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Klein Vs. Nightengale's Argument Against Legalizing Marijuana

1235 Words5 Pages

The Legalization of Marijuana For years, there has been much dispute over the legalization of marijuana. The reason marijuana is deemed illegal is it has been named a substance 1 drug. Substance 1 drugs are not prescribed by doctors, usually highly abused, very addictive, and similar to heroin, LSD, and ecstasy (Drug Free America Foundation, par. 2). People who are against legalization of marijuana believe that it is too hazardous to be legalized, while the opposing side would argue that marijuana is no more hazardous than cigarettes or alcohol—two dangerous substances that are legal. Both viewpoints have persuasive evidence to support their side, like Joe Klein's argument for marijuana legalization and Johnathan Nightengale's argument against …show more content…

He commits an ad populum fallacy by mentioning “forum in which the President had to answer questions submitted by the public; 92,000 people responded” to legalizing marijuana (par. 1). The ad populum fallacy weakens his argument because the general public are not experts of drug legalization. In the first paragraph there is a red herring, “give us drugs [elderly people]...in return, we will give you our driver's licenses” (sent.4). The anecdote of taking older people off the road does not support his viewpoint. Klein references an unclear analogy about people who have high morals “believe ...that the accretion of legalized vices [gambling] is debilitating” and those with the medical argument believe “alcohol is more dangerous” than marijuana. Klein does not explain how marijuana is no worst than the other vices. He uses another unclear analogy, “the abuse of McDonald's has a greater potential health-care cost than the abuse of marijuana” (par.7). Klein does not explain how McDonald's is worst than …show more content…

In paragraph 3, “about 6,000 people a day used marijuana...a total of 2.2 million America...63.3 percent under age 18.” These statistics reveal how prominent drug usage is in America, especially amongst teenagers. Nightengale also acknowledges that the opposing side wants to make marijuana legal to “decrease crime rate and the wasted efforts put forth by the Drug Enforcement Administration” and more money from taxes (par. 2). He disputes opposing claim stating that legalization of marijuana will make death and crime rates increase because of the bad stigma attached to the drug. Nightengale also makes a comparison of legalization of tobacco and alcohol to legalizing marijuana. “The concept that marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol may be true...but isn't a cause for legalization” (par. 4). Nightengale's argument does possess some weaknesses. Nightengale suggests an absurd idea, “If Marlboro wants to keep people smoking pot...it may start putting 'harmless ingredients'” into marijuana (par. 4). Nightengale has no evidence that will actually occur. A straw man fallacy is there being “smoke breaks...for pot smokers” at work and a joke about Nike changing their slogan from “Just Do It” to “Just Don't” (par. 5). The aforementioned examples are not apart of the opposing view's argument; making it simple to

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