The Media and It’s Focus on Marijuana

Table of Contents

The Media and its Focus on Marijuana……………………………………………………………………………………………………1

Work Sited Page…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..............ii

Marijuana, pot, dope, or also known as weed has been scrutinized in America since the 1930's. It's the media that has put a lot of focus on marijuana and weather it should be decriminalize, what the adverse affects from using marijuana, and weather it could be described in the future as a controlled substance. Marijuana is said to be extremely harmful, but that is hearsay without any clear amount of evidence. In opposition marijuana is actually less harmful then some claims, but the media likes to put a lot of focus on the cons rather than the pros. Marijuana is a divided subject where people take a stand, and decide weather they are caring, not caring or are neutral about the subject due to negative influences by TV (documentary's and c-span) and online news articles.
        How can somebody define what a drug is? Apparently on c-span, our legislature (congress) can find it easy to put a label on what the word drug is and what can be classified as a drug. According to dictionary.com a drug is defined as,
"1.
Pharmacology. a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.
2.
(in federal law)
a.
any substance recognized in the official pharmacopoeia or formulary of the nation.
b.
any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or other animals.
c.
any article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals.
d.
any substance intended for use as a component of such a drug, but not a device or a part of a device" (NA Par. 1).

California has decriminalized pot since 1996. Pot has been allowed to be distributed to Americans living in California with a certain handicap. Weather that handicap is cancer, Aids, MS, or even a severe amount of post traumatic stress. For example; one man in Santa Barbara, California has suffered an extreme amount of PST, and he is prescribed medicinal marijuana to help cope with his pain. On C-SPAN, one congressman claims, "Some of the people being prescribed medicinal marijuana are not meeting some of the qualifications" (In Pot We Trust NP). The government tries to put a negative focus on pot, due to narrow mindedness and lack of evidence in some studies. One article in the New York Times says, "Despite the Obama administration’s tacit support of more liberal state medical marijuana laws, the federal government still discourages research into the medicinal uses of smoked marijuana. That may be one reason that — even though some patients swear by it — there is no good scientific evidence that legalizing marijuana’s use provides any benefits over current therapies" (Harris Par. 1). The author that wrote this claim fails to look at that the previous studies that have been conducted that have been successful in showing that medicinal weed can be beneficial and fails to go more into depth onto what the federal government's findings have been through the previous studies conducted.

Even though there may not be enough scientific evidence for the government, there is most definitely physical evidence that marijuana is beneficial. In the documentary In Pot We Trust, there is a woman who was born with cerebral palsy. One of the main problems she faces is speaking clearly because there is a problem in her brain where there is a malfunction with connections between the cortex and other parts of the brain such as the cerebellum. After she smokes the marijuana, there is a noticeable physical change in her speaking compared to before she smoked it where it was very difficult for her to complete a sentence without stuttering. She says, "The tension in my muscles start to dissipate. It really helps my speech. I feel like I can control the muscles that I couldn't control before I smoked" (In Pot We Trust NP).