Many have advocated far and wide the attempts at legalization of cannabis, a drug that we also very commonly referred to by the name of marijuana and it is the same attempts that have produced fruits for as of August 2015, four states have legalized the purchase of marijuana. In the year 1969, only 12 percent of the country’s population favored the legalizing of pot in the United States. Today, almost 47 years from today, more than half of the US population have switched over to the side which favors the legalization of the drug and these attempts have been made successful but many pro-marijuana advocates through their consistent usage of language and the various strategies that have made use of the same language.
It has been through the use of a number of practical as well as moral arguments that have been presented by the marijuana advocates that have made the use and the trading of the drug acceptable in 11 of the 50 US states. These are the arguments that have time and again convinced the many people what they could all stand to gain if the drug is made legal countrywide. The communications manager at the Marijuana Policy Project, Morgan Fox, however, believes otherwise. He believes that the most of the success have been achieved through the various bills and the referendums that have not only gained but also expressed the support that the public extends to the legalization of cannabis. It was also through the use of these efforts that the next 11 states have been put on the list of the states that are to announce the legalizing of marijuana in the near future.
The arguments that marijuana advocates use to their benefit
The strongest argument that is available to those who favor the legalizing of pot is the fact that President Obama himself admitted that pot was not more dangerous than alcohol. Not only was that statement made by him rather he also gave the states of Colorado and Washington his blessing to go ahead with the legalizing of marijuana. Another argument that is used in favor of the step is that the trend that criminalizes the use of marijuana under the law has been resulting in hefty costs for the society to bear. The experts and the magazine affiliates one amongst which is the ones associated with ‘The New York Times’ assert that the country has been employed a significant portion of its manpower in the arresting, booking and the imprisoning of thousands of people who have been found smoking pot despite the fact that they were otherwise law-abiding citizens. These arrests are also diverting manpower from a number of more pressing issues.
Alternative to the arguments already presented, there has also been one that has revolved around the fact that Cannabis is a drug which legitimately carries more than a few medicinal benefits which are being given up on all through the country just because some people point towards it being the ‘gateway drug’. The list of these diseases that could find relief through the use of marijuana is endless, and it starts with relief from the symptoms of epilepsy, the pain that results from AIDS, the effects of chemotherapy, muscle spasms and so on and on. Even in the states that have given relaxations on the use of the drug for medicinal purposes, the acquiring and the using of the drug is still quite risky, and therefore, there are many patients that cannot get full benefits from its use.
What works in their favor?
Those who favor having been gathering massive success particularly in the most recent years and this may be because they have been doing something right. It means that these people have been using the advantage of language to their benefit in a better manner. Which strategies are they using effectively you ask? For starters, they are stressing more the arguments that concern the average American and that translates into more widespread public support. Arguments such as these include the fact that marijuana is not as dangerous as alcohol and that it is also not as addictive.
These arguments all look at how the legalization of the drug could benefit the common man and hence, support for the matter grows ever wider. Another strategy that these advocates have been employing has been that of having the issue picked up by the political candidates so when they have rallies and political objectives that look to listen to what the public want to be done. The issue goes even further in the hands of authority, and ultimately, these candidates with the strong backing of the agreeing majority go ahead and take steps towards the legalization. In some cases, they see success while not so much in others.
The stance of the opposing side
We have seen some pretty harsh and severe arguments used against the legalization of marijuana and maybe there are after all underlying reasons for that which are after all very compelling. Amongst those who oppose, the American Medical Association has also played its role in extending opinions on the subject but they have not been ignorant of the fact that their efforts have not borne results because the support for legalization of marijuana is still on the climb and the opinion especially is seen amongst the youth of the present day. So while the association still reserves the opinions that it previously held, it has changed its approach to the delivering of these opinions to make them a little more effective.
Now, the language that the association uses is that which suits the opinions of the people better and which uses a tone which is better understood by these people too. Not very far back, the delegation of California had suggested that the AMA take a more neutral stance towards the legalizing of the drug. The delegation, however, was shot down for this effort while the AMA recommended that the status of the drug be revisited and changed so that clinical research could be carried out on the drug and its use in cannabis-based medication.
Where has the opposition been going wrong?
There is plenty that even the opposing side is doing right in objecting to the use of marijuana for whatsoever purpose and the arguments that they have been presenting have been equally compelling. Despite that, though, this side of the movement is not having a great deal of success with getting their message across to the public and this is probably because they have been doing something that they could do better.
For starters, the tone that has been used cannot always be considered the ideal one because we have on occasion seen this group of people become harsh with their words and sometimes even in acting on their beliefs. As emotional as their movement has been, the reaction to that movement has failed to gather support day in and day out. Another problem with their efforts is that this group is indulging in research over the drawbacks of the drug on the mind and its long-term implications, the research has not provided them with sure results that could move people on their opinions. The reason for that is that with this particular subject of research which has to do with the long-term effects of marijuana, time has been the enemy of these group because even within the states where the drug has been legalized, it hasn’t been that for a long enough time to draw conclusions to its impacts on the human brain.
This is the reason why the people who oppose should now find a different area that they could study and use the facts from that area to convince the people of its drawbacks. The situation is also a little against them because, in order to even carry out research on the effects of the drug and the effects of its widespread availability, the drug has to be reduced in status from schedule I and like in the case of the American Medical Association, they have to get the drug to be considered less dangerous so that they can convince the people of the tribulations that it holds.
The fears of employers in event of legalization
As the prospects of the legalization of the drug loom over all of our heads, the employers have been scratching their heads as to how they could use language that could still make the drug in the workplace illegal under the law. The example of the Ohio state is a perfect one to describe the implications of this scenario. There have been efforts to change the language of the constitution so that it in no way implies the acceptability of marijuana to the workplace. Those who have been backing the amendment want to protect the employers. The issue here that many have their heads together over is the exception that the patients get for smoking marijuana in a workplace when they have been prescribed the use of the drug for medicinal purposes. A professor at the Ohio State University, L. Camille Hebert predicts that the chamber of Commerce would not feel very comfortable with uncertainty in the language of the amendment which deals with drug use in the workplace and he consequently defines the problem as the prescription language being unclear so as to provide loopholes on the workplace drug use.
As of now, the amendment uses the following words that apply to the use of Marijuana: “A patient with a medical marijuana certification may self-administer the medical marijuana subject to the same conditions applied to the administration of prescribed medications.” Unfortunately, the statement is very much open to speculation. There was a legal analysis of the statement aforementioned for the Responsible Ohio, which emphasized that the workplace employers is going to have the right to regulate the drug in the workplace just like they have the right to other prescription drugs in the workplace. Another critique, however, speculates that there is plenty that is going to rely upon the way in which the company draws up its policies, and it is the language of the policies that is going to decide whom the control goes to in the matter. We have seen the courts in several other states side with the employer against the employee who has been let go because of marijuana use but how things are going to play out in the Ohio State is going to be made clear in the next court ruling that comes along.
Today, however, this trouble has exceeded far beyond the limits of the Ohio State for it is expected that around 9 US states are going to make use of the ballot paper again in order to say their piece on the legal standings of recreational marijuana and the trend again has the employers in deep waters for now. The problems is that the employers are worried that their rights would be lost in the regulation of the drug in the workplace because even the Arizona laws say that the employer cannot control the employee over the use of marijuana unless the employer could present proof that the employee has gotten a job done under the influence and that the practice on the part of the employee means malpractice. Another problem that has us worrying is the proper implication of the word ‘restrict,' for the attorney Kimberly Ryan states that even though the employers may restrict the use of marijuana in the workplace, but they cannot prohibit its use that is permitted under the law.
Thinking of the future: The connection between legalization and the language that relates
We could call it rich culture or a history that goes back years but there has been a very peculiar language that has been used in the contexts of the use of marijuana, and most of it have been slang including pot, hash, weed, dope, grass, bud, reefer, ganja etcetera. Now that we are looking at a future where the drug may as well become legal, language experts state that there may be some terms that may go out of fashion while others that may be increased in the frequency of their use.
With the legalization of marijuana on the horizon, new and innovative terms are being introduced in order to commercialize the product much as possibly could be and amongst the terms that have been introduced have been ‘Budtenders’ and ‘ganjapreneurs’. The word ganjapreneur is the combination of marijuana (ganja) and entrepreneur (preneur) which is used for a person who engages in the business of marijuana. The other terms ‘Budternder’, similarly refers to the staff working in a dispensary or a pharmacy or even a store from where marijuana could be purchased. This again is a term that has been forming from the combination of two terms bud and bartender.
A few more of the terms that have become more widespread include ‘Stoners’, ‘hippies’ and ‘slackers’. The term stoner has become widely accepted to mean a person who indulges in drug abuse and does mostly have a connotation more of a negative connotation. In a similar fashion, the words ‘hippie’ and ‘slacker’ have become known to represent entire generations of rebellious youth and people who are generally listless.
How could the same language be used to hold teenagers back?
There have been many who have supported the legalization of marijuana and these ratios also count the teens who sometimes even like to indulge in the habit. We may be all for legalizing marijuana and using it for medicinal and recreational purposes, but the fact is that there has been a taboo around the subject, and it may have been greatly exaggerated over the years, but the fact remains that it has been there for a reason. It has been there because marijuana is, in fact, dangerous and it is addictive. So while we are at a point where the drug is going to be used widely, we have a responsibility on our hands to educate these teenagers so that they can understand on their own the benefits and drawbacks of marijuana use.
The state of Colorado has beaten many others to the finish line for after legalizing the drug in their state; they have launched a campaign to educate the teens so that they could enable them to make educated decisions in their favor concerning the use of marijuana. The message that is being circulated here is that marijuana is very likely to prevent children from achieving their maximum potential in all areas of life. This campaign reminds the teenagers that their brains have not fully developed until they reach the age of 25 and that the use of pot could make it harder for them to pass their tests, get decent jobs and to clear their driving tests. All of these efforts are being made possible through the effective use of language in communicating ideas through to these children which tell them where the brighter future lies.
It is not to say that the campaign has not made mistakes in their methods of communication before. It has had its dumb moments and one of these moments was in the year 2014 when the youth campaign used the call ‘Don’t be a lab rat’ and the campaign also used animal cages which were displayed outside of schools. This harsh and emotion-filled campaign had achieved the desired effect, and it had made the people emotional, but the outcome was not
in the right direction. After the campaign, the marijuana activists had become angered, and the children because rebellious and took pictures of them smoking pot inside the same human-sized cages which were later plastered all over the social media. It did not take long for the campaigners to realize that their strategy in the use of the language had been erroneous and therefore, the tone of the language was switched to a softer one.
The language that has been put to use now, however, is more thoughtful, and it aims at striking all the right emotions when a banner shows a girl playing basketball where the tag line reads “Don’t let marijuana get in the way of your passion.” The same tagline has been used on another banner which shows a boy playing the drums. The campaign is being run now not just in English rather it also sends the same messages to the teens in Spanish.
Conclusion
Every campaign reaches success with the efficient use of language, and the drug campaign has been one such campaign. We have already had the use and sale of marijuana legalized in four states, and another 11 are well on their way to achieving the same objective. Even with the campaigns to stop the teens from letting themselves be destroyed through the use of marijuana had seen its success periods and also the failures. The same campaign has shown how the ineffective use of language could have the opposite of the desired effect and how the same language, when used efficiently, could further us in our desired efforts, always. There is no wonder that we hear so much of the saying ‘the pen is mightier than the sword.'
Works Cited
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