Regulation of Cannabis Essay

Submitted By kvndakin
Words: 678
Pages: 3

Cannabis is a highly controversial topic within the state and federal laws of the United States. It has been a Schedule I drug that is supposed to be more dangerous than Cocaine, a Schedule II drug. Due to the misconceptions placed upon the drug, Cannabis, the general public believes that it is an extremely dangerous drug. With new research conducted every day and the invention of the internet, there is now a growing community of people who understand how harmless, Cannabis is, at least compared to other drugs, both legal and illegal. A prevalent part of this community is the younger generation, the adolescents who are more accepting of new concepts than the previous generations. The internet, particularly social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, is the usual choice for today’s adolescents, for communication and expressing one’s ideas. Facebook is one of the most popular websites, only second to Google for most-visited. On Facebook, users are connected to their “Friends”. Not only applicable to Facebook, but depending on who a person is speaking to, their audience, their way of speaking/writing could be completely different. How a person communicates with another depends upon the relationship they have with the other group. A user on Facebook uses many different techniques to support his stance on the harmfulness of Cannabis. He posts, “Witnessed the devastating effects of the drug known as marijuana last night when this guy came into bp and bought Tostitos. He looked down at the Tostitos he had purchased and a frown appeared on his face. He then looked at me with his glazed, red eyes and said “Ah fuck man I wanted Doritos”.” This user is addressing his friends with a wall post, and uses slang or language that is familiar with his peers. He also uses rhetorical devices Irony, Apophasis, and Anastrophe to cleverly portray how harmless Cannabis is. This Facebook post is not perfectly grammatically correct, but that is how the new generation speaks to each other. Since this post is directed towards his friends, the user would use slang and language that is frequently used among his group. The provocative language, “Ah fuck man”, is used to have his audience sympathize with the Marijuana user, as his audience also tends to use the similar vocabulary when they make mistakes. Anastrophe, which is reordering of words to bring more attention to the text, is used by the Facebook user. In a normal cause and effect situation, first a cause is explained and then an effect. Contrary to this Facebook post, the user catches the attention of a reader by starting off with the effect, “Witnessed the devastating effects