A big focus on social issues in politics, especially during this election year, will be the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. The issues like this that can sway an election are important. Even concerning economics, one of the things being considered is if legalization occurs, would there be taxes put on the drugs like a regular business. This issue could also have a big impact on public education and health education as well due to the fact that marijuana use is taught in schools to be discouraged. All of these concerns surrounding legalization are interesting to me because the some aspects of the future of the country are based on it. This topic does not affect my values because I think people should be able to make the choice of what they want to do. I know people who support different sides of the argument. In my family, most of the younger generation is in agreement of legalization while the adult and grandparent generation agrees that the drug should remain prohibited. I'm in the young age that is in the generation that supports the legalization of marijuana. I'm a young voter that, through the electoral process, somewhat helps in deciding the next president who sets the platform for whether or not to legalize. 


Both Canada and Mexico are legalizing recreational use of the drug, keeping a ban on marijuana is doing more harm than good to society, and changes to legislation would also allow states to have the individual freedom to decide how to regulate the drug. The major piece of evidence is about Canada and Mexico's influence will affect US legislation. 

The article is in support of legalizing marijuana for recreational use so the interests of each of the author's opinions are at stake. All of the evidence presented in the article are reasons why legalization would be the best option. 

The source has bias in favor of legalizing marijuana. The first sentence says how the increase in support is a good thing and the rest of the article presents evidence to back it up. There are 19 writers who wrote this article. They all have a wide range of expertise and represent the voice of the newspaper and the board.


This article shows the opinion that is against making marijuana a legal substance. Support for Marijuana legalization is down in the last year. One of the major arguments is that pot is a dangerous substance. There is a list of specific negative side effects from an agency in Colorado.

The changing of legislation would put the interests of this article at stake because of the studies they use as evidence to prove that marijuana is a dangerous substance for the public. The values of this opinion piece are also at stake because it would go against what the author thinks is best. 

The bias of this source is against legalization. All of the evidence presented is really only supporting one side and there is no consideration of arguments from the other side. The author, Cully Stimson, is an expert in criminal law, military law, military commissions and detention policy at The Heritage Foundation's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.


The article summaries 6 powerful reasons to legalize: Prohibition has enormous social costs, the benefits of criminalization are minimal, prohibition is racist, cannabis has legitimate medical effects, legalization won't lead to increased use, and it is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Prohibition meaning keeping marijuana illegal. 

The major interest of this article is not only to make marijuana legal and take down prohibition of the substance, but also to support the writing of the New York Times article about legalization from the Editorial Board. The values are at stake if marijuana does not have positive effects. 

The bias of the article is towards legalizing marijuana and ending its prohibition. While the article does go off of a credible source like the New York Times opinion of the Editorial Board, the author Owen Poindexter, is only a free lance writer for Alternet. 

This research question is arguable because there can be evidence and opinions for both positive and negative effects of legalizing marijuana. I would revise the question by trying to make it a yes or no question. It can not be directly answered by typing it on to Google, but it can probably be worded better. The different perspectives of the sources made me broaden my view because I thought legalizing was better from the start. The biggest disagreements are in the effects of legalizing marijuana and whether or not it's a good substance. 

 
