Review of Dear John

I read Dear John by Nicolas Sparks which was a very emotional book. My big question is What brings happiness or fulfillment to someone's life? In Dear John, John spends most of his life trying to get along with his dad and just living without purpose. When John meets the love of his life while he is on leave from the Army his priorities change a bit. He keeps surviving for the letters from her and for the chance to see her again. She brings him the fulfillment that he has been longing for.

This book helped me better understand my big question for a number of reasons. First it shows how important love and relationships are in someone's life. If you go through life not caring for anyone it is hard to feel happy and fulfilled. Also, that if you love someone enough sometimes you have to let them go and the best option is for you not to be together.

I would for sure recommend this book. I saw the movie after I read the book and I was mildly disappointed. But when I was reading this book I couldn't put it down until I was done. Channing Tatum played John in the movie so I pictured him as the main character while i was reading which just made it that much more enjoyable.

Research Paper: Legalizing Marijuana

This is a research paper I wrote for my senior year literature class.


Jillian Lieber
Doctor Zerwin
Senior Lit and Comp.
Pd. 3
December 1st, 2010
   

Marijuana is in America’s Future

It seems that today in our world, drugs are everywhere we look. From the caffeine we drink in our daily morning coffee to the Anti-Meth commercials we watch on TV. Drugs are present whether we like it or not. Some are considered more acceptable in our society then others. But one of the biggest controversies in politics today is whether Marijuana should remain illegal. We see the news involving the drug wars in Mexico and the rebellion it is causing. Many people think that Marijuana is just a gateway to the more scary and harmful drugs. More and more reasons keep popping up about how keeping Marijuana illegal is just hurting us. Also, points are made that making it legal will help this country gain many benefits. Everyone is too caught up in the stereotypes of marijuana and won’t open their minds to the possibilities. This issue will keep being brought up in future discussions until it is dealt with.  It would  be in the overall best interest of our country and the people who live in it to legalize marijuana.

Our country is founded on rebellion.  We are familiar with rebellion when the government makes drugs unavailable. In the 1920’s, Prohibition of alcohol caused riots and massacres (Drum). In the upcoming years we could look upon another generation acting up on Marijuana Laws. Over the past few decades, groups of people who were looked up to or were considered the “in” crowd used Marijuana. In the 1970’s the rebellious hippies used it very openly (Conant). In the 1990’s many rap stars used it as a sort of status symbol (Conant). The idolized groups always rebelling against laws or what the government wanted. When the youth starts to think of laws as unreasonable or not smart, they start to lose respect for the government (Grinspoon). We don’t want the future of the country to not respect boundaries and not follow the government. Abraham Lincoln once stated “Attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation, makes a crime out of things that are not crimes.” (Conant)

Many people consider marijuana a gateway drug to more dangerous things. But the gangs and junkies stealing from society aren’t doing it over pot (Drum). So it is not fair to categorize it with things such as cocaine, heroin and meth. The reason that pot can be a gateway drug is because it is illegal. People wanting to use it have to go to the dealers, who might also sell other illegal drugs (Drum). Since marijuana isn’t as dangerous as other drugs, if the use of it increased, it would lead to a decrease of other drugs (Drum). Now, comparing it to legal drugs today, studies also show how it is one of the least harmful drugs. The heaviest pot smokers rarely smoke as much as an average tobacco smoker (Grinspoon). When comparing it to the damages that alcohol causes there is no comparison. Excessive drinking in the U.S. causes nearly 80,000 deaths per year (Drum). Marijuana Causes zero(Drum).

As we keep marijuana illegal, we cause more problems then may be apparent. The war in Mexico isn’t just about hard drugs (Drum). Marijuana is also one of their main trade drugs. (Drum). Over 60% of Mexico’s drug trade is with the U.S. (Conant). In the U.S. we aren’t taking care of getting rid of the trade either. 88% of arrests related to Marijuana are for possession and not dealers or people who grow (Conant). Therefore we are just using up our governments resources on catching people who aren’t causing the problems. But if Marijuana was just legalized in one state then that state could distribute it to the rest of the country on the black market (Schneiderman). Therefore we need to address this issue on a national level rather then by individual state laws. Also many patients who should use marijuana won’t, because they don't want to do something illegal (Grinspoon). Keeping it illegal is helping no one, it’s only causing more disturbances.

If marijuana becomes legal the positives are endless. California Alone would make 1.4 Billion in taxes of marijuana each year if it was legal (Schneiderman). Everyone knows we need the money in this economy. They predict if the entire U.S. made it legal it would bring in about 8.7 Billion dollars (Conant). I’m not saying that it is right to make something legal just so our government can make money off it.  Now if they were to make all illegal drugs legal it would bring in about 46.7 Billion dollars in taxes (Conant). It wouldn’t harm the U.S. or change the amount of users too much if it was available legally to everyone. The use increase would only go from about 15 to 20%  if it were to be legalized (Drum). Also, smoking Pot could provide a safer alternative to alcohol (Vogel).  But even though medical marijuana is now legal in some states, the medical uses are still looked down upon (Grinspoon). Our society needs to start looking at marijuana in a different light. It can be more effective and less addictive then other pain killers (Grinspoon). It has also been found to reduce nausea (Grinspoon). And non-medical users benefit from it also. There is just the positive effect that it brings out the comedy in life and makes people laugh (Grinspoon). No one can have too much joy in their life. It has been proven to cause creativity, alteration of the experience of time, and can make you experience the world with the freshness and excitement of a child (Grinspoon). The positive effects it would cause would help and not change how our country used drugs to any extent.

There are way too many stereotypes put onto the use of marijuana.  Grinspoon states that “Marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”(Grinspoon) The public has been falsely informed to think that marijuana is bad (Grinspoon). It has been connected to violent and rebellious behavior that our society does not want to endorse. Grinspoon states that the only negative effects the use of marijuana has is to the lungs (Grinspoon). Some may argue that it leads to major damages. But, they have not tied a single case of lung cancer to smoking weed (Grinspoon). Therefore many of the rumors our society has thought to be fact is leading them to a false perspective of marijuana.

Current laws on marijuana and medical marijuana are constantly changing and being challenged. Marijuana was originally outlawed in 1937 (Conant). Then, California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996 (Conant). Thirteen states now have Medical Marijuana  legal in them (Vogel). Many of these states have also decriminalized the drug. Decriminalization is not legalization though, it just makes the offense treated like a traffic ticket (Drum).  But it has been proven that decriminalizing the drug has no effect on how many people use it (Drum). Every community looks at the laws differently. Some local law enforcement strictly obey the laws. Others just give out warnings. It’s all about what the local law enforcement wants (Friend). The sad part is that marijuana arrests account for more than half of all drug arrests in the U.S. (Conant). We should be focusing on getting the harder drugs out of the streets. Sarah Palin said “I think we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts. And if somebody is gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at.” (Conant). Our laws right now need to be adjusted to the best interest of our society.

The future of marijuana laws is all that really matters now. The problem is that if individual states make it legal, the federal government might punish them for it (Vogel). We need to get the whole country on board.  A survey by Newsweek Poll said that 25% of republicans are in favor and 55% of democrats are (Conant). But democrats don’t wanna be put in an awkward position by endorsing it (Conant).  So it might be up to the republicans to realize that it will be in the best interest of both parties. It’s good that as the issue becomes more popular, high respected people, such as Fox news Glenn Beck, joined pro-legalization (Conant). As the economy falls, more and more republicans are switching over to the pro-legalization side (Conant). The next big state after California’s fail to legalize is Nevada. Nevada in 2002 had 39% vote, in 2006 had a 44% vote and is fairly confident that in the 2012 vote, they will legalize it. (Schneiderman). The voters of America need to be better informed on what they are voting for.

    The past is that past. We need to focus on the future of our country. People should reevaluate their views of the past and learn about how marijuana could help their future. Marijuana is not just a stoners way of getting away from reality. It is present in every society weather they’d like to address it or not. I believe the time has come for everyone to get their facts straight. There are legal drugs that have caused way more harm then marijuana would. America’s voters need to realize this and change their views. Vote to make it legal!

Works cited

Conant, Eve, and Katie Maloney. "POT AND THE GOP." Newsweek 156.18 (2010): 30. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.

Drum, Kevin. "THE PATRIOT'S GUIDE TO LEGALIZATION." Mother Jones 34.4 (2009): 49. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.

Friend, Tad. "POT 101." (2010): TOPICsearch. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.

Grinspoon, Lester. "Should marijuana be legalized as a medicine? Yes, it's a beneficial drug."World & I 9.6 (1994): 92. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.

Schneiderman, R. M. "LEGAL WEED GETS A REALITY CHECK IN CALIFORNIA." Newsweek 156.5 (2010): 10. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.

Vogel, Ed "Marijuana legalization vote sought: Group plans petition drive for 2012 ballot question." Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV) 07 Jan. 2010: Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.