Cannabis Essay.

[mattyohh]

This is my transcript for my English Oral on Monday and i was just posting it here so you guys could have a look through and give me some constructive criticisms or any way to improve it. The topic of the Oral was the 2006 Have a Say Day. We had to find a newspaper article or popular culture text and either agree or dissagree with what the article was putting forward. I did a Article on the Nimbin drug festival and how the article was sending a message to teens that drug use is a acceptable thing.

Mardi Grass.

For today’s have a say day I will be talking about the annual Mardi Grass hemp festival and how it should stoped.The article I have looked at which is entitled ‘Police Storm Hippie Haven’ by Paul Weston which was published in the Sunday Mail on the 14th May. In the article it says how federal police have moved in on the festival to stop the influx of the more hard drugs, as well as hearing from the festival organiser that the police should crack down on amphetamine users and leave the ‘pot smokers’ alone. Is this the right kind of message to be sending the youth of Australia, that smoking cannabis at a hippie festival is acceptable but doing other drugs isn’t? I believe that this festival should be stopped, this is not the right message teens should be getting.

The whole town of Nimbin is a shrine to Cannabis use; it’s promoted at every corner of every street in the town. The website promotes the town as an alternative lifestyle, Home to the Aquarius Festival of 1972. The Aquarius Festival was the first incarnation of the Mardi Grass festival where scores of hippies flocked to Nimbin for an Alternative Art festival, the art festival turned into a hemp festival, and the hippies stayed on and set up shop. Now along the one of the streets of Nimbin you can find a Hemp Bar, catering to all your marijuana needs. You can also find their local museum dedicated to the history of cannabis use, with a bright displayed of coloured Kombis promoting the use of weed. Just outside the museum you can also find a sign blocking a local security camera which reads, “Hemp crops are the go, let it grow.” Nimbin is also the home of ‘Hemp Clothing’ where one can purchase clothing made purely out of hemp, so when you get bored of it why not smoke it. So is this the kind of place that kids should be growing up in? Should teenagers be positioned into thinking that cannabis use and hippie towns that promote it, are an acceptable thing.

In the article it states that the police have stormed Nimbin to. The organiser of this festival claims that these harder drugs are more harmful than cannabis, even if there is well documented short term and long term side effects, Including, problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, loss of coordination, and increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks. Some of the long term effects include, Respiratory problems similar to a pack a day smoker, Chronic Bronchitis, as well as this Marijuana contains some of the same, and sometimes even more, of the cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Some of the heavier users of Marijuana have permanent damage to their memory, judgment and perception as well as their learning and attention skills. I used to go to primary school with a boy whose old brother smoked marijuana. He’s now in his 20’s and has chronic schizophrenia is locked up in an institution. A recent research program on minors smoking Marijuana revealed that those who use marijuana have lower achievement than the non-users, more acceptance of deviant behavior and are more prone delinquent behavior and aggression. The festival organizer acknowledges that there has been a rise in violence in the past 12 months but he contributes this to Meth Amphetamine use. So with all of this evidence that Marijuana use will damage and/or kill you, why is there a festival celebrating its use. This is send a message to teenagers that Marijuana use is acceptable and should be celebrated as long as you don’t do other drugs. I don’t think there will be a kiosk at the festival or an exhibit at the museum on the negative effects of smoking Hemp.

In the article the local residents of Nimbin have been marginalized. This article has a very dominant reading that Marijuana is an acceptable thing which needs a festival. The resistant reading is that we shouldn’t do the harder drugs because they are more harmful, even though there’s sufficient proof of the harmfulness of Hemp. Some gaps and silences in the text is how many police have been sent into curb the use of amphetamines. You also don’t hear from any of the youth of Nimbin. This article is biased towards the festival in Nimbin it does nothing to criticize it or discourage people from attending. It promotes and publicizes the festival, museum and Hemp bar. This article sends a negative message to teenagers that Marijuana use is acceptable.

So in conclusion this Mardi Grass Festival needs to be stopped. It sends a message to teenagers that smoking weed should be celebrated. This festival does not highlight the dangers and side effects of cannabis usage; it does not in anyway discourage the use of it either. The organizers himself has blamed other drugs for the recent rise in violence, even though a recent investigation as shown that cannabis use is as harmful if not more so than other drugs. This is the worst possible message to be sent to the impressionable teenagers of Australia. This festival and any festival celebrating the use of illegal drugs should be stop immediately.


So what do you think.
***this remains the property of Mattyohh aka Matthew O'Keefe an is not to be copy or reproduced as your own work.***