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| Dischner, Zach, "Flying Ninja Man." 3/29/2013 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic |
Introduction:
- I think that the "Connect the Issue to Your Audience's World View" approach would be the most effective for my specific public argument. My target audience is mothers who may be liberal and willing enough to open their minds to the thought of marijuana legalization. I feel that sarcastically proclaiming that if you love your children you should look down on marijuana legalization would be a good way to start my blog post. This will appeal to my readers' belief that the prosperity of their children's future is important to them, and set the tone for the refutation argument type that I will use throughout my post.
Body Paragraphs:
- Major Supporting Arguments in Favor of Legalization on Marijuana
- bring money to the economy- create job, bring us out of debt, etc.
- less health repercussions/less addictiveness than alcohol or tobacco
- people won't be smoking just to defiantly disobey laws
- will allow there to be funding for education about marijuana
- will allow police to focus/spend money on more pressing issues than prohibition of marijuana
- the black market for drugs will be less powerful
- Major Criticisms Against Legalization
- marijuana can hinder memory and brain capabilities/ activity
- marijuana strands are stronger than they were in the past- could have more downsides
- government must have made it illegal for a good reason
- legalization will promote marijuana use more for the youth- marijuana is a gateway drug
- ending the ban on marijuana will only help those who want to freely use the drug
- Key Support and Rebuttal Points- I plan on organizing each portion of my argument with a proposed downside of legalization, then disproving that claim with support for legalization actually being able to benefit the youth of America.
- Legalization will make young adults more likely to use cannabis/ it will be bad for their mental health and memories- the youth will be exposed to marijuana and other drugs no matter what
- Legalization will only help people who are interested in using marijuana- marijuana legalization will help the economy, which will create jobs for the youth that are struggling to find jobs after college, also the government will get a surplus of money to help schools
- Topic Sentences- I think that I will break up each section of support for legalization with a sarcastic question that encompasses common beliefs that legalization would be bad
- Marijuana is going to hurt the mental development and mental health of the youth, right?
- Won't legalization just help those who already and plan on using marijuana?
- Aren't marijuana strands more dangerous than they were in the past?
- Isn't marijuana an addictive gateway drug?
- Evidence
- What Science Says About Marijuana
- "The Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a 1999 study that 32 percent of tobacco users become dependent, as do 23 percent of heroin users, 17 percent of cocaine users, and 15 percent of alcohol drinkers. But only 9 percent of marijuana users develop a dependence."
- "The real gateway drugs are tobacco and alcohol, which young people turn to first before trying marijuana."
- "Adding up all the damage, the panel estimated that alcohol was the most harmful drug, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana ranked eighth, having slightly more than one-fourth the harm of alcohol."
- "While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, no clear causal connection between marijuana and a deadly disease has been made."
- Colorado’s pot tax for schools sets record in May, crushes 2014 totals
- "In the first five months of 2015, the state’s pot-funded excise tax that collects money earmarked for school construction projects brought in $13.6 million, which is more than it did in all of 2014."
- "Even if modest growth continues through the end of the year, Colorado schools will get the promised infusion of $40 million"
- How legalizing pot could save America's economy
- Ending the prohibition of cannabis will enable American industries--transportation, packaging, retail, processing, and tourism-- to thrive
- "Average annual trade in marijuana is estimated at $113 billion, which represents nearly $45 billion in taxes slipping through our fingers."
- Map of Argument
- Click here to access the Coggle that I have made for my public argument.
Conclusion:
- The "Call to Action" approach would most likely be the best way to go about constructing my conclusion. This would be the most effective approach to ending my public argument because it will clarify the reasons why I want to show my readers how marijuana could indeed help the youth of America. I want to encourage the individuals reading my post to feel empowered to take action regarding marijuana legalization, whether this means voting in favor for legalization if given the opportunity to do so, or to engage in discussions with individuals who may believe in the misconceptions regarding marijuana legalization having the potential to negatively affect children and young adults.
Reflection:
For this step in my writing process I chose to read and comment on the "Considering Visual Elements" posts by Ann Emilie and Addie. Addie and I are writing in similar genres so most of our ideas and observations about our genres really seem to match up. Ever since the beginning of this class, I have known that blogs need to have short and concise paragraphs, however Addie's post really reminded me of the importance of this. Ann Emilie's post showed me how much thought can and must go into a visual argument. After reading Ann Emilie's post I now see that the images that I chose to include and the colors within them can have great impact on my audience, thus I need to pay close attention to my visual selections. I am pretty confident in my plans for this project!
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