of the lifetime starts going up. This is because they start using the drug and as
they get addicted to it they want more and more; this is when they start using it more because
being sober doesnt feel good to them anymore they are always searching for the high until they
achieve it.
There might be people that doubt what I am trying to say, and what I would say to them is to go
look at the studies. The scientist from the National Institute on Drug Abuse addressed questions

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on marijuana. When someone asked them if marijuana is dangerous or how is it addicting they
responded to it. They expressed that Scientific research has shown that marijuana can be
dangerous for teens because their brains are still developing. Regular marijuana use may impact
teens' ability to learn and even lower their IQs. (NIDA) This drug is harmful to everyone, not
just teenagers especially when one starts as young and doesnt stop until they are old. Also,
marijuana is proved to be addictive by the scientist at NIDA they stated that It affects certain
receptors in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors, which influence many functions, including
the brain's reward system so if your brain doesnt get what it needs it starts seeking it more until
you arent able to control this urge because it controls you.
In conclusion, marijuana is not what the media says it is, this drug is addicting and leads
to more dangerous drugs. It is certainly not cool either this is how the media wants you to think,
it should not be used for anything other than medicinal purposes. Marijuana makes your body
weak and more vulnerable to lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Not only that but mental
problems may start to develop in your life since marijuana makes your brain do things it
regularly wouldnt. This is now a legal drug but we should work to make this drug illegal again
due to all the harmful effects it has.

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Sources Cited
Alters, Sandra M. "Use of marijuana among persons aged 18-45, by time of use and age group, 2007."
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drugs. 2009 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Information Plus Reference
Series. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Botwin, Nancy. Quotes. IMDb, IMDb.com, 15 Apr. 2005, www.imdb.com/title/tt0439100/quotes.
Davis, Sid, director. Keep off the Grass. Davis Productions, 1970.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Marijuana Use Harms Health and Is Addictive." Drug Legalization.
Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Rpt.
from "Drug Facts: Marijuana." Vol. 1. 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Nov.
2016.
"Questions about drugs--answers from scientists." Junior Scholastic/Current Events 14 Dec. 2015: 20+.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Stimson, Charles D. "Marijuana Trafficking and Use Are Linked with Crime." The Legalization of
Marijuana. Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2016. Opposing
Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Legalizing Marijuana: Why Citizens Should Just Say No." Heritage.org.
Vol. 5. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
"Teenagers getting hooked on an all-too-smoky image." Age [Melbourne, Australia] 7 Nov. 1995: 5.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2016.
Wolff, Michael. "Marijuana, a media miracle." USA Today 4 Aug. 2014: 01B. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2016.

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