...Justin Tonter Professor Smith English 1A 8 July 2014 Why We Should Legalize Cannabis While more and more people are supporting the legalization of cannabis, there are still many who are on the fence about the issue. Even though I do not smoke marijuana, I am all for legalization as I believe the positives that come from it outweigh the negatives by a great deal. So far we have seen two states legalize marijuana for recreational use, the two being Colorado and Washington, and the positive effects it’s having on these states are outstanding. The people who are still not all the way on board with it believe that weed is just for lazy people who eat Doritos and watch Family Guy all day long and they can’t see any of the great benefits cannabis can actually have. Seeing what has happened in Colorado and Washington more people are seeing the benefits legalization can have, not only on people for health benefits but for the states economy as well, not to mention a decline in crime. Between January 1 and 2 April 30, violent crime and property crime in Denver dropped 10.6 percent compared to that same span one year earlier. Homicides have dropped to less than half of last year’s levels, and motor vehicle theft has shrunk by over one-third (“Crime down and revenue up in Colorado since start of marijuana legalization”). A long with lower crime rates the state is gaining a bunch of money from taxes on marijuana as well. Kelly Phillips Erb who is a writer for Forbes said this...
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...Abstract Throughout this paper, there will be an extremely debatable discussion about legalizing marijuana. Though both sides to this discussion have valid arguments, the pros outweigh the cons by a substantial amount. According to norml.org marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America. Federal law prohibits marijuana; anyone found with possession by federal law is punishable by up to one year in jail and a minimum fine of $1,000 for a first conviction. With making this “troubling substance” legal, the government would be able to reduce the national debt and easily reduce the overcrowding of prisons. I am proposing that people take a second to look past the negatives of drugs and focus on a plant that could better the nation. Purpose Marijuana has a negative shame involved by the government and public, but is actually a natural and successful medicine. Recently marijuana arrests have been exceeding the amount of violent crime arrests and punishments. The Marijuana Policy Project counted 872,720 pot-related arrests in the United States in 2007 alone, according to Cato. Enforcing this prohibition has put taxpayers in almost 10 billion dollars of debt annually. I believe that there are definitely more important issues that the government should be focusing on rather than throwing harmless marijuana smokers in jail. Problem or Need According to norml.org marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America. Nearly one in eight drug prisoners...
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...While the original Monsanto made a name for itself through the manufacturing of chemicals, new Monsanto took quite a different turn. It switched its emphasis from chemicals to food. Today’s Monsanto owes its $8.6 Billion in sales to biotechnology; specifically to its sales of genetically modified (GM) plant seeds. These seeds have revolutionized the agriculture industry. Throughout history, weeds, insects, and drought have been the bane of the farmer’s existence. In the past century, herbicides and pesticides were invented to ward off pests. Yet applying these chemicals to an entire crop was both costly and time-consuming. Then Monsanto scientists, through their work in biotechnology, were able to implant seeds with genes that make the plants themselves kill bugs. They also created seeds containing the herbicide Roundup Ready, an herbicide that kills weeds but spares the crops. The broad introduction of these GM seeds in the 1990s unleashed a stream of criticism. Monsanto was nickname “Mutanto,” and GM produce was called “Frankenfood.” Critics believed that influencing the gene pools of plants we eat could result negative health consequences, a fear that remains to this day. Others worried about the health effects on beneficial insects and plants. Could pollinating GM plants have an effect on nearby insects and non-GM plants? CEO Hugh Grant decided to curtail the tide of criticism by focusing on biotechnology on products that would not be directly place on dinner plate, but...
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...the world manage to mass produce enough food to feed the billions? Mass production of crop cultivation on a large scale. In order to do this successfully and provide food for the populations there are a few primary issues which must be addressed. One of the main issues the farmers of the world must deal with is the problem with crop destroying insects and invasive plant species. Pesticide is used to identify both insecticides and herbicides, or (as I like to refer to them) bug and weed killers. Although pesticides curb the effects of insects and weeds in food cultivation, the detrimental health issues concerning the effects of pesticides continues to increase; therefore, pesticides should have stricter standards imposed upon their use, and more focus should be made towards developing alternative methods and safer solutions. Depending on location, environment, weather, and many other variables there is a great need to protect the world’s crops from the devastating effects of bugs and weeds. Certain species are capable of terminating the growth of necessary food sources. Of course humanity would react as alarmist and jump to an immediate solution of “Kill! Kill ‘em all!” without first considering the possible consequences to themselves or future generations. I’m told its human nature, and can relate to the pressures of solving the mysteries of life but, seriously?!? What would make them consider that another living creature, be it plant or animal, would not be capable...
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...can be said true of nearly anything you have an abundance of. Then, there’s grazing, letting animals eat the plant. This is the method currently being used in parts of the Southern United States. There’s also removing the crowns, which is the flower on top of the plant that has all of the vines coming out. Mowing close to the ground regularly is also a proven weapon against the Kudzu plant. Herbicide has been used for a while, but is harmful for the environment, so it’s not being used much anymore. Finally, there is a specific kind of mold that eats up the Kudzu plant, killing it slowly as it devours it’s way to the root. The Kudzu Vine has the potential to be a devastating plant. But, we are working our hardest to turn it from a common weed, to a medical plant that could save millions of...
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...Jimi Underwood 10.24.2014 PLNT 5412 Proposal for Blue Grama Breeding Program Introduction Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of North American native grasses for the use as a turfgrass and as ornamental grass. Multiple reasons exist for this interest; among them are the perceived lack of invasiveness (as compared to other introduced species), their existing adaptation to the climatic conditions of specific locations, and even the maintenance and storage of the germplasm (Watkins et al., 2013). This growing interest is a sign to breeders letting them know that a market exists for the right native grasses. It is my belief that blue grama fills the need of the market looking for a native, low-maintenance, and attractive turfgrass. Blue grama [Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths] is one of the 57 species of grama grasses (genus Bouteloua Lag.) that dominate the xeric grasslands of North America. These grasslands are found in the central and southern regions of North America occupying a large portion of the continent. Yet, despite having a wide range of adaptability and fairly high diversity within the genus, the grama grasses are only found as a native in the western hemisphere (Smith et al., 2004). This seemingly limits the global use of grama grasses, yet they have potential for use in their native ranges. The grama grasses represent a genus with a high potential, and out of the 57 species I feel blue grama seems more fitting than most for...
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...2:30 p.m. The event took place at the Washington State Arboretum Park. Upon arrival I had no idea what to expect. I figured we would be pulling some small weeds or planting trees and flowers. This was not the case. I was surprised to find that our task was to dig up blackberry plants. I quickly noticed that these enormous prickly weeds were everywhere, almost completely taking over in certain areas in the park. I was intimidated at first in trying to tackle these weeds because I don’t have much arm strength. Even the woman showing us what to do had trouble digging one up. Shovels and pitchforks were given to us as our tools. The shovels definitely were the way to go. It proved to be a strenuous job to dig these plants up because it was hard to navigate the area without getting pricked by the thorns, and the roots on most of them were thick and went into the dirt pretty deep. Some of the weeds were even “double rooters,” meaning they were rooted into the ground in two separate places. I would feel so accomplished after digging one up only to find, when I tugged on it to bring it to the pile, that it was rooted into the ground again somewhere else a few feet away. I eventually got the hang of digging the plants up and ended up accomplishing quite a lot with the group I was working with. The truck we were placing our pulled weeds in was overflowing because we had dug up so many, and that was only our group’s pile and there were three groups total. I feel that all of us volunteers...
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...Growing Weed Resistance Problem Threatens U.S. Farms Resistance of weeds to the herbicide glyphosate has grown over the past two decades, and this global problem has hit home. The U.S. has officially overtaken Australia as the #1 spot for herbicide-resistant weeds worldwide, according to Stephen Powles, director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative at the University of Western Australia. This dubious distinction is of concern because the U.S. has joined other world-leading grain-producing countries in experiencing weed resistance, potentially endangering crop yields amid a growing world population. During the “Weed Resistance in the Americas” panel at the 2013 Farm Progress Show, Powles and other leading global experts shared weed management observations and expertise to help and support U.S. farmers: Aaron Hager, associate professor of Weed Science, University of Illinois; Pedro J. Christoffoleti, head of the Department of Crop Science at the University of São Paulo in Brazil; and Harry Strek, head of Profiling and Market Support in the Weed Control Biology Research group at Bayer CropScience in Frankfurt, Germany. The event followed a week-long weed resistance tour of the U.S. and Canada hosted by Bayer CropScience. Moderator Arlene Cotie, product development manager with Bayer, said the panelists wanted to educate and urge growers to “take action” to protect their fields and yields. International weed resistance experts warned U.S....
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...Pollution has been found to be present widely in the environment. There are a number of effects of this: * Biomagnification describes situations where toxins (such as heavy metals) may pass through trophic levels, becoming exponentially more concentrated in the process. * Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification, the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans as CO2becomes dissolved. * The emission of greenhouse gases leads to global warming which affects ecosystems in many ways. * Invasive species can out compete native species and reduce biodiversity. Invasive plants can contribute debris and biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and chemical compositions of an environment, often reducing native speciescompetitiveness. * Nitrogen oxides are removed from the air by rain and fertilise land which can change the species composition of ecosystems. * Smog and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight received by plants to carry out photosynthesis and leads to the production of tropospheric ozone which damages plants. * Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for plants. This will affect other organisms in the food web. * Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain which lowers the pH value of soil. The 48-year-old businessman, who was vice president of the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee and is on the board of Inter State Gas Company and Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation, strongly believes in the potential of Pakistan’s...
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...cultural assets |Internal | |Strengths |Weaknesses | | | | |Yellagonga Regional Park is among one of the eight park within |Water catchment area and urban development such as storm water | |the Perth Metropolitan Region; |and ground pollution; | |Great potential tourist attraction; |Invasion of weeds; | |Beauty of the landscape; |Occurrence of fire, rubbish dumping and presence feral animal | |Presence of very attractive species; |and pest; | |Great diversity of environment in a large territory; |Uncontrolled access; | |Low level of human pressure on resources, large areas of |Poor control of domestic pets; | |natural interest; |Degradation of heritage sites, fauna habitats and bushland | |Pak contains a wide variety of ecosystems from...
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...that I have. First it’s a known fact that you can’t die from smoking weed A.K.A. Marijuana, second from experience and from other people, they said they haven’t heard people getting sick from smoking weed so it’s like helping you not getting you sick, the only thing that’s bad is the type of stuff u smoking out of, Last but not least I believe it would bring down crime rate in the U.S.A. I know for a fact that you cannot die from marijuana, the reason I say that is because I still haven’t heard a story or an article about somebody dying from smoking weed. Plus I know a lot of people that do smoke weed and they are perfectly fine. Even some people told me that smoking weed can help you out to a certain extinct; the reason why I say that is because I know that in hospital they give out weed to certain people that need it. Also it calms you down when you smoke marijuana so why not legalize it? This reason is the one that really made me say that marijuana is not bad for you because from experience and from other people I haven’t seen people or heard of people getting sick like that when they smoke marijuana I really don’t know the reason why, but I really need to get into that so I can find out because that is a good research question and project to do. My homeboy smoke marijuana all the time and he said he only got sick like 3 time the whole year, now that’s crazy. And I’m not saying you should smoke weed it’s just an observation that I came up with from other people. The other...
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...All over America, states have been considering to illegalize recreational marijuana for many reasons, but some people want it to be legal and others think it should stay illegal. When the states, Colorado and Washington had illegalized recreational marijuana, they created a major controversy over the nation. The Federal government on August 29th, 2013 said, "that it would interfere with the laws, but will provide regulations for the states to follow”. Before all of this in 1996, when California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana, it was used so doctors could prescribe to patients with Cancer, ADIS/HIV, and many other diseases. It was also used for extreme pains and also a treatment method for people with anxiety. Even then, there...
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...Ortiz Period 1 3/12/2012 Legalization of Marijuana Should marijuana be legalized? There is currently a debate regarding whether Marijuana should be legalized. Marijuana should be legal in the U.S. This is because there has been a lot of automobile crashes and even deaths. This is all under the influence of alcohol while others are smoking weed and with that it decreases the deaths and the crashes there is. In order to solve this issue of legalizing Marijuana, there should be a law passed. The first reason that Marijuana should be legalize is because it drops in deadly crashes, this is under the influence of alcohol. And it’s tested that when your high there is a less percentage of crashing. According to the article “Medical pot tied to safer roads” Legalization of Marijuana” “is associated with nearly 9 percent decrease in traffic fatalities. Most likely as a result of its important and alcohol consumed by young adults”. This shows that the author suggest that they should put a law, because with the alcohol and the drunk driving has killed a lot of people and has caused a lot of damage as well other people are smoking weed and the traffic in fatalities has decrease a 9 percent in its car accidents. This shows that while you’re under the influence of alcohol there are more possibilities to crash then while been high and driving. As a conclusion there should be a law passes about medical Marijuana. The second reason that “Marijuana should be legalized” is...
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...Yes I believe weed should be legal because it doesn’t kill people it helps people and can save lives. Weed is not a gun and is it not a weapon. There shouldn’t be a reason why people can’t use it for fun. Weed can make a lot of people money and create a lot of jobs. With more jobs that means more people working an off the street. Making this legal can change a lot of things like how we live an how we eat? This will bring joy to many people if this is legalized a lot of things will change. There will be a lot of stores and many people can benefit of this. Everybody smokes it so it is really hard to arrest everybody. So they might as well let everybody do it for fun. Alcohol is way more harmful then weed but that is legal people can die from alcohol but people still drink it. If you can get arrested for smoking weed you be arrested for smoking tobacco too. Tobacco can cause many problems down the road. A tobacco can actually kill you. The government tries to make people stop but it will never stop. Everybody is finding ways to use it. There really is no way to stop to it. I personal don’t mind it because it doesn’t smell bad or if I inhale it while is somebody smoking it won’t hurt me or cause me any problems. Weed is healthy for you it can’t hurt you it will just make your life better. Most people think this could save lives, it helps with medical problems .Allot of people will be shocked on how good this will help people with their daily lives. I also believe that this will...
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...Hernandez, Aian Kier V. August 15,2013 EGE0106 Effective Speech Tools Why Legalize Marijuana as Seen and Told by Experience " Legalize weed or don't, i'll smoke it anyway " . That is my saying. And how did I end up with this ? Simple, I smoke weed or Marijuana, I started to smoke weed when I was in my second year of college at a certain school, a friend of mine introduced marijuana to me and because of curiosity i tried it. At first joint, I didn't felt anything but when i took the second puff my head felt heavy and my eyes are started to turn red and i began to imagining things like birds flying in the sky laughing out loud with the people whom they drop their poop, I also became observant about my surroundings thinking why the leafs of that tree is so green and the other is yellow and we laughed with nothing in particular. But what is marijuana ? Marijuana is a medical herb plant or also known as Cannabis Sativa in scientific name. Some people often said that Marijuana is addictive, YES of course it is. But not everyone who smokes marijuana will become addicted that depends on a whole bunch of factors like including your family genes, the age you start using it, whether you also use other drugs, and many more factors. All forms of Marijuana are mind altering ( psychoactive ). In other words, they change how the brain works. It enhance your imagination and even your way of thinking. Some will feel relaxed or the term "HIGH". Some says that they feel...
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