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Brian Navarro
Matt Wilson
Writing 2
March, 11. 2016
Societies Judgement on Beneficial Marijuana Use
The usage of marijuana in contemporary society has been increasing since the early 1970s.
Marijuana is seen throughout society as a gateway drug and overall has a negative reputation
due to minimal drug abusers. However, behind the portrayed drug abusers, there are several
benefits to the smoking of marijuana which is the reason it is constantly used in society today.
Raphael Mechoulam is the author who presents the chemistry behind the usage of marijuana in
his journal, A Cannabis Tale. He opens his discussion on the benefits of marijuana through a
perspective that mainly chemist under the discipline of chemistry would understand. Ronald
Swartz and Beth Wilson are the authors who presents the reputation marijuana usage receives
through a sociological perspective in their book, Current Perspectives on Marijuana and
Society. Consequently, Swartz and Wilson use the sociological discipline to portray how
marijuana usage is seen throughout society by gathering the perspectives and thoughts on
frequent marijuana users. Raphael discusses the benefits of marijuana through the chemistry
discipline which incorporates chemical structures and jargon language towards chemist, while
Swartz and Wilson takes a sociological approach to discuss the manner in which marijuana is
viewed in society through the gathering of qualitative statistics and numerical statistics.

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Mechoulam, the author of A Cannabis Tale, incorporates different conventions in his

writing to display the effects of marijuana on the human brain/body and how it benefits the user
behind chemically based information. He is a chemist, which leads to the usage of jargon to be
able to relate to his audience. His audience would consist of primarily chemist interested in the
effect of marijuana because the manner in which he writes is formulated for them. It is a
convention within the discipline of chemistry because as chemist, you are regularly exposed to
work environments in which colleagues understand the terminology presented. For instance,
sophisticated and chemically based words Mechoulam uses are: cannaboid receptor,
immunoasyuss, tetrahydrocannabloi. (Raphael Mechoulam 45). As a result of the usage of these
words, it is clear that the audience would be readers that study the discipline of chemistry.
Additionally, he continually incorporates chemistry based language to discuss the
benefits of marijuana. Tetrahydrocannabinol(THC) is an approved, orally administer drug
against nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy (Maechoulam 46). THC is crystallike structures that are on the marijuana plant and when combusted, give off a euphoric feel, in
other words the high one observes when using marijuana. The usage of Tetrahydrocannabinol is
generally a word that chemist would use and Raphael incorporates it under the chemistry
discipline because as a chemist, sophisticated language is expected and use since they are
exposed to it frequently. It is uncommon that you would not hear a regular civilian use such a
word to describe the effects and benefits of marijuana. As a result, Raphael uses chemistry
oriented jargon to connect to his chemist based audience to detail the benefits of marijuana.
Swartz and Wilson present the views marijuana has within society through a sociological
perspective. The usage of qualitative statistics was incorporated to gather information on
peoples perspective on the drug to present the sociological perspective they present because

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qualitative statistics are open to analysis. Qualitative statistics are inferential, meaning that they
are not numerically based, but simply quotes/interpretations/interviews of what subjects showed
in their experiment. From their writing, they interviewed various amounts of people to
accumulate differentiating perspectives on marijuana. Specifically, they interviewed an ex
marijuana user named Carla and she stated, I dont think its [marijuana] any more of a gateway
drug than cigarettes are for alcohol and alcohol is for pot, and its just youve got this degree of,
of dangerousness, in terms of the drug itself and in terms of the consequences legally. (Swartz
and Wilson 13). Through the sociological discipline, it involves analysis of the gathered
information because throughout societies, opinions vary. Therefore, Swartz and Wilson use
qualitative statistics, specifically interviews for this example, within the sociology discipline to
gather perspectives on the usage of marijuana throughout society.
However, since they gathered different perspectives on the usage of marijuana throughout
society, opinions varied. That is important under the discipline of sociology because if Swartz
and Wilson had only interviewed one person, they could not have formulated a perspective on
marijuana in society. It takes multiple perspectives since sociology is a broad discipline to
analyze. Another interview that they conducted to gather information was with Theo, a 37-yearold, also a ex-user of marijuana. He stated, I think that, um, marijuana has more of a, aits
more acceptable to people, as an illegal drug, than the other drugs are, but I believe, if you make
the decision to do that (marijuana), its easier to make the decision to do other things (other illicit
drugs), and, you know, true of anything else in your life too, once you cross over a certain line, it
makes things easier (Swartz and Wilson 14). Through the interview, these sociologist gathered
additional perspective on how marijuana is viewed throughout society. Thus, through the

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sociology discipline, qualitative statistics are incorporated into their writing to distinguish the
views marijuana has in society.
Mechoulam incorporates chemically bond pictures that make up THC into his chemistry
based research to show the effects and benefits behind marijuana. He constantly incorporates
these chemical structures through pictures; which makes it clear that only chemist would
understand the chemical bonds he incorporates because they are the only people who can
interpret them. He shows the structures of THC, and then listed all the effects that THC and
marijuana smoking has on patients with cancer. One of the symptoms is appetite loss. Many
patients smoke marijuana as it is an appetite stimulant. (Mechoulam 50). And then the benefits
of it through the usage of statistics as a convention to his chemistry based research. After 4
weeks the weight was stable in the treated patients, but was lower in the placebo recipients
(Mechoulam 51). Thus, the usage of pictures showing these chemical bonds are important for the
chemistry discipline because they are specifically integrated into the writing for chemist. Then,
experimental statistics are incorporated to detail the benefits of marijuana which is found under
the chemistry discipline.
Another key component to the sociological perspective that Swartz and Wilson take on
the view marijuana has on society is the usage of numerical statistics. Schwartz approaches the
situation in which marijuana users are seen as abusers because of the small portion of people
who actually abuse marijuana. They selected Andrea, a 36 year old ex-marijuana out of data
collected from 18 adults (35%) who did not believe Marijuana is a gate way drug as she stated,
I dont know, I think that if you look at the people who use, of course youre going to find
people who abuse marijuana, and then go on to use other drugs, but I cant remember what the
statistic is, its just an incredibly small proportion, nowhere near significant But its also, if

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you look at the people who use marijuana and then go on to use other drugs, or who use
marijuana and other drugs, they have, you know, certain background characteristics, certain
social-psychological variables that are related to that, to their drug use, and it doesnt have
anything to do with marijuana (Schwartz and Wilson 14). The quote explains that marijuana is
not the driving force to why people end up on the street and as bums as it is portrayed. But the
main point is the usage of numerical statistics within the sociology discipline. Henceforth, they
are commonly found in sociology because to prove points, statistics are necessary to distinguish
ideas as seen through the works of Swartz and Wilson to reveal differentiating perspectives on
marijuana in society.
It is incompetent to believe that marijuana should be illegal in every form just because it
is restricted as a drug by the DEA. It is a socially constructed belief that anybody who smokes
marijuana is a bum. That is not the case when it is chemically proven to have benefits as seen
through the way in which Mechoulam shows chemical bonds in his wrtiing. It cures appetite
loss, depressions, body pains, insomnia, and other medical problems people deal with
(Mechoulam 53). The reason it is seen as a horrible drug is because of the people who abuse it.
Swartz and Wilson portray that belief through the interviews they conducted, but also provide
differentiating views on marijuana through the incorporation of numerical statistics and
qualitative statistics.
Overall, Mechoulam uses chemical bonds and a sophisticated language within his writing
because he is a chemist who is addressing other chemist. With chemist being his targeted
audience, he has to be specific to the types of chemicals marijuana releases to reveal the benefits
because they are intellectual and not easily satisfied like a ordinary person. Similar to Swartz
and Wilson sociological discipline based writing, the chemistry discipline incorporates statistics

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to illustrate the benefits of marijuana. Swartz and Wilson rely heavily on qualitative statistics and
numerical statistics to portray the perspectives people have on marijuana throughout society.

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References
A CANNABIS TALE. By: Mechoulam, Raphael, Science Spectra, 13231413, 2000, Issue 21
Swartz, Ronald, and Beth Wilson. "Current Perspectives on Marijuana And Society." (2013): 148. Web.