...Joe Mittelstaedt Instructor Baasen English 101-24 09 December 2008 Legalization of Marijuana On August 2, 1977 President Jimmy Carter expressed his belief in a message to Congress that: "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use" (NIDA, Government). Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America; right behind alcohol and tobacco. Nearly 80 million Americans have tried the drug during their lifetime. Roughly 20 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 11 million do so on a regular basis (NORML, About). It is rather obvious how the majority of Americans feel about marijuana consumption; why do our current public policies deny this reality? It should not be the ability of the government to force citizens not to indulge in recreational drug use. Instead, this decision should lie within each individual. Marijuana laws need to be revised on a state and national level in order to benefit both the citizens and the government. Marijuana is a mixture of the leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers resulting from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main mind-altering ingredient present in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; better known as THC (NIDA, Infofacts). A few slang terms for marijuana are pot, weed, grass, herb, chronic, ganja, reefer. The use of marijuana...
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...Biden is a notorious for not having a script, so the current Vice President is seemingly for the legalization. Days following the statement by Biden, President Obama made a claim also supporting the marriage equality movement. Consequently, two of the highest figures within the government are pro equality, so other politicians probably think the same way. The outreach of other members of the government will eventually come to light as their comfort grows. The central idea the Supreme Court was most likely envisaging that as Americans we strive for equality. An abrupt truth is that the LGBT community is anything but equal. The community has been discriminated against, bullied, shamed, and harassed. Even with the success that the community had...
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...believe that it is a mistake and will impact America negatively in the long run. All Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation deserve to be afforded the same opportunities. Freedom should not come with a caveat. Those who are against same-sex marriage have an abundance of possible negative impacts that could possibly arise from its legalization. Many people believe that marriage is a religious issue. “Marriage was established by the Creator with its own nature, essential properties and purpose. No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman.” (The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved by Pope John Paul II.July, 2003) Religion plays a huge roll in everyday life for many people in the world. And many of these people stand strong in their beliefs. Others feel that their tax dollars should be used for something that they do not agree with. If same-sex marriage were to be legalized, then all the benefits that heterosexuals receive would also be available to homosexuals. Including, but not limited to, are things such as claiming a tax exemption for your spouse, health insurance benefits, and collecting social security from a deceased...
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...The Legalization Of Marijuana for the Benefit of America Marijuana under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 is a schedule I narcotic and therefore has been made illegal in the United States[1]. Marijuana has been illegal in the United States since the early 1900’s and has been demonized for what it does to a person that uses it. Through the great propaganda of the 1900’s by the United States government they convinced an entire nation that marijuana is evil and will cause horrible side effects without having to prove just about any scientific or research data at all. Basically people chose to go against marijuana without knowing what it is, how it works, or how even America can benefit from breaking apart from the 1900’s way of thinking and legalize it. As it is normally known and referred to as marijuana but its scientific name is cannabis. It comes from the cannabis sativa plant, which is native to Asia and Africa but now is being grown just about world wide. Cannabis has many forms other than its plant one that is widely used. In its most common form, marijuana consists of flowers and leaves while as hashish it is found as a type of resin liquid. There were many prominent Americans that used to grow the plant and use the cannabis as a cash crop similarly to how tobacco plants were grew for profit. George Washington used to grow cannabis as his primary cash crop on his plantations, it was a good profit for him as it had its medicinal and recreational...
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...color or gender they were. We’re all taught to share our toys in kinder garden, take turns getting on the swings, hold hands going to the bathroom, play ring around the rosy together, as well as other fun and exciting things kids love. We get to 5th grade, and we learn that we have crushes on boys and girls. We get those butterflies and simply smile when our crushes walk in the room. Middle school, we actually take risk. We send secret love letters simply asking our crush if they think we’re cute and to check the yes box or the no box. Then we grow into high school age where we began getting sexually active, some more than others not all teenagers go through this phase. While going through the school aged, we ignore the fact that we are different. Were taught in our history and social studies classes that the United States of American is known as the land of the free and the home of the brave. If we are so free, why do we stand by and let others ban the rights of marrying the one they love? Who cares if you see an inter-racial couple walking down the street? Who cares if you see two women or two men raising a child? What ever happened to loving everyone, sharing, caring, playing together. Should we have the right to fight for equality? Well sometimes that funny thing called love happens and that’s where everyone who feels have an opinion try to ban this act. Not only do people who are against these acts of love try to protest, some also take the violent action. Same-sex...
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...provided for in the constitution. One example of where you should be able to do whatever you want with your body is prostitution. The government always has too much power over our health. It can draft us and make us go into internment camps like the Japanese in WW2. It certainly shouldn’t say whether or not we have the right to pay for sex with a consenting adult. For women its all they can do in order to break themselves of being poverty stricken sometimes. So who are we to deprive them of their right to do whatever they want with their body? It could be the only thing that keeps them from feeding there family from a dumpster. Nevertheless, the government doesn’t care about that, all it cares about is regulating something it sees as supposedly “bad,” that is paying for sex. One of the benefits of legalizing prostitution would be that the government would actually be able to regulate it. This would make it a more supervised practice, so it wouldn’t spread AIDS and herpes and other diseases. The prostitutes could be tested just like they are tested in places where it is legal, such as Las Vegas. The cold hard fact is that by putting a restriction on the solicitation of sex the government essentially is putting a restriction on ones personal freedoms. A state of being, which many Americans expect. Not only that, the United States is known for and based upon the idea of its individual freedoms for each citizen, yet in some forms, it still ceases to exist. Not to say...
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...Should the same-sex marriage be legal? Felling in love is the most beautiful thing in the world. Men and women fall in love, get married, and build a family unit in society. At the same time, the same-sex love is becoming more acceptable by society because it is also driven by nature. Should the same-sex marriage be legal becomes one of the most hot topics. Some people embrace the view that same-sex marriage should be legal because they consider same-sex as a natural behavior which should be protected by law. I concern, however, the harm of the same-sex marriage outweighs than benefits. So it should not be legal. First and foremost, the law is established to protect eligible right of citizens. So it should not be legal if the behavior will block the right developing direction of society. To begin with, not all natural behaviors are allowed to be legal. For example, marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by law. Why is it forbidden even though intermarriage is also driven by nature? It is forbidden because it will influence the quality of new generation due to high probability of inherited disease, as well as bad influence in morality, which would disturb the harmony of society. So does the same-sex marriage. Some people may do not agree because they consider the same-sex tendency as a consequence affected by certain order of DNA, which cannot be controlled by human mind. So they think the law should not deny the instinct of human, which is controlled by DNA. But...
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...Love is a Human Right The right of adults to enter into consensual marriage is enshrined in international human rights standards. Article 16, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. For more than a decade, this non-discrimination principle has been interpreted by UN treaty bodies and numerous inter-governmental human rights bodies as prohibiting discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. Non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation has therefore become an internationally recognized principle and many countries have responded by bringing their domestic laws into line with this principle in a range of spheres including partnership rights http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/lgbt-rights/marriage-equality Gay marriage has divided the American people over the past few years. Yet such a sharp divide is a very recent occurrence. Only a decade ago, gay marriage was nil but an afterthought on the plates of many U.S. leaders. Liberal Democrats like John Kerry and Hillary Clinton did not even support or condone the idea that gays should be able to marry. Yet the turn of the century brought new life and perspective into this issue, and at this moment, a substantial majority of the American public actually support gay marriage. The...
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...Convention Center that Ronald Regan took a piss in. Characters: Moderator- Megyn Kelly Participants: * Dr. Ben Carson * Donald Trump * Kermit The Frog * An actual bag filled with bricks * Bill Clinton (thug) * Kanye West PROPS IF POSSIBLE: 6 chairs or podiums. A Kermit the frog doll, puppet or stuffed toy. A laundry bag filled with bricks (if we can get bricks) SKIT BEGINS WITH SPOTLIGHT ON MEGYN KELLY TOWARDS FRONT OF STAGE. ALL OTHER LIGHTS OUT. Megyn Kelly (to the camera/ audience) ladies and gentleman, thank you for tuning-in to FOX News for the twelfth, and penultimate round of the National Republican Presidential Debates. I am your host, and propaganda supporter, Megyn Kelly. We are here live from the beautiful Staple Center in Los Angeles CA, where Ronald Regan was rumored to have urinated in in 1986. All Hail Regan. (Candidates still in the dark chant): ALL HAIL OVERLORD REGAN Megyn Kelly So here’s how this is going to work folks, I will be asking questions to the candidates concerning their knowledge on both domestic and foreign issues. Each candidate is permitted 1 minute to respond, with an additional 30 seconds awarded for each phrase ending in Regan. (candidates still in the dark): ALL HAIL OVERLORD REGAN Megyn Kelly: Without further a-do lets meet the candidates fighting for a chance to rule this country with an iron fist! (lights blink on and reveal the 6 candidates). Megyn Kelly All right, first we have the black...
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...PROSTITUTION IS NOT A CHOICE LEARN A BOUT TH E TRA FFI CKING OF WOMEN AND GIRLS WORLDWIDE, AND FIND OUT WHAT CAN BE DONE TO END THIS WID ESPR EAD PROBLEM … Soroptimist International of the Americas-1709 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 - 215 893 9000 - www.soroptimist.org SOROPTIMIST WHITE PAPER Prostitution is Not a Choice I think so much about what has happened to me. Why these men did what they did to me. Old, disgusting men. It was horrible. They knew I did not want to be there, but they paid their money. They used me. I was their property for the night. They destroyed me. (14-year-old girl at Casa Hogar, a shelter in Costa Rica for children rescued from the country’s sex trade1) OVERVIEW Prostitution has been called the world’s oldest “profession.” In reality, it is the world’s oldest “oppression” and continues to be one of the most overlooked human rights abuses of women on the planet today. 2 Prostitution of women is a particularly lethal form of violence against women, and a violation of a woman’s most basic human rights. While society attempts to normalize prostitution on a variety of levels (discussed later in this paper), prostituted women are subjected to violence and abuse at the hands of paying “clients.” For the vast majority of prostituted women, “prostitution is the experience of being hunted, dominated, harassed, assaulted and battered.” 3 It is “sexual terrorism against women at the hands of men and little is being done to stop the carnage...
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...voting decisions. I am interested in this particular article because the subject of legalized abortion or the lack thereof, hits home for me. I feel that women everywhere should have the right to say what happens to their bodies, which is in the United States, even in other countries where women are not allowed to have freedom of speech and treated unequally. Legalized Abortion I Women are able to make decisions about their bodies and we don’t need a man’s permission nor do we need the government putting stipulations on why we should or should not have abortions. We shouldn’t be reverted back to a time when women had to resort to “back alley abortions” or use a hanger to abort an unwanted pregnancy. My question is , “Would any of the pro-life or government leaders who...
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... 5/7/2014 Euthanasia The purpose of this research paper is to prove that the process of euthanasia is wrong, it is against the natural and moral end of human’s life , and the most of all , it is unethical. Euthanasia from Greek: “good death” or “mercy killing”, is the practice of ending of life intentionally to relieve intractable problem of suffering. There are plenty of ethical issues to discuss, regarding this one. Proponents of euthanasia consider that death filled with suffering is wrongful and bad death. That is why these people are for legalization of euthanasia. On the other hand, opponents( including my person) of euthanasia would say that any deliberate effort to cause death is wrong and against eternal law ( God’s law). Ethics and morality, basically state the same to many people and they mean exactly one. For Instance, morality refers to personal character, belief and behavior, ethics is the reflection on morality with that person’s actions and his /her professionalism. When we say an ethical person or a moral person, that is the same meaning. Very often, in or common life we can hear both terms like medical ethics or bioethics, they both describe the same and have the same meaning. These are the guidelines that we expect medical professionals with moral unity to display. Over the centuries,...
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...individuals which have been looking for ways to have assisted suicide legalized are convinced that absolutely everyone should pass away having self-respect as well as without the need of enduring fatal health problems and this needs to be the patients rightful option (Pretzer, 2000). Anti-assisted action is without a doubt in opposition to legalizing this as a result of the potential risks associated with permitting individuals to terminate their particular existence lawfully regardless of whether it’s on their own or perhaps by making use of a health care professional (Council, 2011). Susan Wolf had been one time confronted with this particular concern to speed death up or maybe not to facilitate death? Susan has long been resistant to the legalization associated with assisted suicide as well as euthanasia. Once her dad passed on she began to reconsider her standing over the dilemma. As soon as her dad was initially clinically determined...
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...through and she fell to the ground. George grabbed his sister and pulled her away from the fire. Jennifer was alive. She was lying on the asphalt alert, oriented, and coherent. She had suffered 3rd and 4th degree burns covering ninety-five percent of her body. She was suffering the worst pain imaginable. At the scene, Jennifer begged the rescue personnel to “let me die.” Instead, Jennifer was flown to a burn center in Mobile, Alabama, where she remained for one year until she was overcome by an infection and died. Medical personnel described Jennifer as suffering from the most agonizing physical pain they had ever witnessed. They said there was no way to effectively alleviate Jennifer’s pain without permanently sedating her, which would have resulted in death. Thus, this was not done. Jennifer was so badly burned that her two children (age nine and five) were not permitted to see her for...
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...end of Biloxi Beach in Biloxi, Mississippi to take in passengers to gamble on shore and since then Gulf Coast has never looked back. However, not everyone in 1990 was in favor of the newly enacted Gaming Control Act especially along the Gulf Coast. Many of the coastal resident families and others living near these towns have been living there for generations and were not ready to see their “sleepy town” transformed into “the nation’s hottest new gambling hub” (Myerson). Many of these residents and public officials believed legalizing gaming would promote “crime, higher rates of divorce, and poverty from personal bankruptcy” from residents spending their life savings (Myerson). Now more than twenty years later the exact opposite of oppositionist’s future predictions have occurred and casinos have been the greatest thing to happen to the Mississippi Gulf Coast since the seafood industry began. The coastal casinos do countless great things such as lower property taxes, fund public school projects, give back millions of dollars to charity, greatly enhanced the tourism market, drives the economical activity, and much more for the Gulf Coast. With all of these great upsides casinos provide and very few downsides, I believe it is clear that the casinos are great for Mississippi and the Gulf Coast area. Before the major casino boom in the 1990’s, the Mississippi Gulf Coast was a very quiet, religious, and laid back area with the reputation of being the classic “ole country” community...
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