Intro: The Devil’s lettuce, mary jane, the sticky-icky-icky, the holy herb, pot, or weed. Whatever you call it, marijuana is on it’s yellow brick road to legalization. With marijuana’s growing prevalence in society, there is no doubt in my mind that someday soon, lighting up a bowl with friends will be legal in cities across the world. So far, 31 US states have legalized medically, and 9 have passed recreational use.
The hippy movement has been credited as the epicenter and beginning of the normalization of the use of marijuana. Anchored in the Haight and Ashbury district of San Francisco, hippies felt ostracized by the materialism of mainstream society, so they started their own group advocating love not war. All of this took place during the 1960’s, a very turbulent time in American history between the Vietnam war, Cold war, and redefinition of gender roles. Hippies played a significant role in altering the public’s perception of marijuana.
Scientific research has shown no significant negative side effects to smoking, many even consider it to be safer than drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes.
In this Ted Talk, I will also discuss how the public’s perception on marijuana has shifted over the years as it becomes more normalized into society. According to Pew Research, the younger the generations, the higher the approval rate for the legalization. Many members of older generations are still apprehensive for reasons I will further display in my talk and paper. I will analyze the influence of social movements on the public with legalization as evidence. I am open to any suggestions you have to make my ideas more solid.
Emma Lutz says:
I absolutely love your introduction. It’s so funny and catches my attention immediately, so I think that the whole talk will be good. You can definitely analyze a lot in the difference between younger and older generations and their perceptions of marijuana.
October 25, 2018 — 4:41 pm
Lisa Li says:
You put a lot of thought into this outline! I really like your hook and how you lead it into your topic. You could also talk about the health benefits of marijuana.
October 25, 2018 — 4:43 pm