So, it's just about over. As the school year approaches its end, and I write my final blog post, it's time for a little bit of reflection as to how this process has affected myself, my peers, and my learning experience.
Quite honestly, I think blogging was one of the best attributes of my American Studies class. At the core of the concept, it's weekly writing, which keeps you on your toes, always thinking about logic (and grammar.) But I think that more importantly, this task makes you look at the world and what's going on. As much as I hate to say it, I (and I'd assume most high schoolers) tend to block out the "real" world, and focus on the world of high school. But really, who can blame us; often times, the world is a terrible place. And some people chose to focus on the good in the world for their blog posts. But I focused on the bad. On the government cover-ups, on the outrageous outcomes of our judicial system, and on the good who are dyin' young. And while it has been somewhat of a bleak process, I think I've come out of it a better, more conscious person. I've learned that all the bad in the world should not be ignored, but rather, talked about. Ignorance is not bliss, it's just ignorance, and it doesn't do anyone any good.
What I'm trying to say is that this blog helped me to address some of the issues I see in the world. It gave me a place to discuss things and vent my anger, so that when I was done writing my posts, I was feelin' alright. And I think that if a school assignment can have this therapeutic affect on a person, that's incredible. Maybe the future of education in America isn't so doomed after all.
People may say we're north american scum; that doesn't mean we can't write about it. And through writing, comes healing.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
What Was in that Candy Bar?
Today, as I casually browsed Reddit, an article caught my attention. The link was titled something along the lines of "New York Times journalist freaks out on pot candy," and after seeing that, I couldn't help myself. But after reading the full article by Maureen Dowd, and noticing many misleading points, I couldn't help but dissect the article.
The first thing I noticed was that the title of the article was "Don't Harsh Our Mellow, Dude." Really? Do reporters seriously not get tired of using the same old Cheech and Chong puns to title their articles? Not only that, but the title really has nothing to do with the rest of the article, which focuses on the edible aspect of the recreational marijuana industry in Colorado. So really, Dowd is just too lazy to come up with a creative title.
Next, she goes on to describe her experience. Essentially, she's writing articles about legalization in Colorado and she figures, maybe I should give it a try. So she holes herself up in a hotel room with a marijuana infused candy bar and ate... uh.... she didn't know how much. She ate some, then some more, and then some more. And all of a sudden everything was coming on way too fast. She even says she "became convinced [she] had died." All right, so while this is certainly a disturbing story, she seems to have ignored several things that anyone using basic common sense would have realized. First and foremost, she is in a city she doesn't know, in a hotel room she's never been to, trying a drug for the first time. And she's all alone. She takes no precautions and clearly knows very little about pot edibles (or else she would have known they can take up to 2 hours to kick in.) In addition to all of this, she seems to not read the label on the package (where manufacturers are required to list serving size and milligrams of THC.) Often, these products have a serving size of 10mg or so of THC, and there are several servings in one candy. But apparently Dowd chose to ignore that.
My final qualm I have with the article is her very nice little "Edible Horror Stories" section near the end of the article, where she lists people who have committed suicide or murder after eating pot candy. However, she fails to mention that in both the cases she mentioned, there were other drugs found in the system of the person responsible, including PCP in one case. So that also slipped her mind.
But while this article may be problem-filled and biased, it does raise a good point (though it's the not the point she's trying to make.) There is, quite obviously, a learning curve for using marijuana, and it's quite possible that the current system in Colorado caters to veteran users of the drug. But perhaps the biggest reason for this is that our society just hasn't had the time to adjust to the legalization of this drug. There aren't any videos being shown in health classes about "how much marijuana is a moderate amount" like there is for alcohol. And I think that with time, society will begin to educate people this newly legal substance. Because unfortunately, Maureen Dowd didn't have a friendly neighborhood stoner when she was growing up to explain to her how to use marijuana responsibly.
The first thing I noticed was that the title of the article was "Don't Harsh Our Mellow, Dude." Really? Do reporters seriously not get tired of using the same old Cheech and Chong puns to title their articles? Not only that, but the title really has nothing to do with the rest of the article, which focuses on the edible aspect of the recreational marijuana industry in Colorado. So really, Dowd is just too lazy to come up with a creative title.
Next, she goes on to describe her experience. Essentially, she's writing articles about legalization in Colorado and she figures, maybe I should give it a try. So she holes herself up in a hotel room with a marijuana infused candy bar and ate... uh.... she didn't know how much. She ate some, then some more, and then some more. And all of a sudden everything was coming on way too fast. She even says she "became convinced [she] had died." All right, so while this is certainly a disturbing story, she seems to have ignored several things that anyone using basic common sense would have realized. First and foremost, she is in a city she doesn't know, in a hotel room she's never been to, trying a drug for the first time. And she's all alone. She takes no precautions and clearly knows very little about pot edibles (or else she would have known they can take up to 2 hours to kick in.) In addition to all of this, she seems to not read the label on the package (where manufacturers are required to list serving size and milligrams of THC.) Often, these products have a serving size of 10mg or so of THC, and there are several servings in one candy. But apparently Dowd chose to ignore that.
My final qualm I have with the article is her very nice little "Edible Horror Stories" section near the end of the article, where she lists people who have committed suicide or murder after eating pot candy. However, she fails to mention that in both the cases she mentioned, there were other drugs found in the system of the person responsible, including PCP in one case. So that also slipped her mind.
But while this article may be problem-filled and biased, it does raise a good point (though it's the not the point she's trying to make.) There is, quite obviously, a learning curve for using marijuana, and it's quite possible that the current system in Colorado caters to veteran users of the drug. But perhaps the biggest reason for this is that our society just hasn't had the time to adjust to the legalization of this drug. There aren't any videos being shown in health classes about "how much marijuana is a moderate amount" like there is for alcohol. And I think that with time, society will begin to educate people this newly legal substance. Because unfortunately, Maureen Dowd didn't have a friendly neighborhood stoner when she was growing up to explain to her how to use marijuana responsibly.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Gimme Back my Weed!
Back in January I wrote a blog post about Colorado's revolutionary legalization of marijuana for recreational use. They made history and opened new doors for marijuana policies in the government, and since then, the negative stigma around marijuana in American culture has been slowly disappearing. And just this past week, we got a great reminder of this, in the form of possibly the largest victory for pro-marijuana advocates since Colorado's legalization efforts. But first, a little background.
Although many states have legalized marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes, the DEA still considers marijuana a Schedule I drug (meaning it has no medicinal value whatsoever, which is absurd.) It's classified right alongside MDMA and heroin. So naturally, these state and federal laws have clashed, and it often leads to dramatic DEA raids of dispensaries and medical marijuana grow operations. And while it may seem as though this is simply inconveniencing some people, these dispensaries provide medicinal cannabis prescribed by a doctor, often for patients who have gone through product after product with no results. For many, medical marijuana is a last resort, and it allows a life without constant pain. So you can see how, when dispensaries are raided, their product snatched and lives put on hold, it not only closes a business, but prevents patients from having medicine.
So now we arrive at the victory. This past Monday, the House passed a bill that effectively prevents the DEA from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries and grow operations that are legal on the state level. This is such an important event because it demonstrates a more open attitude towards medicinal and recreational marijuana use than the government has shown in the past, which signals a possible shift towards sensible marijuana policies (or, at the very least, more sensible than the ones we have now.) Does this signal a change in attitude in the government, or is this just a special case?
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