Marijuana as a Social Problem Essay Example for Free

Marijuana as a Social Problem Essay Introduction Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. You may hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed, grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana. All forms of marijuana are mind-altering. In other words, they change how the brain works. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals. Marijuanas effects on the user depend on the strength or potency of the THC it contains. The potency of marijuana has increased since the 1970s but has been about the same since the mid-1980s. Marijuana inherits its name from Mexico, although it has a past steeped with global tradition. Long before its U.S. debut, marijuana was widely used, and popular among, some of the world’s earliest civilizations. History documents show that the fiber-rich cannabis plant was used to produce rope and woven fabrics around 7000 B.C. in Central and South Asia. Additionally, it was referenced in Chinese manuscripts dating back to 2700 B.C. and ancient Indian scriptures have attributed medicinal properties to it. After being used by half of the world for nearly 8,000 years, marijuana traditionally reached North America with Christopher Columbus in 1492 A.D. Initially, cannabis was only used to make industrial goods; its recreational use in America didn’t become popular until the early 20th century. It wasn’t until then that the misunderstandings about cannabis truly began to popup. The recreational use of marijuana soon became considered as harmful as cocaine or heroin. However, it has never led to a single case of human death from overdose in its entire history. This is a sharp contrast to the heavy mortality rate of its supposed counterparts. Nonetheless, the use and cultivation of the cannabis plant was made illegal at the hands of many capable antidrug advocates. Domestic production of the marijuana plant was encouraged in various parts of America during the 17th century. The cannabis sativa plant, whose dried flower extracts can form potent recreational marijuana, was in great demand because of its long fibers which could be used for the production of clothing, ropes, and sails. In fact, The Assembly of Jamestown Colony, Virginia, passed legislation in 1619 making it compulsory for every farmer to grow the Indian hempseed – ironically America’s first marijuana law. Other colonial states like Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania allowed hemp to be exchanged as legal tender and could even be used to pay taxes. The plant was an essential requirement during war times and farmers would be jailed if they were not able to produce enough hemp. Men who Americans hold in great reverence grew and encouraged the growth of hemp. George Washington grew hemp as his primary crop in the late 18th century for fiber production at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson grew the plant as a secondary crop at Monticello and urged farmers to grow hemp in place of tobacco due to its many useful qualities. Even Benjamin Franklin used cannabis as the raw material to start one of America’s pioneering paper mills. By the mid-19th century, marijuana’s medicinal properties were recognized in North America and it was used as a popular ingredient in many medicinal products. The United States Pharmacopeia had marijuana on its list of pharmaceuticals from 1850 until 1942, and many companies like Brothers Smith, Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis, and Tildens produced a cannabis extract, which Sir William Osler, â€Å"the father of modern medicine,† pronounced as the best treatment for migraines. Marijuana was prescribed for various pain-relieving and mood-altering conditions such as nausea, labor pains, and rheumatism. A score of medical papers were published in this era flaunting the curing abilities of cannabis, and even the personal physician of Queen Victoria, Sir John Russell Reynolds, announced cannabis as having amazing powers to treat painful maladies. It was sold openly and was easily available in public pharmacies. However, during this time, marijuana was also starting to be used more often as an intoxicant. The recreational use of marijuana started on a small scale in the late 19th century in the northeastern United States with the opening of many Turkish smoking parlors. It was also during this time that about two to five percent of America’s population had unknowingly become addicted to morphine as most over-the-counter medicines contained levels of the substance. Among the addicts were soldiers, businessmen, housewives, and children. In response, the American government passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 and formed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in part to help counter and control the addiction situation. The law, though not targeting marijuana specifically, also required cannabis -based medications to have its contents mentioned on the label. TThe Spanish-American War, and the subsequent Mexican revolution of 1910, also influenced the marijuana scene in America. During the post-revolution years there was a great influx of Mexican-Americans who mostly found work on large farms in American fields. These immigrants cultivated marijuana, which they brought with them from Mexico, and indulged in its smoking for recreational purposes. Strong prejudice against the immigrants caused many to view the plant as an addictive and violence-inducing drug that created criminals, murderers, and delinquents. Not until the 1930’s, when the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and its director, Harry J. Anslinger, began drafting a bill to tax marijuana did an all out smear campaign begin, which eventually led to its national ban. State regulation of cannabis started in Massachusetts in 1911 and in New York and Maine by 1914. California passed the first state marijuana prohibition law in 1913, outlawing the preparations of hemp or â€Å"locoweed,† which was more a prejudiced controlling measure over the Mexican immigrant population than a controlling measure over the marijuana itself. More states came up with laws that banned marijuana, including Wyoming in 1915, Texas in 1919, and Nebraska in 1927. The states of Iowa, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Arkansas took this step in 1923. Marijuana was prohibited by 29 states by 1931 due largely to the poor socio-economic conditions during The Great Depression. With unemployment at its peak, many American’s found they competing against Mexican immigrants for jobs in the fields. Consequently, Mexican workers and their associated drug marijuana became easy targets for attack. By this time, marijuana’s misleading reputation began to overshadow its historic medicinal and industrial applications.

Ministers Black Veil Essays: Masks and Intimacy -- Ministers Black V

The Minister's Black Veil - Masks and Intimacy  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      The Minister's Black Veil begins with a young pastor, Mr. Hooper, arriving at church with an ugly black veil covering his face. The people are all dismayed, and wonder why he is wearing a black veil. They are further dismayed and confused, when he refuses to take it off--ever. There is only one person who is not horrified by his black veil--his wife-to-be, Elizabeth. She comes to him and says, "there is nothing terrible in this piece of crape, except that it hides a face which I am always glad to look upon. Come, good sir, let the sun shine from behind the cloud. First lay aside your black veil: then tell me why you put it on." (Heath 2143) Mr. Hooper smiles and replies, "There is an hour to come when all of us shall cast aside our veils. Take it not amiss, beloved friend, if I wear this piece of crape till then." (Heath 2143) Elizabeth, again, entreats him to remove the veil, but he replies, "this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends. No mortal eye will see it withdrawn. This dismal shade must separate me from the world: even you, Elizabeth, can never come behind it!" Elizabeth asks him what shall the people think of his veil? Won't it start a scandal? Mr. Hooper then replies, "If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough, and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?" (Heath 2143) Elizabeth begins to feel terror at the sight of the veil. She turns to leave the room, and Mr. Hooper cries, "Have patience with me, Elizabeth! Do not desert me, though this veil must be between us here on e... ... understanding, and healing. Mr. Hooper's veil ostracized him from the mercy, understanding and love, from his congregation. BIBLIOGRAPHY Kaul, A. N., (Ed.). (1966). "HAWTHORNE: A Collection of Critical Essays." Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Levin, Harry., (Ed.). (1961) "The Scarlet Letter and Other Tales of the Puritans." Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Morris, Lloyd., "THE REBELLIOUS PURITAN: Portrait of Mr. Hawthorne." Port Washington: Kennikat Press. "The Heath Anthology of American Literature" (2nd ed.). Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company. Van Doren, Mark., (Ed.). (1951). "The Best of Hawthorne." New York: The Ronald Press Company. Waggoner, Hyatt H., "HAWTHORNE: A Critical Study." Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. "World History and Cultures: In Christian Perspective." Pensacola: A Beka Book.   

Impact of technology on communication Essay

The ways new technologies of communication affect my interactions. Since the existence of electronic communication I have made friends who are far from where I live. Although not everyone I have met on the internet becomes my friends, some are business associates, others have become my employer and still many have become my friends. My very common means of electronic communication is through live chats such as yahoo messenger and skype. This is where I get immediate feedback as long as the person I am chatting with is online. It requires that both of us have the account which is free of charge. New technology will show me if the person is away, unavailable, online or offline. I also use the email technology and this has helped me cover many distances in terms of education and socializing. I have bought books that I feel I need to read through the internet and the payment I have done through wire transfer. Surprisingly I have not lost any money or got conned as I hear people complaining that the net is full of fraud. I have also got a free lance job with the essay writers and I wrote my application through an email. After a while I got a feedback from them through email and started working for them. I get all my orders through browsing through the list of orders supplied and I work on the orders and then send them to customers through the internet. My questions if any about the orders are direct to the customers as a message that gets addressed within 24 hours. My pay for the work done is through electronic wire transfer. However I lack the face to face opportunity of interacting with these people I work for and although this does not much affect my work I tend to think that maybe if the meeting in face to face was there maybe we would not bond well and maybe wouldn’t work together. Sometimes this happens as some people who I meet face to face can never become my friends, my partners in business or my employer. They are those people who are hard to deal with, people who are not straight, who will look for war always. This I can only judge once I get to interact with a person face to face. Although one can get a vivid idea of some one’s character through their way of writing – that is the language they use, I believe some characteristics can be hidden and not seen through writing but will expose out rightly on face to face basis. I look at the people on television and associate the characteristics of the individuals here with the background they come from. An example movie from Mexico portrays Mexicans as very beautiful people, very hardworking. This is my personal opinion of the Mexicans and although it might not be perfect, I have come to this conclusion through watching television. Television has always shown Africa to be the land of jungle, wild animals moving freely. When I went for a tour in these places I saw exactly this. The last interesting thing that I have got from the net is a fiance. I met this man through skype and after chatting for quite some time we exchanged snaps. In the snap I saw that his physical appearance is what I would want. We did a lot of communication and said what each of us value, our dislikes and likes. When he finally flew to come and see me, I was not surprised for I just saw the very person I have learnt to love and respect on skype. He spoke the same way, looked just as the snap had shown. After a few months we got engaged and we are now looking forward to our wedding!

The Appeal of Eavan Bolands Poetry - 2149 Words

â€Å"The appeal of Eavan Boland’s poetry† The appeal of Eavan Boland’s poetry is how real she is as her personal experiences are reflected in her poems. Her writing is humble and domestic making it accessible to the reader as she is interested in the voices of the powerless in society such as in ‘The Famine Road’. Being that she is from Dublin her references in her poems make the poems relevant and accessible to readers who are also from Dublin as in ‘The war Horse’. Her appeal to women is obvious as she talks of issues directly relating to mothers as in ‘Child of Our Time’ or ‘This moment’ but also not just mothers as in ‘The Famine Road’. However, her appeal is not just for women as she has feminist concerns but is not a ‘doctrinaire’†¦show more content†¦This shows how desperate these people became and although the tone remains impersonal it touches on the idea of the gradu al dehumanisation of a human race to the level of beasts as the poem does refer to the peoples parts of their bodies, ‘buttock’ and ‘knuckles’. In conclusion this poem’s complexity yet accessibility mentioned through the divide of them poem but also the line structure holds a wide appeal to all. The next poem I will mention is ‘The War Horse’. The War Horse is a memory of Eavan’s of a horse from the tinker camp in Enniskerry that got loose and is on her road and trampled flowers and eats the leaves. Instantly there is an appeal for people familiar with Dublin as they can picture the Enniskerry road. However Eavan takes this memory and symbolises it into war. To begin, the structure of the poem is divided into fifteen stanzas with two lines in each. There is ‘nothing unusual’ about this divide and is done on purpose to represent how war can come about in perfectly ordinary places but also to show how in some countries, for example African countries, war can be so common that there is nothing unusual about it’s occurrence. The normality of the poem is also shown with the concrete images portrayed in the poem, the speaker herself, the horse destroying gardens, the neighbours peering from behind curtains. With the first two sentences being long and flowing, the third instantly disrupts theShow MoreRelatedEavan Boland Essay1375 Words   |  6 PagesEavan Boland is my favourite modern poet. There are many reasons for my positive response to her poems. What I love about Boland’s work is how revolutionary it is. Jody Allen Randolph, the American critic, once said that Boland â€Å"single-handedly challenged what was a heavily male-dominated profession†. What really appeals to me about Boland’s work is how she offers me fresh insight on old topics. In particular I like her reflections on love and relationships, the polemical/political dimension to herRead MoreDo Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Essay1534 Words   |  7 Pagesprovoking theme. The careful repetition of the two echoing refrains and the flow of the rime pattern can make the poem come off as musical and songlike. In my opinion, appearing like a song can better appeal to the emotional state of the reader and allow for a deeper connection. In Mark Strand and Eavan Boland’s book The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2001) they emphasize the rules for the villanelle closed form, a total of nineteen lines which is made up of five stanzas of three