1
Research proposal: Legalizing marijuana
What is your argument?
My argument: Cannabis is the plant from which marijuana is derived and consumed as a drug.
Marijuana should be legalized in North America for recreational and for medicinal use. California has
attempted to legalize marijuana with Proposition 19 in 2010. However, this proposition failed to pass
into law. After I explore the various attempts to legalize marijuana, I will propose a possible comprise
that might actually make legalizing marijuana beneficial for individuals in North America.
Why is this argument important for you to research and write about?
This argument is important to me because marijuana is considered a "gateway drug," which has not been
scientifically proven. I know many individuals who smoke marijuana for recreational use, and even
though it is considered a illegal substance, they risk breaking the law and facing legal consequences.
However, part of my argument is that if marijuana is legalized in North America, I predict that many
underage individuals will possibly decrease since it is no longer a "risk" to get caught smoking
marijuana. Also, I predict that once marijuana is legalized, those individuals who smoke it on a
recreational basis, will continue to do so.
How do you plan to go about researching this argument? What sources do you plan to use?
I plan to read as much as I can on how individuals and organizations have tried to legalize marijuana. I
plan to examine and analyze how the sources I find use language to discuss the legalization of
marijuana. While I plan to argue for the legalization of marijuana, I also plan to explore and analyze
some of the arguments against legalizing it.
Have at least 4 credible sources
1.
Legalization of Marijuana website:
2.
Normal - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws website:
3.
The White House's Response to Legalizing Marijuana
website: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/response/what-we-have-say-about-legalizing-
marijuana
4.
Statistics on Marijuana website:
Have a timeline for when things need to be done
Timeline of anticipated events:
April 9-20 – Start my “reading around” over my topic to find sources
April 11-30 – Work on my writing out of my argument
April 15-19 – Conduct my 5-question survey, using
April 21-24 – Collect my survey data and analyze it for my research
April 25-29 – Touch up and revise my writing