Alyssa McPartland

Source Driven Essay

Andrea Cleaves

November 10^th, 2008

Legalization of Medical Marijuana

            Famous American country western singer Willie Nelson once said, I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?” Government intervention with marijuana began in the early 1900’s, and legal use was put to an end with the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act (Concept420, 2008).  It has now been over 70 years, and marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes. Marijuana can decrease pain from multiple sclerosis, help relieve nausea from cancer treatment, and it is not harmful.  The use of medical marijuana is beneficial in the fact that it can help so many people who are already going through a difficult time.

            The idea of marijuana as a pain reliever is not a new concept. Many sources cite instances of medical marijuana use that can be traced to pre-biblical times. Throughout Asia and Africa, marijuana was used as a pain reliever for ear aches, childbirth and more (Adams 2008).  Here, in the United States, only a few states allow the actual smoking of marijuana for medicinal purposes.  There is a legal prescription form of THC (the main ingredient in marijuana that activates the receptors on our nerves), however, the pill is not yet perfect. Dr. Igor Grant, a UC San Diego psychiatrist who directs the university’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research stated, “Smoking is a very efficient way to deliver the THC” (Adams 2008). Patients with multiple sclerosis suffer from pain, muscle spasms and terror. The effects of the THC can help control those symptoms for some patients. One study with “51 multiple sclerosis patients smoke 0% or 4% THC marijuana cigarettes daily for three days. Intensity of spasms was reduced by 32% and pain ratings by 50% after smoking marijuana, compared with 2% and 22% reductions after placebo cigarettes” (Adams 2008). The Americans for Safe Access organization also found similar results in one of their experiments, “Anecdotal reports and a small controlled study have reported that cannabis improve spasticity and, to some extent, improved tremor in MS patients” (Americans for Safe Access, 2008).

            Marijuana is not only useful for pain, but also for nausea. Medical marijuana has been used to help reduce nausea associated with side effects from cancer chemotherapy. ‘The 1999 Institutes of Medicine report concluded: ‘In patients already experiencing severe nausea or vomiting, pills are generally ineffective, because of the difficulty in swallowing or keeping a pill down, and slow onset of the drug effect. Thus an inhalation (but, preferably not smoking) cannabinoid drug delivery system would be advantageous for treating chemotherapy-induced nausea’” (Americans for Safe Access, 2008).  The organization also states that, “Numerous clinical studies have reported that the use of cannabis reduces nausea and vomiting and stimulates appetite, thereby reducing the severity of cachexia, or wasting syndrome in patients, receiving chemotherapy treatment” (Americans for Safe Access, 2008).  Another study published in the European Journal of Cancer Care, “analyzed 30 clinical studies using cannabinoid drugs synthesized in the lab and concluded that they were better than standard antinausea drugs in alleviating the nausea and vomiting that accompanies chemotherapy” (Adams, 2008).

            Finally, marijuana is not harmful, as one may expect. The big myth that marijuana does more or an equal amount of damage to the lungs, as does tobacco, is simply not true.  “There have been no reports of lung cancer related solely to marijuana, and in a large study presented to the American Thoracic Society in 2006, even heavy users of smoked marijuana were found not have any increased risk of lung cancer. Unlike heavy tobacco smokers, heavy marijuana smokers exhibit no obstruction of the lung’s small airway” (Drug Policy Alliance Network, 2008). The United State’s Centers for Disease Control also found similar results, “According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, tobacco was responsible for 435,000 deaths in 2000, or nearly 1,200 deaths per day. On the other hand, marijuana has never caused a fatal overdose in more than 5,000 years of recorded use” (Marijuana Policy Project, 2008).  Finally, “In a 10-year, 65,000-patient study conducted at the Kaiser-Permanente HMO and published in 1997, cigarette smokers had much higher rates of cancer of the lung, mouth, and throat than non-smokers, but marijuana smokers who didn’t smoke tobacco had no such increase. And in May 2006, Dr. Donald Tashkin of UCLA presented results of a new study showing that even very heavy marijuana smokers had no increased risk of lung cancer” (Marijuana Policy Project, 2008). 

            In conclusion, marijuana should be legalized for medicinal use in America. Marijuana has been proven to decrease pain in patients with multiple sclerosis, as well as relieve nausea and vomiting associated with the cancer treatment chemotherapy. Not only has marijuana helped thousands of people with disease, but it also has not harmed citizens as tobacco products have. The legalization of medical marijuana will be very beneficial to seriously or chronically ill patients.

Bibliography

Adams, Jill U. (2008, Aug. 18). Pro: Marijuana use for chronic pain and nausea.

Retrieved November 17, 2008, from LATimes Web site: http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/health/la-he-marijuanapro18-2008aug18,0,3980553.story

Americans for Safe Access, (2008). Multiple sclerosis and medical cannabis.

Retrieved November 18, 2008, from Americans for Safe Access Web site: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4558

Concept420. (2008). Marijuana history & timeline. Retrieved November 15, 2008,

from Concept420 Web site: http://www.concept420.com/marijuana_cannabis_history_timeline.htm

Drug Policy Alliance Network, (2008). Myths and facts about marijuana.

Retrieved November 18, 2008, from Drug Policy Alliance Network Web site: http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/

Marijuana Policy Project, (2008). Frequently asked questions. Retrieved

November 12, 2008, from Marijuana Policy Project Web site: http://www.mpp.org/about/faq.html

Alyssa McPartland

Arguing with Sources

AnDrea Cleaves

November 21, 2008

Legalization of Medical Marijuana in Minnesota

            Former United States president Jimmy Carter once said, “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself, and where they are they should be changed” (Felonious Ramblings, 2008). This idea of Carter’s has made itself true in recent years. “Since 1976, Minnesota has been one of 11 states that have marijuana decriminalization laws on the books. The sentence for possession of up to 1.5 ounces marijuana (a typical marijuana cigarette is less than .2 ounces) is $200 with possible drug counseling”  (Birkey, 2007). Marijuana should be legalized in Minnesota for medical use, and it is well on its way towards becoming the 13^th state to do so. Medical marijuana has been proven to decrease pain from multiple sclerosis, help ease nausea and vomiting related to cancer chemotherapy, and despite rumors, it is not harmful like tobacco and alcohol. The use of marijuana as a medicine will benefit many people’s lives, especially those with serious or chronic diseases.

            Marijuana can be used to help cope with symptoms from chronic diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society defines MS as, “.. a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves,” (NMSS, 2008).  Some of the symptoms that MS patients suffer from include, but are not limited to: pain, cognitive function, spasticity, walking (gait), balance, seizures and tremor. The use of marijuana decreases pain, and will help MS patients to better cope with this chronic disease. One study with “51 multiple sclerosis patients smoke 0% or 4% THC marijuana cigarettes daily for three days. Intensity of spasms was reduced by 32% and pain ratings by 50% after smoking marijuana, compared with 2% and 22% reductions after placebo cigarettes” (Adams 2008). Another report by the Americans for Safe Access organization also found similar results in one of their experiments, “Anecdotal reports and a small controlled study have reported that cannabis improve spasticity and, to some extent, improved tremor in MS patients” (Americans for Safe Access, 2008).  The two different studies found that marijuana significantly helped multiple sclerosis patient’s symptoms, which is why Minnesota needs to legalize medical marijuana.

            Marijuana is useful for more than just helping ease pain and tremors, it also works wonders as an anti-nausea drug. One of the other common uses for medical marijuana is to help ease nausea and vomiting due to cancer chemotherapy. Besides just reducing the nausea, marijuana also stimulates the appetite, which is another struggle chemotherapy patients face. “Numerous clinical studies have reported that the use of cannabis reduces nausea and vomiting and stimulates appetite, thereby reducing the severity of cachexia, or wasting syndrome in patients receiving chemotherapy treatment” (Americans for Safe Access, 2008). The legalization of medical marijuana in Minnesota would help many cancer patients have an easier road to recovery, after going through so much already. Another study published in the European Journal of Cancer Care also agrees with the use of medical marijuana for nausea. This study, “analyzed 30 clinical studies using cannabinoid drugs synthesized in the lab and concluded that they were better than standard anti-nausea drugs in alleviating the nausea and vomiting that accompanies chemotherapy” (Adams, 2008). Many cancer patients suffer through treatment, and the legalization of marijuana will make the chemotherapy process easier on those who have been through so much already.

            Lastly, marijuana is not a harmful drug. Many Americans argue that marijuana has more chemicals and toxins in it then cigarettes do, which is far from the truth. There are already over ten states in the United States that have put medical marijuana to work, and it has helped many patients. One study showed,

“There have been no reports of lung cancer related solely to marijuana, and in a large study presented to the American Thoracic Society in 2006, even heavy users of smoked marijuana were found not have any increased risk of lung cancer. Unlike heavy tobacco smokers, heavy marijuana smokers exhibit no obstruction of the lung’s small airway” (Drug Policy Alliance Network, 2008).  The annual causes of death in the United States between alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana also show there is no correlation between marijuana and other substances. Tobacco was responsible for approximately 435,000 deaths, alcohol took 85,000 lives, and the death count due to marijuana remains at zero (Drug War Facts, 2008).  Clearly, marijuana is not a harmful drug and it should be legalized for medical use in Minnesota.

            There are a few Minnesotans who believe that marijuana should not be legalized for medicinal use. Among them are “the Minnesota Chiefs of Police, the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association and the state’s County Attorneys Association” (NORML, 2008).  The main doubt that many of them have, “is that unscrupulous physicians will green-light virtually anyone’s use of marijuana. That’s a valid concern. Reporters for ’60 Minutes’ found one Californian who got the OK to smoke pot because of pain from high heels,” (NORML, 2008).  The main difference between what happened in California and the possibility of it happening in Minnesota, is the length of the law. “At the same time, California’s original law was 11 lines long; Minnesota’s is nine pages, and written more tightly to limit abuse. Unlike California, it requires qualifying patients to register and carry an ID card” (NORML, 2008). Therefore, Minnesota’s medical marijuana patients will have a much more difficult time obtaining a license than Californians do.

            Marijuana needs to be legalized in Minnesota for medical use. Cannabis is not a harmful drug, and it helps ease the pain and tremors from MS, as well as control nausea and vomiting due to cancer chemotherapy. Many steps have already been taken to make this issue a hot topic in Minnesota. The bill passed in the Minnesota Senate, but it never made it for a vote in the House.  Until the next legislative session, Minnesotans need to show their support for medical marijuana by writing to the state representative. Medical marijuana will benefit the sick and dying patients of Minnesota, it’s just a little time before they are given help.

Bibliography

Adams, Jill U. (2008, Aug. 18). Pro: Marijuana use for chronic pain and nausea.

Retrieved November 17, 2008, from LATimes Web site: http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/health/la-he-marijuanapro18-2008aug18,0,3980553.story

Birkey, Andy (2007, May 17). After the political smoke clears, marijuana will still

be somewhat easy to obtain. Minnesota Monitor, Retrieved November 20, 2008, from http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=B2FA2BBF5DC1C1CFCF8261F4DD164ACB?diaryId=1795

Drug War Facts, (2008). Annual causes of death in the united states. Retrieved

November 20, 2008, from Drug War Facts Web site: http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30

Felonious Ramblings, (2008, October 12). Marijuana Quote Archive. Retrieved

December 3, 2008, from Felonious Ramblings Web site: http://www.feloniousramblings.com/2008/10/marijuana-quote-archive.html

NMSS, (2008). What is multiple sclerosis?. Retrieved November 20, 2008, from

National Multiple Sclerosis Society Web site: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-is-ms/index.aspx

NORML (2008, April 17). Medical marijuana merits state support. Retrieved

November 26, 2008, from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Web site: http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v08/n394/a12.html

H. Freshman Composition

AnDrea Cleaves

29 September 2008

The Yellow Door Paperie Review

If you are looking for creative and fun ways to keep children busy or a new recipe to try out, than The Yellow Door Paperie blog is the one for you! This blog has many different categories in which a person can find recipes, craft ideas, and ways to keep gifts handmade. I believe that Mary Arteche’s blog is an extremely useful tool in finding new, fun hobbies for almost any age and skill level.

A few of the categories on The Yellow Door Paperie include bath time, at home and friends. Under the Bath Time page you can find ideas like creating herbal bath tea. Mary’s husband does so, and she shares the pictures of the product and the scents he created. Eric (Mary’s husband) has successfully created fives batches that include: lavender, citrus peal, cranberries, basil, and sage. This same idea can also be found under the At Home link, in which Mary writes tidbits about what is going on with her home life. The reader will find out about things ranging from Mary’s favorite movies to the progress of her hens egg lying. Lastly, Mary has the Friends category where she showcases pictures of her friends and more of her family. This page allows a little insight into Mary’s life like her family and friends.

However, there is one problem I found with this blog, and that was the fact the primary and secondary audiences were not clear. The primary audience would be people who are looking for a creative side to life, while the secondary audience would be Internet users who stumble upon her site. I feel that if Mary Arteche created an “about” page on her blog, than it would help users to determine if the blog was what they were looking for so they don’t waste time on an uninformative website. She does not give any information on her actual blog about what she is trying to accomplish with it, therefore the audience’s are hard to determine.

One very positive asset of this blog, are the pictures on it. These pictures are also what make this blog an academic blog. The artwork featured on each post is a picture that was taken by Mary. Her blog is a way for her to showcase her work but in a way to help others as well. The pictures that are used are not distracting from the post, but are very useful. She chooses to post pictures that directly relate to the post in which they are contained; which usually means a few pictures of the final product the recipe creates. There is not an overload on pictures either; it is a respectable one to three per post. I believe it is a positive thing that there are not too many pictures, because otherwise the reader’s will not focus on the words, but on the pictures instead.

Overall, the content of this blog does stick to the topics in which Northwestern College said it would. Mary has her information organized into different sub-categories on the side, so that it is easy to navigate around her page. A few of the different sub-categories include, but are not limited to: cooking, crafting, portfolio/news, and sewing. This distinction between groups is extremely useful to the audience because it clearly shows them where to go for a certain topic.

Finally, I would definitely recommend this blog site to anyone who is looking for a creative idea to pass the time, or new recipes to share with family and friends. The Yellow Door Paperie is a wonderful website that will surely be useful to anyone who visits the site.

Compliments NY Times

Before a big debate, there are many choices that a candidate (or their stylist) must make. By using ethos, pathos and logos I examined how, if at all, effective the choices were to the candidate’s speech.

Ethos or what the audience sees in you is an extremely important factor to consider, because some swing voters will use this to determine whom they are voting for.  Everything from the candidates apparel to the sweat on their face is seen and judged by America. Sarah Palin had an even more difficult task, because she is a woman and so the clothing she chose said more about her. Palin could have worn a hot pink suit outfit, but that would not show she is ready to be vice president. Instead Palin wore a simple black suit, but added silver dangly earrings for a feminine touch. The outfit choice was a very wise decision on her or her stylist’s part. Biden also had a very nice outfit during the debate, with his black suit, white dress shirt and blue tie. I thought blue was a nice choice for Biden, naturally he would not have been seen in red, and the blue was not distracting because it happened to match the stage backdrop. If Biden’s tie had been a different blue than the backdrop it might have been distracting from him, but he lucked out.

One part of ethos that Sarah Palin did not do well with was her repetition of words. Every time it was Palin’s turn to speak, the words “maverick” or “darn right” escaped from her lips. Word repetition is a tool that can be very effective in getting one’s point across in a speech, but not when the words being used are  “we’re mavericks!” This word choice by Palin negatively impacted her debate because not only did it make her sound ridiculous, but also it made her seem as if she did not have a large vocabulary.  On the other end of the pole, Joe Biden, would not let the audience forget he’s pals with John McCain. In the beginning of the debate, within two questions, Senator Joe Biden mentioned his friendship with McCain three times. However, that seemed to die down a bit throughout more of the debate, which is why I don’t believe it hurt his speech.  It also was not necessarily a positive either, because of the fact that I noticed how repetitive sounding he was.

These two candidates may not have many things in common with their political views, but they both are wonderful storytellers. Both vice presidential candidates would often not even answer the question that was presented to them, but instead tell us a little story about back home. This was a major part of pathos, or how your audience feels about what you’re doing, that both candidates struggled to achieve. Palin was the best storyteller of the evening, with a story for almost every question. Biden, on the other hand, had plenty of stories but also solid facts.

Logos is the reason and structure in argument, and Biden is a prime example of that.  During the debate, Joe Biden had a way of getting out the facts and statistics, but than he would break it down. He wouldn’t just recite numbers, but instead use the numbers to show America an example of how it affects them. The fact that Biden nailed the main part of logos really helped him in the debate. He was able to inform America in a way they would understand, and for that I believe he will gain many votes for Obama. The citizens want someone they are able to relate to and Biden proved he was able to do that in the debate.

For my hot topic I have chosen Controlled Substances. The reason I wanted to blog about Controlled Substances is because of the lack of information people have before choosing to use or make judgements on those who do. This topic is one that affects every single person, in one way or another.

For my actual blog, I plan to focus mainly on marijuana use and the legalization of it. My overall goal of my blog is to expand people’s perspectives on the drug and to prove that there is a reason to medical use of marijuana. I will start my blog off with some general information and statistics for the readers, comparing marijuana to other Controlled Substances. I want to make sure that the reader’s of my blog understand what exactly marijuana does as well as other controlled substances so that they will be able to make an educated opinion on their own. The beginning of my blog will be more of all the different kinds of controlled substances, then I will begin to focus on the medical use of marijuana.

I definitely agree with the portrayal of my generation. Everything we do these days is on the computer, whether it’s paying tuition or requesting days off from work, it seems like almost anything can be done online. Since this new technology has become such a normal part of the my generations lives, it only seems fit that the older generations also familiarize themselves with it. It doesn’t make sense for an older generation to be teaching us using old methods, because of the new technology that is available. The author says that digital immigrant teachers assume students are still the same as when they were young, but I don’t think that’s true. I believe that  the teachers realize how dependent we are on technology, and that they just do not want to adapt to our new ways. It would be much more convenient for them to continue teaching how they have, rather than learn how to work a bunch of machines. It’s like the author said, “it’s highly unlikely the Digital Natives will go backwards,” which means that the older generations are going to need to catch up with the times.

If I was to define my generation, I would say that we are the Age of Technology because of all the advances in technology we have adapted to in our time. My generation has a whole new way of communicating and learning, which is highly dependent on technology.