Shubhav Baniya
Professor Bridget A Draxler
Writing 111
03/05/2018
The article ‘Association with Marijuana exposure: Facts, Fallacies, and Implications for Legalization’ is written by Mark Plether, M.D. The sole purpose of Plether’s article is to persuade readers and voters that marijuana should not be legalized. Plether focuses on the use of ethos and logos, while also slightly focusing on the use of pathos, to help persuade his audience. The use of such rhetoric strategies by Plether changes the opinions of individuals with views opposing the opinions he holds. He starts out his article with a very strong statement: “Marijuana doesn’t have any legitimate medical applications.” (1). The author uses ethos, pathos, and logos as a way of gaining the audience/readers credibility, by showing his emotions, showing arguments and giving just clear and complete information that can be understood for all people.
It seems that the author is very biased regarding consumption of marijuana. Often in the article he has expressed his reasoning on why marijuana should never be legal. He supports this by providing several long terms and short terms side effects of the marijuana along with scientific experiments like (IQ dropping) and statistics that points out the several harms of marijuana consumption. The intended audience in this research paper are all the people in general who are out there wondering about marijuana issues and effects that may have in them if they decide to use it. He wants people to stay away from drugs because he is aware of all the negative consequences marijuana can bring to their life. Especially since marijuana can be very addictive, he does not want people to be affected by it.
The author of this article Mark Plether, M.D. establishes very clearly his knowledge in this situation but also his credibility. He is a Medical Doctor and by this his credibility increases amazingly. “Ultimately, policy determinations on marijuana should rest on some objective valuation of its impact on individuals, as well as the public health"(1) the author is not approving neither rejecting the use of marijuana. He establishes that people should be more carefully about this drug. Many people don’t understand the effects that marijuana may have in them because they are not well informed about this subject. What conveys his authority in this article is that he at all time remains neutral through the entire article because...
