Marijuana Use Among Youth

Fabiola Chavez
University of Texas at El Paso
Christopher Herrera
English 1302: Rhetoric and Writing Studies
 Marijuana use among youth

According to statistical surveys and academic reporting, substance use leads to adverse

developments for adolescents that affect various aspects of life, such as social skills and

behavior, intellectual progression, prioritization of needs, and mental health, from the very first

use increasing during habitual/dependency use. Media reporting marijuana use and its effects on

this population can be found through various genres such as visual, audio, and written

documentation, with this genre analysis based on typography and iconography material.

Typographic documentation for this genre analysis has been retrieved from the University of

Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute’s article Adolescents and Marijuana which relies

on written survey data regarding a wide range of issues such as the percentage of use among

adolescents, mental development, behavioral health, and over all life satisfaction. Iconography

formatted information stemming from the digital info graph titled Marijuana Use Among Youth

in Colorado, produced by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, features

statistical figures represented in several types of graphs displaying a regional breakdown of

users, types of consumption, and health inequities of users such as sexual orientation,

race/ethnicity, age, and gender identity. These publications and their respective genres will be

discussed in response to illegal marijuana use among adolescents throughout this analysis.

Audience and Purpose

Observing the UW Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute’s publication’s intended population

for their study titled Adolescents and Marijuana from 2012 (published 2014) can be found aimed

at young adults up to the age range of someone in their mid-thirties. The audience is teens,

parents, and anybody in contact with teens, such as teachers and counselors, while making it

easily accessible to Spanish speakers highlighted by the tabs at the top of the page for ‘teens,’
‘parents,’ and ‘Espanol.’ Subsections of the text talking about school performance, behaviors,

and other concerns, directed towards professionals in those fields and adults who may know a

young user. The purpose of this publication is to inform the negative consequences that

substance use has on adolescent’s and on their life. It is also intended to make an impact by

making society aware of how they view substance use among teenagers through talking about the

mental health issues and lack of social development.

The Marijuana Use Among Youth in Colorado (2015) digital info graph is intended for

people in mental health, substance use, counselors/educators, and parents, as shown by the

sections of the info graph displaying various statistics about the surveyed data including how the

substance was obtained by the youth, their methods of consumption, and a demographic

breakdown of those surveyed. The info graph can easily be understood by young and elder

adults regardless of profession through the setup. Tips for how adults can intervene by

conversing with youth can dissuade the likelihood that they will end up trying the substance.

The purpose of the survey is described underneath the title stating it is a tool to help “understand

the health of Colorado’s…students,” and to lead them to healthier decisions.

These two genres relate to adolescents and young adults who read English. The survey

on Marijuana Use Among Youth in Colorado (2015) is not designed for people who speak

Spanish while that option is available in the fact sheet (Adolescents and Marijuana, 2014). The

digital info graph appears to be for a broader general public; the fact sheet seems to be for a

slightly older population due to the word count being much higher with no visual aids for

reference and a more advanced selection of words.

 Structure and Delivery

The structure of the fact sheet in Adolescents and Marijuana (2014) is user friendly. In

the beginning of the article the author conveys what it will be informing the reader of and what

the order is. The body sections of the fact sheet follow this lead, like a scholarly article would. If

the reader was only interested in a certain aspect that the adolescent lives, for example, mental

health issues, they can easily scroll down and view that information. It presents to the reader in a

simple way as well. The vocabulary in the article is very easily apprehensible and, as a parent,

would be easy to understand since it does not use medical terminology. The way the author bolds

the subsection titles that they will be discussing in the following paragraph is a way to attract the

reader to read more since there is information that is not saturated with too much, which may

cause it to not be beneficial. They do offer suggestions or references in the end where the reader

can get more information if they are interested or when they have more time to do research on

the topic. The font that they used for the article made it easy to read without having to guess

what each letter was, which can happen when using different fonts. The fact that it was not

colorful and did not show a lot of pictures helped to convey the seriousness of the article so the

information was not undermined.

In comparison to the article, the next genre was a digital poster of information from the

Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (2015). The poster at first sight seemed to have a lot of

information and it seemed a little crowded. The use of color in the font as well as different font

size helped to bring the reader eyes to the poster like through the use of a green title to reference

the color of marijuana while using purple hues for graphs to show a more neutral but attractive

layout. The use of different graphs does distract the readers from wanting to read everything and

might guide the reader to the graph that they are most interested in. Another great idea that the
poster had was that it showed how a state that has legalized marijuana affected adolescents

compared to the national average. The poster, unlike the fact sheet, did not refer to other

resources as it was the only resource used. It is meant to inform the adult and hopefully be a way

to start a conversation about drug use with adolescents. Graphs are grouped together according

to the similar topic of each perspective graph such as the section titled ‘Health Inequities’ which

include race/ethnicity, sex, gender identity, etc. The poster did have a physical limitation due to

the poster size and the size of the font and graphs used in the landscape layout. The language

used can be understood by adults of any age, including teenagers, because it contains plain

language used by most people not specific to any industry or discourse community.

The two genre applications try to bring awareness to marijuana use concerning

adolescents. They both display the effects of the substance on young people on different aspects

of their lives. Statistical data from surveys are used by both genres to bolster their statements. In

contrast, the fact sheet (Adolescents and Marijuana, 2015) is geared more towards how the

future of users can be impacted as compared to the info graph (Marijuana use Among Youth in

Colorado, 2015) being directed towards more current situations based on those surveyed. There

does not seem to be time restrictions for either genre in this analysis because they both contain

current information and can be viewed online at easily accessible links. People who are more

visual learners may have an easier time understanding the information in the digital info graph

because the majority of the information provided by this genre is shown through colored graphs.

The fact sheet does not contain visual aids, except a picture of young adults relative to one of the

targeted audiences, and seems more inclined for use by people who have a more advanced

education since it must be read.

 Ethos

This section of the rhetorical analysis describes the ethos of both documents. Having

fewer visual aids and reference to in-depth studies, such as one from 2012 reporting that 1,000

individuals were studied from birth to their mid-thirties with specific points of focus

(Adolescents and Marijuana, para. 7), makes is seem sound and true. Citing multiple resources

for the information provided in the article helps to improve the scholarly credibility of this genre

showing that the research presented adhere to higher educational standards.

Readers of Marijuana Use Among Youth in Colorado (2015) may question the reliability

of the answers provided by the youth because it is only a survey and not a research study with

specific parameters set by experimenters. Youth are not the most upfront, being more cautious,

about their answers given on surveys, especially when it regards a serious topic and being less

likely to have to deal with repercussions for providing false information. It still has a sense of

credibility because the survey was taken by the Colorado Department of Public Health and

Environment, which is a state government entity. The number of participants for the survey is

not established, also not lending more credibility to the results shown though there is a website

URL provided for more information of the survey.

Pathos

When viewing material from the UW Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute (2014), there is a

serious tone due to vocabulary used, with medical conditions that may occur from marijuana use

being presented throughout the paper. There is neutral sense of emotional response due to the

academic format and resources, not heavily favoring positive or negative connotations. This

article may have been edited for the purpose of removing such emotional responses.
 Understanding that youth in Colorado as young as 13 as the age for the onset of

marijuana use evokes an ‘eye-opening’ emotional response making readers aware the substance

itself is not discriminatory of categories like age, sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or

gender identity (Marijuana Use Among Youth, 2014). Another response to the colored graphs

can be that the information seems overwhelming because there are so many graphs provided on

this one poster. Even using different types of visuals, such as pie graphs, bar graphs, a map, and

a plot graph support this concern.

Logos

Evidence provided by both genres make statistical references. The University of

Washington’s Adolescents and Marijuana (2014) reported facts sheet provides links to

references cited within the document and ‘Additional Resources’ for more relative info. The

data represented in this article concern people during their use and how they may be affected in

the future (not necessarily dependent on continued use). The digital info graph depicting the

Healthy Kids Colorado Survey 2015 is more informal compared to the formal setup of

Adolescents and Marijuana. Enhancement of the Colorado survey’s logos is established through

a link providing further detail of the surveyed data at healthykidscolo.org.

Conclusion

To reiterate, the typography and iconography audiences are similar that they are for youth

and adults alike, focusing on parents and those who are around potential adolescent users and

current users. The purpose of each genre work analyzed was to educate viewers about statistical

data regarding marijuana use among youth and young adults. The Adolescents and Marijuana

(2014) report was designed more for informing readers about the effects of marijuana while the
Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (2015) was formatted to show stats about when, what, how, and

who has consumed the substance. The typographic and iconography genre materials were

structured differently in which one was similar to an academic report while the other used visual

content. Rhetorical analysis was provided for both. The ethos credibility of UW Alcohol &

Drug Abuse Institute’s report (2014) proved more scholarly as the Colorado Survey’s (2015)

reliability came into question due to the population and information surveyed. The pathos

analysis for the typographic report was rather neutral and maintained its’ purpose to inform

readers of important developments of marijuana use while the singular survey from Colorado

youth was barely more emotional simply due to showing how the substance was

nondiscriminatory regarding the type of user. Logos for both genres was applied through the

type of information provided being data from either research studies or surveys. The way in

which media and the intended audiences determined content provided by both genres was

significant in how each was portrayed. They were very different with regards to overall layout

with one being a scholarly report while the other was viewed as a less reliable source of useful

information in the deterrence of marijuana use among youth.

 References

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. (2015). [Graph Illustrations pie graphs
statistical graph and bar graphs 2015]. Marijuana Use Among Youth in Colorado from the
Healthy Kids Colorado Survey 2015. Retrieved from
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/PF_Youth_MJ-Infographic-
Digital.pdf

UW Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute. (2014). Adolescents and Marijuana. Learn About
Marijuana: Science Based Information for the Public. Retrieved from
http://learnaboutmarijuanawa.org/factsheets/adolescents.htm