Legalization or Marijuana

PROS:

Logos:
-Marihuana has not killed anybody
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THT IT CAN LEAD TO FURTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS: BRAIN DAMAGE, LUNG PROBLEMS ETC
Pathos:
-Helps people with depression and chronic pain
THIS PEOPLE ARE REQUIRED TO USE IT, NOT PEOPLE WHO DONT NEED IT

Ethos:
-cigarettes have killed more people THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL
-It is legal even though it is more dangerous and addictive
IF IT IS MORE DANGEROUS AND ADDICTIVE, WHY LEGALIZE IT



CONS: INFO HERE
Logos:

-Marijuana may cause physical damages to some users, such as lung damage.
-Marijuana may cause physical damages to nonusers through secondhand smoke.

Pathos:
-Marihuana is not morally right

Some consider use of the drug as morally wrong. Many religions and moral codes prohibit the use of intoxicating substances. Marijuana is generally considered to fit into this category.

Ethos:

-More people will be affected by this, since young citizens could obtain it fast

-lack of accepted safety for use. After decades of study the FDA continues to reaffirm that there is no medical benefit provided by the use of smoked marijuana and that, in fact, considerable harm can be caused by such use.

-affirm the 2006 FDA finding and vast scientific evidence that marijuana causes harm. 
-Studies show that marijuana use often progresses to the use of harder drugs. In other words, people experiment with what is often thought of as a "harmless" drug. Then, after using it for a while, a bigger "high" is sought; thus, users then turn to the harder stuff like heroin, LSD, cocaine, etc. This is particularly a problem since most people will not directly start abusing the harder drugs that are generally understood to be harmful. = maybe they will just experiment with it at first but they have the risk of trying new and harmful drugs in the future

-Legalization would increase the chances of the drug falling into the hands of kids. Even unhealthy legal items such as cigarettes and alcohol are prohibited from being sold to kids. This is because kids generally don't exhibit the same reasoning, responsibility, and judgment of an adult. And their bodies aren't as equipped to handle the intake of these substances. The problem is even worse for marijuana use. Developing brains and bodies can be dealt serious blows by the use of marijuana. Any time you make something legal, you increase the accessibility to children. All too often kids and teenagers get their hands on alcohol or cigarettes. We shouldn't let the same thing happen with marijuana.

Physical damage would be done to users that abuse the drug. Although some studies have been disputed, marijuana abuse has been tied to brain damage, cancer, lung damage, depression, amotivational syndrome, and even death. The brain damage has been shown to cause memory loss and difficulty in problem solving. It is the governments duty to protect the public from such dangerous drugs. After all, that's why the FDA was created.

http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/4380_ss08_wiki/ba0e099eb51f95fb9dfc0d6d2f268372.html

PEOPLE AGAINST MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION:

• message that smoking marijuana is harmless
  because it’s legal.
• Protecting them from the crimes related to growing and selling marijuana in
  your neighborhood.
• Protecting them from an increased number of drugged drivers
• Protecting our workplaces from workers using marijuana

1. Marijuana can be socially addictive. If a person got addicted on it, his life becomes dependent on it.
2. Some long-time users say that marijuana is addictive. Many of them show signs of dependence on marijuana because they develop withdrawal symptoms if they were not able to use the drug.
3. Marijuana’s medical uses are not yet globally accepted.
4. The evidences gathered showed that marijuana is a gateway drug.
5. The use of marijuana is often associated with laziness because users of this drug tend to be lazy and loser people.
6. Marijuana is not the only plant or drug that can be used as a pain reliever. Many plants or herbs exhibit a pain reliever property and many are yet to be discovered. 
7. Marijuana can possibly have negative long-term effects because marijuana smoke contains the same cancer-causing ingredients of tobacco.
8. If marijuana is legalized, it increases the possibilities of individual driving under the influence of the drug. It may cause the increase of the percentage of car accidents and death rate.
9. Marijuana would still be illegal for teenagers.
10. Marijuana can cause family problems which may lead to broken families.





ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF LEGALIZATION ARE WRONG:

A. LEGALIZATION WILL FINISH DRUG TRAFFICKING, AND ORGANIZE CRIME
- Since legalization will only cover apply to soft drugs, then drug trafficking will continue around hard drugs
-Hard drugs produce higher profits and thus the most powerful criminal will continue trafficking
-Since legalization will not allow minors to consume soft drugs, and illegal traffic will develop around minors. 

B. LEGALIZATION WILL DIMINISH CONSUMPTION 
- This has been proved wrong; in the US between 1890-1903, consumption increased 500% (multiplied by 5) 
- Recently in the Netherlands, it has been a change in policy, since coffee shops have lead to more consumption and even to a drug tourism

C. MARIJUANA HAS NOT KILLED ANYBODY
- Users of marijuana move to harder drugs that cause more damage
-Marijuana does produce further damage:
The active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, acts on cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells and influences the activity of those cells. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors, but other areas of the brain have few or none at all. Many cannabinoid receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.

When high doses of marijuana are used, usually when eaten in food rather than smoked, users can experience the following symptoms:

• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Impaired memory
• Disorientation

Effects on the Heart

Within a few minutes after smoking marijuana, the heart begins beating more rapidly and the blood pressure drops. Marijuana can cause the heart beat to increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute, and can increase even more if other drugs are used at the same time.

Because of the lower blood pressure and higher heart rate, researchers found that users' risk for a heart attack is four times higher within the first hour after smoking marijuana, compared to their general risk of heart attack when not smoking.

LUNGS: 

Although one study found that marijuana smokers were three times more likely to develop cancer of the head or neck than non-smokers, that study could not be confirmed by further analysis.

D. MARIJUANA HAS NOT BEEN PROVEN TO AFFECT HEALTH:

- There are studies that show that marijuana has negative effects on parts of your body (can lead to cancer); some studies have to be confirmed, but if there is a health risk the best is to avoid access to this risk (PRINCIPAL OF PRECAUTION) 

E. PEOPLE THAT ARE INNOCENT ARE GOING TO JAIL BECAUSE OF THE USE OF MARIJUANA:

- The criminalization of drug trafficking is not incompatible with social policies to help drug addicts and rehabilitation 

if people continue smoking, they will continue to buy more to the people who produce marijuana ( narcos- drug traffickers)

College Exploration on Naviance

Day 2:

Based on my results, Social Services(I got in the test), I will search colleges that offer this and one of my options of study, writing.

I have not find a university

College Exploration on Naviance

Day 1:

I was absent. I went to binationals.

Google Day 4

GOALS:

-Finish my Blog and put improvement in Photos I edit there
http://photoalteringblog.blogspot.com/

I altered some photos and put them on my blog so that people could see the difference in color.

-Find other easy webpages to alter colors on photos, or if not, stick to BeFunky
I decided to stick to be funky because the other webpages I found were to professional and hard to work on.

-Explain on my webpage how BeFunky makes the photo color be brighter or affected in some way

I used examples and pictures on my blog on how what the names of the effects were.

Google Day 2

Goals for the Day:

1. Keep Practicing how to use http://www.befunky.com/
I took a new picture, of a landscape, and put it on this program. I started editing and  I discovered that there are lots of themes to alter color and background. The picture, before and after are in my Google Project: Altering Background Color on Pictures Blog.

2. Look for other videos on how to change colors
http://www.instructables.com/id/Changing-Colors-In-A-Picture-Using-Paint.net/
on this link I found a way to use Photo Shop to alter the colors, though I have to download it on my computer. Im not sure if this is to hard for me at this point; they teach me the steps on how to use the program, and I think it is really professional. For now, I think I might want to keep on using  http://www.befunky.com/

3. Create my blog and do my first blog post

http://photoalteringblog.blogspot.com/
In my blog, I posted the two pictures I have altered until now. This is what I will be doing for the rest of my classes. (I will post my improvements and progress throughout the project)

Should Universities be Colored Blind?

Link to Opinion Article

Response: 

I read this op-ed with great interest because it addresses a very important issue concerning equality in America, mainly: whether universities should accept candidates taking into account their ethnicity, or if race should not be a criteria since only academic performance should determine their admission to the university. The deans of two of the most important law schools of the United States share the same position: ethnicity should not be excluded as a factor for the admission of the applicants to higher education. 

Ethnicity will promote diversity in the class of students, and the role of a dean is "to assemble the best possible class"(Paragraph 3). For them, "the character of our students is relevant to the quality of our leaders. Character is most often revealed in the life circumstances of our applicants."(Paragraph 4). They add, “not infrequently, these qualities have a racial dimension", (Paragraph 5). This argument is more sophisticated than the usual one based on diversity as a value in itself. Commonly these arguments highlight diversity, because it would lead to a reflection of a pluralist society. The two deans argue instead, that diversity is useful for a better education, since a diverse class of students, will help each member of this class to achieve a better understanding and develop useful skills for their future role as leaders of society. 

The deans also put foreword an argument based on dignity. For them: "While we agree that it is inconsistent with the dignity of persons to consider only race, we firmly believe that it is equally inconsistent with their dignity to refuse to hear what applicants have to tell us about the role that race has played in their lives.”(Paragraph 5).

Thirdly, they advance a practical argument based on freedom of speech, since students essays and letters of recommendation are taking into account in the admission process, it would be impossible to avoid considering race as a factor, but also contrary to the freedom of students and their recommenders to prohibit them to mention race in their writings. The deans ask: “ Would those advocating race-blind admissions have us censor the statements of applicants and their recommenders? How could we carry out such a task, even if we were inclined to do so?”(Paragraph 6).

In my view, these three arguments are good ones in the United States context, since race has become a sensible issue. The deans do not defend affirmative action as such that is, they do not argue in favor of specific policies to benefit exclusively Afro, Americans or Latinos. Instead, they put arguments based on good education, dignity, and freedom of expression. These rights are less divisive, and both liberal and conservative Justices of the Supreme Court may find “common ground,”  the need to protect this right.

Nevertheless, these kind of arguments leave out two fundamental questions. First, will this approach limit unjustly the possibilities of admission of excellent students that cannot “invoke” race as a critical factor in the formation of their character? In my view, it would be unjust to prefer a student exclusively based on his or her race since race depends on chance. Individuals have a race not because they want it, but simply because they were born with the race inherited from their parents. For example, it would be unjust to diminish the possibilities of admission of a woman that did have to face challenges associated with her gender, but not with her race.

Second, isn’t this vision of diversity forgetting differences in income? I believe that poverty leads people to face challenges that form character, and that education is critical to have access to a higher income. The two deans do not include arguments that give enough importance to character formed in this situation, in the United States, as well as all over the world.

Although the two deans rightly support a holistic approach to the evaluation of student applications, they should underline that gender and poverty are also critical factors to promote diversity, to value dignity and to understand the importance of freedom of speech.

DIGITAL NATION

1. DISAGREE: I disagree that using the internet dummies the human, since most of the time we connect to a digital world, we learn something new.
2. AGREE: I agree that interaction between humans is being modified since we use technology to communicate in many ways, tough i ALSO think that this should not be the only connection we have with each other. 
3. AGREE: Technology helps to be in contact with other people fast and this is good for the navy, etc since you can know what the other people are doing instantly. 
4. I agree that teachers use technology, and it is not a threat necessarily. I think that using technology stimulates the teachers to look beyond their understanding in physical books etc, and go into the world of technology. This will help them see the improvements on whatever they are teaching and expand their knowledge. 
5. I agree that teachers have to accept that their students use of technology, because technology is part of the modern world and no one can really do anything about it. Students think that without technology thy are not able to live. 
6. I disagree that people cant multicast, though people should be allowed to try. We are changing constantly  and we could become more capable of doing this. 
7. I agree that multitasking are bad at doing so because it is impossible to concentrate in two things fully concentrated, tough ypur thoughts are expanding.
8. Technology is distraction, i agree, but in a way i don't since you have to use this in a way that forms you as a person
9. I agree that internet in the same as cigarette  though you cant judge that to that example, since this affects you as a self, physically, not morally.
10. I agree that technlology is addictive, since it is affecting everyone in extreme cases over the world.
11. I agree that this might be taking life quality out of peoples life, since people are focusing in the screen instead of what is around them
12. I agree that this is a desease, but not a bad one: if it is not extreme
13. I agree that internet rescue camps exists wfor extreme cases I agree that most people are overwlemed by technology
14. I disagree tat kids are tought to read and to use internt as the same time
15. I agree that thjis ids are trying to teach tem I disagree that technology is oxygen, electronics is not that big
16. I agree that the world is gling fast and that education is not
17. I think that technology needs to be used lke in the bronx school, but not in the university 
18. I agree that reading and writing are decreacing, because you dont really need to wirte something long or detailed in technology necesarrely
19. I agree that we are loosing skills using technology, like we did when we started writing, though I think that that is the price of progress. I think that if we use technology as a way to imporove our sences, we cluld be very smart. 
20. I agre that we must adapt to technology, but I think that technology should complement our developing system
21. I think that we sould depend in a way to technology, but I think that we sould not think that internet is our life, we are our own self because of what is arould us
22. I agree that having a virtual world, like a game, is good for some people, though I think that we have to idstinguih between the creen and reall life.