So today for health we watched a series of interviews from different perspectives on the cannabis debate, each video covered a different thing, the view from both sides (pro and anti cannabis), the view of former drug users and the view of how it impacted another country that did the same.
After watching all of this my opinions on the debate as a whole seems a little biased towards the pro-cannabis side mostly because in the more "professional" side of the debate the person representing anti-cannabis failed to make any valid or good points, and any points that could've made great points like the drug wars in south America were just blurted out and discarded without a second thought, so if they'd had a better representative for it then I'd have a better view of the reprecussions,
But that was thankfully cleared up in the video regarding the view of the public, instead of focusiing on what other countries problems are but instead focus on their lives and the lives of people around them and how they're affected by drugs, Cannabis isn't the most used drug but legalizing it would cut down the use of synthetics which have been proven deadlier than the drug itself, it was great to see that these people are actively trying to help other people off drugs, one is even trying to bring together a community to create an anti-drug expo, this is a much better approach to the argument
The 3rd viewpoint of seeing how it's affected a country from an outside perspective was another well done point, the speaker was straight forward and wanted to make sure his point was being made clear, even if the host was twisting some of his words, he did his best and covered a lot of facts about the legalization and decriminalization of cannabis.
So in final, I agreed with most of these points, I still think it can be a good thing for cannabis to be made legal, as long as the right precautions are taken, I personally have no intentions of doing Cannabis myself but I know of it's effects from friends and my own research, I know it can help stress and several forms of depression, but only temporarily
Kia ora Mathew. I think you have outlined the debate very well. I am very interested in your point that you would vote to decriminalize even if you yourself have no intention of using. I share the same viewpoint. Debates like this are complicated and understanding perspectives and what are facts and what are opinions is a very important factor in reaching judgement. Well done on your engagement this term
ReplyDeleteHi Jason, Thank you for giving your point of view on this topic, it's always great to see people sharing ideas and views and thank you I have trouble getting all the facts at times but I make due.
DeleteTalofa Matthew. My name is Jacinta and I came and observed in your class with Mr Borland in Term 2. I have just now read your blog. Your post has made me think carefully about a topic that I had a firm position on, or so I thought! I have always been anti cannabis but now reading the arguments you make, the critical lens you used to engage and view the interviews and videos on this subject has made me rethink somewhat. Your argument that the opposing group ‘the professional’ side did not make good use of their own facts and information at hand, shows how advanced your thinking is about perspective. Loved that you were able to integrate both positive and negative views to allow the position you chose to be both reasonable and clear after evaluating all arguments. Stating your bias early is also clearly sophisticated! This is an outstanding blog and am soo super happy I got to read it!! Good luck for any end of year exams you have coming up.
ReplyDeleteHello Jacinta, I'm glad I could clear some things up, it's always a pleasure to get feedback on what you do, I just felt that there was so much potential in the argument about why anti cannabis is a good thing, but it was misrepresented and so my mind was made up.
DeleteKia ora Matthew. My name is Rachel and I work at the Woolf Fisher Research Centre with Jacinta. I am also responsible for running a holiday blogging programme called the Summer Learning Journey. For my job, I am often working with students and encouraging them to put forth clear, reasoned arguments and justifications for their decisions. Your post is such a great example of this!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way that you structured your post. You presented a clear introduction that gave the reader a very good idea of what you were going to talk about before outlining three, clear views regarding the current cannabis legalization debate. As a Canadian myself, I find this topic to be very interesting as we recently voted to legalise the drug across the country. One of my good friends actually works in a 'pot' store selling cannabis over the counter, just as you would sell prescription drugs or food. It will be very interesting to keep an eye on the Canadian situation and to identify what, if any, effect the legalization of this drug has on the behaviours of Canadian consumers and the population, at large.
Best of luck with the last few weeks of your term. I hope that you will continue to post such thoughtful and thought provoking pieces of work on your blog!
Warm regards, Rachel
Hey Rachel, thank you for your kind words and great insight, I heard a lot about Canada's decriminalization while we were researching this but I didn't want to name names at the time. Also I had a similar thought with the prescription drugs since in an earlier post I mentioned I'd support Cannabis but only the right precautions were taken and it were used for the right purposes, I don't want the country to become drug infested, I just would prefer it that resources could be spread out to other subjects since a lot of unnecessary deaths occure during drug busts or not enough was done to prevent something else due to not enough available men, whatever it might be, there will always be an up and a down to every decision
DeleteGreat work Matthew. I enjoyed reading your blog too
ReplyDeletefrom Mr Rohs