Marijuana Article Rhetorical Analysis. Why I Support Legal Marijuana, by George Soros

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“Why I Support Legal Marijuana,” by George Soros, a prominent international supporter of democratic ideals, believes marijuana should be legalized. It would put less strain on the police force, and save a lot of money (par. 3). Marijuana is a very easy to obtain illegally anyway, so keeping marijuana illegal has very little effect on marijuana prevention. Mr. Soros believes that the most effective way of keeping people away from drugs is effective drug education (par. 8). He is primarily liberal, which is probably one of the reasons why he is so open minded towards the situation.

The article argues that marijuana should be legalized. It states that there would be less crime, wasted money, wasted resources, and lives ruined because of a criminal record. Legalizing marijuana will break up Mexican monopolies on marijuana by allowing small quantities of marijuana to be cultivated locally and used recreationally (par. 6). Mr. Soros says that marijuana is already extremely easy for young people to obtain, even more so than alcohol, so the most effective way to prevent drug use is effective drug education (par. 8).

Laws against marijuana were first enacted in acts of prejudice because Mexicans first brought marijuana to the United States (par. 5). “Why I Support Legal Marijuana” portrays the legalization of marijuana as a patriotic act because it repeals unfairly enacted laws that target a specific race. Mr. Soros uses patriotism by saying that legalizing marijuana will “lead the nation” (par. 9) with its progressive nature because it is following the values of equality and nondiscrimination. This is also the use of pathos for appealing to our sense of justice. Although Mr. Soros is active politically, he is not an expert in the field of drug use and criminal prosecution of drug users because he obviously does not understand that the young people of this nation will quit using marijuana one by one through drug education.

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I think the article was ineffective because many of the arguments it presents are not valid logically. Mr. Soros attempts to use logic by saying that legalizing marijuana would reduce crime; however, that is obviously not true since he states that adults will have more access to marijuana while the number of teens accessing marijuana will not change. (par. 8). Saying that marijuana is more easily and often obtained than alcohol, then saying that the legalization of marijuana will reduce crime is not good rhetoric. Saying that marijuana is more easily obtained for teenagers than alcohol is for adults does ...

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